This Floral Fruit Gives Pumpkin Pie a Special Twist
Every week, Yahoo Food spotlights a cookbook that stands out from all the rest. This week’s cookbook is Happy Cooking: Make Every Meal Count…Without Stressing Out by Giada De Laurentiis (Pam Krauss Books). An Emmy Award-winning Food Network star, De Laurentiis is also a Today show correspondent and has her own restaurant, Giada, at The Cromwell Las Vegas. Read more about Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week here.
Photograph by Megan Fawn Schlow
Persimmon-Pumpkin Pie
Serves 8
Pumpkin pie is the obvious choice for Thanksgiving, but why be obvious? Coloring a bit outside the lines is so much more enjoyable. Adding the slightly astringent, floral flavor of persimmon to this pie filling and brushing the crust with a bit of apricot preserves adds brightness, and persimmon slices just look cool.
CRUST
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ teaspoon fine salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, diced
3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese, chilled
2 to 3 tablespoons apricot preserves
FILLING
2 ripe Fuyu persimmons, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1-inch pieces, or 1 cup persimmon pulp from 2 very ripe Hachiya persimmons (each 6 to 7 ounces; see Cook’s Note)
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
½ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
⅓ cup heavy cream, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 large eggs, at room temperature
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
For the crust: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9-inch glass or ceramic pie dish with vegetable oil spray. In a food processor, blend the flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt until combined. Add the butter and mascarpone cheese and blend until moist clumps form.
Gather the dough into a ball. Drop 2-inch pieces of dough over the bottom and sides of the pie dish. Using moist fingertips, press the dough together to form a smooth crust. Using the tines of a fork, prick the dough all over.
Bake the crust until the edges are browned and the center of the crust is pale golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer the crust to a work surface. Brush the bottom and sides of the crust with apricot preserves. Place on a wire rack to cool.
For the filling: In a food processor, combine the persimmon pieces or pulp and the pumpkin. Blend until smooth. Add the sugar, mascarpone cheese, cream, salt, cinnamon, cornstarch, and eggs. Blend until smooth. Pour the filling into the cooked crust.
Bake until slits or cracks appear around the edges and the center is set, about 35 minutes. Cool the pie on a wire rack. (If making one day ahead, bake and cool to room temperature. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate.) Just before serving, dust the top of the pie with confectioners’ sugar.
Cut into wedges and serve.
Cook’s Note: To remove the pulp from Hachiya persimmons, cut off the top of the fruit with a knife and scoop out the pulp with a spoon.
Reprinted with permission from Happy Cooking: Make Every Meal Count…Without Stressing Out by Giada De Laurentiis (Pam Krauss Books).
Need more ideas for Thanksgiving? Check out our Thanksgiving Recipes Pinterest Board and get to pinning!
More pies to bake this fall:
Chocolate Chip Georgia Pecan Pie from ‘Down South Paleo’
Pumpkin-Cheesecake Pie with Gingersnap Crust
Mushroom and Butternut Squash Galette
