Triple Ginger Pumpkin Pie

 This pie turned out to be everything I wanted in a pumpkin pie. Not too sweet (sweetened condensed milk versions are not for me!) and with more flavor than standard versions…….but also very simple to put together without a lot of undue fuss.  The ginger theme carried well across the crust, filling and garnish.  Gingersnap crust holds the  moist and light pumpkin filling that has candied ginger and powdered ginger along with cinnamon and freshly ground nutmeg and cloves…. plus the surprise of whipped cream cheese.

Too much ginger?  Not at all, but spicy and delicious without a case of the blahs.  At last, the pumpkin pie of my dreams.  The only hard part is having the patience to allow it to cool before diving in!

Ingredients for Triple Ginger Pumpkin Pie:  (makes a 9 inch pie, 8 servings)

For the crust:

For the filling:

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 8 oz. whipped cream cheese
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tbsp. candied (crystallized) ginger, minced
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground cloves*  (substitute pre-ground )
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:      Preheat oven to 350°

To make the gingersnap crust:

• Put gingersnap cookies, about 25, into the bowl of a food processor and buzz down to fine, but still coarse, crumbs.
• Mix the gingersnap crumbs and melted butter together until fully moistened.  Press into a standard 9″ pie plate, bringing the sides up to the top of the plate.  Firm the top edge down slightly with your thumb and get the crust distibuted as evenly as possibe. 
• Cover lightly with a piece of tin foil and bake for five minutes, remove from the oven  and make the pumpkin pie filling.

To make the filling:

Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl between each addition!

• Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the center is no longer jiggly.  This pie sets up very well, without excessive browning and/or cracking.  If you want to cover the top crust section after 30 minutes, use a pie safe fiited for your pie plate.  Don’t use tin foil because it will muck up the filling. I do not cover the edges – the crispy crust is a favorite part!

• Allow to cool for at least and hour. This is the hard part, but it does need it’s time to firm up.

Serve with a garnish of freshly whipped cream and more minced candied ginger. Enjoy!

*A note on how to grind cloves:

 Like most spices, cloves that are freshly ground have  superior flavor to the pre-ground. Happily it’s easy to do!  Just pour several cloves into your mortar and grind with the pestle for a couple of minutes. The stems are the tough part here, but just sift through a fine mesh strainer onto a plate and they will be seperated out.  Return what is remaining in the sifter to the mortar and grind/sift again.