In the Kitchen: The Struggle for the Perfect Pumpkin Pie
Perfect Pumpkin Pie & Apple Crumb Pie
Pumpkin Pie is no doubt one of the best things about Thanksgiving and fall in general. I think I’ve tried every pumpkin pie recipe known to man trying to find the very best one. Some just never had the right spice levels and the others just never had the right cook time. But this recipe has become my favorite pumpkin pie recipe. THE pumpkin pie recipe that has been taken to Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, and everything in between. It truly is the PERFECT pumpkin pie if there ever was one.
Except this year I decided, for whatever reason, I wanted to make my own pie crust. Hey my great-grandma used to do it all the time. I have this in my blood. I got this. I thought to myself except when the time came…I did not have this. Not even a little bit. Actually that’s not exactly true, but I’m getting ahead of myself. I may have thought this would be a good idea because I just finally wanted to give it a go or maybe I just really wanted an excuse to get a pie dish. Nevertheless I truly did try. Especially because Bon Appetit’s original recipe calls for a butter pie crust (even links to a recipe for one), and I couldn’t pass that up.
Ultimately, the only reason my butter pie crust didn’t work was the lack of weight keeping the pie crust in place during the initial bake. I tasted it and it was buttery, flaky and perfect. One might even say delicious even just a bit shrunken. About as shrunken as my confidence and mood when it didn’t work out. I really was looking forward to not using pre-shaped frozen pie crusts from the store (as pictured here) since those really aren’t all that fun to work with either. It’s not like anyone really cared all that much. All the pie disappeared pretty quickly. I can’t say I won’t ever try to make crust again, but I’m going to put it off as long as possible that’s for sure.
That said, this recipe has truly become second nature to me. It’s my favorite pumpkin pie recipe and will be for years to come. This is my adaptation with instructions I follow for using pre-made pie crust. If you are interested (and skilled enough) to use your own crust, you can find the full recipe here.
Adapted from Bon Appetit