My family (in particular my grandpa) loves pie, and since taking over the pie-making duties I have switched up recipes just about every year in an attempt to find the perfect perfect pumpkin pie and apple pie. Well, dear readers, the hunt is over. I have found the most amazing pie recipes that generate the most beautiful and delicious pies ever attempted.
Now. Pumpkin first, shall we?
The Best Pumpkin Pie Recipe
from Cook's Illustrated via The Delicious Life (serves 8 . . . which honestly is a bit stingy. Probably more like 14)
Flaky Pie Pastry Shell Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
3-3 1/2 tablespoons ice water*
Spicy Pumpkin Pie Filling Ingredients
2 cups (16 ounces) plain pumpkin puree, canned or fresh
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
Directions:
Pie Pastry Shell:
1. Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor (if you don't have a food processor . . . get one, please. just get one. It will change your life, I promise) fitted with a steel blade. Scatter butter over dry ingredients; process until mixture resembles cornmeal, 7 to 12 seconds. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of water over flour mixture, and process until combined (the recipe says to do this in a bowl, blah blah . . . so much easier in the processor). Form dough into a ball with your hands, flatten into a 4-inch disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Can be refrigerated longer, just let it thaw a little before rolling.
2. Generously sprinkle a 2-foot square work area with flour. Remove dough from wrapping and place disk in center; dust top with flour. Roll dough in all directions, from center to edges, rotating a quarter turn and strewing flour underneath as necessary after each stroke. Flip disk over when it is 9 inches in diameter and continue to roll (but don't rotate) in all directions, until it is 13 to 14 inches in diameter and just under 1/8-inch thick.
3. (going off recipe, because I prefer my way) Carefully drape your pie crust into your 9-inch pie pan. Gently work your crust up against the sides and bottom of the pie pan (there should be no gaps, pockets, or wrinkles). Trim off the excess dough to a relatively even 3/4 inch all the way around. Tuck overhanging dough back over itself so the folded edge is flush with the edge of the pan lip. Pres double layer of dough with your fingers to seal it, then crimp the edges in whatever manner works for you!
4. (back to your regularly scheduled recipe) Refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm dough shell. Using a table fork, prick bottom and sides at 1/2 inch intervals. Flatten aluminum foil to cover the shell, including the edges. Prick the foil with a fork as well. Pour in a layer of uncooked dry beans to weight down the pie shell and prevent bubbling)
5. Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, and heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (start preparing the filling when you put shell in the oven). Bake 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake shell for 8 to 10 minutes, or until interior just begins to color. (important note: watch this sucker! I had to whip it out of the oven quite a few times to prevent air pockets. Just press down on the pie shell with oven-mitt covered hands)
Spicy Pumpkin Pie Filling:
6. For filling, process first 7 ingredients in a food processor fitted with a steel blade for 1 minute. Transfer pumpkin mixture to a 3-quart heavy bottomed saucepan; bring it to a sputtering simmer over medium-high heat. Cook pumpkin, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny (it won't look liquidy. There's no liquid. Don't be concerned), about 5 minutes. As soon as pie shell comes out of the oven, whisk heavy cream and milk into pumpkin and bring to a bare simmer. Process eggs in food processor until whites and yolks are mixed, about 5 seconds. With motor running, slowly pour hot pumpkin mixture through feed tube. Stop process, scrape remaining pumpkin drippings into the processor, process 30 seconds longer.
7. Immediately pour warm filling into hot pie shell (Ladle any excess filling into pie after it has baked for 5 minutes or so--by this time filling with have settled). Bake until filling is puffed, dry-looking, and lightly cracked around edges, and center wiggles like gelatin when pie is gently shaken, about 25 minutes (for me, it was about 30-35 minutes, but again, my oven runs cold) Cool on a wire rack for at least one hour. Refrigerate after this if serving next day.
This pie . . . . the spices alleviate the slightly bland pumpkin flavor, creating not a heat but a warmth that is just spectacular. It is so silky smooth, delicious, and frankly beautiful. I was such a proud mama. I got those lovely pie crust cookie-cutter thingies that just make it look so cute and festive. I baked the cut-out pieces with the crust on a separate pan (watch them, they could burn!) and just placed them on the pie after it finished baking.
*a note on pie-crusts: I fully promote doing it all in the food processor. In my opinion, for a standard pie crust, it is not worth breaking out a pastry cutter, or worse, a fork, and driving yourself insane while you try to break up practically frozen butter into pea-sized pellets in your flour mixture. ALSO. Add more water than the recipe says. Obviously you don't want to add so much water that your pie-crust is soupy or not dough like, and you don't want it to be sticking like crazy to your fingers. But let it be slightly tacky, like almost dried paint. If it's crumpling and falling apart in pieces it will not roll out easily. Will not. You can add more flour later if you need to. You can't add more water. It's a personal process that you'll figure out as you go, but that's my experience. Also, for the love of God, when you roll something out, use a french rolling pin. Like the food processor . . . changed my life. Seriously.
Next post: Apple Pie!!
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