Hazelnut Pumpkin Pie
 
Ingredients
  • You will need
  • -For the pumpkin puree
  • 1 small pumpkin
  • Olive oil
  • -For the pastry
  • 225g plain flour
  • 25g icing sugar
  • 125g unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • -For the filling
  • 140g caster sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I use Joy the Baker's recipe, linked above)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 175ml milk
  • 25g melted butter
  • 750g pumpkin puree
  • Handful hazelnuts
  • Golden lustre dust to finish
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 220oc/200oc fan. Cut the pumpkin into quarters and scoop out the seeds and stringy pieces of flesh. Drizzle with a little olive oil and roast for around 40 to 50 minutes until the flesh is soft. Remove from the oven and carefully scoop the flesh away from the skin, weighing as you go. You’re looking for around 750g of flesh, any leftovers can go into soup or a pasta dish. Once the flesh has been removed, puree with a hand blender until smooth then place in a sieve to remove any extra water. Leave the puree to one side while you prepare the rest of the pie.
  2. To make the pastry, place the flour, icing sugar and butter in either a food processor or a large bowl and blitz or rub together to a breadcrumb texture. Add ¾ of the beaten egg (don’t discard the rest just yet) and pulse or stir through to create a smooth dough. Bring together with your hands then wrap in clingfilm, flattening into a disc then refrigerate for 30 minutes to relax the dough.
  3. Place a large piece of clingfilm on a clean worktop and roll your chilled dough to around 5mm. Lift the clingfilm and invert into a 23cm fluted flan tin, carefully pressing into each groove. Freeze for 10 minutes or refrigerate for 30 minutes to ensure your pastry case does not shrink whilst baking.
  4. When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200oc/180oc fan and trim the edges of your pastry case. Line with baking parchment or foil and weigh down with baking beans or pulses. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the pastry feels dry, then remove the beans and the foil or parchment and paint on the remaining egg across the bottom, sides and top of the case to ensure the filling does not leak. Place back into the oven for one to two minutes until golden, then remove from the oven.
  5. Increase the oven temperature to 220oc/200oc fan. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, salt and spices and whisk together. Add the eggs, milk and melted butter and whisk together until smooth then add the pumpkin puree. Stir to combine. Place the pastry case on a baking sheet and carefully pour in the filling, levelling off the top with a spatula. Place in the oven to bake for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 180oc/160oc fan and bake for a further 35 to 40 minutes until the filling has just set.
  6. Remove from the oven to cool and once completely cool, place in the fridge to chill. When ready to serve, finely chop half of the hazelnuts and sprinkle around the edge of the pie, then spray or paint the whole nuts with golden lustre dust. Arrange around the pie before cutting into slices.
Recipe by Victoria Sponge Pease Pudding at http://victoriaspongepeasepudding.com/baking/hazelnut-pumpkin-pie/