Hilly's Pumpkin Caramel Pie Recipe

Pie Crust Recipe

-measure out all dry ingredients into large bowl. mix together until well incorporated.

-cut cold butter into vague tablespoons and add to your bowl. toss with hands until butter is coated in flour mixture.

-smash, squeeze, and break cold butter chunks with your fingers until some of the mixture resembles a coarse meal but there are still plenty of pieces of butter about the size of blueberries in the mix. 

-if butter has gone soft, place entire bowl into fridge for 15 minutes to firm up. otherwise, proceed.

-mix vinegar and ice water together, then add to flour mixture one tablespoon at a time, tossing with hands in between additions. 

-the amount of water you will needs varies —  so add water until mixture holds together when pressed into a ball, but is still a little crumbly, and isn’t sticky to the touch. 

-form into a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

-once firmed up, proceed. if your dough is too hard to roll out, allow it to sit at room temp for 5 minutes. 

-roll out dough into a long rectangle-ish shape — short side facing you. the sides of your dough may have cracked a little, that is totally fine at this step.

-fold the dough like a letter: fold the far side down towards you, then the side closest to you on top of that.  

-press it all back together, rotate the dough 90 degrees, then repeat the roll and fold.

-form into a disc. return to fridge for another 20 - 30 minutes, if the butter has softened too much.

-when ready, roll out dough into a circle that is at least two inches wider than the base of your pie tin.

-carefully transfer your rolled out dough to your tin, draping, rather than stretching it into place.

-fold excess dough underneath itself to create a lip, and crimp as desired.

-return to fridge to firm up, again. 

-preheat oven to 350F. 

-now, to blind bake. place tin on baking sheet and line inside of pie with foil or parchment. fill with your chosen weights. I like to tent the edges of my crust with foil to prevent burning.

-place in oven and allow to bake for about 30-40 minutes, checking occasionally to ensure the edges of your crust have not taken on too much color. 

-when the edges of your pie are lightly browned, remove weights from inside of pie to properly cook the center — prick with a fork to prevent ballooning.

-continue to cook for an additional 15 - 20 minutes, until your pie is golden brown in color. 

-cool for at least 1 hour before filling. best used day of.