Easy Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Hey, I'm John Kanell, and today on Preppy Kitchen, we're making an easy, delicious pumpkin pie. So let's get started. First off, you have a choice. It's the crust. Are you gonna use a store-bought pie crust, in which case you're just gonna add the filling in, skip ahead in the video, or are you gonna have a homemade pie crust? This is a batch of my homemade pie dough. You can see it's marbled with butter throughout. It's gonna be flaky, crisp, buttery, and delicious. Grab a disc of it that's been chilled. Flour your surface well. Flour the top, and flour your rolling pin. We don't want anything to stick. You're gonna roll this out into about a 13 to 14-inch circle, and that's gonna go right into your nine-inch pie dish. Make sure you keep moving your pie dough as you roll, and if it's cracking really badly, just let it rest on the countertop for a few minutes. It means it's probably too cold. Pumpkin pie gets a bad rap, in my opinion. Some people think it doesn't have enough flavor. Some people think it's really difficult to make and get right, but it is a super easy pie with a silky pumpkin custard as the filling, lots of warming false spices, and the co-star, of course, a nice, crisp butter crust. If your crust doesn't taste good, you're just eating the filling out of the top and leaving the rest, which is disappointing. And I have a full video on how to make this pie dough on the channel, so you can click up here for that, and watch your way. Keep your pie crust moving. You can flip it over if you want. You can see I'm using a pastry mat. It is so convenient because it's silicone, so things really don't stick to it. You can use less flour. And if it's a really hot day and things are getting melty, lift it all up, take it to the fridge to cool down, and bring it back. Okay, that looks good. Gather your pie crust. And by the way, if you're making this pie crust specifically for a pumpkin pie, you can really add things to it. So instead of regular butter, you could use browned butter. Just make sure it's cold. You can add lovely fall spices to this. You could use half a teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg or allspice. Experiment, have fun with it, and make it tasty. Instead of pressing the pie crust in, scooch it in from the edge. You don't want it to shrink when you're baking. And if things look off-center, now is your time to fix that. Fold the edge in. I actually like the way this looks, but we're gonna crimp it up. So just use your thumb on one hand and your thumb and index finger on the other to push this together. You can get super fancy with this. I've done pumpkin pies where I cut out little pastry leaves and use egg wash to glue them so there's a wreath. As long as it's delicious, it'll be good. By the way, if you like my videos, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. There's two new recipes every single week. This looks pretty nice to me. I'm gonna pop this into the freezer while we mix our filling up so it has a chance to chill. You could also make this up to two days in advance and keep it in the fridge, or up to two months in advance and keep it in the freezer. Just have it wrapped up so it doesn't absorb any smells. My pie crust has been in the freezer for 20 minutes, and I'm gonna do an optional step, which I love, called parbaking. It's gonna give you a really crisp, golden crust. Preheat your oven to 425, and we're gonna do just a couple steps to get this oven ready so it doesn't all slump into nothing. Grab some parchment paper and press that in. I tripled up some heavy-duty aluminum foil and just popped it in place here like this. You wanna press it against the edges. This is what's going to support your pie crust from falling down in the oven. And now we're gonna fill this up with either pie weights or dried beans. Pop this into the oven, 425, for 15 minutes, and then we'll get all this junk out. And in the meantime, we can make our filling. Once your crust is all sorted, mine's been parbaked. If you're using a store-bought pie crust, this is where you would start. Set your oven to 400 degrees, and now in a large bowl, we're gonna add 3 1⁄4 of a cup, or 160 grams, of light brown sugar. 165 grams, sorry. Okay, I'm crumbling it in here just so I can find any little hidden rocks, which would be difficult to mix. It's almost funny that this is called pumpkin pie because the pie itself, pumpkin is such a light, very subtle flavor. It doesn't slap you in the face. What you're gonna be tasting is the brown sugar and your warming spices. So think of this as your flavor base. Do not skimp on these, and make sure that you're using your favorite. If you don't like any of these, substitute for something else. 1⁄2 a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1⁄2 a teaspoon of ground ginger. I'm using rounded 1⁄2 teaspoons here because I want a little bit of extra flavor. Cloves are one of my favorite spices, but you use it in moderation. So I'm gonna go for 1⁄8 of a teaspoon, which is just a pinch. That's enough. Also love nutmeg, especially if it's freshly grated. 