A "Lighter" Pumpkin Pie

So I received a request from my friend Jill P. for a pumpkin pie that is "lighter" than the traditionally dense custard version many of us make or buy in the store. Now by lighter I don't mean lower in fat, calories or flavor but in texture. You shouldn't feel like there's a brick in your stomach after eating it - unless of course it has followed a seven course Thanksgiving meal!

My original online recipe search turned up recipes from Paula Deen, Libby's (r) brand, and the top rated recipe on allrecipes.com. However, upon reading the recipes I eliminated the Paula Deen version based on the fact that it includes butter and cream cheese (I don't think anything Paula makes can ever be considered "light") and the allrecipes.com version because it includes something called "custard mix" and also sweetened condensed milk both of which I'm sure make a denser pie.

To find my final recipes I turned to my favorite King Arthur Flour Baking Sheets and of course my Joy of Cooking cookbook. In order to eliminate the crust variable from these experiments (because we already know which crust is the best!) I used a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust for the tests, and then the final pie was baked with my beloved butter crust.

The first pie I tested was the King Arthur version which included three eggs instead of the standard 2 eggs for a 9inch pie. I assumed adding a bit more egg would soften the heaviness of the pumpkin pie filling. I also liked the mix of spices and the interesting addition of black pepper to this recipe. This pie came out lighter than a regular pie and I really enjoyed the flavor. However, I thought maybe I could lighten it a bit further. Before I changed the recipe, I tried the Joy of Cooking and Libby's pies.

The Joy of Cooking version came out very well and the recipe gives the option of using 2 or 3 eggs, depending on how "custardy" you want the final pie to be. I used three and the texture was similar to that of the King Arthur pie, but the King Arthur flavor was superior. The Libby's recipe came out denser than the prior two and also did not have as much flavor as the King Arthur version.

So, to improve upon the King Arthur recipe I decided to separate the eggs and only add one yolk and three whites. I also whipped the whites until they were very foamy. After baking this pie it looked very much like a souffle! AND it had the texture of one:) Too light for a pie I think. So I tried once again and separated three eggs but this time added two yolks, all three whites, and just whisked the whites until foamy. The final result - just what I was looking for!

For flavor I made a few additional adjustments to the recipe - blind-baked the crust, substituted brown sugar for half of the white, added Bourbon, and reduced the ginger a bit. These changes are noted in the recipe below.

So there you have it. A "Light" Pumpkin pie - just in time for Thanksgiving!

Sweet & "Light" Pumpkin Pie (adapted from King Arthur Flour's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tbls all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

pinch freshly ground black pepper

3 large eggs, separated

15 oz can pumpkin (or 1 1/2 cups fresh mashed)

2 tsp bourbon

1 cup undiluted evaporated milk OR light cream

Prepared 9-inch pie crust dough OR 9-inch refrigerated pie crust

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out pie dough and line pie plate. Vent the crust by poking with the tines of a fork. Line the crust with foil and fill with pie beads or dry beans to weigh down the bottom of the pastry. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and beads and continue baking for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 375F.

2. Mix together sugars, flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper and cloves in a medium bowl.

3. Add egg whites to a large bowl and whisk for 60 seconds or until foamy. Add 2 of the egg yolks (discard or save the third for another use) and whisk into the yolks for another 60 seconds. Add the pumpkin, evaporated milk and bourbon and whisk until smooth.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until smooth.

5. Pour filling into pie shell and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted 2 inches from the side comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Pie can be stored in the refrigerator for one day before serving.

Pie Crust!

Fall is my favorite season in New England. The air is crisp and cool, the leaves start turning brilliant colors, baseball and football are in full swing and all of the yummy fresh fruits and vegetables that have been growing and ripening over the summer are ready to eat. One of the best ways to enjoy the season is to go apple picking so a few weekends ago my mother-in-law Kathy, her sister Jane, my husband Jeff and I went out to our favorite farm and did just that. We were early enough in the season that nectarines and peaches were also available for picking, so we grabbed a bushel of those too. But what to do with 28 pounds of fruit? I couldn't possibly eat it all before it turned. The answer - make one of Fall's best desserts. Pie!

Fruit pie is one of those pastries that baffles many cooks. Most fillings, especially the fruit fillings, are pretty simple. However the CRUST is a mystery. I have made many pies and I don't think I've ever used the same recipe twice. Many fellow bakers have expressed frustration with how to get the best flavor and flakiness, how to avoid a soggy bottom crust, and what to brush the top with to get the coveted golden color and sheen. So I turned to the internet and my myriad of cookbooks to determine once and for all which recipe is the best.

Here are the recipes I tried. I selected a variety that allowed me to test the age old debate "butter or shortening?" and also some other twists like added vinegar, egg, sugar, etc.

2-Crust Pie Recipes	Betty Crocker Cookbook	Secrets of Baking Cookbook by Sherry Yard	Country Living Magazine	thepioneerwoman.com
Flour*	2 cups	12.5 oz	2 ½ cups	3 cups
Ice Water	4-5 T	4 oz	2 T	5 T
Salt	1 t	1 t	1 t	1 t
Shortening	2/3 cup plus 2T	-	½ cup	1 ½ cup
Butter	-	8 oz	½ cup	-
Vinegar	-	½ t	1 T	1 T
Egg	-	-	-	1
Sugar		2 T	-	-
*All-purpose is fine, pastry can be used for butter crusts if available

The first crust I tried was Sherry Yard's crust made completely with butter as the fat. I have always preferred butter crusts because of their superior flavor over shortening crusts. This recipe also includes sugar which adds a nice boost to the flavor. Vinegar is also on the ingredient list to help prevent gluten formation which results in a more tender final product. The other major difference in this recipe (as seen in the full instructions below) is the method for incorporating the butter. Instead of cutting it in with two knives, a food processor, or a pastry cutter, Sherry Yard suggests using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment and blending with the flour until the butter is the size of walnuts. This worked BEAUTIFULLY! Large pieces of butter remained and I could actually see them when I rolled out the crust later on. These pieces allowed for a nice separation between the flour layers and a more flaky crust after baking.

