yields just over a quart

Ingredients: 

2 standard 15oz. cans of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling or mix)

277g / 1 ¼ cup heavy cream

129g / ⅓ cup glucose (or substitute a scant ⅓ cup corn syrup)

64g / 5 Tbsp unsalted butter

443g / 16oz / 2 ½ cup chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp ginger

pinch nutmeg

pinch clove

(or:  replace above spices with 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice)

½ tsp kosher salt

-----------

Method:

• Spread both cans of pumpkin on a parchment lined baking sheet and roast at 325 for about 20 - 30 minutes. Color should darken by two shades and be well reduced. The puree should reduce to about 2 cups or 500g — if your puree is not at this amount, keep roasting! Let cool before use. 

• Add white chocolate to a large heat safe bowl, set aside.

• Add cream, glucose, and butter to a small pot, and bring to boil.

• Once boiling, pour hot cream mixture over white chocolate, making sure all chocolate is covered. Let sit for 1 minute.

• Add roasted pumpkin, spices, and salt to white chocolate mixture, stir. 

• Using an immersion blender, blend all ingredients until totally smooth and silky.

• Ganache can be made 1 - 2 days ahead, stored in the fridge. Reheat 20 seconds at a time in the microwave to achieve pourable consistency before filling your pie. 

Ingredients: 

1 C white sugar 

⅓ C heavy cream

6 Tbsp unsalted butter 

¼ C water 

2 Tbsp corn syrup 

2 tsp kosher salt (not iodized or table salt)

2 tsp vanilla extract 

-----------

Method:

• Measure out the heavy cream and butter (cut into rough tablespoons) in separate containers and place back in the fridge, it’s best to keep these cold before use.

• Measure the salt and vanilla into small vessels and keep close by. 

• Keep a whisk nearby. 

• Add the following to a medium saucepan: water, white sugar, and corn syrup. Mix well with heat proof spatula so all the sugar is hydrated, then set over medium heat. 

• You can stir this mixture until the sugar dissolves IE: it turns clear, once it turns clear and is bubbling all over, only swirl the pan (this will help prevent crystallization of the sugar.) You can also begin brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystallization along the edges, if you wish. 

• Continue cooking the sugar over medium heat. This is a nothing-then-all-at-once sort of thing -- your mixture will stay clear for a million years, then seemingly out of nowhere it will start to turn golden. This is the point where you need to pay close attention or risk burning all of your hard work. This may take 8 - 10 minutes, maybe more. 

• Once the mixture begins to take on a golden color, make sure to gently swirl the pan often, so the sugar does not caramelize all in one place. At this point, bring your butter and cream out of the fridge and keep nearby.

• Watch the caramel closely, keep cooking to bring it to a deep, rich golden brown. When you see the first small whisps of smoke arise from the pan, that’s the moment you want to halt the cooking. 

• Turn off the heat, and remove the pan from the heat. 

• Carefully add the butter one tablespoon at a time, whisking well in between each Tbsp until fully incorporated — watch your hands as this will foam up and produce a lot of steam. 

• Slowly stream in your cream, whisking well and quickly. 

• Add the vanilla, whisk. 

• Add the salt, whisk. 

• Pour into a heat safe container and allow to come to room temp, then place in the fridge to fully cool. 

• Caramel can be made 1-2 days ahead, stored in the fridge. reheat in 20 second increments in the microwave to achieve pourable consistency to fill the pie. 

Ingredients: 

½ cup all purpose flour

⅓ cup light brown sugar

⅓ cup rolled oats

6 Tbsp unsalted butter (room temp)

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp cardamom

big pinch salt

-----------

Method:

• Add all ingredients to a medium bowl. 

• Mash and mix with hands until a loose crumb forms, and there are no dry spots or chunks of butter.

• Spread on a parchment lined sheet pan.

• Bake at 325 for 15 minutes, agitating every five minutes or so until golden brown.

• Streusel can be made up to a week ahead, stored at room temp in an airtight container. 

Ingredients: 

1 ½ C all purpose flour 

12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks) 

½ C fine ground cornmeal 

1 Tbsp white sugar (heaping)

1 tsp kosher salt

-

¼ -⅓ C ice water

2 tsp apple cider vinegar 

----------- 

Method:

• Measure out all dry ingredients into your largest bowl. Mix together until well incorporated.

• Cut cold butter into vague tablespoons and add to your bowl. Toss with hands until all the butter is coated in flour mixture.

• Smash, squeeze, and break cold butter chunks with your fingers until some of the mixture resembles a coarse meal but there are still plenty of pieces of butter about the size of blueberries in the mix. 

• If butter has gone soft and melty, place the entire bowl into the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up, otherwise, proceed.

• Mix vinegar and ice water together, then add to the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time, tossing with hands in between additions. 

• The amount of water you will need varies —  so add water until the mixture holds together when pressed into a ball, but is still a little crumbly, and isn’t sticky to the touch. 

• Form into a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

• Once firmed up, proceed. If your dough is too hard to roll out, allow it to sit at room temp for 5 - 10 minutes. 

• Roll out the dough into a long rectangle-ish shape — short side facing you. The sides of the dough may have cracked a little, that is totally fine at this stage.

• Fold the dough like a letter: fold the far side down towards you, then the side closest to you on top of that folded down side.  

• Press it all back together, rotate the dough 90 degrees, then repeat the roll and fold.

• Form into a disc then return to the fridge for another 20 - 30 minutes (if the butter has softened too much.)

• When ready, roll out dough into a circle that is at least two inches wider than the base of your pie tin.

• Carefully transfer your rolled out dough to your tin, draping, rather than stretching it into place.

• Fold excess dough underneath itself to create a lip, and crimp as desired.

• Return to the fridge to firm up, again. 

