Cakespy: Pumpkin Pie in a Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust
Note: We love pie. And so does Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy). She will drop by with a delicious pie recipe every Wednesday in November. Check out more Cakespy recipes here.
[Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
Pumpkin pie and chocolate chip cookies are pretty much baked good soulmates. They're both considered all-American desserts, both are the result of bakers making do with ingredients available at the time, and both seem to inspire a primal instinct in bakers who are constantly seeking out the best recipe.
"Pumpkin pie getting punched in the face by a chocolate chip cookie."
But what happens when you bring these star-crossed sweets together? Set on finding out, I tried baking a batch pumpkin pie filling in a cookie dough crust, and found myself with an instant Thanksgiving masterpiece. The rich, buttery cookie taste infused the pumpkin filling while baking. One taster described is as "pumpkin pie getting punched in the face by a chocolate chip cookie—but you know, in a good way."
Pumpkin Pie in a Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust
- serves 8 -
Ingredients
For the crust:
Note: this will likely yield more crust than you need; the extra dough can be baked as cookies.
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda (note: after feedback in the comments, one tester tried the recipe witout baking soda, and it turned out fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
For the filling:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 can (15 ounces) pureed pumpkin
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
Procedure
1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Prepare the cookie crust. Mix sugars, butter and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (the dough will be stiff). Gently fold in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon, stirring only until incorporated. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for two hours. Using floured hands, press the cookie dough very firmly into a well-greased 10-inch pie plate, ensuring that it is of an even thickness and goes all the way up the sides of the plate. It works best to make the crust fairly thick, perhaps half and inch, so that it doesn't get too crispy. There will probably be some extra cookie dough after you press the crust; feel free to use the dough to bake as cookies.
3. Prepare the pumpkin pie filling. Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in a separate, larger bowl. Stir in the pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk, until the entire mixture is fully incorporated and homogeneous. Pour directly into the cookie dough crust. It should fill the crust to the very top--be very careful when putting it in the oven to prevent spilling.
4. Bake in your 350°F oven for 45 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 and bake for for 20-30 minutes or until pick inserted near center comes out clean (it's ok if it is a bit longer, just make sure the middle has set). The sides of the crust will be crispy and a bit darker than you'd probably bake a cookie. It is OK though--the pumpkin filling will soften it a bit. Cool on wire rack for at least 1 hour so the filling can set. Top with whipped cream before serving.
About the author: Jessie Oleson is a Seattle-based writer, illustrator, and cake anthropologist who runs Cakespy, an award-winning dessert website.
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16 Comments:
I'm making this tonight!
dmcavanagh at 2:47PM on 11/25/09
Delicious! This year I made my pumpkin pie with a peanut-butter-cookie crust and it was truly awesome; I'll have to try c.c.cookies next time.
NervousCook at 9:08PM on 11/25/09
Am I the only one who thinks this combo sounds sort of wrong? Chocolate+Pumpkin makes me cry a little.
cdp1223 at 9:55PM on 11/25/09
Hershey's makes a cinnamon chip, which might be a good substitute if you can't face pumpkin & chocolate : )
aharste at 11:29PM on 11/25/09
So I made this (or the crust at least) last night. This was the result:
http://twitpic.com/r0t2p
I really don't think baking soda has any place in a pie crust? The crust expanded just like a cookie, and I watched in horror as my crust got bigger and bigger and my pie got smaller and smaller.
Not only that but the filling didn't set up at all, and the crust underneath it was completely soggy and waterlogged. Not exactly delicious. Super bummed as it sounded so delicious.
Did I do something wrong?
Love & Olive Oil at 11:56AM on 11/26/09
Hey Love + Olive oil! I am sorry to hear about that. The recipe is exactly as I followed it so I am pondering a few possible solutions.
First, did you use my recipe or did you use some of your favorite pumpkin and chocolate chip cookie dough recipes? It sounds like you tried mine, but I just want to make sure.
Second, did you let the dough rest at all? Although I don't know how much of a difference it does make, I have read accounts that letting the dough rest creates less spread. Just in case I am going to update the recipe to suggest chilling/resting the dough.
Also, I might suggest pressing the dough really firmly into place. I have also updated the post to reflect this.
Second, does your oven tend to run hot or cold that you know of? It could be that it would be better to do a longer, slower bake at 325. I know also that if you have a convection oven this can affect your outcome.
As for the filling setting, your crust does look much lighter than mine, so it could be that you needed some more time in the oven for the filling to set and to firm up the crust on the bottom (though with the cookie crust coming up like that I can see why you took it out!).
