The Best Pumpkin Pie

This is worth skipping a second helping of stuffing

Posted on November 12, 2018

Back in the bake sale bakery days, we would start to ramp up our pie production beginning in November. We would bake all night on the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and open only until 10am on Thursday for pie pick-up. It was a hectic morning with lots of harried cooks rushing in to get their pies and hurrying home to keep the dinner going.

We became famous for our pumpkin pie. It is one of the most requested recipes from the bakery and I am happy to share it with you for the holidays, too.

It should be noted that I use canned pumpkin, as I have found it is the most consistent for baking and produces a nicely flavored pie. Roasting a pumpkin is fine if you want to go to all the work, but in my opinion, leave that for the Pilgrims — you can’t really beat Libby’s.

I am only including the recipe for the filling so that you may use your own favorite, fool-proof crust. But if you want to use my recipe, search “Pumpkin Pie Throwdown” on my blog, Bread and Butter is my Jam, and you’ll find the recipe for this pie and its crust.

At the bakery, we used a half-butter, half-Crisco combination for the crust, which proved to be both buttery in flavor and flakey in texture. Be sure to blind bake the crust, otherwise your pie will be soggy on the bottom. Full instructions for blind baking are also on the blog.

The secret to this pie’s deliciousness is the real maple syrup in the filling. Don’t use imitation; it will not have the same result. Try to use freshly grated nutmeg, too. I’ve tried it with both and the freshly grated makes a big difference. Terryl Gavre, owner of Café 222 and co-owner of Bankers Hill Bar + Restaurant; breadandbutterismyjam.com, @terrylgavre

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Ingredients:

2 cups canned pumpkin
¾ cup cream
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup milk
2 whole large eggs
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp real maple syrup
½ tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine cream, vanilla, milk, eggs, yolks, and sugar.
2. Add pumpkin, syrup, and spices and mix well with whisk.
3. Pour into warm, blind-baked pie shell.
4. Bake at 325º until just set (about 45 minutes).
5. Center will wiggle slightly, but top should not be wet.
6. Let cool at room temperature, then refrigerate overnight.
7. Serve with fresh whipped cream spiced with grated nutmeg.

The Best Pumpkin Pie