Not For Wimps: Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie

Several years ago, I belonged to book club in which members hosted the meetings at their homes. The hostess provided both a place to meet and brunch for the once a month gatherings. On one of these mornings, our hostess had made a delicious spread of eggs, pancakes, and other breakfast goodies. After she had finished the cooking and we were all indulging in our delightful meal, my friend announced "Book club is not for sissies"! We all laughed but realized what she was talking about - doing a brunch for 8-10 people can be exhausting! I recalled this incident the other day after I had finished making the Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie, from the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book.

I had been wanting to try this different twist on a pumpkin pie for quite some time, but the recipe scared me a little. First of all, there was a long list of ingredients, many more than your basic Thanksgiving pie. And secondly, there were many steps involved in mixing the ingredients before getting the pie in the oven. So I decided to finally try this pie in a week when I knew that I would have the time to devote to its preparation. The ingredients include the usual canned pumpkin (which the Elsen sisters claim works better than fresh), cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, eggs, vanilla extract and milk. The unique ingredients include heavy cream, lemon juice, molasses, carrot juice, butter, and brown sugar. The butter and brown sugar are cooked first to a "caramelized" state, then the cream added to provide a different flavor to this pie. This brown butter mixture is then added in gradual stages to the remaining ingredients in a food processor. After this, the well-blended mix is strained through a fine mesh sieve before being poured into the partially prebaked pie shell, and then baked for about 45 minutes.

I must admit that after going through all of these processes, I was pretty wiped out. It seems like I stood on my feet for a long time before the pumpkin pie went into the oven, with little opportunity to take a break. Timing is important with this recipe, particularly with the brown butter sauce. As for the result, the pie is really quite good. For me, the primary difference between this and my usual pumpkin pie was the smooth, creamy texture. The food processor blending really makes a difference. The other noticeable but subtle difference is the brown butter flavor. It is a really a different way to experience pumpkin, with the brown butter adding a nice change to the sometimes overwhelming flavor of pumpkin. I really do like this pie, particularly with a dollop of whipped cream.

Having said this, I would say that the brown butter pumpkin pie is one that I would make for special occasions. (like Thanksgiving, or book club!). It is rather labor intensive, and not a pie that I would make on a regular basis, like the pear anise or blueberry pies. But I will also say that having experienced the brown butter pumpkin, I would choose to make this one over my regular pumpkin pie. If you are going to make pumpkin, it is worth the trouble. My advice is: if you are a baking wimp, don't make this pie. If you are a pie fanatic like myself, it is definitely worth the effort!