Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Classic Pumpkin Pie – easy recipe for homemade pumpkin pie. This traditional holiday pumpkin pie recipe is easy to prepare and perfect for the holidays!

Wrap them tightly with plastic wrap and and refrigerate overnight until firm before baking. You can also freeze them in the refrigerator for up to a month, so make the pie crust ahead.

Ingredients

Basic Pie Crust Dough:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (1 1/2 sticks)

Pumpkin Pie:

• 1 disk Pie Crust Dough, another 1 disk for decorating
• all-purpose flour, for dusting
• sugared cranberries, (optional)

Filling:

• 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cup brown sugar (preferred) or granulated white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Basic Pie Crust Dough:

1. Pulse the flour, shortening, sugar, vinegar and salt in a food processor until it looks like fine meal. Add the butter and pulse until it is in pea-size pieces. Sprinkle in 1/4 cup ice water and pulse until the dough begins to come together. Pinch the dough with your fingers; if it doesn’t hold together, add up to 4 more tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse again.
2. Divide the dough into 2, pat each dough into a disk. You will have 2 disks. 
3. Roll out one disk of dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Ease into a 9-inch pie plate. Fold the overhanging dough under itself and crimp the edges with your fingers. Pierce the bottom and sides all over with a fork. Chill at least 1 hour or overnight. 
4. Optional Step: roll out the second disk of dough into a 10-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Cut out autumn leaf decorations using an autumn leaf cookie cutter.  Set aside. Chill the decorations for at least 1 hour. 
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cover the chilled pie crust dough with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans.  Beat 1 egg for egg wash and brush on the surface of the autumn leaf decorations. 
6. Transfer both pie crust and decorations to the oven and bake until the edges are golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and continue baking until the pie crust is golden all over, 10 to 15 more minutes. For the decorations, remove them after the oven as soon as they turn golden brown. Transfer both to a rack and let cool completely. 
   

Make the Filling:

1. Gently whisk the pumpkin, cream, sugar, 2 eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and salt (do not over mix). Beat the remaining egg for egg wash and brush on the crust edge. 
2. Pour the filling into the crust and bake until set around the edges, 50 minutes to 1 hour (the middle will still jiggle slightly). Transfer to a rack; let cool completely. Place the autumn leaf decorations and sugared cranberries on top of the pumpkin pie. Serve immediately. 
3. Enjoy.