Spiced Pumpkin Pie
Updated June 6, 2024

- Total Time
- 3 hours, plus chilling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1¼cups/160 grams all-purpose flour
- ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
- 10tablespoons/140 grams unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 2 to 4tablespoons ice water, as needed
- 1cup heavy cream
- 1cinnamon stick
- 2petals from a star-anise pod (not the whole pod)
- 1whole clove
- 1tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1teaspoon cardamom pods
- ½teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1¾cups pumpkin or butternut squash purée (homemade or from a 15-ounce can)
- ¾cup/165 grams dark brown sugar
- 2large eggs
- 2large egg yolks
- 2tablespoons dark rum
- 2teaspoons ground ginger
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
For the Crust
For the Filling
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the crust: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Using your fingers, rub in the butter until it is the size of peas. Drizzle in water until the dough comes together when squeezed.
- Step 2
Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Working a palm-size chunk at a time, use the heel of your hand to smear the dough across the work surface. Continue until all the dough has been smeared, then gather it all together, flatten into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
- Step 3
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate; fold the edges over and crimp. Prick crust all over with a fork and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Step 4
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line chilled crust with foil and pie weights, then bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake until pale golden, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Transfer to a rack to cool. Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.
- Step 5
Make the filling: In a medium pot, combine the cream, cinnamon stick, star anise petals, clove, fresh ginger, cardamom and peppercorns, and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 1 hour. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl.
- Step 6
Whisk in pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, yolks, rum, ground ginger, salt and nutmeg. Pour into par-baked shell, transfer to a baking sheet, and bake until crust is golden and center is slightly jiggly, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
Private Notes
Comments
To save time, do step 5 right after Step 3 because the spicy cream mixture in Step 5 has to steep for 1 whole hour!
I make the filling in the food processor. It creates a smooth, creamy filling. Make the pie crust in the food processor, wipe it out and add all the filling ingredients. Refrigerate both overnight. The filling needs a day for the spices to get even more delicious.
Is it possible to make the crust ahead of time, parbake, and freeze? Can I also make the filling one day ahead and leave in fridge until ready to bake? or... should i just bake it the day before?
Never Again. Huge Melissa Clark fan, but this is just not worth the effort. Honestly, this pie broke me. I roasted a squash, steeped all the fresh, expensive spices, let everything bloom in the fridge for two days - and while the flavor was more sophisticated, next time I am going with a store-bought crust and the Libby's recipe.
I used ground spices and added them in. I did use fresh ginger and it gave it a nice kick.
I was hoping this would end up in my bookmarks as “THE pumpkin pie”, but unfortunately I am still searching. Hated the rum in this, next time I would likely leave that out. It completely overwhelmed the rest of the flavors. The pie crust was a dream - easy to make and work with, however, pricking the bottom was not enough to keep it from bubbling, I’ll have to figure something else out in the future.
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