Pumpkin Pie with Middle Eastern spices
This decadent Thanksgiving dessert has all the sweet, comforting appeal of a traditional pumpkin pie, but with a twist. The rich and custardy base is flavored with cinnamon and ginger, as well as spices typically found on the Middle Eastern spice rack. Think: warming cardamom, spicy-sweet allspice and a hint of earthy coriander. Topped with billowy whipped cream and curls of semisweet chocolate, it will brighten any Thanksgiving dessert table.
Pumpkin Pie With Middle Eastern Spices
Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
For crust:
10 graham cracker sheets
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegan butter, melted
For filling:
15-ounce can pure pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
3 large eggs
½ cup heavy cream, milk or non-dairy milk
⅔ cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
⅛ teaspoon ground coriander
Whipped cream (or coconut-milk whipped topping) and chocolate curls for serving, optional.
DIRECTIONS
-
Make the crust: In a food processor or using a sturdy zip-top bag and rolling pin, crush the graham crackers into very fine crumbs. (Ten full graham cracker sheets should yield 1½ cups crumbs.) Add the crumbs to a medium bowl along with the brown sugar and melted butter, and stir until the crumbs are fully moistened.
-
Transfer the mixture to a nine-inch pie plate and, using your fingers or the bottom of a measuring cup, press the mixture firmly and evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the plate. Place the crust in the freezer for at least 20 minutes while making the filling.
-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and arrange the rack in the middle.
-
In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin purée, eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice and coriander until fully combined and smooth.
-
Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 20 minutes. Loosely drape an aluminum foil tent on top of the pie to avoid the crust browning too quickly and continue baking until the pie is mostly set, with a little wiggle left in the center, 35-45 more minutes. Remove pie from oven and let cool on a wire rack, then cover and refrigerate for two hours.
-
Serve chilled topped with whipped cream and chocolate curls, if desired. (To make chocolate curls, run a vegetable peeler along a bar of room-temperature semisweet or bittersweet baking chocolate.) Store leftovers, covered, in the fridge for up to four days.
Leah Koenig is a food writer and author of six cookbooks, including “The Jewish Cookbook” (Phaidon, 2019) and “Modern Jewish Cooking” (Chronicle, 2015). She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two kids, and teaches cooking classes all over the world.
This article was originally published on JewishBoston.com and has been reposted with permission.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30