By Leslie Brenner
For some people, pumpkin pie is limited-time-only affair, something you only eat on Thanksgiving. For me, that’s just the start of something beautiful: the kickoff of pumpkin pie season!
Why not? Everyone loves pumpkin spice, and its natural home is in a pie. I’ll probably be baking another one before the week is out.
If you know how to make a pie crust, filling it with pumpkin goodness is a no-brainer. Open a can of pumpkin purée, whisk in three eggs, add spices and cream and bake. It always turns out great.
We like to make it a little boozy, while we’re at it. For eons, brandy (usually Cognac or Armagnac, whatever we have on hand) has been our spirit addition of choice. This year we switched it up, spiked it with Rye Whiskey, and loved it. Feel free to swap it out for vanilla, if that’s easier.
If you don’t know how to make a crust, don’t worry — our recipe walks you through. Our favorite for this is an heirloom wheat crust we learned from Roxana Jullapat’s outstanding 2021 book Mother Grains. Made with both butter and cream cheese, it’s very easy to roll out and bakes up tender and flaky.
The Sonora wheat flour it features is whole grain, with wonderful nutty flavor. We buy ours from our friends at Capay Mills in Northern California; you can also find it at Grist & Toll, Hayden Flour Mills and Barton Springs Mill. Any hard red or hard white wheat heirloom flour can be used though; of course it’s always nice to purchase flour from a local artisan mill, if you have one in your area. (If you don’t have access to heirloom flour, a combination of 80% unbleached AP flour and 20% whole wheat flour should do just fine for this crust.)
Want to use an actual pumpkin or butternut squash? Of course you can: Just roast till very tender, then purée till smooth in a food processor or blender (without the skin, or seeds, of course.) It’s a straight swap, gram for gram, with the stuff from the can.
And then there’s that pumpkin spice: a combo of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger. Feel free to adjust to your own taste.
Go ahead — live a little. You deserve more pie.
RECIPE: Pumpkin Pie with Heirloom Wheat-Cream Cheese Crust