Pumpkin Custard Pie

5 from 10 votes

This is the best Pumpkin Custard Pie recipe for Thanksgiving, hands down that features a flaky, buttery pie crust that is filled with silky, creamy, incredible delicious pumpkin custard. This Pumpkin pie is made without evaporated milk yet super rich, smooth, and full of Fall flavors everyone loves!

Prep Time1

Cook Time2

Waiting Time3

Total Time6

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 516kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Flaky pie dough

190 g All purpose flour
½ tablespoon Granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon Salt
110 g Unsalted butter 82% fat, use it very cold
60 g Water use it very cold
15 g Apple Cider vinegar

Egg wash

1 Egg
Splash of milk

Pumpkin filling

425 g Pumpkin puree 1 can Libby's pumpkin puree or make homemade pumpkin puree
50 g Granulated sugar
50 g Brown sugar
3 Egg yolk
1 tablespoon Corn starch
170 g Heavy Cream 36% fat content
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
1 teaspoon Cinnamon or Pumpkin spice

Decoration

60 g Heavy cream very cold, 36% fat content
1 tablespoon Powdered sugar
Few Pie Leaves using leftover pie dough
1 Cinnamon stick

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Assemble the pie dough

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and salt until fully combined and place it into the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Cut the cold butter into small chunks and place it into the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Measure the water and vinegar separately, and place them into the freezer as well for 5-10 minutes.
Once all ingredients are nicely chilled, add very cold butter chunks into the bowl of flour and rub the mixture between your fingers until it becomes a sand-like consistency. Leave some bigger butter chunks in the mixture - this will encourage flaky pie texture on the pie crust - no need to fully incorporate the butter into the flour.
Add very cold water and apple cider vinegar into the dough, a small amount at a time, and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon after each addition. Once about 75% of the liquid is used, take out the part of the dough from the bowl, that is already well hydrated, and only keep adding the water to the rest of the dry dough. You might need to use all the water, or slightly less, or very slightly more, depending on the flour you are using and how neatly you hydrate the dough.
Now, on a lightly floured surface (or silicone baking mat), start working the dough with your hands. First, it will look crumbly but it should come together in the next minute or so. Do not knead the dough as such, stop mixing, as soon as the dough comes together. Remember, leave in some butter chunks, do not overwork the dough, and do not use a mixer.
Form a disk, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

Optional; laminating the pie dough for extra flakiness

After 2 hours, take the pie dough disk out of the fridge and let it rest few minutes on the kitchen counter. The dough should stay cold but slightly warmed up to be able to roll it out without breaking it. Transfer the disk to a silicone baking mat or a lightly floured surface and start rolling it out, make sure you turn the dough with your hands after each rolling so it will become even. No need to add too much flour while rolling, the pie dough should be cold enough not to stick to the kitchen counter.
The goal is to roll the dough out into a large rectangle, then, apply the following fold: Fold the left half over the right half. Then, fold this long rectangle into half by folding the bottom half over the top half. Lastly, fold again the the bottom half over the top half. After the last fold, cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

Pre-bake the pie dough

After the 2 hours rest time, take the pie dough disk out of the fridge and let it rest few minutes on the kitchen counter. The dough should stay cold but slightly warmed up to be able to roll it out without breaking it.
Transfer the disk to a lightly floured surface or Silicone baking mat and start rolling it out. Make sure you turn the dough with your hands after each rolling so it will become even. No need to add too much flour while rolling, the pie dough should be cold enough not to stick to the kitchen counter. If at any point the dough gets too warm, pop it back into the freezer for a minute and continue.
If you are using a pie dish 9 inch / 23 cm, roll the dough to 10 inch / 26 cm in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a Pie dish 9 inch / 23 cm. Fold the extra dough around under the crust then flute with your fingers. Remember, do not force the dough, after rolling, it should stay smooth and cold, and easy to work with. The most common reason for pie crust shrinking is forcing and stretching it.
Chill the pie dough in the freezer for 30 minutes while pre-heating the oven to 200 C / 370 F (no fan). After 30 minutes, line the pie crust with parchment paper and fill it with pie weights.
The pie crust will be baked in the following way: 1. Bake it for 20 minutes with the pie weight in. 2. Remove the pie weights, and with a fork, prick holes all over the crust. Bake for another 15 minutes. 3. Apply a thin layer of egg wash (using egg white only) on the bottom and side of the pie crust, this will support the crust not getting wet from the pumpkin filling. Alternatively, for an even better shine, apply a light egg wash (full egg + splash of milk) on the edge of the pie crust. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 15 minutes. So overall, I recommend to pre-bake the pie crust for 20+15+15=50 minutes.
Halfway through baking, you might need to apply a pie shield, which can be as simple as placing aluminum foil around the edges to avoid over-browning.
Let the crust come to room temperature.

Make the pumpkin filling

Heat the cream until simmering. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolk with the corn starch, then pour the warm cream over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously with a hand whisk. This stage is tempering the egg yolks, and the mixture should slightly thicken.
In a separate saucepan, heat the pumpkin puree with two different kinds of sugar and cook the mixture for 2-3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and cinnamon powder or pumpkin spice.
Lastly, fold the warm pumpkin puree mixture with egg yolk & cream mixture. The filling is now ready to be used.

Assembling the pumpkin custard pie and baking

Pre-heat oven to 175C / 350F
Once the pumpkin filling is ready and still warm, and the pie crust is fully baked, carefully pour the warm pumpkin filling into the pie crust.
Bake the pie at 175C / 350F for about 45 minutes. Cover the edge of the pie crust around with aluminum foil if it is browning too much.
At the end of the baking time, the edge of the crust should be beautifully golden brown, the side of the filling should be set, and the middle of the filling might still be a bit wobbly.
Let the pumpkin custard pie cool at room temperature for at least 3 hours. The pie will further set as it cools, so make sure you do not attempt to serve or cut the pie straight after baking.

Decoration

Using the leftover pie dough make the leaf decorations. Either cut the leaf pattern by hand using a sharp knife or use Leaf Cookie Cutter.
Bake the leaf decorations at 200 C / 370 F for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Place the leaves on the pie after both the pie and the leaves cooled.
Whip heavy cream with powdered sugar for a few minutes until it reaches a pipeable consistency.
Pipe the decoration (I am using 104 nozzle tip) on top then place one cinnamon stick on top of the piping.
Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days.

Notes

All ingredients incl. butter, flour, and water should be very cold for the pie crust.
Making this pie crust will take less than 5 minutes. If you are assembling the dough for more than 5 minutes, then you are overworking it.
Resting the dough in the fridge is a must - you won't be able to roll it out without appropriate resting time (min. 2h).
Do not begin trying to roll the pie dough until it is at the proper temperature. If it's too cold, it can crumble. If it's too warm, it can tear.
The egg wash will seal the bottom of the crust, contributing to no soggy pie.
The lamination is optional, however, I recommend that simple step to make the pie crust even more flaky.
The pumpkin custard pie filling takes a few steps, however, each step is very quick. Do not try to combine them and just "dump and bake".
Over-baking the pie is the most common reason for a cracked top, try to monitor your pie towards the end of the baking time to avoid over-baking.

Nutrition