Make Pumpkin Pies With A Little Extra Flair

Create a fall harvest classic topped with leaves made from the perfect flaky pie crust dough

If it's fall, it's time for pumpkin pie.  This recipe just fills the house with wonderful aromas that say Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  I make my pies using my mom's pie crust recipe.  She adds a bit of cream cheese in the recipe and it makes an incredibly flaky crust.  For a little extra flair, I've also taken a second crust and cut falls leaves, using a special pastry cutter, and decorated the top of the pie just as it comes from the oven.  This is an optional step but it certainly gives the pie a festive look.

Pumpkin Pie With Optional Pastry Leaf Topping

Pie Crust
makes two pie crusts

Ingredients


2 1/2 cu Flour

3/4 cu Cold Butter

6 oz Cream Cheese

Method


Cut margarine into small cubes. Cut or pull cream cheese into small pieces.  Combine all three ingredients. Using your fingers, mix to form a dough (you can also put ingredients in a large food processor and process until dough forms a ball). Knead for about 30 seconds.  Split dough into two equal parts and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. 

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients


1 Pie Crust (1/2 of crust recipe above)

2 1/2 cu Pumpkin
1 cu Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 cu Granulated sugar

1/2 cu Brown Sugar
3 lg Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Pastry Leaf Topping (optional)

Fall Leaf Pastry Cutters (resource link down below)
1 Pie Crust (1/2 of crust recipe above)

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Roll out one pie crust and transfer it to a pie pan. Crimp edges of crust using your fingers. Place plan on a baking sheet and set aside.


In a large bowl, mix pumpkin with granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Add milk, eggs, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon.  Pour mixture into crust.  Loosely tent the pie with aluminum foil that is domed high enough so that the filling won't come in contact with it during the cooking process.

Place pie in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 50-60 minutes or until filling is set. Carefully remove the aluminum for the last 20 minutes of the baking process so crust can brown. Remove pie from oven and allow to cool.

If you want to include the leaves for your pie, roll out the second pie crust to the same thickness as the first crust.  Using pastry cutters, cut out as many leaves (or whatever cutter pattern you choose) as you can.  Take the scraps and roll them out again to cut additional leaves.  Place the leaves on a baking sheet and place them in the oven along with the pie once you've lowered the temperature to 350 degrees.  Bake for 15-20 or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool while pie is baking.  Once you remove the pie from the oven, carefully arrange the leaves on the pie, slightly pressing them into the slowly settling pie surface.

If you have any comments or questions, please send me an email at wayne@waynesweekend.com or follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

Resources

Pie cutters similar to the ones used in this segment are available online at Williams-Sonoma. Additional versions are available at this online retailer.
 

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