There’s a mistake in my "Baking with Dorie" pumpkin pie recipe – here’s the right one!

Please spread the word

Bonjour! Hello! and UGH!

By the time I discovered that my pumpkin pie recipe (page 272) in BAKING WITH DORIE had serious problems, the book was out in the world and Thanksgiving— yeah, the time when everyone wants perfect pumpkin pie — had come and gone. It was terrible and I was a wreck. And helpless. There was nothing I could do but send the correction to my editor and hope that the book would go into a second printing soon.

HOW’D IT HAPPEN?

There are always mistakes in books — despite the fact that all of my recipes are tested and about a dozen sets of eyes read them, errors creep in. Most often they’re my errors — something I miss in transcription that no one except me could know about. This error was a doozy! The pie was tested a few times and finally gotten three purple stars, my personal stamp that means that the recipe is ready to go. EXCEPT, that isn’t the recipe that I included in my manuscript. What went into the book was an earlier version — one with mistakes that had been flagged and later fixed.

The biggest issue with the pie was that it cracked and that the cracks were deep. But … it didn’t always crack. If you got a good pie out of the recipe —hooray! If you didn’t, I’m sorrier than you can ever know.

HELP NEEDED, PLEASE

Below is the recipe that should have been in the book. If you can, please help me get the word out that there’s an error in the book and that the correct recipe is here.

I know it’s not Thanksgiving yet, but I wanted to get this into everyone’s hands early. Also, you might want a pumpkin pie for Halloween. It’s not a bad idea, you know.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I might earn a little flour-and-sugar money if you make a qualifying purchase after clicking on a link, which I promise to use while creating more stories like this. Thanks for your support.

MY FAVORITE PUMPKIN PIE

THE RECIPE THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN BAKING WITH DORIE

• Click here for printable recipe

Photo: Mary Dodd

GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START

The crust: You want a partially baked 9-inch crust for this pie. Use your favorite crust, a store-bought crust or even a graham-cracker crust. If you buy a graham-cracker crust, get a large crust, the one that says it serves 10.

The pumpkin: I make this pie with canned pumpkin puree, the kind that has no spices and is just pure pumpkin — blank-slate pumpkin.

The spices: Of course you can use traditional pumpkin pie spices — the pie is yours to play around with — but I like this combination of ginger and ground star anise. If you prefer, swap cinnamon for the star anise. Another alternative, one that’s good if you can’t find ground star anise or don’t want to run whole stars through a spice or coffee grinder, is to go with just cinnamon or 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder, which contains star anise. It’s a bit more savory, but nice with the pumpkin, ginger and cinnamon.

A word about the gorgeous crust: The braided crust in the top photo was made by food stylist (cookbook author and now star of her own TV series), Samantha Seneviratne. Photo by Mark Weinberg.

Makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

One 9-inch pie crust, partially baked and cooled (see above)

For the filling

• 1 can (15 ounces; 425 grams) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

• 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) sour cream

• 3 large eggs

• 1 large egg yolk

• 1/2 cup (100 grams) packed brown sugar

• 3 tablespoons honey

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon star anise powder, or cinnamon, if you prefer (see above)

• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

• 1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Lightly sweetened whipped cream for topping or serving

DIRECTIONS

Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Put the pie pan with the partially baked crust on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

To make the filling: Put all the ingredients in a blender or a food processor and whir, scraping the container as needed, until you’ve got a smooth mixture. (Or you can just whisk the ingredients together.) Rap the container against the counter a few times to try to pop as many bubbles as possible. Pour the filling into the crust—you may have a little more filling than the crust can hold (especially if your crust shrank a bit when it was baked)—it’s hard to calculate this.

Bake the pie for 45 minutes and then check it: You want to bake it until the filling is puffed and set around the edges but still jiggly at the center. You’ll probably need another 10 minutes or even another 15, but it’s always good to check early. When the pie is done, carefully transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the pie cool until it reaches room temperature. (The pie can be served at room temperature, but it is best chilled.)

When you’re ready to serve, cover the top of the pie with whipped cream or slice the pie and serve the cream on the side.

Photo: Mary Dodd

STORING: Without a whipped cream topping, the pie can stand at room temperature for up to 8 hours. You can keep it refrigerated for another day, but its texture won’t be as luxurious.

Photo: Mary Dodd

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