Pumpkin pie with ginger pastry

Pumpkin pie is the perfect dessert for Aussie tables in the cooler months - it’s got that sweet pumpkin flavour we love, and those irresistible warming spices. This recipe takes the pumpkin spice flavour to the next level with a ginger pastry pie crust.

The first thing to do is make the ginger pastry. This is easy to make in a food processor. Put in flour, icing sugar, brown sugar, butter and ginger. Then process until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingers.

Add an egg yolk and a little chilled water and process again, just until the dough comes together.

Now you have your dough, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until it’s just smooth. Don’t overwork it, because that can make the pastry tough. Shape it into a disc, wrap it up and pop it in the fridge for about 30 mins to rest.

To get ready to bake the pastry, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Take the pastry disc and roll it out on a lightly floured surface until you have a disc that’s about 3 millimetres thick. Take your tart tin and line it with the pastry disc. Trim the edge with a small sharp knife to even it up. This needs to go back into the fridge to rest for another 15 minutes. Resting your pastry helps stop it from shrinking in the oven.

When you’re making a pie with a wet filling like this one, it’s really important to blind-bake your pastry to make a crisp, dry base. This is how you do it. Line the pastry case with paper and weigh it down with some pastry weights or rice. And bake for about 10 minutes.

Carefully remove the paper with the weights and put it back in the oven to bake for another 10 minutes or until the pastry is light golden.

To make the filling, reduce the oven to 160 degrees. I’m using mashed pumpkin – to make this, all you have to do is peel and seed your pumpkin, cut it into 3 centimetre pieces and steam until tender, then mash it up in a bowl until it’s smooth. You need the pumpkin to be as smooth as possible before mixing it with the other ingredients, so push it through a fine sieve into a bowl. Then add eggs, sugar, milk, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Give it a good stir.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a large jug - this gives you a beautiful silky filling with no lumps. Pour the filling into the pastry case and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the filling is set - if you give it a gentle shake in the tin you can see it wobbles but is just set all the way through. Once this has cooled down a bit, you can pop it into the fridge to chill.

You’ve made your pumpkin pie, here’s how to give it a show-stopping finish. I’m using pepitas, or pumpkin seeds, to make a sweet, nutty praline that looks amazing on top of the pie and adds a bit of crunch when you’re eating it.

Line a baking tray with lightly greased foil. Spread over the pepitas. For the toffee, place sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat. Only stir until the sugar dissolves - this takes about 3 minutes. Then increase the heat to medium. You need to cook it without stirring for 5 minutes or until the toffee is golden brown. I’m happy with the colour now. When it stops bubbling, carefully pour over the pepitas. Leave the praline to cool for about 20 minutes.

When the praline is cool, all you have to do is chop it up into pieces to put on top of the pie.

To serve the pie, carefully remove it from the tin and place on a plate. Top with some whipped cream and sprinkle with the pepita praline. There you have it – spiced pastry, a rich golden filling and crunchy toffee topping.