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white pumpkin pie
When I bought this perfect white pumpkin with this lovely long stem, I had big dreams to carve it into a jack-o-lantern. But somehow, whenever I start to carve pumpkins, I lose interest, along with all desire to be creative. It’s sticky, the knives are difficult to wield, and I can never make them as beautiful as what I see in a Martha Stewart magazine.
After this one had narrowly escaped the carving knife, and was sitting on my counter for a couple of weeks, I decided it was time to do something with it. It seemed like a good idea to make it into a pie. Though the pumpkin puree itself was light—it looked exactly like applesauce—the color of the pie did not turn out as white as I had envisioned, once baked. It did look paler than a traditional pumpkin pie, though. And, since the white pumpkin is milder in flavor, I used slightly different spices than usual, and used cream as opposed to evaporated milk to make this pie a little more sophisticated.
white pumpkin pie
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
pinch of salt
2 cups white pumpkin puree (take a white pumpkin, and follow these instructions for roasting)
1/3 cup pure maple syrup (If you don’t have real maple syrup, just substitute with 1/4 cup more sugar)
3 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pre-baked pie crust (recipe follows)
whipped cream (recipe follows)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, spices, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, maple syrup, eggs, cream, and vanilla. Whisk together the two mixtures. Pour into a baked pie crust. Cover the edges of the crust with strips of aluminum foil. Bake for 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 degrees, and bake for 45-65 minutes more, until the center no longer jiggles.
2. Turn off the heat to the oven, and allow the pie to stay in the cooling oven. When the oven is no longer hot, remove the pie, and let come to room temperature. Refrigerate for 4 hours before serving. Top with whipped cream.
one-crust pie crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick cold butter, cut in pieces
2-3 tablespoons ice cold water (all ice removed)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Add in butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Distribute the water over the mixture and pulse until the water is well-distributed and the mixture holds together like dry clay. Dump mixture onto a floured board, knead a time or two, form into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
2. On a lightly floured board, pound dough with a rolling pin a few times to soften the butter. Turning the dough frequently to prevent sticking, roll into an 11 inch circle. Place the dough in a 9 inch pie plate. Roll up the edges and crimp with your fingers. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork a few times. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Place a large circle of parchment paper in the center of the chilled crust, and fill with a pound of dried beans (you can reuse them for this purpose again and again). Bake for 15 minutes with the beans in. Remove from the oven, take out the beans and parchment paper, and bake again for about 10 minutes more, or until the center just begins to turn golden brown.
whipped cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Beat all ingredients together with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
17 Responses to “white pumpkin pie”
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Totally gorgeous! This pie looks perfect for the holidays…love the idea of making your own puree from a pumpkin rather than just buying it!
Hi there. My first time here. Your pie looks really lovely. Happy Thanksgiving!
Looks delish. I’m in awe of people who make pumpkin pie. I had the notion earlier this week, but it just all seems too complicated.
Congrats on a beautiful – and delicious – pie.
Looks delish. I’m in awe of people who make pumpkin pie. I had the notion earlier this week, but it just all seems too complicated.
Congrats on a beautiful – and delicious – pie.
Well, now I’m going to have to come straight to your house to help you eat it. So pretty!
We’re in town this weekend! Call me! XO
Baking this pie right now and it looks amazing so far. The only problem I ran into is that you said add salt in the pumpkin mix and you didn’t put the measurement. You also didn’t say where to add the maple syrup. I’m not trying to be critical I am just an extremely novice cook and have no idea how to wing it and hope I did the right thing. Thanks for the other step by step instructions. I hope mine tastes as awesome as yours looks!
No, that’s great. Thank you for pointing that out. I must have been in a hurry when I wrote in the recipe and forgotten to say when to add those things. I’ll fix it right away! Thanks, Jenasie!
Just add a pinch of salt to the mixture whenever you want, and add the maple syrup with the liquid ingredients!
Still looks delicious and gorgeous!
Thanks, Jessiker! Happy Thanksgiving!
I made this pie for Thanksgiving. I used an orange pumpkin; I didn’t have white, but the simplicity of this recipe appealed to me. I must admit, though, that the subtitle of your blog “well-bred” is a bit off-putting…but I made the pie anyway and it’s quite delicious!
I just had to say how absolutely pretty this pie looks. Pumpkin Pie isn’t so popular in Australia but your white pumpkin pie looks so subtle and I’m sure tastes the same
Thank you, Monica!
Found what looks like an excellent recipe here googling for recipes for white pumpkin. However, I feel obligated to mention that I, too, feel that “well-bred” is rather a white supremacist term. I think you probably don’t mean to be making a racist statement. It is not classy and a bit ignorant, which contrasts markedly with the actual tone of the blog.
Hi, Elizabeth and Charly! First – thanks so much for visiting sophistimom.com! So glad you had success with the pie recipe, E! I must admit, though, I was surprised by the concern “well-bred” might mean something that would be offensive to all of us. I did a little research to refresh my memory: well-bred means “well brought up; properly trained and educated: a well-bred boy” or “showing good breeding, as in behavior or manners.” (dictionary.com) Just to be thorough, I dug deeper: “bred” as it relates to breeding or procreating is limited to swine and other barnyard animals. (I’ll admit, sometimes my six year-old fits that description these days.) Hopefully that clears it up for you. sophistimom.com offers, among other things, lessons I learn as I raise my wonderful children to be healthy, happy, productive, well-mannered adults who, heaven forbid, are NOT racists or white supremacists.
What type of cream do you use in the pie? So excited to try this recipe!
Heather—Heavy cream, usually.