Silky Pumpkin Pie

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Silky Pumpkin Pie

Yield: 1 9-inch pie

Author: Sarah Truesdell

Adaptation of Rose Levy Beranbaum's pumpkin pie recipe. Super silky when made as directed with a food processor or blender.

Ingredients

For the pie crust

• 1 1/2 cups (210 g) all-purpose flour or pastry flour (plus more for rolling)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, very cold
• about 1/3-1/2 cup cold water
• 1 tsp cider vinegar (optional)
• 1/4 cup pecans (optional for pie crust)
• 1 ounce gingersnaps (optional for pie crust)

For the filling

• 1 3/4 cups unsweetened pumpkin puree (from 15 oz can)*
• 3/4 cup (150g) packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon**
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Make the crust

1. Grate your frozen butter on the large side of a box grater and hold in the refrigerator or freezer. Alternatively, cut into very small cubes, about 1/4 inch big, and hold in the refrigerator.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt until well mixed.
3. Add cold butter and toss with flour. Using your hands, break down pieces of butter by rubbing them into the flour until your mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. If you butter is grated, you don't need to do much work to break down the pieces.
4. In a measuring cup or small bowl, mix together 1⁄4 cup cold water and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar. Add to flour and mix with a wooden spoon or your hand until a rough dough is formed. Add additional water as need, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you have few to no dry bits of dough. Dough should come together in a ball, and be tacky, but not sticky.
5. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead briefly just until a cohesive dough is formed. Flatten into a rectangle and fold. Repeat fold 2 more times.
6. Flatten into a disk about 1 1⁄2 inch thickness, wrap with plastic and chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 375F. Cover a baking stone or sheet pan in foil and place in oven, with rack set to bottom third position.
8. After dough as chilled, dust work surface with flour and roll one disk of dough to about 1/8 inch thickness, taking care to lift the dough and redust underneath to prevent sticking. Always roll from the middle out to the edge, stopping right before the edge.
9. Ease crust into pie pan, making sure not to stretch the dough. Trim excess. Hold in the refrigerator or freezer.
10. Optional: process pecans and gingersnaps in a food processor until finely ground, or finely chop nuts and cookies.  Spinkle mixture over pie crust and press into the dough to coat the bottom of the pan and 1/2 inch up the sides.

Make the filling

1. In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, mix together pumpking, sugar, spices and salt. Stir constantly over medium heat until sputtering. Reduce heat to low and cook for 3-5 minutes until thickened and shiny. Stir constantly.
2. Scrape into a food processor or high speed blender and process for 1 minute. 
3. With appliance running, add the milk and cream. Scrape down the sides of your container as necessary to ensure ingredients are evenly incorporating.
4. Add eggs, one at a time (don't worry, the milk and cream will have cooled down the hot pumpkin enough). Add vanilla. Pulse a few times to mix.
5. Pour into chilled pie shell and bake for 50-60 minutes. The filling will be puffed and still wobbly in the center.
6. Let cool for 30 minute and then chill for at least 4 hours to fully set the pie and allow the flavors to develop.

Notes:

If you want to use fresh pumpkin puree, you'll need to roast it in avance and strain it to remove excess liquid. Google for instructions.

Feel free to use the pumpkin pie spice blend you love best here. If you have a premade blend you love, use 2-3 teaspoons of that. The original recipe for this pie calls for 2 teaspoons of ginger and 1 2/ teaspoons of ground cinnamon.

Custards are done when the center is still jiggling like jelly. The edges will look more set than the center. Over-cooked custard will crack, but this is not a big deal. You can embrace the crack, or just cover it up with whipped cream.

If you do not have a baking stone, you can bake this pie directly on the bottom of your oven flour. Please don't try this method with glass or pyrex pie pans.

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