• Preheat the oven to 350F. 

• Now, to blind bake: place tin on baking sheet and line inside of pie with foil or parchment. fill with your chosen weights. I like to tent the edges of my crust with foil to prevent burning.

• Place in the oven and allow to bake for about 30-40 minutes, checking occasionally to ensure the edges of your crust have not taken on too much color. 

• When the edges of your pie are lightly browned, remove weights from inside of the pie to properly cook the center — prick the bottom of the pie crust with a fork to prevent ballooning.

• Continue to cook for an additional 15 - 20 minutes, until your pie is golden brown in color. 

• Cool for at least 1 hour before filling. Pie crust can be made several days ahead of time, pre-baked, and stored in the fridge. Or, store unbaked pie crust in the freezer for up to a month. 

You will need:

1 recipe Pie Crust

1 recipe Chewy Caramel

1 recipe Pumpkin Ganache

1 recipe Streusel 

1 pint (2 cups) Heavy Cream for whipped cream

(optional: sweeten your whipped cream with 2 Tbsp confectioners sugar, and a dash of vanilla extract, if desired) 

• Pour room temp (or slightly reheated) caramel into the base of the pre-baked pie shell so the base is fully covered and level. Place the filled shell into the fridge to firm up for 20 - 25 minutes.

• Pour ganache over caramel and quickly spread using offset spatula or spoon to make sure all caramel is covered with ganache.

• Place pie in the fridge ASAP, covered, to fully set 4 - 5 hours minimum, or ideally overnight. Ganache should feel firm to the touch, should not stick to your fingers, and feel solid all the way through.

• Serve pie cold, directly out of the fridge. Top with fresh whipped cream and streusel to serve.

1. Why is there streusel on this pie?

   1. I think this adds some much needed texture to a very creamy, gooey, pie. But if you’re in a time crunch I’d say the streusel is the one thing you can omit. 

2. Regular or quick oats?

   1. Regular rolled oats, not instant.

3. This is my first time making caramel, what do I need to know?

   1. This is a “wet” caramel – meaning we add water at the beginning of the process, this helps make it a little more foolproof and slows down the process so you can get the perfect color. 

   2. This is a nothing-then-all-at-once sort of thing -- your mixture will stay clear for a million years, then seemingly out of nowhere it will start to turn gold. This is the point where you need to pay close attention or risk burning all your hard work. This may take 8 - 10 minutes, maybe more. So make sure to have ALL your ingredients pre-measured and available to you. You don’t want to be running around the kitchen for this one

4. Can you make pumpkin puree at home?

   1. Yes! But it will always be more watery and less smooth than the canned kind. Honestly, you just can’t beat Libby’s canned pumpkin. 

5. Do I have to roast the pumpkin puree?

   1. Yes! This removes a ton of water from the pumpkin so the pie is more-pumpkin-y and rich and flavorful, without doing this you’d end up with way too much ganache due to the extra water content. And the ganache would probably never set up (again, due to the extra water content.)

6. How far in advance can it be made?

   1. The best part of this pie is everything can be made way ahead of time. 

      1. Ganache can be made 2 -3 days ahead of time, stored in the fridge. 

      2. Streusel can be made up to a week ahead of time, stored at room temp.

      3. Caramel can be made 3 - 4 days ahead of time, stored in the fridge. 

      4. Pie dough can be made up to a month ahead of time, stored in the freezer. 

      5. So, if you’re making this for Thanksgiving (a famous Thursday), say, I would make all the components apart from the crust on Monday or Tuesday. Then make the crust Wednesday morning, fill the pie with caramel/ganache, wrap it up and store it overnight in the fridge to serve on Thursday! Just whip up some cream right before serving. 

7. I hate white chocolate! 

   1. I hear you, but this pie does not taste like white chocolate! The white chocolate melts into the background, but it adds a creaminess, and some all-important structure to the pie so it sets up nice and firm. A lot of white chocolate in the grocery store is actually imitation white chocolate, if it says “ white morsels” or “white pieces” it’s not real chocolate! Make sure it says “chocolate” on the label, and the first ingredients are sugar and cocoa butter. This is the time you want to splurge on the good stuff! 

8. What is glucose?

   1. Glucose is an invert sugar, which basically means it stays liquid at room temperature – it adds smoothness and sweetness with none of the graininess from regular sugar. You can substitute corn syrup but reduce it by a tablespoon or two. Glucose is really thick, and corn syrup is thinner and sweeter.

9. My filling didn’t set / seems runny. Why?

   1. This pie needs an overnight in the fridge, not wants, needs! If you don't give it enough time it will not set. 

   2. A note: the caramel WILL run a bit, it’s a gooey, delicious, just-chewy-enough caramel, what do you expect? 

   3. A couple either reasons: 

      1. You did not roast the pumpkin for long enough, this removes a lot of water that may lead to a poor set on your ganache.

      2. You used too much corn syrup or glucose. 

      3. You used imitation white chocolate (I have in fact made this with imitation chocolate and it set up fine, but brands vary so wildly this could affect the final product.)

10. Can you use a store bought crust?

    1. Yes! But this is a deep-dish, large-and-in-charge kind of pie, and store bought crusts tend to be shorter in height, so you need to use less filling, I use a 1 ½” deep pan, and then the fluting on the pie crust adds an additional ½”. If you are using a shallower pan, you can cut the ganache recipe by half.

11. Store bought whipped cream vs. homemade?

    1. Some people have said this pie is too sweet… respectfully disagree. The whipped cream on top helps balance the sweetness with creaminess, the cornmeal in the crust adds a nice savory undertone, and caramel is aggressively salted, in other words, yes, it’s sweet, but balanced! Be warned, store bought whipped cream is very sweet, so I prefer the hand-whipped stuff.