Pie 7: Cream Cheese Pumpkin with Pecan Streusel

Pie 7: Cream Cheese Pumpkin with Pecan Streusel

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. At one point, I was in the lobby of our apartment building and I decided to complement a little girl of her Halloween outfit by saying, "I like your dress Cinderella", only to be screamed at by the little brat, "I'm not Cinderella, I'm Bell!" Obviously she was just trying to fit the role of being a bratty princess.

As expected I dressed up as my famous Chef, Julia Child, and had a marvelous evening with friends. My partner, Chris, went as "Stick of Butter" to complement my outfit. At the end of the night (or 5 minutes after standing in heals singing karaoke into my rolling pin) I realized that I do not have what it takes to be a REAL lady... I'll stick to making pies.

Goodbye October and hellllllooooo November! This weeks pie is special. It's unbelievable one of the best pumpkin pie recipes I've ever had. I highly recommend using this if you want to impress people during your Thanksgiving dinner. It's relatively easy too! Since the last weeks pie was vegan, I wanted to make sure that this one had some richness to it and of course make Christian happy with some lard.

Tip for Perfection:
PREPARE! PREPARE! PREPARE! Always make sure that you prepare before you start to make your pie dough. Make sure you always have the right ingredients and more importantly make sure you read the recipe through thoroughly before you begin to bake. This is key!

Cream Cheese Pumpkin with Pecan Streusel

Flakey and Flavorful Pie Dough:
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup lard (or Crisco if you're health conscience)
5 Tbsp cold butter (chopped into small pieces)
1/4 cup water (cold)
1 large egg, lightly beaten

In a medium sized bowl combine the salt and flour. Cut in your butter and lard with a pastry knife or fork until it resembles small pea size chunks inside the flour. While constantly stiring slowly, add the liquid mixture and egg. Depending on your altitude you might not need to use all the water to get the right consistency. If your mixture is too dry, add more cold water. Cut the dough into two pieces and refrigerate for 2 hours. On a lightly floured surface roll out one of the dough balls. Add it to the pie shell and flute the edges. There are many different ways of fluting your pie. Here is a video of some of the different ways and techniques to help you with this process.

Click here for "Fluting techniques"

You can double the rest of the recipe if you're planning on making two pies, otherwise you can save the other pie dough for another time. You can freeze it for up to 3 months.

Cream Cheese Layer:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 egg

In a small bowl, cream the sugar and cream cheese together. Add vanilla and egg and mix well. Pour mixture into pie shell and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Layer:
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat over to 350. Combine all ingredients into a medium sized mixing bowl. Blend together well with an electric mixer or whisk. After the cream mixture has been in the fridge for 30 minutes, pour pumpkin mixture over the top of cream mixture and place into the oven. Bake for 50 minutes. If the crust begins to brown too quickly, add aluminum foil around the crust.

Pecan Streusel:
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup pecans, crushed

While the pie is baking. Mix the flour and sugar together. Add the butter and cream together. Finely crush the pecans with a rolling pin (inside a Ziploc bag) or in a food processor and combine with the cream mixture. After the pie has baked for 50 minutes, take out of oven. Using your fingertips add the pecan Streusel on top of the pie evenly and bake for an additional 15 minutes. The pie is best served cold, in order to do so let the pie cool in the refrigerator for 3 hours before cutting into it.

Whipped Cream (recommended to make when consuming)
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp confectionery sugar

Whip together until soft peaks form. Throw a little (or a lot) on each slice.

Enjoy!