I went super crazy this past weekend and made four pies for a get-together of four people - myself, my husband and two good pals. PIE O'CLOCK! We had all been dreaming and drooling about pies, and truly after days of cake-making , making pies was like a cool breeze on a hot day. I turned up the classical tunes and mellowed out, rolled out some doughs and had a lovely Fall (gut-busting... yes) dinner! You can read about Pie O'Clock Mini Party here.

One of the pies I made turned out so straight-outta-scrumptious-town that I had to share it with you, dear Poppytalk readers. Yes, that's the maple pumpkin pie with a salty sweet spicy gingersnap buttery cookie crust. While not entirely a crazy take on the creamy classic pie, it has real maple syrup, fresh ground black peppercorn and lots of ginger and cinnamon. Also, there are no eggs in this pie - I used sweetened condensed milk to help make it thick and rich. It seemed to work! I don't like my desserts crazy-sweet so you may feel the need to add more brown sugar or sweetened condensed milk to your filling - try it with a spoon before filling your pie crust and baking it off, k?






MAPLE PUMPKIN PIE WITH GINGERSNAP COOKIE CRUST

Ingredients:


Gingersnap crust, from Martha Stewart:

1 3/4 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs. (I used Anna's Ginger Thins, placed about one and a half boxes in my food processor and ground it until fine and crumbly.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted.


Pumpkin pie filling:

2/3 can of 763 ml pure pumpkin (I used E.D. Smith brand)
1/2 cup of 10% cream
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup (or a few good glugs) or pure maple syrup
1/2 can of 300 ml can of sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
a few good grates of fresh black peppercorns (to taste!)

Make it!

1.Combine the ingredients for the crust into a medium bowl. Mix well with clean hands. Press the mixture into a 9 inch pie pan.
2. Bake pie crust in oven on middle rack for ten minutes until set. Remove and let cool.
3.Combine all of the pumpkin pie filling ingredients in a large bowl. Mix it nicely until all incorporated and combined. I used a spatula to mix mine.
4. Pour pumpkin pie filling into cooled pie crust.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, turning halfway to ensure even baking, until pumpkin filling is set. After 30 minutes, cover pie with aluminum/tin foil so your cookie crust doesn't burn on the top. That would be sad!
6. Remove, and serve with vanilla bean ice cream or a nice maple whipping cream! Oh yeah!


Wasn't that easy?? Enjoy pie o'clock, everyone!

'Til next time,

xo Lyndsay

Lyndsay is a self-taught baker and subsequent enthusiastic blogger. She loves makin' foods and bakin' goods, and shares her stories, recipes and foodstuffs on Poppytalk bi-weekly! Her other work can be found on her cake blog: Coco Cake, her ice cream blog: Ice Cream by Coco Cake and her food oddities and delights blog: Trompe Chomp!