Walnut Streusel Topped Pumpkin Pie
Hey everyone! Long time no recipes! This past year has been pretty crazy for me. Last February I moved very suddenly to the beautiful oceanside city of Vancouver, Canada! I have been enjoying my time here and have been busy exploring the city.
During my move, I neglected to renew my domain name with Google and this led to a very difficult set of circumstances. Someone immediately bought my old domain when it was released and has since been using it for their own gains. Since then it appears that he website is now blocked but it took me a while to morn the loss of my old name and regroup. As this was very heartbreaking for me since I have had been using that name and linking countless recipes across the web for the past ten years! I started my blog when I was in high school and this year I will be turning 30! My blog is not only a collection of recipes but also my life.
In the meantime, I have slightly rebranded. The domain I now have, oddly enough, is actually what I wanted originally years ago but was taken. Back then I was obsessed with Chocolate Covered Katie so I wanted to be Cupcake Kat to sorta match her name in a way. So maybe this is serendipitous and means better things will come. Some good did come from it as I have chosen a new host as well as have moved over to WordPress! This is something I was already looking into years ago and should have done years ago! WordPress offers fewer limitations than Blogger for blogging and overall is a better choice once one gets more into their blog. Now I should be able to create better webpages and hopefully be more easy to find across the web! Just need to learn all the new things and there is quite a learning curve.
Oddly enough, though I haven’t been posting or recording many recipes. I have been creating and making some new favorites over and over which I can now photograph and share! My first is the second pie I have ever made! The first being a delicious apple pie I made last summer with apples I picked up on a trip to the Okanagan. Though, I bake a lot, my pastry skills aren’t as great as they should be so I am looking forward to challenging myself and improving more. This fanciful pumpkin pie is already way better than that apple pie I made and I have already learned a lot of improvements. I have made sure to add careful notes to make a foolproof pie that hopefully will remain flaky. For instance, the apple cider vinegar is meant to keep the dough tender and I think does help a lot! Other than that, you must ensure you dough remains cold so it is easy to roll out and stays flaky when baked. The worst thing you can do to a pie dough is overwork it but this is also hard to not do when one is inexperienced at making pie doughs. It may still taste ok but won’t have that craveable flakiness. The other thing I found really difficult was rolling the dough out into a circle shape. I bet there are better ways to do it by measuring or using certain tools but personally I have been trying my best to match the shape of my pie dish as best I can. I do not currently have a pie dish and have been using a deep cast iron skillet. Which definitely adds a special touch.
For the butter in the crust, I used the PC brand plant based butter I found at Superstore. I love this butter and have been using it in other recipes! It is such a great vegan option and tastes great. It is also very affordable! This recipe is not completely plant based as I have used evaporated milk and eggs in the filling. For a vegan option, you could use full fat coconut milk mixed with some non-dairy creamer or a vegan evaporated milk recipe as well as cornstarch for the egg. I have not tried these myself but if you do please let us know!
Here’s to better things!
Walnut Streusal Topped Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup butter cubed
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup ice water
Pumpkin Base
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 to 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 to 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups canned pumpkin
- 1 1/4 cups evaporated milk
Streusel
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/3 cup oats
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tbsp butter softened
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
Crust
- Start with your crust. Prep by making sure butter is cold (from the fridge) and you can also prep your ice water by placing a few ice cubes in 1/4 cup of water.
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
- Add cubed butter into flour mixture and using a pastry cutter or a couple forks, combine until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Some big flecks of butter is ok!
- Add in vinegar and ice water then stir until it starts to become stiff, at this point you can start using your hands to knead the dough. Do this quickly as you don't want the dough to get too warm and melt the butter. The dough should be sticky but if it falls apart or is too dry then add 1 tbsp of water at a time until it sticks together.
- Place dough ball in your bowl and cover with plastic wrap, chill for at least 10 minutes in the fridge. You may start working on your filling and/or streusel as it chills (see steps below). Leave these in the fridge until you are ready to use them if you do this.
- When you are ready, preheat your oven to 400F and lightly flour your working surface and rolling pin Roll dough into the size of your pie dish (usually about 12 inches across) and 1/8-1/4 inch thick.
- Gently fold or quarter your dough to make it easier to move to your pie dish. Press lightly into dish and trim edges if needed, leaving about 1 inch overhanging. Crimp or form edges into your desired shape. Chill in fridge until oven is finished preheating.
- Prick the bottom of your crust with a fork then line the dough with foil. Then fill with weights. I like using 1 cup of sugar but you can also use rice or beans.
- Bake for 15 minutes and remove weights. Return to oven and bake for 5 minutes more. Remove and let cool slightly. Get started on your pie filling if you haven't yet.
Pie Filling
- Reduce heat or preheat to 375F.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
- Beat in eggs one at a time and then add in pumpkin puree and evaporated milk until smooth and creamy.
- Pour filling into your half-baked crust and cover just the overhanging crust with foil so it doesn't over-brown.
- Return pie to oven and bake 35 to 40 minutes. As it bakes, prepare your streusel if needed.
Streusel
- In a small bowl mix together walnuts, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Add butter and water then cut into your streusel. A couple lumps of butter is ok. Leave in fridge until your pie is ready.
- Once your pie has baked for 35 to 40 minutes, top evenly with streusel and then return for 10 to 15 more minutes.
- Remove from oven, pie should be set in the middle (a little wobble is ok). Cool on a wire rack. You may eat this slightly warm or cover tightly and leave in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Eat with whipped cream or ice cream if desired. Leftover pie should be stored in the fridge.
Notes
