What's your secret for making great pumpkin pie?

[Zyni]

Everyone always likes my pumpkin pie. I "borrowed" the original recipe from a can of pumpkin and kind of doctored it up from there. One thing I do is add more vanilla than what is called for in the original recipe. Shhhh... don't tell anyone.

Do you have a secret ingredient or tip that makes your pumpkin pie something special? Come on, let us in on it.

 

[ChesterV]

All natural French Vanilla.

Or a splash of vodka.

I'm big on sour cream or a bit of cream cheese mixed in it.

 

[justme4910]

so far mine have been from decent to terrible lol so I'm still looking for it and there is one sitting on the cooling rack right now

 

[Zaxmom]

Coconut milk instead of evaporated milk or cream and 3-4 grinds fresh pepper added to the spices. The coconut milk gives the pumpkin filling a silky texture without tasting like coconut and the pepper adds a little kick.

 

[Becky]

Coconut milk instead of evaporated milk or cream and 3-4 grinds fresh pepper added to the spices. The coconut milk gives the pumpkin filling a silky texture without tasting like coconut and the pepper adds a little kick.

That sounds lovely! Welcome to the forum

 

[Zaxmom]

That sounds lovely! Welcome to the forum

Thank you, Becky! I'm looking forward to learning from other bakers on this forum and sharing whatever little bits of baking knowledge I've picked up through the years. I'm happy to be here!

 

[Diane Lane]

Coconut milk instead of evaporated milk or cream and 3-4 grinds fresh pepper added to the spices. The coconut milk gives the pumpkin filling a silky texture without tasting like coconut and the pepper adds a little kick.

I like mine spicy, so I have always added extra of all of the spices in the recipe. I've never thought to add pepper, though, nor to use coconut milk in the place of the evaporated milk. Do you use the same exact amount?

I know some recipes call for sweetened condensed milk instead of the evaporated, but I always use evaporated, since I like my pumpkin pie to be a little coarser in texture, and as I said, spicy.

 

[Zaxmom]

Yes, I use the same amount of coconut milk as I would for the evaporated milk. My recipe calls for 1 cup evaporated milk, so I just substitute 1:1. If you like your pie spicy, then you might like a few grinds of fresh pepper. You don't taste the pepper, but you get a nice kick of heat that you're not expecting. You can adjust the grinds to your taste. I usually use 3. Given that your pie is already spicy, you might want to start with 2 and see how that works for you.

 

[Winterybella]

I have never made it but reading all these tips might encourage me to give it a try. After my carrot cake disaster I was not thrilled about working with any vegetable like ingredients. The splash of vodka sounds good.

 

[Zyni]

I like mine spicy, so I have always added extra of all of the spices in the recipe. I've never thought to add pepper, though, nor to use coconut milk in the place of the evaporated milk. Do you use the same exact amount?

I know some recipes call for sweetened condensed milk instead of the evaporated, but I always use evaporated, since I like my pumpkin pie to be a little coarser in texture, and as I said, spicy.

I'm the opposite. I prefer the sweetened condensed milk in place of evaporated milk and sugar. I like the creamier texture. I don't really like the spiciness either. I just add up the amount of various spices, and I use that much cinnamon instead.

Hmm. I guess I have changed the original recipe a lot, ha ha.