Pumpkin Pecan Pie (Thanksgiving Twofer Pie)

This pie…there are almost no words adequate to describe how wonderful it is. Dorie Greenspan calls this pumpkin pecan pie a “Twofer” Pie. Basically it’s pumpkin pie and pecan pie rolled into one. And it is genius!

The pie consists of a buttery crust, followed by a a layer of thick, rich pumpkin pie filling, and is topped with a layer of sweet pecan pie filling. See? No words.

As usual, I wasn’t sure if this was going to be the recipe for me. I have said before, and I’ll say it again–I am not a big fan of Pumpkin Pie. I am, however, a huge fan of Pecan Pie.

And as usual, we were wrong. This pie is actually very delicious. My husband said he was nominating it for “Thanksgiving Recipe of The Year 2008.”

I only made minor changes to the recipe. I used the Cooks’ Illustrated Fool Proof Pie Crust–the one with Vodka, but I included Dorie’s recipe below because it is also a fabulous crust. The other change I made was to add more spice. To the cinnamon and ginger listed in the recipe, I added a bit of ground cloves, allspice, nutmeg and cardamon.

All in all it really was a great pie. Definitely a keeper and one that we will make over and over and over again.

Pumpkin Pecan Pie (Thanksgiving “Twofer” Pie)

source – Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

For crust:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ tsp salt
9 tablespoon very cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
1 large egg yolk

For pumpkin filling:

1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
⅔ cup heavy cream
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoon dark rum
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
pinch ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt

For pecan filling:

½ cup light or dark corn syrup
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon  ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1 ½ cups pecan halves or pieces

Instructions:

For crust:

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine (or mix flour, sugar and salt in bowl if you will be using a pastry cutter).

Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in (or use a pastry cutter to get the same results). You should have some pieces the size of oatmeal fakes and others the size of peas.

Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing (or mixing with a fork) after each addition.

When the egg is in, process in long pulses- about 10 seconds each- until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change- heads up.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

To press the dough into the pan: butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Don’t be too heavy handed- press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture.

Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferable longer, before baking.

Center a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.

Butter the shiny side of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, against the crust. (since you froze it, you can bake it without weights).

Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes.

Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, carefully press it down with the back of a spoon. For partially baked crust, patch the crust if necessary, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack.

For the pumpkin filling:

Pulse all ingredients together in a food processor (or blender). Leave filling in bowl.

For the pecan filling:

In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients except pecans until smooth.

Preheat oven to 450°.

To assemble:

Give the pumpkin filling one last quick pulse, then remove bowl, rap it on counter to debubble batter, and pour filling into crust.

Top pumpkin filling evenly with pecans, then pour over pecan filling. Poke down any pecans that float to the top and aren’t covered with filling.

Bake pie for 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300° and bake for another 35–40 minutes, or until it is evenly puffed and a slender knife inserted into the center comes out clean (total baking time, 45 to 50 minutes).

Transfer pie to a cooling rack and let it stand until it is just warm or until it reaches room temperature.