Meta Given's Pumpkin Pie
An underrated gem, if you ask us.
First thing's first: whip up some pie crust (we like lapadia's simple Himalayan Blackberry Pie crust, also on FOOD52). We also like measuring flour with the old dip-and-sweep.
Super cold cubes of butter, come on down!
Pulse that food processor (or use a pastry cutter or your fingers) just until the butter and flour look like this.
Then dribble in some ice water.
Till it looks like this!
Moosh that dough into a disk and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. Go measure some spices or something.
See the little flecks of butter? Those babies will steam up into pockets of flaky, airy pastry.
Rolling between two floured sheets of plastic wrap is such a good short cut it should be illegal.
Like a delicious blanket.
Now trim your overreaching edges (bake those up on their own with a little sugar: pie cookies!).
And if you don't feel like crimping, don't crimp! Just tuck the edges under. And stick it back in the fridge while you turn to filling.
Regular pumpkin pie would have you bake with this pumpkin puree -- pretty, but sort of predictable, don't you think?
We like to push our pumpkin to the limit -- by cooking it down and caramelizing it. Extreme pumpkin pie.
A shower of sugar, spice (cinnamon + ginger), and everything nice.
It looks like this (and smells out of this world).
Eggs, milk, and cream, do your worst.
Starting to look like pumpkin pie, right?
Quick! To the oven! (No blind-baking required.)
Just 25 minutes till pie.
Going all the way to 400 degrees makes for a crispy golden crust and puffed middle.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Author Notes: Caramelizing the pumpkin puree means that this is a pie with guts, one that won't just sit there phoning in the pumpkin flavor, burying it under lots of spice. But its genius is much more than that. You don't have to blind bake the crust. You use real milk and cream instead of evaporated milk, with predictably better results. And because you blast it at 400 degrees the whole time, it bakes in 25 minutes -- less than half the time of your average back-of-the-can recipe. From Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, an underrated gem of a cookbook. —Genius Recipes
Serves 6
- 1 3/4 cups canned or fresh cooked pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- Unbaked, unpricked, chilled 9-inch pie shell (we like lapadia's simple Himalayan Blackberry Pie crust, also on FOOD52)
- Turn pumpkin into saucepan and stir over direct heat for 10 minutes until somewhat dry and slightly caramelized, stirring frequently. Remove from heat but keep hot.
- Mix thoroughly together the sugar, salt, and spices, and stir into hot pumpkin.
- Beat eggs, add cream and milk, and beat into pumpkin mixture until smooth.
- Pour immediately into unpricked pastry-lined pie pan and bake in a moderately hot oven (400° F) for 25 to 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and only an inch circle in the center of the filling remains liquid. Cool thoroughly on cake rack before cutting.
- Note: Perfectly baked pumpkin pie has no cracks on its surface. Baking hot filling in a chilled crust at 400° F for 25 to 30 minutes produces a smooth, shiny good textured custard and a well-baked crust free from soaking. But if your pie dish is thicker glass or ceramic instead of metal, or you loathe underdone bottom crust, you might still want to blind bake it a little. Here's what we'd recommend: Blind bake at 350 F lined with parchment and filled with baking beans/weights until sides are dry and firm, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove weights, then bake until completely dry and firm (including bottom crust) and starting to turn golden, 5 to 10 minutes more. Cool thoroughly. Then watch the pie closely as it bakes -- it might be done early, since the cold raw crust isn't there to protect it. And if the edges are starting to look wrinkled while the middle is very jiggly, turn the heat down to 350.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes: Vegetables|Desserts|Pies & Tarts|Blackberries|Tarts
Topics: Thanksgiving, Pie
10 months ago Uyen Phillips
Delish!! Guests at my thanskgiving dinner couldn't get enough of it. I love that the added spices were subtle, yet detectable. I will never agian buy store bought pies, even from premium grocery stores. Thanks for the recipe!
10 months ago Vivian Robbins
I just made this pie, following the recipe very closely, and I had to nearly double the baking time. The filling was still very fluid when I checked it at 25-35 minutes. When it finally did set, there were cracks in the top. Any suggestions about what went wrong?
