Pumpkin Mascarpone Pie

This Pumpkin Pie with Mascarpone scream fall baking! Creamy pumpkin filling spiced just right, with a hint of tang from the mascarpone cheese. It’s baked in a whole grain spelt crust that really makes this pie stand apart from the crowd. The mascarpone cheese is used both in the filling and swirled on top to create a beautiful effect to decorate your holiday table. 

Pumpkin Pie with Mascarpone

This Mascarpone Pumpkin Pie is the fancy version of the traditional pumpkin dessert. It has a creamy pumpkin filling that is baked just right, with all the classic pumpkin spice flavor, and a subtle hint of tang from the mascarpone cheese. The top of the pie also has some of that mascarpone filling marbled in, creating a beautiful look that is so easy to achieve. Want to know how to make sure your pie filling doesn’t crack? Read on, as I’m sharing all my expert pie tips on baking up a pumpkin pie below.

Steps for Making the Best Pumpkin Pie

There are a few steps you need to take in order to make the best pumpkin pie. The first starts with the pastry. I highly recommend using a pie crust that tastes good when it’s cold, since pumpkin pie is typically served cold from the refrigerator. I prefer it in either this Spelt Crust, or this Pâte Sucrée

Next, you must blind bake the pie crust. The pumpkin filling is baked at a low temperature, and because of this, you must bake the pie crust fully before filling it with the pumpkin. If you skip this step, you’ll most likely end up with a soggy bottom.

Then, finally the pie needs to be baked perfectly. Over bake it and you could end up with a cracked or leaky filling. Check out the paragraph below for more information on how to bake the filling properly.

Ingredients for Mascarpone Pumpkin Pie

• 1 Pie Crust, of your choice, prepared
• Pumpkin Puree
• Eggs
• Mascarpone
• Brown Sugar
• White Sugar
• Cinnamon
• Vanilla Extract
• Nutmeg
• Ground Cloves

PIE PASTRY OPTIONS

For me, the crust for a pumpkin pie is tricky. While most people use a typical butter pie crust for pumpkin pie, I find myself deviating from the norm. Because pumpkin pie is typically served from the refrigerator, I tend to shy away from buttery flaky crusts. When cold, a flaky crust tends to taste stale or uninteresting. Instead, I opt for using a crust that tastes good cold or at room temperature, such as a Pâte Sucrée which is a sweet and crumbly pie crust, or, a Spelt Pie Crust, which is hearty and crumbly. However, if you are a diehard flaky pie crust devotee, check out this recipe for the butter crust. Or for an enriched cream cheese and butter crust, take a peek at this.

Prefer to go gluten-free? Check out this pie crust.

No matter what crust you choose to use for this Pumpkin Pie with Mascarpone recipe, you’ll have to fully blind bake it. As mentioned above, it’s imperative you do not skip this step because the pumpkin filling is cooked at a low temperature, which means it would be impossible for your pie crust to bake appropriately with the filling.

How to Make Pumpkin Mascarpone Filling

There is a two step process to making the filling of this pie. You are looking for a swirled effect here, so you’ll first mix together the mascarpone part of the pie, setting some aside to swirl into the pie. If you’ve never worked with mascarpone before, it’s similar in texture to cream cheese, just slightly softer. Like cream cheese, it’s easiest to beat this cheese with an electric mixer to ensure it doesn’t have any lumps in it. However, if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can do it by hand. Just make sure to mix together the mascarpone and the granulated sugar first, until the mascarpone cheese has loosened in consistency, and then add in the egg.

After you’ve made and set aside some of the mascarpone mixture, the rest of the pumpkin filling ingredients go inside of the bowl and are mixed together until smooth.

How to Make Swirls

The mascarpone swirls in this pie are almost purely decorative, since the mascarpone filling is throughout the pie. However, it certainly gives the whole look a “wow-factor” and it couldn’t be more simple to do. To make the swirls, pour in half of the pumpkin filling. Then, spoon in about 4 tablespoon sized dollops on top, before pouring in the remaining pumpkin mixture over it. Finally, repeat the dollops with the remaining mascarpone mixture and while using a knife, chopstick, or toothpick, gently swirl through all layers of the pumpkin pie to achieve a marbled effect. 

Why Does Pumpkin Pie Crack?

In my early baking career, I spent years making pumpkin pies with giant cracks down the middle of them. For some reason, I always assumed it was one of those things you “had to accept” about making pumpkin pies. It wasn’t until I started to work on a recipe for a classic egg custard pie that I realized that the main reason pumpkin pies crack is because the filling is over-cooked.

When you are making a custard pie, such as pumpkin, your goal is to cook the filling jut enough for the eggs to be set (and safe to eat) so the filling thickens. If you overcook it, you are essentially boiling the eggs within. In some cases, this will result in the pie tasting slightly like overcooked eggs. It can also make the pie feel tough, or spongy. More commonly, this situation leads to cracked or separated pies.  Overcooked pie will present as the whole pie being puffed up, or inflated. Once it comes out of the oven, it will deflate and often times crack during the cooling process. When a custard-style pie is properly baked, it should be just barely set. I like to think of cooking custard pies as cooking them al dente, or just until done.

One other situation that can lead to a cracked pie is the extreme changes of temperature. Try to avoid opening the oven door frequently, or removing the pie completely from the oven to check for doneness. Additionally, if your kitchen is very cold, shut off the oven and leave the door open and let the pie cool inside for about 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

How to Tell if a Pumpkin Pie is Done

A properly cooked custard is set (and safe to eat) between 170º – 180º. Though, this can depend on the type of custard. Some do need to be cooked to a higher temperature to set. To be sure, I use a thermometer to check the temperature of the pie (though it will leave a small mark in the center of the pie, so if the presentation is important skip that).

Another way to know that a pie is done is by looking at the outer edges and seeing if it has begun to “soufflé”, or puff up. Look for the soufflé effect to go in about 2-2-1/2″ from the outer edge, and for the center of the pie to still be woobly. The center of the pie should be softly set, but it shouldn’t be completely liquid in the middle. Once it has reached that point, you want to take your pie out of the oven, and place it (on a cooling rack, if possible) at room temperature to cool.

If the whole pie is fully set or puffed up, then it has been overcooked. However, don’t despair if this happens, and you pie does develop a crack. I promise the pie will still be totally delicious.

Once it’s fully cool at room temperature, move it to the refrigerator to cool for at least 6 hours. During this period it will fully set up.

How to Store and Serve Pumpkin Mascarpone Pie

This pie should be stored in the refrigerator. It can be served straight from the refrigerator, or you can let it sit at room temperature for a few hours before serving.

Serve this pie as is, or with whipped cream!

More fall pie recipes:

• Coffee Custard Pie
• Apple Crumble Pie
• Spiced Blackberry Pie
• Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onion and Feta Pie

 

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