There are thousands—maybe tens of thousands—of pumpkin pie recipes out there, and almost all of them contain a filling that follows this basic formula: pumpkin + eggs + sugar + dairy + warm spices. So why come up with yet another? Because so often the proportions are off between all these components. Sometimes it’s an overwhelming amount of warm spice, other times too few eggs so the pie isn’t custardy. Most often, it’s too much sugar. I wanted a filling that set, firmly into a custard and uses strong flavors to balance out the vegetal quality of the pumpkin. I came up with browned butter for richness and caramelized honey (just honey that’s cooked to intensify the flavor) for sweetness. I love this pie and would gladly eat it on any occasion, not just Thanksgiving.
Ingredients
8 servings
Preheat the oven:
Step 1
Arrange an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 325°F. Place the parbaked pie crust on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and set aside.
Brown the butter:
Step 2
In a small saucepan, cook the butter over medium-low heat, stirring and scraping the bottom and sides constantly with a heatproof spatula. The mixture will sputter as the water boils off. Continue to cook, stirring and scraping, until the sputtering subsides, the butter is foaming, and the solid bits turn a dark brown, 5 to 7 minutes.
Caramelize the honey:
Step 3
Remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately add the honey (to prevent the butter from burning), stirring to combine. Return the saucepan to medium heat and bring to a boil. Continue to cook, swirling often, until the mixture is darkened slightly and has a savory, nutty smell, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and slowly stream in the heavy cream, stirring constantly (be careful—the mixture may sputter) until it’s smooth. Set the warm honey mixture aside.
Make the pumpkin filling:
Step 4
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs to break up the whites and yolks, then add the brown sugar and whisk vigorously until the mixture has lightened in color by a shade or two, about 1 minute. Whisk in the pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, salt, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves until smooth. Slowly stream in the warm honey mixture, whisking constantly, until the filling is completely homogenous.
Fill the crust and bake:
Step 5
Pour the filling into the parbaked crust all the way to the top. (Depending on the height of your crust, you may have some leftover filling, which I recommend you keep! Ever so carefully transfer the pie to the center rack and bake until the filling is set and puffed around the edges and the center wobbles gently, 45 to 60 minutes.
Cool the pie gently:
Step 6
Turn off the oven and prop the door open with a wooden spoon. Let the pie cool completely in the oven. Doing so will allow it to cool gradually, which will prevent cracking on the surface.
Serve:
Step 7
Slice the pie into wedges and top each piece with softly whipped cream. Grate a bit of fresh nutmeg over the cream and serve.
Step 8
Do Ahead:The pie, covered and refrigerated, will keep up to 3 days but is best served on the first or second day (the crust will soften over time).
Cooks' Notes
Step 9
Use a good-quality, dark-hued honey. The more strongly flavored the better, so it stands out against the pumpkin. Just don’t use buckwheat or chestnut honey, which are too intense.
Step 10
Bake any remaining pumpkin filling separately in a small ramekin. I like to do this to prevent ingredient waste, and also because it allows me to sample the filling prior to cutting into the pie!
Leave a Review
Reviews (12)
Back to Top老实说味道一模一样甚至其他泵pkin pie I’ve ever had. Especially the second newer school recipe on the back of the pumpkin can. I didnt taste the brown butter or the honey
Anonymous
Dallas tx
11/25/2022
This is a rich buttery flavored pie that is not too sweet; nor does it overwhelming with too much spice. The pie leaves a nice warm buttery residual taste/feel on the palate and you really can understand you are eating a squash/vegetable instead of a nutmeg flavored candy bar. It is delicate and nuanced; if you want what the unwashed masses think a pumpkin pie must be then add a ton of sugar to this recipe, look for an evaporated milk recipe or better yet stop by Costco and get one of their corn syrup pumpkin bombs….my guests raved about this pie.
Attorney James
Moses Lake, WA
1/2/2022
Made this for Christmas. My family agrees, this is the best pumpkin pie we've ever had. We loved the rich caramelized flavor. I followed the recipe exactly as written. There was a tiny crack in the top, but that didn't deter anyone from devouring this pie.
Robi
San Jose, CA
12/26/2021
This was way too much work for an unremarkable pie. Also, I had the same experience as Lola: tried the oven door trick and this pie developed the biggest, deepest crack of any pumpkin pie I have ever made.
Little Red Hen
Washington DC
11/27/2021
In general I love everything Claire does, but for my tastes this pie was more savory than I wanted. It’s good, but for the work I prefer the Bon Appétit Best Pumpkin Pie recipe (have made them both in the past week as a run-up to Thanksgiving)
Abigail
McMinnville, OR
11/18/2021
One of the best pumpkin pies I've ever made! The brown butter/honey compliments the pie filling extremely well. The only changes I made were increasing the brown sugar by about 3 tbsp and increasing the amounts of certain spices to my liking (I roasted my own pumpkin for the recipe and it was a little on the bland side which is why I increased the sugar and spice).
Anonymous
Toronto, Canada
12/5/2020
Since the hubs and I were on our own this year for Thanksgiving, I decided to get a little more creative with recipes. This was amazing!! I usually hate pumpkin pie but this was divine with the whipped mascarpone I made on the side. Would have been better had I used a darker honey like it suggested but I could still taste the notes of caramelized honey in the pie. 100% would make again and will be taking to Thanksgiving when the pandemic is finally over.
Quinnmckain
SLC, UT
12/4/2020
This is the best pumpkin pie I’ve ever had/made. The brown butter and honey give it a smooth, sophisticated flavor that isn’t just pumpkin like so many other pumpkin pie recipes, and a beautiful texture. I used my old standby Joy of Cooking deluxe butter pie crust recipe, which uses 2 sticks of butter, because 3 sticks felt a bit much. But after reading these reviews, I’ll go all in on the next one!
cremebrulee1
Boston, MA
11/27/2020
This was an amazing recipe! Really easy to follow, and the pie turned out perfectly. Not too sweet, with a really complex honey-pumpkin flavour! The custard-y filling set up perfectly- and I used the pie crust from Claire’s Instagram story! Everyone in the household was a fan. Will definitely be in the line-up again next Thanksgiving.
maudmadsen
Brooklyn, NY
11/27/2020
The pie tastes fine, but is nothing to write home about- three forks for functionality as a pumpkin pie. The texture is a bit too soft for my liking, and unfortunately, none of the lovely brown butter and honey flavors come through in the finished pie for me (that mixture on it's own tasted divine and I was worried it would be too strong a honey flavor at first) so it's more 'squashy" tasting than my pumpkin pies normally turn out- perhaps the honey I used was too delicate. Aaaaand I followed the tip to let the pie cool in the oven to avoid cracking and it came out with the biggest crack in my pie baking history. I had to laugh.
Lola_la_Balc
Los Angeles
11/27/2020
This pie is superb! It has the perfect amount of sweetness, and the brown butter & caramelized honey set it apart from your typical pumpkin pie. I did cut back slightly on the spices because my family prefers a more lightly spiced pie. This is a keeper. (Also, thanks to the all-butter crust recipe in Dessert Person, I've finally succeeded at making a *good* pie crust!)
aireeuh8997
Spokane, WA
11/27/2020
I made this for our Thanksgiving dessert. The flavors of brown butter, caramelized honey and spices are perfect!!
jschmitz4
Walton KY
11/26/2020
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