Pumpkin Pie
TIME: 2-5 days. Finished pie will need to be covered, overnight (8 hours minimum). Ideal to make crust and ganache which can keep for 2 day. The fresh whipped cream tastes best with a 1-2 days to sit.
Pumpkin Ganache
Salted Dulce de Leche
Pie Crust
Whipping Cream
Streusel
ASSEMBLY
Pour room temp (or slightly reheated) caramel into the base of the pre-baked pie shell so the base is fully covered and level. Place the filled shell into the fridge to firm up for 20 - 25 minutes.
Pour ganache over caramel and quickly spread using offset spatula or spoon to make sure all caramel is covered with ganache.
Place pie in the fridge ASAP, covered, overnight (8 hours minimum). Ganache should feel firm to the touch, should not stick to your fingers, and feel solid all the way through.
Serve pie cold, directly out of the fridge. Top with fresh whipped cream or streusel to serve.
Pumpkin Ganache
INGREDIENTS:
2
Libby’s canned pumpkin Standard 15oz. cans of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling or mix).
1
¼ cup heavy cream (277g)
⅓
cup glucose (or substitute a scant 1/3 cup corn syrup) (129g). Used real bourbon syrup. I would test a little sweetened condensed cream. All are really powerful.
5
Tbsp unsalted butter (71g)
16oz
or 2 ½ cups chopped white chocolate or white chocolate (443g)
2
tsp cinnamon
1
tsp cardamom
½
tsp allspice
½
tsp ginger
pinch
pinch
clove
(or):
replace above spices with 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
INGREDIENT ADD
Add one more can of pumpkin puree and reduce it down for more pumpkin flavor.
METHOD
-Spread both cans of pumpkin on a parchment lined baking sheet and roast at 325 for about 20 - 30 minutes. Color should darken by two shades and be well reduced. The puree should reduce to about 2 cups or 500g — if your puree is not at this amount, keep roasting! Let cool before use.
-Add white chocolate to a large heat safe bowl, set aside.
-Add cream, glucose/syrup/condensed milk (only a little the pie is sweet), and butter to a small pot, and bring to boil. I like to soften the chocolate by placing the glass bowl over the simmering pot.
-Once boiling, pour hot cream mixture over white chocolate, making sure all chocolate is covered. Let sit for 1 minute.
-Add roasted pumpkin, spices, and salt (if needed) to white chocolate mixture, stir.
-Using an immersion blender, blend all ingredients until totally smooth and silky.
-Ganache can be made 1 - 2 days ahead, stored in the fridge. Reheat 20 seconds at a time in the microwave to achieve pourable consistency before filling your pie.
Salted Dulce de Leche
INGREDIENTS:
Pan needs to be nonstick. I prefer a nonstick copper pan.
1-2
Cups of San Ignacio Dulce de Leche
2
tsp kosher salt (not iodized or table salt) -I prefer greek salt. Salt can be powerful.
1-3
Tbsp unsalted butter (85g)
METHOD
All ingredients are really to taste. Place butter in nonstick pan on medium heat stove. Add Dulce de Leche and wait until it starts to bubble. Add the salt, whisk.
Pie Crust
INGREDIENTS:
1
½ C all purpose flour (188g) + extra for dusting surface
6
Tbsp ghee (if no ghee then use 12 Tbsp cold butter)
6
Tbsp unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks) (170g)
½
C fine ground cornmeal (60g)
1
Tbsp white sugar (heaping)
1
tsp kosher salt
¼
-⅓ C ice water
1
Tbsp apple cider vinegar
METHOD
Yields: enough for one single crust 9”-9 ½” pie
-This pie crust is sized for a 9 ½” wide by 1 ½” deep pie tin.
-Place butter and ice water in fridge.
-Measure out all dry ingredients into your largest bowl. Mix together until well incorporated.
-Cut cold butter into vague tablespoons and add to your bowl. Toss with hands until all the butter is coated in flour mixture.
-Smash, squeeze, and break cold butter chunks with your fingers until some of the mixture resembles a coarse meal but there are still plenty of pieces of butter about the size of blueberries in the mix.
