Pumpkin Seed Piecrust Recipes

PUMPKIN PIE SPICE PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425° F. To make pie crust, add flour, cinnamon, ginger, sugar, salt and cloves to bowl of a food processor fitted with dough blade. Pulse to combine.
• Cut cold butter into cubes and add to food processor. Pulse until mixture has pea-sized clumps of butter throughout.
• Pour 4 tablespoons cold water over mixture and pulse until dough begins to come together. Be careful not to overmix at this point. Dump dough onto a clean, floured work surface.
• Gather mixture into a ball. Drizzle with more cold water if needed, being careful to add just enough water to make a shaggy dough. Pat into a disc and roll into a 12-inch circle. Transfer dough to a 9-inch pie plate.
• To make the filling, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in a small bowl.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and pumpkin. Stir in the sugar spice mixture. Gradually stir in the evaporated milk until fully combined.
• Pour filling into prepared pie crust. Bake at 425° F for 15 minutes.
• Reduce heat to 375° F and continue baking for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 2 hours before serving.

DECORATED PUMPKIN PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Roll out 1/2 pie dough recipe on a lightly floured surface and fit into a 9 inch pie pan. Trim any uneven overhang then crimp the edge around the pie.
• In a big bowl, whisk the pumpkin, cream cheese, and molasses until smooth. Whisk in the sugars and spices. Whisk in the eggs and half-and-half until well blended.
• Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake an additional 35-40 minutes, until the pie is still very jiggly in the center. Remove from oven to a rack and cool to room temperature.
• Meanwhile roll out the second disc of dough to about 1/8 inch thick and cut out desired shapes or strips to make lattice. Attach to cooled pie, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar if you like. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes until the crust decorations are golden brown. If the edges are getting too dark cover them with foil to prevent burning. Remove and cool on a wire rack, serve at room temperature.
• In a big bowl combine the flour, salt, and sugar and make a claw with your hand to mix it up real good. Toss in the cold butter cubes and massage them into the flour mixture so you get nice big chunks.
• Combine the vinegar with 1/2 cup cold water (this is called acidulating, which just means adding acid to something - usually water). Stir the acidulated water into the flour mixture and gently work the dough until a ball is formed.
• Divide dough and shape into 2 discs, wrap in plastic squeezing out the air and chill it in the fridge for at least 1 hour. This also freezes awesome for up to a year.

PUMPKIN TART WITH ANISE-SEED CRUST

Steps:

• Make tart shell:
• Prepare dough, adding anise seeds to dry ingredients, and chill as directed in dough recipe. Roll out dough into a 14-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, then fit into tart pan and trim excess dough. Chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.
• Lightly prick bottom of shell with a fork, then line with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake shell until side is set and edge is pale golden, about 15 minutes.
• Remove foil and weights and bake shell until golden all over, about 15 minutes more. Cool completely in pan. Leave oven on.
• Fill and bake tart:
• Whisk together pumpkin, sugar spices, and salt in large bowl. Whisk in eggs, then cream.
• Pour filling into cooled tart shell and bake until puffed about 1 1/2 inches from edge and center is just set, 40 to 45 minutes. (Cover edge of tart with foil if browning too quickly.) Cool in pan, about 2 hours. (Tart will continue to set as it cools.)

CRISPY, CRUNCHY PUMPKIN SEEDS

Steps:

• Separate seeds from pulp and rinse under warm water. Pick out remaining pulp. Shake off excess water, place on a towel, and roll up. Let dry in a warm location for 2 to 3 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or foil.
• Mix dry pumpkin seeds and melted butter together in a bowl. Sprinkle on garlic salt, onion salt, and paprika. Spread on the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden and crisp, stirring halfway through, about 45 minutes. Let cool and store in an airtight container, but they taste amazing warm, too.

HOMEMADE ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Cut pumpkin in half. Remove the membrane and seeds. Remove most of the pulp from the seeds (leave some pulp on - it adds to the flavor; for the same reason, do not rinse the seeds).
• Spread seeds in a shallow, jelly roll pan with sides, 15x10x 1 1/2 inches. Spray seeds with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until browned; cool.

PUMPKIN-SEED PIECRUST

Steps:

• Place pepitas in a food processor; pulse until chopped. Add flour, salt, and sugar; pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with some blueberrysize clumps. Add ice water and pulse until incorporated, about 10 times more. Squeeze a small amount of dough to make sure it holds together. If dough is too dry, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap, forming each into 1 disk. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days. Dough can be frozen up to 1 month.
• Roll out 1 disk of dough to just under 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and fit into a 9-inch glass pie plate. Trim excess, leaving a 1-inch overhang; fold edges under and set aside. Roll out remaining disk of dough to just under 1/4 inch thick, cut out small leaf shapes, and mark veins with a knife, if desired. Brush edges of piecrust with egg wash and apply leaves. Freeze at least 1 hour or up to 1 week.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush pastry leaves with more egg wash. Line piecrust with parchment and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges are lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove parchment and weights and bake until entire crust is golden, about 10 minutes more. Let cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour.

GINGER PUMPKIN PIE WITH PUMPKIN SEED CRUST

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread the pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet and toast for 5 to 8 minutes, until you hear them start to pop.
• Chop 1/2 cup of the pumpkin seeds by pulsing in a food processor. Mix with the graham cracker crumbs, ground ginger and granulated sugar. Stir in the melted butter. Pat this mixture firmly into the bottom and sides of a 10-inch pie pan and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• Bake the crust for 15 minutes and remove from oven. Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.
• Mix the pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolks, cream, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Stir in the crystallized ginger and mix until smooth. Pour into the baked graham-cracker crust and bake about an hour, until the filling is set.
• Remove pie from oven and scatter remaining pumpkin seeds on top. Cool to room temperature before serving.