10 months ago Natalie Remington
This is what I learned from my grandma (re: pumpkin pies) and it works for me: 1. if the filling balloons or puffs up, then lower the baking temperature - you are not baking a soufflé but a custard and custard needs a lower temp 2. allow the pie to cool in the oven; that can be difficult to coordinate with all the holiday baking going on so my grandma was known to cool pumpkin pies on top of her hot water heater, covered with a loosely-woven dishcloth 3. never ever put a hot or even warm custard pie in the refrigerator because the rapid change in temperature will cause the cracks and 4. based on your comment, this may be where you went wrong, turn-off oven (or remove pie from oven if you are cooling it on the old water heater?) before the center is set. It's hard to do this, at first, because we learn to test cakes by checking to see if the center is set and cooked through. Don't worry, the pie will continue to bake as you transition it from 350* to room temperature and the center will set.
10 months ago Natalie Remington
I was recently diagnosed with celiac disease and Thanksgiving was my first holiday following a strict gluten free (gf) diet. If I wanted pie, I was going to have to bring my own to the party. I made a crust with gf ginger snaps and butter and followed this recipe as written. I thought I would have plenty of "my" pie left-over to have with coffee in the morning. I never could have anticipated how quickly the pie would be eaten! People who say they don't care for pumpkin pie ate this one and raved about it. And, my 9-year old daughter did most of the work on it. I don't think pumpkin pie gets any better than this.
10 months ago Megan Chu
I'm using the pyrex glass pit plate 9". Is it "thicker glass" and do I need to blind bake it?
10 months ago Hiromi Motojima
This time, I had some left over filling. As I was eating the filling, I had an great idea to make cream puff with this filling! So that's what I am going to do for Thanksgiving dinner at my friend's house.
10 months ago Janet
I've been making this recipe for the last 2 yrs my grandson loves it he says it more like a custard....I usually put the left over pumpkin into a ramekin for him...
11 months ago p.k
Can I make this with an already baked graham cracker crust?
11 months ago AnnaChris
I made this today and just enjoyed my first scrumptious slice. To amp up the flavor a bit, I used dark brown sugar in place of white and added a tablespoon of bourbon to the pumpkin puree before cooking it. The pie took about 45 minutes of cooking to set and I had to loosely cover it with foil halfway through to avoid burning the crust, but the end result was divine.
11 months ago Hiromi Motojima
This was a huge hit at our Halloween party at school. I will have to make this again for Thanksgiving!
12 months ago Deedledum
Wow, I've got both volumes of this set. I love old recipe books!
over 1 year ago Rosemarie Moran Bush
I just found my 1953 Meta Given's Cookbook and I am delighted to have this recipe known as Pumpkin Pie #2. Cannot wait to try this pie next holiday season.
almost 2 years ago Stacy Fraser
This is the best pumpkin pie I've had by far. Great recipe!
almost 2 years ago scootermagoo
Brilliant! This is THE recipe I've been looking for (with an added touch of nutmeg). Big hit for Thanksgiving. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
almost 2 years ago Connie
Wow. Just. Wow. I had about 1/2 can of pumpkin left over from Thanksgiving in which I made different pie. I scaled down this recipe to accommodate my limited amount of pumpkin and with a pate sable crust, I baked it in a tart pan. Incredible! I baked about 20 minutes for the tart and it was perfectly set.
almost 2 years ago mdm
My new go-to for pumpkin pie -- we all loved it! (oh, and used milk instead of cream, and it was still delicious)
almost 2 years ago Chevelle
I followed this recipe to a T, did not blind bake or anything and it turned out fabulous! I made my own crust- only the second time ever I have done this. The pie was a huge hit, everyone loved the driver and consistency of the pie and the crust was perfect! I am no baker, so I was quite pleased with the genius of this recipe!!!
almost 2 years ago Kendall S.
I used whipping cream for the cream and single cream for the milk (I am in the UK and I only had skimmed milk in fridge), Libby's pumkin puree, Just Roll shortcrust pastry. I did not blind bake but it probably took about 45 minutes in bottom right of Aga. IT WAS THE BEST PIE EVER!
almost 2 years ago pamelalee
The filling of this recipe baked in the gingersnap crust from https://food52.com/recipes... made this the best Thanksgiving pumpkin pie ever!
almost 2 years ago ghainskom
Does take a little longer to bake but so worth the wait!
almost 2 years ago Kristy Morrill
My pie took quite a bit longer to firm up and the top got browned a lot. But it looks like it is fine...anyone else have a long time cooking and getting too brown?
10 months ago Randi
Yes! It is in the oven now, 35 minutes so far ans I just added another 5 min to timer.
10 months ago Sarah
Me too! 30 minutes in the oven and it's completely liquid still.