Who needs this Gingered Up Pumpkin Pie ? You do! Thanksgiving only comes once a year so it’s best to do right by it. All the flavors and aromas will empower your senses with a sense of calm in the midst of our current storm. Time in the kitchen is a form of distraction therapy. This doesn’t look like your normal pumpkin pie, nor is it meant to taste like it either. Filled with surprises, there will be a big grin on your face as you taste it.
The Crust:
You can either use a prepared store-bough crust, or make your own such as my Ultimate All-Butter Pie Crust recipe. Either way, it is blind-baked before you place the filling in its shell. If you make your own crust, you will probably have a bit of dough leftover for some creative cut outs like you see above. These leaves were cooked in the last part of the blind-baking process along with brushing them with a frothy egg white mixture like the pie crust shell. Please see directions on that post linked above for specifics.
The Filling:
Next, blend together the eggs, sugar and molasses. Follow this with the the additions of the pumpkin puree, ginger and orange zest.
Then, add in the spices and salt; the appearance of the mixture will darken. Finally, blend in the heavy cream until thoroughly mixed in with no streaks remaining.
It will lighten up again, slightly.
The Flavor Layer:
Here’s the surprise ingredient; crushed gingersnaps. Talk about a flavor boost! Press it gently into the prepared crust
Fill it up!
Now we are ready to fill the pie!
Spread filling evenly and place onto a baking sheet lined with foil as a precaution for possible spills while baking. This pie dish is for a deep dish pie so fingers are crossed that there won’t be any unnecessary clean up. You may foil up the crust to prevent over browning or use a pie crust shield.
Baking:
After baking for 40 minutes, I spread my Gingerbread Granola , I prepared ahead of time, around its edges or you can use a streusel mixture, but this just “gingering” it up more! If you prefer to do without it, because you don’t like nuts or are allergic to them, It would still have the gingersnap layer on the bottom to add more ginger flavor! I placed the 12 leaves at clock positions. That will help portioning it to make this pie go further, maybe…
Bake it for an additional 20 minutes. Allow it to cool completely on rack before slicing. Oh, YUM!
Eating: My favorite part!
Perfection in every bite!
Cook time:
Total time:
- 1-prepared All-Butter Pie Crust, blind-baked
- ½ c. crushed gingersnaps or ginger cookies
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ c. dark brown sugar
- 1 T. molasses
- 1- 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
- 1 T. fresh ginger, grated *Substitute ¼ t ground ginger in place of fresh
- 1 t. orange zest
- ½ t. allspice
- ½ t. cinnamon
- ¼ t. cloves
- ¼ t. nutmeg, freshly ground if possible
- ½ t. Kosher salt
- 1 c. heavy cream
- Streusel topping:*(Optional to Gingerbread Granola topping:)
- ¼ c. crushed gingersnaps or ginger cookies
- ¼ c. pecan or pumpkin seeds
- 2 T. crystalized ginger, chopped
- 3 T. melted butter
- Blind bake pie crust as directed in post linked above. Cool to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- To be on the safe side, as with most pies, line a baking sheet with foil to catch any spills.
- Blend together eggs, dark brown sugar, molasses.
- Add puree with spices, grated ginger and salt until well blended.
- Slowly whisk in heavy cream until well incorporated.
- Spread ½ cup of crushed gingersnaps or ginger cookies evenly across the bottom of cooled pie crust. Gently press down.
- Pour pumpkin mixture slowly on top of crushed cookies.
- Bake for about 40 minutes.
- Remove pie from oven and sprinkle Gingerbread Granola or Streusel Topping along the edges and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.
- Finally, place pie on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely at room temperature before serving.
- Streusel Topping:(*optional to Gingerbread Granola Topping)
- Combine all of the streusel topping ingredients until well coated with butter.
- Sprinkle streusel over pie at the end of the 40 minute time period stated above.
- If pie crust is golden brown at this point, cover it with pie shield or foil gently crimped around crust to prevent further browning.
- Continue to bake pie for approximately 15- 20 minutes or until pie puffs in the center.
- Remove pie from oven to a cooling rack until it's at room temperature.
