Pumpkin Pie

My twist on a classic pumpkin pie, with cream cheese, heavy cream, and without ginger and cloves 🙂

Pumpkin pie!!

I love pumpkin… pumpkin soup, especially baked pumpkin as a side dish, pumpkin cake (so moist!!!).… but I couldn’t make myself love pumpkin pie. It is said that you have to grow up with its taste to love it, and I can say it’s true. So, I didn’t give up easily and told myself I can make a pumpkin pie, that I will love too, and I can proudly say that I’ve succeeded.

The original recipe calls for evaporated milk, nope, nothing similar to buy here in Croatia. I know it is easy to make at homemade, but I didn’t want to cook milk just to try the taste and to publish a recipe with ingredient which you can’t buy in my county. First I made my pie with milk and the pumpkin pie spices. That taste was not so good, too many spices for my taste. I love ginger, but not in my pie, I love cloves only in mulled wine, and too many nutmeg only ruins a good dish. Next time I omitted all of the spices except cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. That was better but still missed that pie creaminess. So instead of milk, I used cream cheese and heavy cream, and that was it. Perfect. Proudly can say I made a perfect recipe that everyone from my family love.

Canned pumpkin vs. homemade pumpkin puree. I tried it both and I like it both. There is only one store in Croatia’s capital Zagreb, where you can buy Libby’s canned pumpkin puree. I often bake the pumpkin at home, and the best pumpkins (that’s my opinion) for pumpkin pie are butternut and Hokkaido. With homemade pumpkin puree, you get a deeper, more interesting flavor if you decide to my pie from scratch.

What helped me to achieve that perfect taste, are these two tips I found on thekitchn.com.

“Run the pumpkin purée in a food processor or blender for a minute before proceeding on with the recipe. Even though canned pumpkin purée is already, yes, puréed, fibrous stringy bits often remain. Puréeing the purée helps ensure a silky-smooth texture.” …. and…

“When I say “cook” here, I really just mean to let the pumpkin purée bubble on the stovetop for about five minutes. I find that this brief kiss of warmth helps cook out the raw pumpkin flavor and gives the finished pie much more depth. It also melts the sugar into the purée and infuses it with the spices for an all-around richer, more complex flavor.”

Happy baking 🙂 !!!

xoxo Mihaela

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Pumpkin Pie

My twist on a classic pumpkin pie, with cream cheese, heavy cream, and without ginger and cloves 🙂

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time1 hr 10 mins

Total Time1 hr 40 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8 slices

Author: Mihaela K. Sebrek

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked pie crust store-bought or homemade (recipe follows)
• 425 grams pumpkin puree (15 oz) canned or homemade
• 250 grams cream cheese (9 oz) room temperature
• 160 ml heavy creamy (2/3 cup)
• 100 grams granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
• 100 grams brown sugar (1/2 cup)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs room temperature

Homemade pie crust:

• 155 grams all-purpose flour (1 1/4 cup)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 115 grams butter (1/2 cup) chilled and cubed
• 60 ml ice water (1/4 cup)

Instructions

For the crust:

• Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the cubed butter. Using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut the butter into the mixture until it resembles pea-sized crumbs (some larger pieces are okay).
• Slowly drizzle in one tablespoon of ice water at a time and gently mix it in. Stop adding water when the dough begins to form large clumps. Once the dough starts to come together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and pack it into a ball. Flatten the dough into a disc. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• Heat the oven to 220 C (425 F).
• Roll the dough out to 30 cm (12 inches) in diameter, transfer the dough to a 24 cm (9-inch) pie pan, gently fit it in, trim any excess dough and flute the edges.
• Line the pie crust with parchment paper. Fill with dried beans or dried rice all the way up.
• Bake until the edges just start to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the parchment paper and dried beans. Prick the bottom of the pie crust with a fork to prevent bubbling and return to the oven and bake for 5 minutes more.

For the filling:

• Place pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a blender and blend until puree looks glossy (1-2 minutes).
• Transfer the mixture into saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir frequently and cook no longer than 5 minutes.
• In a large bowl beat the eggs, cream cheese, and heavy cream until combined, around 1-2 minutes
• Add in a few tablespoons of warm pumpkin mixture to warm the eggs and ensure that they don't cook when you add the rest of the pumpkin mixture and whisk until combined. Slowly whisk the rest of the pumpkin mixture until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla.
• Place the partially baked pie crust on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Carefully pour the warm pumpkin mixture into the warm pie crust.
• Turn down the oven to 190C (375F). Carefully transfer the baking sheet with the pie to the oven and bake around 50 minutes or until the center is almost set, it should be a little wobbly (a knife tip inserted in the center comes should come out wet but relatively clean,).
• Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack for 2-3 hours to cool completely. Cover tightly and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Tried this recipe?Tag @mihaela_biteitquick on Instagram! I would love to see what you've baked!