Pumpkin Praline Pie
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
Just when you thought you had your Thanksgiving meal set, I put this post out there about my friend Kate’s Pumpkin Praline Pie. She describes it as one of the more involved pies she’s baked, but that it’s delicious and, perhaps, deserving to be called her new favorite.
Kate has a passion for baking pies. Her initial inspiration came from the movie Waitress. If you haven’t seen it, in the movie Keri Russell’s character is constantly baking pies. Since watching that movie, Kate is always trying new recipes. She regularly sends me photos (she lives in Atlanta so I have to be satisfied with eye candy only) and tells me about all the pies she’s tried. The photo above is courtesy of Kate.
Since I don’t do much baking, I thought I would share some of her kitchen adventures with you and have Kate guest-blog occasionally. In this post, she references a homemade crust, but we don’t get into it this time. Perhaps we’ll have to touch on that subject in an upcoming post. Enjoy!
Pumpkin Praline Pie
Fall is my favorite time of year to cozy up and bake pies so I was thrilled when Katie asked me to guest blog on her site. I started on this endeavor of learning the art of pie-making a few years ago when my son was born. My sister bought me a used copy of Pie by Ken Haedrich. I never would have imagined the number of pies that I would make from this bible for pie-makers. Haedrich has an amazing approach that makes even the most complex pie feel like something you can master in your own kitchen. The recipes are tried and tested and many of them are even tweaked from the original owner. The real gem of this book, however, comes from the pages and pages of techniques and ingredient secrets.
With my mother-in-law’s birthday approaching, I asked her for her pie request. She immediately said that pumpkin pie was her favorite. So I thought about that and made a few decisions right from the start. 1. I would make it with real sugar pumpkins and 2. I would have to find something that was special…no regular pumpkin pie that you whip up last minute before Thanksgiving.
I opened up my favorite Pie book in search of the perfect pumpkin pie and, I dare say, I might have found it in Diane’s Pumpkin Praline Pie. Haedrich took this particular recipe from a cook and cookbook author in California named Diane Rossen Worthington. In introducing it, he was quick to point out that there are two kinds of pumpkin pie. The kind for pumpkin pie purists “bereft of fanfare and flourishes” and the kind that really wow a crowd because they are so over-the-top. I’m guessing you know which category this pie falls into.
I spent the first day preparing my crust – a basic flaky pie crust that I have made dozens of times and could do in my sleep. Next it was time to learn how to roast my adorable little sugar pumpkins that I picked up from Berry Patch Farms, my local pumpkin patch. It is amazing how simple it is to create fresh pumpkin puree for pie-making. Simply place the clean halves of the pumpkins facing up or down and roast them at 375 degrees with a little water in the bottom of the pan. After 50 minutes you will have soft fleshy pumpkin that is falling from the skin. A good tip is to wait and let it cool before scooping it out.
Day two of the Pumpkin Praline Pie was to roll out my crust and create this beautiful pie. This is really a three part pie, so as someone who loves the art and process of pie – making it is a fun project. It involves pre-baking the crust, baking the pumpkin pie and broiling the praline as the finishing touch. After a long day in the kitchen I sat and looked at my pie hoping that perhaps this pumpkin pie would change my mind about pumpkin pie, which I usually do not prefer…it did not disappoint.
Diane’s Pumpkin Praline Pie
From Pie by Ken Haedrich
1 single pie crust (homemade please!)
Filling
3 large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 ¾ cup fresh pumpkin puree or 15oz of canned puree
¼ cup light cream or half and half
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
3 Tbsp bourbon or 1 tsp vanilla extract
Praline Topping
1 ¼ cups chopped pecans
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp heavy or whipping cream
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Garnish
Fresh Whipped Cream (I added 2 tsp of pumpkin spice for every ½ cup of whipped cream and it was the perfect addition to this pie)
Prepare pastry and refrigerate for 1 hour before rolling it out.
Roll out pastry into 13 inch circle on a lightly floured piece of wax paper. Invert over a 9 ½ inch deep dish pie pan. Carefully pull off the wax paper and tuck the pastry into the pan. With your hands form an upstanding ridge. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.
Prebake your pie crust by placing a piece of foil over the crust and tuck it in so that it is a second shell but leave top of foil like wings so that you can easily grab them. Fill the foil with dried beans or pie beads (if you are fancy!) Place in preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Slide rack out and remove foil with beans. Prick the crust with a fork all over and twist slightly to enlarge the holes. Lower oven temp to 375 degrees and continue baking 10-12 minutes. The crust might pull a little or bubble. Prick the bubbles with fork and use back of spoon to push the crust gently back to the pie pan. Let cool. Lower oven temp to 350 degree.
Combine eggs and sugar in large bowl. Using mixer beat on high speed until light and lemon colored, about 3 minutes. Add the pumpkin, light cream, salt, spices and bourbon. Blend on low speed until evenly mixed. Pour filling into cooled pie shell.
Place pie on center oven rack for 20 minutes. Make sure you rotate the pie 180 degrees then continue to bake 40-45 minutes until filling is set. When done, the perimeter of the pie will have puffed slightly. Also the center will look a little glossy. Transfer pie to rack and cool completely.
Preheat broiler and adjust one of the oven racks so that it is 6-8 inches away from the broiler. Combine all praline toppings and scrape over cooled pie evenly. Place pie on the oven rack and let bake until melted and bubbly. This whole process will take about a minute and you should rotate the pie as it is broiling. Do NOT walk away! Transfer to wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Serve with fresh whipped cream (see note above). You can also add some pecan halves for show as a finishing touch on top. Just press into the warm praline.



















