Impress Your Thanksgiving Guests With These Pumpkin Pie Upgrades
Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie, but the standard may seem a bit standard . For a festive pumpkin dessert that your friends and family will truly appreciate, try one or more of these delicious options below.
Set the base for the fill
In terms of a basic recipe, there is no real reason to reinvent the wheel. The classic Libby can recipe has served me well for years ( Cook’s Illustrated is also a fan ), and the simple, easy-to-make pie serves as the perfect canvas on which to paint your flavorful masterpiece.
If you want to make it a little more rustic, you can make your own filling, but don’t gravitate towards the jack-o-lantern style pumpkin, or even the often-advertised sugar pumpkin, which can rest on a gooey, tasteless side. Instead, Grace Perizi from Epicurious recommends to take one of the following, more fragrant pumpkin :
- Jarrahdale: This squat pumpkin may be blue-gray on the outside, but the dense orange-yellow flesh on the inside makes for a sweet, delicate, velvety puree.
- Blue Hubbard: Perisi discovered that this irregularly shaped pumpkin produces a silky smooth, thread-free puree with a “strong taste” and creamy texture.
To make pumpkin puree, Perisi recommends cutting the pumpkin into wedges and peeling off the tough skin with a knife. Place the wedges on a rimmed baking sheet, add a little water, cover with foil and bake at 375 ℉ until the fork is soft. Let cool and chop in a food processor until smooth.
Making your own mashed potatoes from scratch is a project of sorts, and these fancy pumpkins can be a bit tricky to find, but you can get the roasted pumpkin flavor without scooping or scraping, and take a little way by frying a store-bought product. … Simply open a can of Libby (or another brand of your choice), add whatever spices your recipe requires, spread the mixture on a baking sheet and bake at 400 ℉ for fifteen minutes for a deep nutty caramelized flavor. …
Go with these customized one-ingredient upgrades
Once you have a solid foundation, you can start thinking about add-ons. It might be tempting to add a whole bunch of flavoring additives, but try to exercise a little restraint. You don’t want the pumpkin to look pretty and slightly sophisticated. Here are five ways to make your cake special with just one extra ingredient.
- Maple Pumpkin Pie : Substitute granulated sugar with two cups of maple syrup, simmer the syrup until it reaches a soft ball stage (about 235 ° F on an ice thermometer), and refrigerate before mixing with the rest of the filling.
- Curry Pumpkin Pie : Just a teaspoon of curry powder and black pepper can add a spice to this classically sweet dessert.
- Bourbon Pumpkin Pie : Alcohol will affect the texture of the filling, so you can’t get too crazy about your booze, but a couple tablespoons of bourbon (or dark rum) will add depth to your pie.
- Chinese Five Spice Pumpkin Pie : As you might have guessed, the Chinese Five Spice Powder contains five flavorful spices: star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel. Using this delicious concoction means you won’t need a ton of other spices, but I would leave a teaspoon of your regular cinnamon plus ½ teaspoon of ground ginger along with a teaspoon of the five spices.
- Roasted Ginger Pumpkin Pie: Ginger powder is a classic ingredient in pumpkin pie, but roasted ginger can add an even deeper, more delicious and ginger flavor. Just skip the powder and mix a tablespoon of roasted ginger puree with the rest of the filling.
Now that you have a clear idea of the filling, let’s turn our attention to the crust.
Create the best pie crust
While the filling is the start of the show, the pie crust has a very important job of holding on to the filling until it hits the mouth, which deserves some attention. When it comes to pumpkin pie, there are two types of crust to consider: brownie and biscuit.
“Best baked goods” is a hotly debated topic, but I’m a big fan of this simple butter recipe from The Food Lab and this old-fashioned super flaky crust from Stella Parks of Serious Eats. Regardless of which dough you choose, make sure you bake the dough until golden brown to avoid an awfully wet crust. Start by filling a raw, bare crust with rice, beans, or tart and bake for fifteen minutes at 325 ° F. Remove the heavy pieces and bake for another ten or fifteen minutes. Allow to cool completely before pouring in the filling, and cover the edges of the crust with a little aluminum foil to keep it from burning while the rest of the pie cooks.
If you want to go a little less straightforward, consider adding some flavor to the crust itself. Bon Appetit recommends adding ¼ tsp ground allspice and ½ tsp. Add orange blossom water to the batter before baking, but ground ginger, citrus zest, and warm spices like cinnamon can add a little extra appeal to your pumpkin pie.
Cookie crust is another popular option, of which Graham crackers are the most common, but any crunchy sweet cookie can be turned into a crust. Simply mix 1 ½ cup cookie crumbs with 6 tablespoons ghee and ⅓ cup white sugar (use less if using super sweet biscuits, but this is the standard amount for a Graham cracker crust). Squeeze the crumb mixture into a baking pan and bake at 375 ° F for seven minutes. If you need help choosing a cookie other than a Graham cookie, I suggest trying out ginger flakes, citrus flavored thinners, shortbread pecans, Walker’s shortbread cookies, cinnamon-flavored Teddy Grahams (come to me), Golden Grahams and – if you are want a truly meta-pumpkin-flavored Oreos with no cream filling.
Go Rogue and Off Menu
If that’s not enough for you, there are other ways to give your holiday favorite a special look. Some of my favorites include:
- Pickaken: Take things to a truly insane place, bake a whole pumpkin pie inside a spice, apple, or even chocolate cake .
- Mini Pies: If a full-sized pie feels a little cumbersome, make mini pies by baking Trader Joe’s mini pumpkin pies (found in the frozen section) in a muffin dough of your choice.
- Pumpkin Pie Cookies: Make this super easy and super tasty treat by sandwiching a mixture of cream cheese and pumpkin between slices of sugar cookie dough .
- Sous vide pumpkin pie : As we discussed earlier on this site, sous vide pumpkin pie is the creamiest and most dreamy version of this dessert I’ve ever tasted. Simply bake some cracker crust in a jar, pour out the filling and dry for an hour and a half at 80 degrees Celsius.
- Season the whipped cream: It doesn’t take a lot of dressing to make the whipped cream delicious, but a little orange blossom or freeze-dried fruit water can add that little kick that will turn your pie from good to memorable. “
If that doesn’t make your guests be grateful for coming to your home for Turkey Day, I don’t know what will happen. You should probably invite some better guests.