124 – Thanksgiving Recipe – Pumpkin Pie with a Moroccan Twist Recipe

Ingredients :

• Ingredients for Crust
• 2 1/2 cups of flour
• 2 sticks of butter (cut in cubes) (butter has to be really cold)
• 6-8 tablespoons of ice cold water (add ice cubes to keep cold)
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• Ingredients for Filling
• 2 cups of plain pumpkin puree (canned)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup of packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons of honey
• 1 teaspoon of ginger powder
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water
• 2/3 cup of milk
• 2/3 cup of heavy cream

Directions :

Step 1 – Preparing the Crust
1.Mix flour with sugar and salt
2. Mix in butter (it is crucial that butter is very cold, so if need-be go ahead and freeze for 5 minutes)
3. Use fingers to mix utter and flour and get a corn meal texture. If too warm, place in the refrigerator until it cools down, then continue working with the butter
4. Notice texture of mixture is grainy and has little pieces of butter that are pea-sized
5. Add 6-8 TBL spoons of ice cold water to flour mixture.
6. Add water little-by-little until you can create a ball out of the dough. To test if there is enough moisture in the dough, squeeze a piece in your hands; it should form a ball. However, if you squeeze it and it looks dry and falls apart, add more water
7. Squeeze dough into 2 portions, then roll each portion into plastic wrap
8. Flatten dough into disc
9. Let dough cool down in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before using
10. You can preserve the dough for up to 2 days in the refrigerator and 1-month in the freezer

Step 2 – Rolling the crust
1. Roll dough in disc to fit pie dish
2. Dough has to be cold, but if too cold will be hard to roll; so let it sit for 5-10 minutes before rolling
3. Sprinkle flour on working area
4. If dough tears, wrap it and roll again
5. Bring dough over rolling pin to place in baking dish
6. Press down on dough to shape in baking dish
7. Use cookie cutter to cut extra dough edges, then pinch excess dough with your fingers
8. Brush excess flour
9. Use a fork to poke holes in crust
10. Cover crust with foil
11. Add dry beans to middle of crust to add weight
12. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes

Step 3 – Baking the Crust
1. Pre-heat oven to 400°
2. Remove crust from refrigerator and bake immediately for 20 minutes (leave the foil and the dry beans on the crust)
3. After 20 minutes, remove foil paper from crust, then let crust bake another 15-20 minutes at 400°

Step 4 – Preparing Pumpkin Filling
1. Prepare filling while baking crust for 2nd time
2. First cook pumpkin with brown sugar, honey and spices for 8-10 minutes in a sauce pan on medium heat
3. Put saffron in orange blossom water
4. Beat eggs with the milk and heavy cream
5. When the crust is ready, you’re going to mix pumpkin filling then bake the pie.
6. Mix pumpkin mixture with egg mixture. Pumpkin mixture is hot so add a little at a time to tempure the eggs; then add the rest.

Step 5 – Baking the Pumpkin Pie
1. Pour pumpkin filling into crust. You can do it in the oven to avoid spilling
2. You are using a warm filling to keep crust from becoming soggy
3. Bake for 50 minutes on 400°. Bake until filling becomes firm. Pie is ready when you shake and its not wobbly
4. Let it cool on rack for 1-hour before service
5. To save time, prepare crust night before and bake with beans and wrap in plastic wrap, then just heat up for 5-minutes. The pour in filling and bake pie.
6. Serve at room temperature or warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream