Recipes

Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

  • Serves

    makes one 9-inch pie

SARAH KARNASIEWICZ

This two-for-one pie bakes our two favorites, pumpkin and pecan (sorry, mincemeat), into one delicious combo. This recipe is an adaptation of one in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).

Ingredients

For the Pie Crust

  • 1 12 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp. sugar
  • 34 tsp. salt
  • 1 14 sticks (10 tbsp.) very cold (frozen is fine), unsalted butter, cut into tbsp.-size pieces
  • 2 12 tbsp. very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces

For the Pumpkin and Pecan Fillings

  • 1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin purée
  • 23 cup heavy cream
  • 34 cup (packed) light brown sugar, divided
  • 2 large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks, divided
  • 2 tsp. dark rum
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract, divided
  • 34 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided
  • 14 tsp. ground ginger
  • 14 tsp. plus 1/8 tsp. salt
  • 12 cup light or dark corn syrup
  • 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 12 cups (about 7 oz.) pecan halves or pieces

Instructions

Step 1

Make the crust: Put flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor; pulse to combine. Drop in butter and shortening; pulse to cut into flour. What you're aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing, gradually add about 3 tbsp. ice water—add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again; keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get water into flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn't look evenly moistened, pulse in up to 1 tbsp. more ice water, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Shape dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Step 2

Make the pumpkin filling: In a food processor, combine pumpkin, cream, 1⁄2 cup brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, rum, 1⁄2 tsp. vanilla, 1⁄2 tsp. cinnamon, ginger and 1⁄4 tsp. salt. Pulse to combine. Set aside.

Step 3

Make the pecan filling: In a bowl, combine corn syrup, 1⁄4 cup brown sugar, butter, remaining egg and yolk, 1⁄2 tsp. vanilla, 1⁄4 tsp. cinnamon, and 1⁄8 tsp. salt; whisk until smooth.

Step 4

Preheat oven to 450°. Roll dough out to a 12" circle on a floured counter, turning dough over frequently; keep counter floured. Slide dough into the fridge for about 20 minutes to rest and firm up. Fit dough into a buttered 9" pie plate; cut excess dough to a 1⁄4"–1⁄2" overhang. Fold dough under itself, so that it hangs over the edge just a tad, and flute or pinch the crust to make a decorative edge.

Step 5

To assemble: Give the pumpkin filling one last quick pulse, then remove bowl, rap it on counter to debubble batter, and pour filling into crust. Top pumpkin filling evenly with pecans, then pour over pecan filling. Poke down any pecans that float to the top and aren't covered with filling. Bake pie for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300° and bake for another 35–40 minutes, or until it is evenly puffed and a slender knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer pie to a cooling rack and let it stand until it is just warm or until it reaches room temperature.

Correction: An earlier version of this recipe mistakenly called for 1/4 stick of butter for the pie crust. The recipe in fact calls for 1 1/4 sticks, for a total of 10 tablespoons.

Continue to Next Story

Want more SAVEUR?

Get our favorite recipes, stories, and more delivered to your inbox.