Pumpkin Pie #1: Cook's Illustrated Best Pumpkin Pie

In an attempt to shake up my dusty old pumpkin pie recipes, I'm out seeking the best of the best and come up with some new recipes to impress my family on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here's our first contestant, Cook's Illustrated Best Pumpkin Pie:

I selected the Cook's Illustrated recipe for my first pie, mainly because it's pretty basic in presentation (Cook's Illustrated wants you to pony up to see the recipe online, so the link is to another blogger kind enough to share). Other recipes I'll look later at include unusual ingredients or interesting garnishes, which I'm excited to try eventually, but this is a good jumping off point for the season.

The pie was a partial success, but the portions that failed rest on my shoulders and not the recipe. The recipe recommended pre-baking the crust, with foil holding the crust down to the pan. Without foil, I used parchment paper, which did absolutely nothing to stop the crust from sliding down the sides, as seen here:

But other than that, the recipe is a winner, mainly because of how it heats and evenly bakes the pie. They recommend you heat the pumpkin and spices in a pot, then add the cream and milk, and finally blend with the eggs before quickly pouring it into a hot, pre-baked crust and throwing the whole thing in the oven for only 25 minutes.

The result is a beautifully flaky crust (especially on the sides) and a consistent and firm filling.

Added to that, the spicing in this is much, much better.

As a comparison, here's the spice proportions found in the Libby's Pumpkin Pie recipe I've used for many years (as have many others):

• 1 tsp cinnamon


• 1/2 tsp ground ginger


• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

And here's Cook's Illustrated's spices:

• 2 tsp cinnamon


• 2 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp grated nutmeg


• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

I'm a big fan of upping the cinnamon and ginger, and I can't think of an autumn pastry that couldn't benefit from a little nutmeg.

In addition, the recipe calls for brown sugar, which makes much more sense that Libby's call for granulated sugar. And it tastes even better if you're using the MOST AMAZING BROWN SUGAR EVER that I found at Haggen's in Mount Vernon. It's Billington's Natural Dark Brown Molasses Sugar and it's beautifully dark and much, MUCH richer in flavor than any brown sugar I've had before.

All around this pie is a winner. I'll be working to perfect my pre-baked crust in future recipes. Even though they don't call for a pre-baked crust, I'll do doing it anyway and judging the lot mainly on their filling.

And undoubtedly I'll try this one again real soon to give it a proper judgment with a beautifully pre-baked crust.

It'll be like a truck rally, only tastier...

I realized that I've been using the same two pumpkin pie recipes for the last ten years, and it's time to explore the vast world that is pumpkin pie. And since Alton Brown has yet to tackle my favorite autumnal treat, it's up to me to collect the recipes and try them out in what I've decided to call:

AARON'S FIRST EVER 2008 PUMPKIN PIE EXTRAVAGANZA DEATH MATCH SHOWDOWN!!!!!!

It'll be a thrill ride of TASTINESS!

The rules are simple! I'll use my basic crust recipe, and try out a handful of recipes I find online and in cookbooks. I'll only use delicious home-grown pumpkins acquired (read: stolen in the still of the night while the guard dogs are sleeping) from my father-in-law. I make it, I eat it and feed it to unsuspecting culinary guinea pigs (I LOVES you Megan!) and determine which recipe (or recipes) are the best. The best one or two will be featured at whatever Thanksgiving event I attend.

Just a quick look online, I've collected a handful of recipes, many of which from Food Network, but one from America's Test Kitchen "Best Pumpkin Pie." I also nabbed the recipe for a 1st place pumpkin pie from a Food Network competition. I'll be looking at the library for more.

I'll post pictures and results here. It'll be like a truck rally, only tastier.