FILLING: Combine ½ cup brown sugar, butter, and salt in medium saucepan; bring to boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil until deep brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add Scotch, then cream (mixture will bubble vigorously) and whisk until smooth. Return to medium heat and stir until most caramel bits dissolve. Strain butterscotch mixture into small bowl. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
Whisk remaining ¼ cup brown sugar and pumpkin in large bowl. Whisk in eggs, then cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice. Add reserved butterscotch mixture; whisk to blend.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewhisk before using.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour filling into crust. Bake pie until filling is just set, about 50 minutes. Cool to room temperature, about 3 hours.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Store at room temperature.
WHIPPED CREAM: Using electric mixer, beat cream, sugar, and Scotch in medium bowl until peaks form.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill. Rewhisk if necessary before serving.
Cut pie into wedges. Serve with dollops of whipped cream.
A bit of sour cream gives the filling of this special pie a subtle tang and a little extra richness. If you’d like to decorate the pie with pastry leaves, prepare and roll out a second pie-crust dough disk; sprinkle the leaf-shaped cutouts with sugar before baking. Serve the pie with whipped cream, if desired. 8 servings
Flaky Pie Crust dough disk (see recipe)
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon (generous) salt
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
¾ cup chilled heavy whipping cream
3 large eggs, beaten to blend
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup apricot preserves
Roll out dough disk on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Trim dough overhang to ½ inch. Fold overhang under and shape edge to form high-standing rim. Make cut in crust edge at ½-inch intervals. Bend alternate edge pieces inward. Freeze crust 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line crust with foil and beans or pie weights. Place crust on large rimmed baking sheet. Bake crust until sides are set and dry, about 15 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Continue to bake crust until cooked through and pale golden, piercing with fork if crust bubbles, 13 to 15 minutes longer. Cool crust on sheet 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
Whisk both sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in medium bowl until no lumps remain. Whisk in pumpkin, whipping cream, eggs, and sour cream. Gently spread apricot preserves evenly over inside of crust to coat. Pour filling into crust.
Bake pie on sheet until filling puffs at edges and center is almost set, 1 hour to 1 hour 5 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack. Cover and chill until cold.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.This Pie in HistoryThe Pilgrims didn’t have pumpkin pie at their first Thanksgiving feast. The dessert reportedly made its debut at the second Thanksgiving, in 1623.
All purpose flour and cake flour combine to make a tender crust, while the mixture of butter and shortening lends flavor and a flaky texture. If you don’t own a food processor, simply use your fingertips or a pastry blender to combine the butter and shortening with the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Makes 1 dough disk (enough for one 9-inch or 10-inch crust)
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
⅓ cup cake flour
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
2 tablespoons chilled non-hydrogenated solid vegetable shortening, cut into ½-inch pieces
3 tablespoons (or more) ice water
Mix both flours, sugar, and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening; using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles very coarse meal. Add 3 tablespoons ice water and process until large moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill until cold and firm, at least 1 hour.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Let soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.
A chiffon pie is any pie with an airy, fluffy filling. This velvety-textured pumpkin pie has a crunchy nutty crust, delicate spicing, a hint of bourbon, and zingy crystallized ginger that decorates the whipped cream topping. Try it as an alternative to a traditional pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. 8 servings
Crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
¾ cup finely chopped pecans
¼ cup (packed) golden brown sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling
¼-ounce envelope unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons bourbon
1¼ cups canned pure pumpkin
¾ cup whole milk
⅔ cup (packed) golden brown sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups chilled heavy whipping cream, divided
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
CRUST: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Stir graham cracker crumbs, pecans, brown sugar, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add butter and mix until crumbs are moistened. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up sides of prepared dish. Bake crust until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool, then chill crust until cold.
FILLING: Sprinkle gelatin over bourbon in small bowl; set aside until gelatin softens, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, egg yolks, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in heavy medium saucepan to blend. Stir over medium-low heat until mixture thickens slightly and instant-read thermometer inserted into mixture registers 160°F, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into large metal bowl. Immediately add softened gelatin mixture and stir until gelatin dissolves. Set bowl with pumpkin mixture over large bowl of ice water and stir until mixture is cold to touch but not set, about 5 minutes.
Beat ¾ cup cream in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into pumpkin mixture. Pour filling into chilled crust. Chill pie until filling is set, at least 3 hours.