Also thought it might be helpful to see a pic of the crust before I poured in the filling: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakespy/4137026336/
cakespy at 2:58PM on 11/26/09
Love +Olive Oil: I thought of something else. When you poured the filling into the crust, how full was the shell? Was it level to the top, or was there a gap? Mine filled it right to the gills and that could have had an effect.
cakespy at 3:04PM on 11/26/09
Thanks for the input. I think I might try again without baking soda, seems like that would leave all of the flavor with none of the expansion. :) Will also be sure to let the crust rest (I was in a rush, hehe), and fill it completely. I did make a pretty big 'lip' to the crust (trying to be decorative?), which probably contributed to the mutant-crust, so I'll skip that next time. :)
Love & Olive Oil at 5:18PM on 11/26/09
I also made this the night before T-day. Way to much dough, and I didn't use it all. My filling did not set up as firmly as is should have, even after extending the baking time. The finished pie was not bad, but just too much crust for the filling. I like the combo of chocolate and pumpkin. I make a chocolate chip pumpkin bread that is published in the King Arthur "Baker's Companion" cook book which is outstanding, and always bakes up perfectly. I like the concept of this recipe, but the proportions need some fine tuning.
dmcavanagh at 11:23PM on 11/28/09
Hey dmcavanagh! Thanks for the feedback. Out of curiosity how much longer did you bake? Thanks for the feedback--since it was some experimentation on my part (literally combining a recipe of chocolate chip cookies with pumpkin pie filling) I value the fine tuning advice. I hope you used the extra dough to make some bonus cookies!
cakespy at 11:48PM on 11/28/09
@cakespy- I probably cooked it about 10 extra minutes because I could see that it had not set up. Even at that it was still a little soft, but I didn't want to burn the crust. I'll definitely give it another try, I think I got a little closer to yours than L&OO got. Like I said, I like the combo, and the crust with cinnamon chips would be good too. I'm kinda sick of regular pie crust, so I'm always willing to experiment. Thanks for the shout out!
dmcavanagh at 1:20AM on 11/29/09
Thanks again for the input. I had baked mine for the max. time suggested, and the inside was lightly soft but firmed up when chilled. Just in case I adjusted the bake time on the recipe to say 20-30 minutes for the reduced-heat part of the baking, and made it more clear that there will probably be some extra cookie dough after pressing the crust. The good thing about the pumpkin filling is that even if the cookie crust is starting to get crispier than you'd like in a cookie, say, the pumpkin will keep it a bit softer.
cakespy at 2:20PM on 11/29/09
@CDP I agree. There are a few things that should never be on the Thanksgiving table. One of them is chocolate. The others being garlic, any sort of pepper (chile), italian sausage or pasta. It's an American holiday for godsake.
I love me some chocolate chip cookies but not at thanksgiving and certainly not with pumpkin!!!
chefchick at 12:30PM on 11/30/09
I made this, almost exactly as written (I had to tweak the sugar in the filling, as all I had was sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated). My first reaction: there was waaaay to much crust dough. I ended up using maybe half to 2/3 what I made. It seems to me you want it fairly thick along the bottom and corners, but reasonably thin near the top to avoid that "mutant crust" phenomenon one of the other reviewers posted. I did let the crust rest for a bit, and filled it all the way to the brim with filling. My pie also took a bit longer in the oven to set completely, but I'm used to this issue, my oven's thermostat seems a bit "off" in general.
But the end result? very very good. I love how the cookie dough blends almost seamlessly into pie filling in the finished pie, but still stands up as a sturdy enough crust to serve easily. I think it would be equally tasty without the chips, for those who were horrified by the chocolate addition. :)
meecie at 3:21PM on 11/30/09
I too had the same problem with the monster crust and the teeny tiny pie looking center. Mine also had the problem of being way undercooked in the middle and the very edge of the crust was almost burnt. I tried tenting the pie with foil to help prevent burning, which helped, but it didn't help the middle firm up. I ended up baking mine almost 30 minutes longer. I checked the pie after 45 min, and at that point the center was still pretty much liquid. I did 3 more 9 minute intervals, and at that point, I didn't want the crust to cook any longer, so I just took it out. I couldn't bring it to the party I was making it for, but I brought it into work, and people liked it. I agree that there was still way too much dough. I also pressed the dough very firmly into the pie plate, if nothing else to try and make it all fit. The center firmed up a bit after being refrigerated, but it was still too mushy in the middle.
I was really disappointed in the recipe, but the idea was definitely a good one in concept and taste.
coppertone24 at 4:17PM on 11/30/09
Thanks for the reply coppertone24. I am glad that it did ultimately go over well with your co workers. Because of everyone's feedback, I have made a strong note in the recipe that you might not want to use all of the crust. I did use most of it the first time minus a few chunks that I thought were excess. Because of some of the notes I tried the pie again last night with a few alterations--I did not use baking soda in the cooke dough, and I only used 2/3 of the crust which seemed to work better. Mine baked for 30 minutes this time for the second part of the bake (after the initial 45 minutes part), which makes me wonder if my oven may be running hot based on your response about baking it for nearly an hour more than suggested. I also clarified that on the original, the crust did turn out much darker than you'd expect on a chocolate chip cookie--crisper, but the pumpkin seemed to "save" it a bit by keeping it moist.
cakespy at 4:28PM on 11/30/09