Ina Garten-Inspired Pumpkin Pie
The cracked top, the weeping filling and the soggy base are all the same problem wearing three faces.
Tinned pumpkin purée is around ninety per cent water, and that water has to go somewhere. Cook the purée in a dry pan for ten minutes first, stirring, until it darkens, tightens and starts to stick — you will drive off a good deal of liquid and concentrate everything left behind. The custard then sets with less water to squeeze out, and the flavour goes from mild to unmistakably pumpkin.
The pan will look like a mud volcano. Keep the heat medium-low and keep stirring.
Jump to the recipe ↓Ina Garten-Inspired Pumpkin Pie
Serves 10 · Dessert
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 1 hr
- Total
- 4 hr
Moderate7 steps, 12 ingredients, over two hours
Ingredients
- 1 blind-baked shortcrust pastry case, 23 cm
- 1 x 425 g tin pumpkin purée
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 150 g light brown sugar
- 50 g caster sugar
- 3 eggs, plus 1 yolk
- 250 ml double cream
- 120 ml whole milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Method
- Heat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan).
- Cook the purée in a dry pan over medium-low, stirring, until it darkens and thickens.10 minutes
- Stir the spices and salt in and cook more.1 minute
- Off the heat, whisk in both sugars, then the eggs and yolk, then the cream, milk and vanilla.
- Pour into the warm blind-baked case — a warm case resists sogginess far better than a cold one.
- Bake. The edge should be set and the centre still wobble.45–55 minutes
- Cool completely, at least. It sets as it cools.3 hours
Bloom the spices in the hot purée
While the purée is still in the pan, stir the cinnamon, ginger and cloves in and give them a minute. Ground spices are largely fat- and heat-soluble; warmed in the purée they open up, whereas whisked cold into cream they stay dusty and separate.
Pull it while the centre still wobbles
A custard that is fully set in the oven is overcooked by the time it reaches the table — it keeps cooking as it cools, and that is what splits the surface. Take it out when the outer edge is firm and a circle in the middle the size of a plum still moves when you nudge the tin.
Blind bake, and mean it
Twenty minutes with baking beans, then ten more without, until the base is dry and sandy to the touch. A pale, underbaked case is a sponge, and a wet custard poured into it has nowhere to go but down.
Storing
Three days in the fridge, loosely covered. Do not freeze a baked custard pie — it separates on thawing and the texture goes grainy. The unbaked pastry case freezes perfectly.
Questions people ask
Why did my pumpkin pie crack?
It baked too long. Take it out while the centre still wobbles; it finishes setting as it cools.
Can I use fresh pumpkin?
Yes — roast and purée it, then reduce it in the pan the same way. Fresh purée is usually wetter than tinned, so expect to cook it longer.
Why is the base soggy?
Either the case was under blind-baked or it went in cold. Dry and warm is what you want.
Can I make it a day ahead?
Yes. It is better on day two, and it has to cool for hours anyway.
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