1⁄4 of a teaspoon of nutmeg, freshly. 1⁄4 teaspoon of nutmeg, freshly grated or powdered. I'm also adding in 1⁄2 a teaspoon of salt. If you did not add salt to your pie, you would be tasting almost nothing. The salt will help you taste. I'm gonna grab a whisk right now. And this'll give us a quick mix, just to get it started, and also to help me find any hidden lumps. I don't like those. To this sweet mixture, I'm adding a 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree. If you want to process your own pumpkins, go ahead. Make sure you're using not a decorative pumpkin, but one that's made to eat. I think they're called sugar pie pumpkins. And I'm not sponsored at all, but I do like using Libby's. Consistently good texture, color, and taste. I've tried a lot of different brands. And if you're watching this for some reason outside of the U.S. and you wanna make this recipe, you'll have to find a grocery store with an American section and buy some pumpkin. That's how you do it. Pumpkin's not a thing internationally for sweet stuff. Like in Germany, there's pumpkin this, pumpkin that. But it's like pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin roasted with some meat, not sweets. One 12-ounce can of evaporated milk. And if you don't want to use evaporated milk, you could use half and half. That's totally fine. I need three eggs to help set this custard, but I do not want a single hint of an eggshell, so crack this into a small bowl. And we can just be sure, do a double check. One, two, check again, perfect. And three. By the way, canned pumpkin puree has more moisture than your homemade pumpkin puree, so just be forewarned, you might have to add a little bit of extra liquid if you're using homemade pumpkin puree. Three eggs. That's everything for my filling. If you wanted to, you could add a teaspoon or two of vanilla for some extra flavor, but I'm adding vanilla to the whipped cream I serve with this, so I'm skipping that optional step. Okay, we're gonna give this a mix, and you want this really well combined, no lumps. But you also don't want to do this in a food processor or with a blender. That would introduce so many bubbles, and the bubbles will expand in the oven and give you not a creamy texture at all. It'll be kind of cracked and dry. So, just some gentle, smooth whisking until everything is nice and combined. Don't be too aggressive. This is a gentle custard. This is mixed up and smooth. I'm gonna set this aside, grab your pie crust, and we're gonna remove the supports because this is not edible. Your dried beans and your aluminum foil support can totally be reused multiple times. Don't forget to remove your paper. So, I par-baked this. The top looks nice, but you can see it's still rather, like, fairly raw underneath. This will finish baking through once I have the filling in. Actually, before I pour the filling in, I'm gonna give this a really quick egg wash just on the edge so it's golden and beautiful. It's optional, but I actually had an egg wash already, so I might as well use it. Lightly egg washed, now it's time to pour our filling carefully in. Stunning. This looks so good, but it's quite full and I'm a bit nervous, so I will be baking this on a rimmed baking sheet just so it's easier to transport. Okay, my pumpkin pie is ready to pop into the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce to 350, and we're gonna bake it until the edge is set and the center jiggles slightly. It'll finish baking once it's out of the oven, like the residual heat will let it set. That'll be about 40 minutes, but keep an eye on it. When you reduce heat, take a look at the crust. If it looks like it's taking on color already, definitely tent it. I usually tent it just as a matter of protection. In you go. Allow your pie to cool completely before cutting it. You could also loosely cover it and pop it into the fridge for up to two days or freeze it for up to a month. Just make sure you thaw it overnight before using. Beautiful. And you can see the bottom is fully cooked. Listen to this. Not a soggy crust. Top with a big dollop of whipped cream, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and it's ready to enjoy. Someone asked if you could help with the video by giving me a taste test. So, Lachlan, would you like to take a bite? All right, let's take a bite. Mm. Okay, how come you get the whipped cream? Creamy, full of flavor, and that crust is crisp on the bottom. I hope you get a chance to make this delicious recipe, and if you like my videos, hit that subscribe button and check out my Thanksgiving playlist. Mm. Mm, good. Yeah. Bye bye.