This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Janell of Mortensen Family Memoirs: caramel pumpkin pie. I’ve been baking with pumpkin like crazy around here (just wait until you see all of the pumpkin posts I have to share in the next few weeks!), but I haven’t yet made a pumpkin pie, especially one that adds a rich and creamy caramel sauce to the mix. Though I generally scale back recipes (as you probably know), I made a full size pie this week for two main reasons. First, I’d stashed pie dough in my freezer and when I rolled it out I had just enough for a full size pie. Also, I’ve had a lot of trouble scaling back caramel recipes – they just never seem to work as well when I go mini. I emailed my mom to confirm she’d take a full-size pie off my hands. She quickly said yes, and I got to work.
Speaking of the caramel, this week was the first time I’d tried this particular method for making caramel. Dorie starts with only sugar in the bottom of a nonstick pan and slowly, as it is heated, the sugar melts and caramelizes. Mine took forever; I stood there staring at it for what seemed like ages, complaining to Shane that it wasn’t going to work. Then, suddenly, it melted and began taking on a golden brown color. I was beyond excited, and it only got better from there. The color darkened, then the sugar bubbled and smoked before finally I added the cream, butter and apple cider and was rewarded with a luxurious, amber caramel sauce. My cream sat at room temperature for about 30 minutes before I added it to the hot sugar, so it didn’t clump at all.
I raved about Dorie’s crust when I tried it for the first time last week, and while I loved how easily it rolled out this week and its great flaky texture, it did shrink up on me quite a bit when I prebaked it. I wasn’t particularly careful about handling the dough so I’ll give it another try and hopefully have better results next time. Once you make the crust and the caramel, the rest of this pie is a cinch – simply whisk pumpkin puree, eggs, sugar, spices and finally, the caramel sauce, in a large bowl then pour them into the crust and bake. The edges of my filling puffed in the oven, but not the center, which made it look underbaked, but since it didn’t jiggle, I pulled the pie out (at 50 minutes) and hoped for the best. As the pie cooled, the edges leveled out with the center so no biggie.
A few swirls of whipped cream were the final touch to the pie before I sent it home with my mom. I kept one slice for myself, and though I’ve never been a big pumpkin pie fan, I liked this one. My stepdad, who does love pumpkin pie, also loved this version. It’s darker in color and more intense in flavor than traditional pumpkin pie with the caramel notes. It might not replace everyone’s favorite pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, but it’s a nice change of pace. Many thanks to Janell for hosting this week! You can find the recipe for the pumpkin pie on her site here, or on pages 322-323 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.
It looks delicious! That’s the best season for this kind of desserts! Giorgia
It looks delicious! That’s the best season for this kind of desserts! Giorgia
It looks delicious! That’s the best season for this kind of desserts! Giorgia
It looks delicious! That’s the best season for this kind of desserts! Giorgia
It looks delicious! That’s the best season for this kind of desserts! Giorgia
It looks delicious! That’s the best season for this kind of desserts! Giorgia
It looks delicious! That’s the best season for this kind of desserts! Giorgia
Mmm, perfect. Love the whipped cream piping!
Pumpkin is NOT my favorite pie, but I, too, liked this one. And it was fun to make the caramel and actually have it turn out!
This turned out very pretty, Lovelt photos too
Oooh, yours looks perfect and delish!
such cute little whipped cream swirls!
That pie is gorgeous, Tracey! Lovely job! 🙂
I love pumpkin pie for breakfast! It’s sort of healthy, right?? Your pie looks beautiful!
Two of my favorite ingredients together in only the best type of Fall dessert. It looks amazing!
I love making caramel–what fun science. This pie was yummy! Have a great day.
lovely photos 🙂 as always
Oooooh yummy!! This looks SO good! Love the little clouds of whipped cream on top!
I’m so happy that you liked this one. Your pie looks great! Thanks for baking along with me this week.
What a beautiful pie! I’m not a pumpkin pie fan, either, but I might take a liking to it with Dorie’s addition of caramel.
What a neat shot of that caramel on the stove. Are my eyes deceiving me, or am I actually seeing smoke? Looks excellent!
That looks wonderful–I love the whipped cream. =) I’m amazed at how relaxed I’ve become about making caramel. Even the dry version, though it still requires more of my attention than the wet version.
Your pie looks awesome! I’m sorry I skipped this one – it sounds delicious.
You had me at caramel…or was it pumpkin…:) Yum!
Gorgeous pie, Tracey! Glad you enjoyed it. I was happy that this caramel technique worked so well (although it did take forever!) and I plan to try it again for something other than pie. I bet your mom was thrilled to get this!
Very pretty. I like the dark/caramel-y color the pie has.
Lovely dark rich colour to your pie!
Beautiful Pie. Loved this one. I couldn’t taste the caramel but it made the pumpkin soooo much better. Lucky Dad/Mom!!!
your pie looks beautiful! I also love how flaky and crisp Dorie’s crust is, but I also had a little shrinking after the pre-bake, oh well, looks more homemade!
My crust shrunk up this time as well…not sure what that was all about, I thought I did it the same way. Oh, well, it tasted great. Yours looks very pretty…you always do the special touches so nicely.
This looks delicious! The only thing that pulls me back is making caramel. I’m such a lazy person at that. But I have not tried Dorie’s method and it does sound interesting.
Gorgeous step by step photos! 🙂 Glad this was a hit and that you had someone to take it off your hands!
I love pumpkin pie and definitely admire caramel, but putting the two together never crossed my mind. I must, repeat, I must try this… I wish there was a way you can send me a piece to test for you. 🙂 Thanks again…a must pass on dessert. 🙂