Name: Bigly Pumpkin Pie
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 all-butter pie crust (9-inch), homemade or store-bought; 2 tbsp unsalted butter; 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon; 1 tsp ground ginger; 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, freshly grated if possible; 1/4 tsp ground cloves; 1/4 tsp ground allspice; 3/4 tsp kosher salt; 1 can pumpkin puree (15-oz can); 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed; 3 large eggs; 1 cup heavy cream; 1/3 cup whole milk; 1 tsp vanilla extract

Bigly Pumpkin Pie

Prep

20m

Cook

55m

Total

75m

Bigly says

Let me tell you something. Pumpkin pie. The classic. The CLASSIC. And I have to be honest with you — honesty is what we do here at BiglyEats — most pumpkin pies are BORING. They're flat. They're one-note. They taste like the spice rack fell into a can and somebody called it dessert. That's not a pie. That's a SHRUG in pie form. A national embarrassment around the holidays and nobody has the courage to say it. Until now.

Not this one. This pie has LAYERS. Not literal layers — we're not making lasagna, calm down — flavor layers. Roasted spice layers. Cream that has been THINKING about being whipped its whole life and is finally getting to do it. The Pilgrims didn't have this pie. The Pilgrims had something WET and SAD, I've read about it, they were eating it in hats, terrible situation. We've come a long way. We've come a BIGLY long way. And it all leads to this pie.

The secret? Toasting the spices in butter before they go in. You BLOOM them. They wake up. They become THEMSELVES. And this isn't me talking — food chemists agree, I had a guy with a PhD explain this to me, took him 90 minutes, worth every second — the volatile aromatic compounds in cinnamon and clove only release when they hit fat at the right temperature. Skip the bloom and those compounds stay LOCKED in the powder like prisoners. Bloom them, and the whole pie tastes like autumn took a victory lap. Huge.

Ingredients

1all-butter pie crust (9-inch), homemade or store-bought
2 tbspunsalted butter
1.5 tspground cinnamon
1 tspground ginger
1/2 tspground nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
1/4 tspground cloves
1/4 tspground allspice
3/4 tspkosher salt
1 canpumpkin puree (15-oz can)(pure pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling, those are not the same and the cans are deliberately confusing)
3/4 cuplight brown sugar, packed
3large eggs
1 cupheavy cream
1/3 cupwhole milk
1 tspvanilla extract

Steps

1
Preheat oven to 425F. Fit the pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate, crimp the edges, and refrigerate.
2
Bloom the spices: melt the butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, for 30-45 seconds, until the mixture smells fragrant. Remove from heat.
3
Scrape the spice butter into a large bowl. Whisk in the pumpkin puree and brown sugar until smooth.
4
Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then the heavy cream, milk, and vanilla, until the filling is silky and uniform.
5
Pour the filling into the chilled crust. The crust should be full but not quite to the rim.
6
Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven to 350F and bake another 35-40 minutes, until the edges are set and the center jiggles only slightly (like Jell-O, not soup).
7
If the crust browns too quickly, tent the edges with foil partway through.
8
Cool completely on a wire rack, at least 2 hours, before slicing. The pie firms up as it cools.
9
Serve at room temperature or chilled, with whipped cream.

One more thing

That's the pie. That's autumn in a crust. You make this once and your family forgets every other pumpkin pie they've ever had — which is good, because the other pies were forgettable, that's why they got forgotten, it's a self-fulfilling situation. The whipped cream goes on top. Not a little. A lot. Be generous with the whipped cream, life is short, the pie deserves it, you deserve it, and the cow that gave the cream deserves to be remembered properly. Everyone wins. Now go eat.