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11/20/2001 Archived Entry: "Pumpkin Pie With Eggnog"

This is the pumpkin pie recipe made with eggnog that Dorie Greenspan mentioned last week on the radio. Oy, the problems this has caused.

I don’t even remember how it came up. Dorie and I are good friends and when we talk our conversation goes all over the place. One thing leads to an often unrelated other. The ostensible reason she was on my program was to talk about baking and cooking with chocolate, apropos the recent publication of Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé, which she wrote. Somehow, in passing, she said the pumpkin pie that she bakes for Thanksgiving is made with eggnog. I was not the only one who was intrigued with that. Several of you have asked for the recipe. I got it on the phone from Dorie this morning and made it twice already this afternoon, having prepared myself already with a container of eggnog from the supermarket and a couple of cans of pumpkin puree.

The recipe is from a famous cookbook, “Cook My Darling Daughter,” written by Mildred O. Knopf in 1959. Mildred was the wife of Hollywood producer Edwin Knopf, and the sister-in-law of Alfred A. Knopf, who is the publisher of this book, as well as Mildred’s other famous cookbook, “The Perfect Hostess,” and a couple of others, including “The Food of Italy & How To Prepare It,” which she wrote with her husband.


Holiday Pie
Makes 1 9-inch pie

Arthur Two Cents: Dorie actually doesn’t bake this custard as a pie. Since she has a French bent (not to mention an apartment in Paris), she uses the filling in a pre-baked tart shell. When I went to bake it in a 9-inch pastry, I found there was too much custard mix, as she does in her tart shell. You could simply pour the extra custard into ramekins and bake the custard as custard – in a water bath – or use two 8-inch pie shells and make two smaller pies.

There are some other problems with this recipe:

Today’s 15-ounce cans of pumpkin puree hold only 1 3/4 cups of puree. As I think it is foolish to open a second can of pumpkin for only 1/4 cup of pumpkin, I have formulated the recipe accordingly, using only 1 3/4 cups.

I am still uncertain about the baking time. Baking it for the full time at 425 degrees, as Mildred Knopf instructs, could lead to a broken, watery custard, especially in 8-inch pastry shells. I baked mine the second time at 425 for 15 minutes, then at 350 degrees for the rest of the time, 40 to 50 minutes, until the pie tests done, which is to say until the point of a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. I hate that little slit in the center of a tested custard pie. My solution, as well as Dorie’s suggestion, is to put a dollop of whipped cream over it at serving time.

Perhaps next year I will have more time to fool with this recipe – for instance, I would love to try it with a pre-baked pie shell, for a crisper crust – but given that Thanksgiving is only two days away, here it is as it stands. The custard is delicious. You can’t go too far wrong.

1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups pumpkin puree (see Arthur’s two cents, above)
1 1/2 tablespoons molasses
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups eggnog
2 tablespoons brandy or rum

In a large mixing bowl, using a whisk, beat the eggs and eggnog until well mixed. Beat in the pumpkin puree, then the remaining ingredients.

Pour into a 9-inch pastry shell (there will be more custard than you need – bake the excess in ramekins or custard cups placed in a water bath), and transfer on a baking sheet to a preheated 425-degree oven.

After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the center tests firm. Insert the point of a sharp knife in the center. The custard is set if the knife comes out clean.