5 days late

Ready to make your pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving? Yeah, sorry I didn’t get this recipe up before the big feast. But maybe you will need to make a pumpkin pie for Christmas, in which case, this is perfect timing!

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

Crust
1 1/4 cups flour
1  1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk
2 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Pie
3 eggs, lightly beaten
15-ounce can pumpkin purée
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or dark rum
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Toffee Topping
1/2 cup pecans, lightly toasted, chopped
1/4 cup toffee bits

Spiced Whipped Cream
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Crust: Pulse the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is coarse crumbs. Add the yolk, and pulse to combine. With the machine running, quickly add just enough of the ice water until a dough is about to form. If the mixture is still a bit dry, add more water as needed.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and shape it into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Roll out dough and line a 10-inch, deep-dish pie plate with dough. Crimp edges.

Take the 3 lightly beaten eggs for the pie filling; dip a pastry brush into the eggs and brush the dough lightly with the egg. Place the egg-washed crust into the freezer to firm, for 10 minutes.

Move rack to lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cover pie shell with foil and top with pie weights. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove foil and weights. Return to oven and bake for 5 minutes, until the surface starts to look dry not browned. Place on cooling rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Pie: In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugars, flour, cinnamon, salt, ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and pepper. Add cream, juice, bourbon, and vanilla. Whisk to blend. Whisk the beaten eggs into the pumpkin mixture until blended and smooth.

Pour into pie shell. Bake until filling firms up and puffs slightly at the sides, but is still a bit wobbly in the center, 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes. As soon as the pie goes into the oven, put together the toffee topping.

Toffee Topping: In a small bowl stir together pecans and toffee bits. Once the pie has baked for an hour, sprinkle the toffee mixture over the surface and return to oven to finish baking.

Cool pie on rack. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days before slicing and serving.

Spiced Whipped Cream:  Whip the cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and spice and whip to firm peaks. Top each slice of pie with a dollop of cream.

Serves 8 to 10