Creamy Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie and Thanksgiving go together like peas and carrots, beer and pizza, or dark chocolate and red wine (pick your poison, but I’ll take the wine and chocolate).  You know you’re going to have it when those leaves start turning colors, you can practically taste the pumpkin. Pumpkin pie spice has been sprinkled on EVERYTHING. It’s pie time.

This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission as an Amazon Associate (or other affiliate program) from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products that I use and trust.  

Jump to Recipe

Pie Time to Find a Recipe

 

Despite my love of baking, eating, and pumpkin pie, I did not have a “go-to” pumpkin pie recipe, and to be honest, that’s a bit embarrassing.  I make a pumpkin pie almost every year, but they don’t usually blow me away, so I try a new recipe the next year. One time, I did make a tasty pie, but I forgot which recipe I used!

 

Typical Colleen.  Tolleen. (Excuse the random inside joke here.)

Weeks ago, I asked my Facebook fans for recipe requests.  I wanted to know what y’all want to see me bake. Maybe new techniques, a new recipe, or a family favorite, comment below if you have suggestions!  I was so happy with the responses I got. Gluten free, giant cookies, vegan, gingerbread cookies… Cool beans!

 

And then a dear reader of mine dropped a bomb.  Pumpkin Pie. Oh dear me. I don’t have a pumpkin pie recipe!  Heck, I haven’t had great luck with them! How in the world am I going to make one worthy of my readers?  I considered going to Pinterest, but I wanted a source that I could 100% trust and that wasn’t the place.

 

 

Pumpkin Pie Gold

 

So I turned to my most reliable cookbook, The New Best Recipe by America’s Test Kitchen.  If you don’t own this already, I cannot recommend it enough! Not every recipe has been perfect for me, but it will teach you so much and I promise you will be successful in the kitchen with this cookbook by your side.

 

*Flips to pumpkin pie recipe, has a heart attack*

Before I tell you about my heart palpitations, let me first say that this homemade pumpkin pie was creamy, smooth, deliciously spiced, and the BEST pumpkin pie I can remember tasting.  I’m serious. In the past, my homemade pumpkin pies have curdled, been stringy, tasted like a vegetable, or been bland. Every single one of those issues is prevented in this recipe.

 

But it’s not easy.

 

It’s not necessarily hard either.

 

Print Recipe

 

Imma Break It Down For You

 

The truth of the matter is that this pie requires time management and that can be a tricky issue when you’re dealing with dough chilling, crust baking, and filling making.  It’s like performing choreography or reading sheet music. If you get ahead or fall behind, you run into trouble, but if you maintain a scheduled tempo, it flows together beautifully.

I loved this pie.  But it stressed me out because I was worried about getting my timing figured out.  In the end, my filling was going to be ready too early, so I let the pumpkin mixture simmer a bit longer before adding it to the eggs.  Timing is important, but if you read the recipe multiple times and know what needs to happen, you can accommodate for any timing errors.

 

This pumpkin pie was a success for me on the first try, but as I make it over the years, it will get better and be an easier dance to perform.  Even when a recipe looks intimidating, lots of time management and multitasking, remember that you’ve got this. Take a deep breath, read the recipe for the sixteenth time, and have confidence.

 

 

Okay.  Let’s Make This Pumpkin Pie

 

I started off with my Great Grandmother’s Pie Crust, not the crust in the cookbook.  It’s a dough I’m familiar with and I knew it would be a good fit for the pie. Check out my pie crust post for full details and instructions, but my best tip is too keep everything cold.  I used the food processor to pulse the shortening and flour/ salt mixture together.

 

In order to save myself a bit of stress, I made the dough the night before, flattened it into a disk, wrapped it in cling wrap and popped it in the fridge.  The next morning, I let the dough rest on the counter for about 20 minutes before rolling out.

The pie crust recipe is great, but I should have added another teaspoon of water (I did 4 tablespoons).  Flour can behave differently every day depending on weather conditions, that’s why the recipe gives you a range of 4- 6 tablespoons.  The more often you work with a dough, the easier it becomes to tell exactly how much moisture you need to add on any given day.

 

While I was rolling it out, I used my bench scraper to lift the dough and turn it in order to get a nice circle.  For the first time, I used my new pastry mat to roll out my dough.  This made such a difference!  It has circles with measurements that show you how far to roll the dough out.  I then used my bench scraper to lift the crust and roll it over the rolling pin so that I could transfer the dough into my pie plate.  This is the hardest part of me and I didn’t get it quite centered, so I had to patch it up a bit. We’ll just say it had a “rustic” look.

 

Related Reading: 10 Christmas Cookies to Make with Family

 

Creamy, Dreamy Filling

 

The filling recipe was very unique!  Canned pumpkin is actually not very smooth, so you need to puree it with your sugar, spice, and everything nice (or salt in this case).  This is the secret to the smooth texture. My brown sugar was quite lumpy, so this was important to smooth that out too.

Another key step is to cook the pumpkin pie mixture on the stove top.  Pumpkin pie filling is basically a custard and you want it to cook quickly so that the crust doesn’t get soggy.  By heating the mixture before putting it in the oven, you’ve already begun the cooking process.  Once the pumpkin and cream mixture is hot, do not add it to the eggs until your crust is out of the oven.

 

You want to add hot filling to a hot crust.  If your pumpkin is ready to join the eggs in the food processor, but your crust is still cooking, drop the heat and let the mix stay warm on the stove top.  Don’t let it boil or burn, keep stirring it.

 

Jump to Recipe

 

Pouring Some Pie Filling

 

A trick I learned from one of the dozen pumpkin pie recipes I’ve tried in the past is to pour the filling into the crust while it’s on the oven rack.  Did I just blow your mind?! Nah, you might have known that already. You don’t want to slosh your filling out of the pie, plus you want it to cook as soon as you add that wet filling to your crust, no soggy bottoms here, Mary! (Great British Bake Off anyone?)

The pie bakes for 22-25 minutes and it should have a slight jiggle in the center, like firm jello.  You don’t want to over bake it or the pumpkin pie filling will curdle and have an unpleasant texture.  The residual heat in the pie will continue to cook the filling as it cools on the rack. A curdled pie is no fun, but this recipe has some built in safety features.  The fat (milk and cream) and sugar helps to block this from happening.

 

 

Blunders

 

My pie crust was too dry and did have some crackage going on.  This time around the dough had trouble staying together, but you know what?  It still tasted darn good. Don’t sweat the small stuff.  If the pie dough is super crumbly, it’s under worked or too dry.  

This was just a lesson in dough texture and I was still super thrilled with transferring it into the pie plate.  That’s always the worst part for me, and I actually got it in pretty well, even if it was slightly off center. Small wins still count!

 

Enjoy!

 

I really think this recipe is unique in its technique and astounding in its flavor.  If you have been trying out a new pumpkin pie recipe each year (like me!) without finding The One, let me help you out. This is your new Thanksgiving Day Pie.  You’re welcome.

And guess what?  If you’re in the market for a different pumpkin treat, I highly recommend my Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes or even Pumpkin Pie Pancakes.  They are a whole lot easier to make and taste like Fall! Also, be sure to sign up for the Bakes & Blunders Resource Library and receive updates and my free baking tools.

My Favorite Products For This Recipe