We expect pumpkin pie to do the near-impossible on holidays: to whet our appetites after we have already stuffed ourselves to the gills with rich, sweet, starchy fare. It’s like asking some solo act to entertain and inspire an audience after Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have played a three-hour opening set.
Traditional pumpkin pie (i.e., the recipe found on the Libby’s label) rises to this challenge fairly well. The filling is smooth and creamy, and its mixed spices are a welcome novelty after a mostly spiceless meal. There is one problem with this customary squash dessert, however: the crust.
Voluntarily eating a bland slab of flour and butter after a lavish feast is nothing short of madness (even when that bland slab contains a delightful pumpkin filling).
No, pumpkin pie calls for a crust that provides flavor bang for its calorie buck. Luckily, such a crust is easy to make – even easier than traditional pie crust, in fact, since it requires no rolling out.
I refer to gingersnap crust, which incorporates all the flavor of the cookies from which it’s made into a crumbly, buttery foundation for pie. (Other dry cookies can be used in crust, too – graham crackers and Oreos are perhaps the most common – but zesty gingersnaps are the obvious match for pumpkin pie filling, which already has ground ginger in it.) Gingersnap crust isn’t as solid a construction material as pate brise, but this doesn’t matter with pumpkin pie, since its custardy filling is already quite cohesive. And cookie crust’s delicate texture means that each bite of pie practically dissolves on your tongue – never the case with traditional, concrete-like pie crust.
Making gingersnap crust requires only store-bought gingersnaps, some melted butter, and a spoonful each of sugar and flour. The easiest way to assemble it is in a food processor, but if you don’t have one, a decent blender should be up to the task of pulverizing your cookies. (If you take the blender route, though, you’ll have to stir in the other ingredients by hand.) Before baking, the crumb mixture should resemble damp (not sopping) sand. Pack it into the bottom and sides of your pie pan as densely and evenly as you can, but don’t kill yourself trying to make it perfect. Gingersnap crust will taste good enough that even your most replete guest will probably polish off an entire slice.
