Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie
By America's Test KitchenPublished on October 5, 2015
Time
1¾ hours, plus 2 hours cooling
Yield
Serves 8
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Timing is important here, as the filling must be prepared while the crust bakes. Be sure to use pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. The pie may be served slightly warm, chilled, or at room temperature. This pie is best the day it is made.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough into 12-inch circle between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap. Remove top plastic, gently invert dough over 9-inch pie plate, and ease dough into plate. Remove remaining plastic and trim dough 1/2 inch beyond lip of pie plate. Tuck overhanging dough under itself to be flush with edge of pie plate. Crimp dough evenly around edge using your fingers.
- Cover dough loosely in plastic and freeze until chilled and firm, about 15 minutes. Remove plastic and bake until crust is light brown in color, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pie plate halfway through baking. Transfer pie plate to wire rack. (Crust must still be warm when filling is added.) Adjust oven rack to lower position and increase oven temperature to 425 degrees.
- While crust bakes, process pumpkin puree, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves together in food processor until combined, about 1 minute. Transfer pumpkin mixture to medium saucepan (do not clean processor bowl) and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Cook pumpkin mixture, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny, about 5 minutes. Whisk in cream and milk, return to simmer briefly, then remove from heat.
- Process eggs in food processor until uniform, about 5 seconds. With machine running, slowly add about half of hot pumpkin mixture through feed tube. Stop machine, add remaining pumpkin, and continue processing mixture until uniform, about 30 seconds longer.
- Immediately pour warm filling into warm, partially baked pie crust. (If you have any extra filling, ladle it into pie after 5 minutes of baking, by which time filling will have settled.) Bake until filling is puffed and lightly cracked around edges and center wiggles slightly when jiggled, about 25 minutes. Let pie cool on wire rack until filling has set, about 2 hours; serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
Time
1¾ hours, plus 2 hours coolingYield
Serves 8Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
Pumpkin pie filling is naturally gluten-free, so we weren’t worried about changing it, but when we used our favorite recipe to bake one in a gluten-free pie crust, we found that the loose, liquid-y filling turned our once-flaky crust gummy and raw-tasting. We needed to start with a thicker mixture that would not readily soak into the crust. Cooking the pumpkin mixture briefly on the stovetop drove off some of the moisture that had ruined the crust in the first round of testing. As an added bonus, this stint on the stovetop also helped to bloom the spices and intensify their warmth, resulting in the most flavorful pumpkin pie filling we had ever tasted. Next, we made sure that both shell and filling were hot when we assembled the pie, so the custard could begin to firm up almost immediately rather than soaking into the pastry. Finally, we baked the pie quickly, in the lower half of the oven, exposing the bottom of the crust to more intense heat and thus keeping it crisp and flaky. We avoided curdling by taking the pie out of the oven as soon as the center thickened to the point where it no longer sloshed but instead wiggled like gelatin when the pie plate was gently shaken.
Before You Begin
Timing is important here, as the filling must be prepared while the crust bakes. Be sure to use pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. The pie may be served slightly warm, chilled, or at room temperature. This pie is best the day it is made.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough into 12-inch circle between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap. Remove top plastic, gently invert dough over 9-inch pie plate, and ease dough into plate. Remove remaining plastic and trim dough 1/2 inch beyond lip of pie plate. Tuck overhanging dough under itself to be flush with edge of pie plate. Crimp dough evenly around edge using your fingers.
- Cover dough loosely in plastic and freeze until chilled and firm, about 15 minutes. Remove plastic and bake until crust is light brown in color, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pie plate halfway through baking. Transfer pie plate to wire rack. (Crust must still be warm when filling is added.) Adjust oven rack to lower position and increase oven temperature to 425 degrees.
- While crust bakes, process pumpkin puree, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves together in food processor until combined, about 1 minute. Transfer pumpkin mixture to medium saucepan (do not clean processor bowl) and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Cook pumpkin mixture, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny, about 5 minutes. Whisk in cream and milk, return to simmer briefly, then remove from heat.
- Process eggs in food processor until uniform, about 5 seconds. With machine running, slowly add about half of hot pumpkin mixture through feed tube. Stop machine, add remaining pumpkin, and continue processing mixture until uniform, about 30 seconds longer.
- Immediately pour warm filling into warm, partially baked pie crust. (If you have any extra filling, ladle it into pie after 5 minutes of baking, by which time filling will have settled.) Bake until filling is puffed and lightly cracked around edges and center wiggles slightly when jiggled, about 25 minutes. Let pie cool on wire rack until filling has set, about 2 hours; serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
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