Pumpkin Pie is one of those perennial Thanksgiving treats. I mean it is good but is it? Because if it was really good, wouldn’t we eat pumpkin pie year round? Why is it just a Thanksgiving recipe?

The classic Libby Pumpkin Pie recipe is drop dead simple to make but it can be improved on. The recipe below is an adapted version of the Cook’s Illustrated pumpkin pie recipe from “Revolutionary Recipes”.

Happily this recipe makes one full pie plus a number of pumpkin tartlets (just pour the extra pie filling into creme brûlée ramekins and bake them along with the pie).

Make sure you serve this with freshly made whipped cream for the proper noms.

Ingredients

  • 1 gluten free pie crust (I picked up mine from Fresh Thyme and it was quite good)
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
  • 1 cup drained, candied yams
  • 3/4 cups sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Steps

  1. The filling needs to be poured into a just baked pie crust while it is still warm to avoid the pie crust getting soggy from the filling soaking into it. This means that you need to coordinate the time of the pie filling cooking with the thawing of the gluten free pie crust and the baking of it. In my case the pie crust needed to thaw for 20 minutes and then bake for 15 so I needed to time the pie filling being done at the same time (and the pie filling had to cook for 20 minutes).
  2. Preheat the oven to 400 and bake the pie crust for 15 minutes.
  3. Whisk cream, milk, eggs, yolks and vanilla in bowl and set aside.
  4. Bring pumpkin puree, yams, sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg to simmer in a large saucepan and cook stirring constantly until thick and shiny for 15 to 20 minutes. Make sure to smash the yams against side of pot as you cook.
  5. Remove saucepan from heat and whisk in cream mixture until fully incorporated.
  6. Strain mixture thru fine mesh strainer into bowl using back of spoon or ladle to push it thru.
  7. Whisk resulting mixture until fully mixed together and pour into warm prebaked pie shell. Mixture will be very, very liquid; do not worry, it will setup in the pie crust and bake just fine (I fretted a lot the first time).
  8. Put pie plate plus any ramekins of pie filling on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 400.
  9. Lower the oven temperature to 300 and continue to bake until edges of pie are set and center is 175 degrees, 20 to 35 minutes longer.
  10. Let pie cool for 4 hours while the pie beckons to you with a “Eat me now …” saucy attitude. Trust me it will be worth it.
  11. For extra bonus joy, take the last, sad piece of pie after Thanksgiving and make it into a milkshake (just make a vanilla milkshake and add the pie to it before you blend). Delicious!