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Chef Steps' Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
servings
Ingredients
    Crust
  1. 255 grams Graham Crackers
  2. 128 grams Butter, Unsalted melted
    3. Wet
  3. 440 grams Pumpkin Puree
  4. 370 grams Bulgarian Buttermilk
  5. 100 grams Cream Cheese
  6. 3 large Egg Yolks
  7. 21 grams Vanilla Extract
    8. Dry
  8. 150 grams Cane Sugar, Granulated
  9. 5 grams Kosher Salt
  10. 2.3 grams Carrageenan, kappa
  11. 1 4/5 grams Carrageenan, iota
  12. 2 grams Cinnamon, Ground
  13. 1/2 grams Ginger, ground
Steps
  1. 1 Choose your crust
    Feel free to use a premade graham cracker or chocolate crust from the grocery store. They serve this pie well and make the entire process truly oven-free. That said, we developed an easy and delicious graham cracker crust you can make at home—see the next step.
  2. 2 So you wanna make your own crust
    Preheat oven to 350 °F / 177 °C. Finely grind your favorite brand of graham crackers—or try chocolate wafers!—until uniformly sandy.
  3. 3 Bake your crust
    Mix together the graham—or wafer—crumbs with melted butter until thoroughly combined. Press into a shallow tart pan. Bake the crust until golden brown and firm, about 11 minutes.
  4. 4 Assemble your mise en place
    Lay out your equipment—scale, blender, thermometer, cake turntable, and palette knife—as well as the ingredients and your crust. You’ll want to have everything at the ready in a clean workspace because the pie filling sets very quickly. When it’s time to cast the filling, it’s nice to have a helper on hand to spin the turntable while you’re pouring.
  5. 5 Scale wet ingredients into blender
    To the bowl of the blender base add canned pumpkin, buttermilk, cream cheese, egg yolks, and vanilla extract. If you’re using sour cream or heavy cream, add that in lieu of buttermilk.
  6. 6 Scale dry mixture
    In a small bowl combine sugar, salt, both carrageenan kappa and iota, cinnamon, and ground ginger. Mix thoroughly.
  7. 7 Begin blending wet ingredients and gradually incorporate dry mixture
    Place blender bowl containing wet ingredients on base and begin blending on medium speed. You’re aiming for a vortex in the center. With the blender still running, add dry mixture to wet mixture in small increments until fully incorporated. Increase speed to high.
  8. 8 Bring the filling to 203 °F / 95 °C
    Stop the blender and place your thermometer probe in the filling mixture. Make sure the top is on as tight as possible and continue blending on high speed until the filling reaches 203 °F / 95 °C; it should take five to eight minutes.
  9. 9 Cast the filling
    Grab your baked or store-bought crust and place it on the turntable. Working quickly, pour the filling from the blender bowl into the crust.
  10. 10 Form the filling
    Working even more quickly, use your palette knife to evenly distribute the filling in the shell. With the back of the palette knife, smooth the filling with a light touch as you—or your helper—spins the turntable. If you’re feeling fancy—or if you’re serving the pie naked—use your palette knife to create a swirl design in the top of the filling. Working from the outside in, press your palette knife gently into the filling and spin the turntable to create a spiral, moving inward with each turn, until you reach the center of the pie.
  11. 11 Chill overnight
    To set the pie and achieve the desired consistency, chill at least eight hours, or overnight.
  12. 12 Serve and enjoy!
    Your final decision in this adventure is to top with whipped cream or not to top with whipped cream. You’ll make the right call. Enjoy!