Comfort

Comfort, originally uploaded by *April*.

As a child, I hated pumpkin pie. Despised. Loathed.

Now, I can't get enough of it.

We made a delicious pumpkin pie in a delicious Pâte Brisée (all butter crust). I made the crust and baked the pie - Patrick made the filling.

Ingredients for the crust:

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very-cold
* 1 teaspoon grey sea salt
* 1 teaspoon white sugar
* 4 to 6 Tbsp ice water

Directions: Place the sticks of butter in the freezer overnight so they are thoroughly chilled. Remove from the freezer and slice into 1/2-inch cubes. Combine flour, sea salt, and sugar in a food processor; pulse 4-5 times to mix. Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles small peas. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and pulse again. If your dough is a little too damp, sprinkle a little extra flour on your board during kneading. Remove dough from food processor and place on a clean surface. Gently shape into 2 discs. Knead the dough just enough to form the discs, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in saran wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days. Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of general purpose white flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking. Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish. Prick sides and bottom of empty pie with the tines of a fork.

Save the second disk of dough - either freezing or in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Filling:

I've tried many different variations on pumpkin pie - using fresh pumpkins, and nearly every possible combination of spices. Perhaps it's just nostalgia - but to me there's no reason to fix what's not broken. For that reason - I tend to rely on the recipe on the back of the Libby's can of pureed pumpkin with minor modifications.

Ingredients:

* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 3/4 teaspoon high quality ground Cassia Cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon French grey sea salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 large or extra-large eggs
* 1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

As a little secret - I find that baking in a pyrex deep dish glass pie plate is the easiest way to make the crust flaky and avoid unpleasant sogginess.