Thanksgiving is just over a week away and I’m getting excited! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I get to cook a bunch of things I wouldn’t normally cook, and it’s fun to sort of play restaurant. Plus it’s a fall holiday which is my favorite season.
I’m also looking forward to having time off from school so I can get caught up on my recipes. I just started testing my holiday recipes this past weekend and it went well, so I’m hoping there’ll be no tricky recipes that require a bunch of testing to perfect and make me fall behind.
This time of year is always so busy and everything just piles up a little bit. But I try to keep it all organized because otherwise it just falls apart and nothing gets done. So I’m hoping I can use the break to catch up on some things I’ve sort of let slip under my radar because they’re less pressing.
But let’s get back to the topic at hand and talk about this pie. I published a pumpkin pie recipe two years ago and that’s sort of become my go to. But this year I wanted to make another pumpkin pie, but make it a little fancier in true ballerina baker fashion. And that’s where this recipe came from!
Describe This Pie to Me
Taste: The crust for this pie has a slightly sweet and buttery flavor, with notes of toasted hazelnut that ties into the spices in the rest of the pie. The pumpkin filling is sweet and spiced, with notes of bourbon and vanilla to balance it out. Finally the apple topping has rich caramel flavor to tie into the crust, as well as gentle spices and bourbon to pair with the juice apples.
Texture: This crust has the perfect melt in your mouth buttery texture, while still remaining stable enough to hold up the filling. The filling is soft and set just enough to hold its shape while the apples are syrupy and rich, the perfect contrast to the crunch in the crust. Finally, the cream on top adds the perfect amount of levity.
Ease: This pie is definitely more labor intensive than a classic pumpkin pie. The crust has the added step of toasting and grinding up the hazelnuts, but the filling is still fairly quick and simple. The caramel apple topping is a little tricky, but perfectly attainable with patience. The cream is also a simple addition, but an extra step nonetheless.
The Crust
This crust is a step up from the classic pie crust with the addition of toasted hazelnuts. This adds the perfect amount of complexity but still compliments the rest of the flavors. It comes together by toasting hazelnuts in the oven until perfectly golden brown, and then pulsing them into a fine meal. From there, the crust is basically the same as a classic pie crust; cold butter, flour, salt, and water. We par bake this crust before adding in the filling to ensure the bottom doesn’t get soggy.
The Filling
This filling is a very classic pumpkin pie filling that comes together in one bowl with no mixer. Pumpkin puree, eggs, brown sugar, spices, bourbon, cornstarch, milk and cream all get mixed together into a thin custard we pour this into the partially baked pie crust and bake until just set. It bakes up almost like a pudding, delicate and softly spiced to pair perfectly with the crust and toppings.
The Caramel Apples
The caramel apples are the trickiest part of this recipe but they add so much to this pie. We start by cooking down the apples with a little butter, brown sugar, spices, bourbon, and vanilla. This gives the apples a deep and concentrated flavor. Next we make a caramel sauce by melting down sugar and adding a little butter and heavy cream. The caramel sauce can take a few tries so I recommend reading through that part of the recipe carefully before starting. Once we have these two components made, we mix the two of them together to make the perfect sauce to top this pie off with.
The Cream
This cream is one of my favorites and I’ve used it in lot’s of recipes like my chocolate pot de creme, Yule log, and my chocolate date cake. It comes together very quickly and adds the perfect amount of levity to this recipe. It comes together with creme fraiche, granulated sugar, heavy cream, and plenty of vanilla bean paste.
Hazelnut Pumpkin Pie with Bourbon Caramel Apples and Vanilla Cream
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Spread the hazelnuts out on a small baking sheet. Bake for 5-7 minutes or until the nuts are lightly toasted. Let them cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a food processor. Pulse to a fine crumb, with the same texture as almond flour. Add the all purpose flour, granulated sugar, salt, and cold butter and pulse until the butter is broken up into pea sized crumbs.
- Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add in the water and use a spatula to fold the dough together. Dump the shaggy dough out onto a heavily floured work surface. Roll into a roughly 10 inch circle using a floured rolling pin. This dough is sticky so make sure you are rotating it and re flouring your surface frequently. Transfer the rolled out dough to a 9 inch pie plate. If desired flute or crimp the edges of the crust. Place the crust in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 375℉. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the crust and fill with pie weights. Bake with the weights for 10 minutes, then remove the weights and parchment poke the bottom of the crust all over with a fork, and bake for another 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool while we make the filling.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, brown sugar, bourbon, vanilla extract, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, and salt. Once smooth, whisk in the heavy cream and whole milk. Pour the mixture into the warm pie crust. Bake at 375℉ for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is mostly set, with the filling still being a little wobbly. If the crust is browning too quickly, tent with foil. Place the tart on a wire cooling rack to cool.
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Once melted, it will begin to sizzle and foam, before it starts to brown. Just as it starts to brown, whisk in the brown sugar, followed by the apples. Cook the apples for 5 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, bourbon, and vanilla. And toss to combine.
- Cook the apples on medium heat until most of the liquid has cooked off. This can take anywhere from 10-20 minutes, so just keep it cooking at a boil, stirring frequently. Once most of the liquid has cooked off, take the pan off the heat and let the apples cool while we make the caramel.
- In a large saucepan, melt the sugar over medium heat. It may not look like it's melting at first, but eventually it will start to melt and turn an amber brown color. I recommend letting it melt untouched until it starts to bubble and melt in the middle, then stir it with a wooden spoon. Once melted, remove from the heat and immediately whisk in the butter. Be careful, it will splatter! Whisk until melted and mostly combined (it may still be a little split, but adding the cream should bring it together). Stir in cream and whisk vigorously to combine. It should even out into a thin caramel now. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Let the caramel cool in the pot for 10-15 minutes before pouring it into the apple mixture and stirring to combine. Set aside.
- Place the crème fraîche, granulated sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt in a large mixing bowl and whip on high speed until you have stiff peaks.
- To serve, slice the cooled pie and top with a generous dollop of the cream and the warm caramel apples. Enjoy! Pie lasts for up to 5 days sealed in the refrigerator. The apples and cream should each be stored separately, and will also last up to 5 days sealed in the refrigerator.
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