Pumpkin Pie

I did a lot of pumpkin pie research. Like a lot. Like hours of scouring the internet followed by 4 rounds of baking trials and subsequent sampling (shoot). I feel fairly confident this is a pretty great pumpkin pie.  I guess technically that should be plural. Pumpkin PieS. I made 12 minis. Everyone got to pick their favorite pie for Thanksgiving and then I spent 3 days making them.  Thanks, John, for picking Key Lime.

Anyway, pumpkin...

For starters, I used Ina Garten’s perfect pie crust. When I need something fool proof, I go to Ina. Her recipes are always well-tested and easy to execute. Plus I recently found out that she made her own 4-tiered wedding cake at the age of 20. 

So, make the crust, and refrigerate it until the filling is ready, or cover and freeze until ready to use (I froze them all ready to go in the jars for 4 days). If you have extra crust, I highly encourage you to make little leaf and pumpkin cutouts

Preheat the oven to 350.  

Filling

• 1 can pumpkin puree (does anyone make this but Libby??)
• 3 large eggs
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• ½ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 heaping tablespoon corn starch
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon fresh or ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Egg for egg wash
• Sugared cranberries (optional for garnish, from Sally’s baking addiction)

Brush the edge of the crust with some egg wash (just whisk an egg in a separate cup), then pre-bake the crust in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Whisk all of the filling ingredients together, until combined and thick. Pour into the crust, and bake for about 55 minutes or until almost firm (middle will be a bit jiggly). Allow to cool completely, and serve with whip cream (and ice cream!).  I will post about the mini pies soon, but I found the baking times were not much different. Maybe 45 minutes or so for the minis.
 

If you are wondering about the sugared cranberries on top of the pie, I got the idea from here.