Next I tried the shortening crusts - both Betty Crocker's and one by a fellow blogger who calls herself Pioneer Woman. I like many recipes on her site so I thought I'd give the pie crust a try as well. Her recipe was also intriguing because it includes egg which I hadn't seen before. All in all both her crust and Betty Crocker's turned out well, and admittedly a bit flakier than the butter crust. However, the flavor was just not there. Both were very bland.

Seeking the ultimate balance between the yummy butter crust and the flaky but flavorless shortening crust I tried one final recipe from Country Living magazine. This turned out to be my least favorite crust. It wasn't quite as flavorful as the butter crust but actually less flaky. In addition the bottom crust came out very soggy. Not a winner.

So, which recipe to choose...

Butter crust it is! Ultimately, flavor has to trump flakiness (when was the last time you walked out of a restaurant saying "That was the flakiest dessert I ever had!" - never) and with some practice you CAN get flakiness too. I think Sherry Yard's recipe is your best bet to get there. However, since butter crusts can be fickle (see tips below!) if you are just starting out in pie baking and want the simplest route to a flaky crust, try the Betty Crocker recipe. It has straightforward ingredients and is easy to work with.

Tips for working with a butter crust:

• KEEP IT COOL!
  
• Cut butter into small pieces and refrigerate before using.
• Make sure the water you use is truly ICE water. As cold as you can get it.
  
• Make sure the area where you are working with the crust is cool. Don't preheat the oven until after crust is rolled out, and be careful about preparing on hot humid days.
• Once bottom crust is rolled out and in the pie plate, put pie plate in the freezer while you roll out the top crust.
  

Tips for baking fruit pie crusts:

Avoid a soggy bottom crust!

• Refrigerate bottom crust in pie plate for 15 minutes before filling.
• Bake pie immediately after filling and top crust are added to avoid liquid from fruit from soaking into the bottom layer.
  
• Bake pie in the lower 3rd of the oven at 50F higher temp for the first 10 minutes. Then lower temp to the level called for in the recipe for the remainder of the baking time.
  

Get a golden, glossy, sweet top crust!

• Beat one egg with 1 1/2 tablespoons of heavy cream. Brush the mixture all over the top crust and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Granulated sugar will also work if that is what you have on hand.
• Check pie while it is baking to prevent burnt edges. If the crust browns too quickly cover it loosely with foil for the remainder of the baking time.

Complete recipes

The Winner - Sherry Yard’s Flaky Pastry for Double-crust pastry for 9-inch pie

Ingredients: listed above

Instructions:

1. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place it in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes.
2. Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the partially frozen butter. Turn the machine on low and beat for 2 minutes or until the butter is broken down into the size of walnuts. Stop the machine, and by hand pinch flat any large pieces of butter that remain.
   
3. In a small bowl, combine the ice water and vinegar. Turn the mixer on low speed and add the liquid all at once. Beat just until the dough comes together, about 15 seconds. The dough should be tacky not sticky. The amount of water is variable. It is better to have a slightly wet/tacky dough than one that is too dry: add a little water if your dough is too dry.
4. Remove dough from bowl, divide into 2 equal pieces, and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Do not squeeze the dough together or overwork.
   
5. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before rolling it out. (The well-wrapped dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 days or frozen for up to two weeks)
6. Use in your favorite fruit crust pie recipe!

The Runner-Up - Betty Crocker's Pastry for Pies and Tarts

Ingredients: listed above

Instructions:

1. Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening using a pastry blender or a criss-cross motion with two knives until mixture resembles small peas.
2. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost leaves the side of the bowl.
   
3. Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half and shape each into a flattened round. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Use in your favorite fruit pie recipe
   

WHY...

...are there so many dishes in the sink when I just ran the washer?
...are there recipes on the coffee table, floor, counter, bed, desk, windowsill?
...are there more rotting bananas in the fridge?
...did you spend $75 on chocolate chips?
...do you spend so much time on the Internet?

These are questions I frequently hear from my dear husband. And the answer to all of them is the same. I'm crazy about cooking. I cook at all hours of the day, I dream about baked goods, I write recipes while I watch TV, and pretty much all of the time I spend online is on the myriad of recipe sites, foodie blogs, and restaurant websites. So I'm actually surprised that it's taken this long for me to start writing my own blog about food. I guess it struck me that maybe instead of just taking information from the Internet I would give back a bit and contribute some of my own thoughts. And maybe no one will ever read them. At the very least this will serve as a reminder to myself about my own ideas and brainstorms.

So the next question is WHY... a blog about food experiments?

Well my biggest frustration in cooking is that there are too many recipes out there for the same dishes. It takes forever to sort through them all and then how do you really know which one is the one that works the best? And then if none of them really work should I combine elements of some to create a new recipe? Or should I just scrap them all and start from the beginning on my own?

My selfish hope is that by consecutively trying 10 versions of say, banana bread, I will decide once and for all which one is best and never have to look for another. My unselfish hope is that by writing about my experiments, readers who face the same predicament will also save some time and frustration (not to mention wasted ingredients and lots of dirty dishes).

So if you want to know what the best recipe is for pie crust, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, pound cake (you insert the item that torments you) keep reading. This is the blog that will answer your question.

Oh and one last note - as you can see the title of my blog is The Sweets Experiment. I LOVE anything sweet so I mostly bake vs cook which means most of my experiments (certainly the ones I start with) will be baked goods!