-If butter has gone soft and melty, place the entire bowl into the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up, otherwise, proceed.
-Mix vinegar and ice water together, then add to the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time, tossing with hands in between additions.
-The amount of water you will need varies — so add water until the mixture holds together when pressed into a ball, but is still a little crumbly, and isn’t sticky to the touch.
-Form into a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
-Once firmed up, proceed. If your dough is too hard to roll out, allow it to sit at room temp for 5 - 10 minutes.
-Dust the surface, rolling pin, and both sides of the pie crust lightly with flour.
-Roll out the dough into a long rectangle-ish shape — short side facing you. The sides of the dough may have cracked a little, and the dough might be a little crumbly, that is totally fine at this stage.
-Fold the dough like a letter: fold the far side down towards you, then the side closest to you on top of that folded down side.
-Press it all back together, rotate the dough 90 degrees, then repeat the roll and fold, making sure to dust the surface and rolling pin with more flour as needed.
-If your dough has become sticky, or too stretchy that it is hard to work with, throw it back in the fridge for 20 - 30 minutes to firm up.
-Once folded and dough has become cohesive and not shaggy, roll out dough into a circle that is at least two inches wider than the base of your pie tin.
-Carefully transfer your rolled out dough to your tin, draping, rather than stretching it into place.
-Fold excess dough underneath itself to create a lip, and crimp as desired.
-Return to the fridge to firm up, again.
-Preheat the oven to 350F.
-Now, to blind bake: place the tin on a baking sheet and line the inside of the pie with foil or parchment. Fill with your chosen weights. I like to tent the edges of my crust with foil to prevent burning.
-Place in the oven and allow to bake for about 30-40 minutes, checking occasionally to ensure the edges of your crust have not taken on too much color (tent with foil if needed.)
-When the edges of your pie are lightly browned, remove weights from inside of the pie to properly cook the center — prick the bottom of the pie crust with a fork to prevent ballooning.
-Continue to cook for an additional 15 - 20 minutes, until your pie is golden brown in color.
-Cool for at least 1 hour before filling. Pie crust can be made several days ahead of time, pre-baked, and stored in the fridge. Or, store unbaked pie crust in the freezer for up to a month.
-Lightly sprinkle cinnamon on pie top once assembled.
Whipped Cream
INGREDIENTS
1/2 carton whipping cream (1 pint)
1/2 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
METHOD
Wisk together in large bowl. Set in fridge to cool.
Streusel
INGREDIENTS
½
cup all purpose flour (63g)
⅓
cup light brown sugar (73g)
⅓
cup rolled oats (28g)
6
Tbsp unsalted butter (room temp) (86g)
1
tsp cinnamon
½
tsp cardamom big
pinch
salt
METHOD
Yields: about 1 ½ cups
-Add all ingredients to a medium bowl.
-Mash and mix with hands until a loose crumb forms, and there are no dry spots or chunks of butter.
-Spread on a parchment lined sheet pan.
-Bake at 325 for 15 minutes, agitating every five minutes or so until golden brown.
-Streusel can be made up to a week ahead, stored at room temp in an airtight container.
Assemble pie!
How far in advance can it be made?
-The best part of this pie is that everything can be made ahead of time.
-Ganache can be made 2 -3 days ahead of time, stored in the fridge.
-Streusel can be made up to a week ahead of time, stored at room temp.
-Caramel can be made 3 - 4 days ahead of time, stored in the fridge.
-Pie dough can be made up to a month ahead of time, stored in the freezer.
-So, if you’re making this for Thanksgiving (a famous Thursday), say, I would make all the components apart from the crust on Monday or Tuesday. Then make the crust Wednesday morning, fill the pie with caramel/ganache, wrap it up and store it overnight in the fridge to serve on Thursday! Just whip up some cream right before serving.
Sources: https://milkbarstore.com/blogs/recipes/hillys-pumpkin-caramel-pie?srsltid=AfmBOorINLQGazXdeXGC_-td3VAWeFf_X-qskQeMzMGxsLM5Q9QAjPc6
