Extra Creamy Pumpkin Pie

T

his pumpkin pie is hands down the best pumpkin pie you will ever taste! It is so creamy with a perfectly smooth texture. What is the secret? Cream cheese. It is not a large amount of cream cheese, just 8 ounces but it makes all the difference in the world. Many people may not even know cream cheese has been added. The second key is using real heavy whipping cream. So many people use evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk. These pumpkin pie recipes were put on the sides of cans to sell products but are nowhere near as flavorful or creamy as using the real deal. So, take our pumpkin pie challenge this Thanksgiving and try adding cream cheese and real cream to pumpkin pie…your friends and family will taste the difference!

Ingredients:

1 recipe Perfect Pie Crust (linked below)

https://sweeterthymes.com/2019/11/21/perfect-pie-crust-101/

8 oz cream cheese room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

15 oz can of pumpkin puree

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs plus one egg yolk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

egg wash:

2 eggs

2 Tbsp. heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Beat cream cheese and both sugars until smooth.
2. Add remaining ingredients and beat until well incorporated.
3. Let mixture sit in the bowl while crust is prepared. Stir occasionally helping any air bubbles release from the mixture.
4. Prepare pie crust and place on cookie sheet, blind bake at 400° for 10 minutes.
5. Pull out oven rack and egg wash the inside of the crust, push back and bake an additional 5 minutes.
6. Remove cookie sheet from the oven and reduce oven temperature to 350°.
7. Pour pie filing into crust (all pie pans are different so be careful to not overfill the shell).
8. Place back in oven and back for 40-45 minutes or until center is slightly jiggly but set.
9. Turn off the oven and crack open the oven door, allow the pie to sit in the oven for an additional 30 minutes. This will help prevent cracking.
10. Cool to room temperature before refrigerating. This will prevent the pie from sweating and building beads of moisture on top of custard.

Tips:

• I like to use mini leaf or other fall cookie cutters to create a fun and festive boarder to my pie. To do this use the pie scraps and adhere the cut-outs with egg to the edge of the shell after you have crimped the dough to the pie pan. During the last 5 minutes of baking pull the pie out leaving it on the rack, paint the leaves with egg wash, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Push back in the oven and bake for the remaining 5 minutes. This will create a sparkling picture perfect pie!
• I line my inner pie crust with parchment paper and fill it with dry beans to blind bake the crust. If you fold your parchment paper to make a square it is easy to cut into a circle with slits on the edges, perfectly fitting the inner pie shell.
• If the edge of the pie crust begins to brown too quickly in the oven make a tinfoil tent to protect the crust from over browning.