Every once in a while, things just don't go right in the kitchen. Which is extremely frustrating. Generally, I'd just start over, leaving me with multiple pies (in this case) and also contributing to a lot of waste. This time, I refused to do that. I tried fixing the (multiple) errors and issues I encountered to make the pie look somewhat OK (still not great) and save it just enough. Flavour wise, it was great, couldn't tell the difference, aesthetically however...
This recipe is a classic case of do as I say not as I do. If you follow what I did exactly, you'll end up with a really ugly looking pie. If you do as I say, you may end up with a close to perfect pumpkin pie. Tips on how I salvaged my pie are peppered in the method, and would work for most other pies! So great tips to have in your back pocket either way.
Ingredients
All-Butter Pie Crust
325gr flour
1tsp salt
1tbsp sugar
230gr butter
4tbsp cold water
Pie Filling
70gr butter
113gr honey
170gr double cream
4 large eggs
50gr brown sugar
425gr pumpkin puree
2tsp cinnamon
1 1/2tsp ground ginger
1/2tsp vanilla paste
1tsp salt
1/2tsp nutmeg
Meringue Topping (optional)
3 egg whites
128gr white sugar
Method
1. Making the dough. Chop up the butter into small cubes. In a large bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar, and butter. Start rubbing the flour mixture into the butter until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add in the cold water and knead until a rough dough forms. If needed, add up to 2 more tbsp of water. Wrap in cling film and stick in the fridge for at least one hour.
2. Making the pie filling. In a small pot over medium/low heat, brown the butter. This requires stirring the melted butter by scraping the bottoms constantly, allowing it to come to a steady boil. You'll know the butter has browned when the bubbled become more of a foam, and the milk solids turn an amber colour.
3. Take the butter off the heat and add the honey carefully - this may splatter due to the honey's water content. Place back on the hob and cook for a further 5 minutes. Take the butter and honey mixture off the heat and add in the double cream slowly - again, carefully, as this may splatter. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, add the pumpkin puree, eggs, sugar, spices, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until well combined. Start adding the cream and honey mixture slowly, whisking as you pour it in and until smooth. Set aside.
5. Assembly. Roll out the dough around 3-4mm thick. Grease your pie tin and set the dough in the pie tin, pressing the dough to the bottom and edges. Cut the excess dough leaving around a 1inch overhang. Fold the overhang into the side of the pie dish, ensuring that the dough rests against the top edge of the pie dish, allowing it to hang onto it, so to speak. Using your knuckles, make indents into the dough (increasing the surface area) to create a wave effect.
6. This is where things started going wrong for me, because I didn't didn't do 2/3 of the upcoming details. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees celsius. (I did this!) stick the pie dough in the freezer for around 10-15 minutes (CRUCIAL - I DID NOT DO THIS), allowing the butter in the dough to chill. This will help ensure that the dough does not slump (mine slumped. A lot.) Once the dough has chilled, cover the inside of the pie with TWO layers of aluminium foil and fill with pie dough weights OR around 1.5kg-2kg of raw rice. (ALSO CRUCIAL. I DID NOT DO THIS. And because of this got a tonne of bubbles). Bake for 20 minutes.
7. After the 20 minutes have elapsed, take the pie crust out of the oven and VERY CAREFULLY take the aluminium foil and rice out of the pie crust (we double covered it so that the foil doesn't break when you try to remove the rice). If steam has collected at the bottom, just poke a hole using a fork in the middle. Turn the oven temperature down to 160 degrees celsius (!!) and place the pie crust back in the oven for a further 20 minutes.
8. Once the 20 minutes have elapsed, take the pie crust out of the oven and pour the pumpkin pie filling in the pie crust. Carefully place back in the oven for around 45 minutes-1hour. In theory, this should be the last step. If you do as I say and not as I do, you should be left with a perfect pumpkin pie.
But in my case, electronics worked against me. My oven temperature randomly went up to 220 degrees celsius again, so within 20 minutes, my crust started to burn, as did some of the filling. If you find yourself in this situation, stick the temperature down to a low 150 degrees.
9. In order to fix the aesthetics... if your pie crust edges have burnt to a crisp (as mine did), grab your microplane and SLOWLY and GENTLY, without rocking the microplane back and forth, grate the burnt tops of the pie crust away until nice and flat.
10. Making the meringue. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add the sugar slowly, just a few tablespoons at a time so as not to deflate the egg whites, and whisk further until the sugar has dissolved. The meringue will cover up any burnt bits or cracks in the filling. Sprinkle some sugar on top. Bake on 120 degrees celsius until the meringue has set.
Recreating this recipe? Tag me on instagram @juliawgr!
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