Maple Bourbon Pumpkin Crème Brulée Food

BRûLéED BOURBON-MAPLE PUMPKIN PIE

Steps:

• For chocolate pie dough:
• Pulse cocoa powder, granulated sugar, salt, and 1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon flour in a food processor to combine. Add butter and shortening and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Transfer to a large bowl.
• Whisk egg yolk, vinegar, and 1/4 cup ice water in a small bowl. Drizzle half of egg mixture over flour mixture and, using a fork, mix gently just until combined. Add remaining egg mixture and mix until dough just comes together (you will have some unincorporated pieces).
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, flatten slightly, and cut into quarters. Stack pieces on top of one another, placing unincorporated dry pieces of dough between layers, and press down to combine. Repeat process twice more (all pieces of dough should be incorporated at this point). Form dough into a 1"-thick disk. Wrap in plastic; chill at least 1 hour.
• DO AHEAD: Dough can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled, or freeze up to 3 months.
• For filling and assembly:
• Roll out disk of dough on a lightly floured surface into a 14" round. Transfer to a 9" pie dish. Lift up edge and allow dough to slump down into dish. Trim, leaving about 1" overhang. Fold overhang under and crimp edge. Chill in freezer 15 minutes.
• Place a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line pie with parchment paper or heavy-duty foil, leaving a 1 1/2" overhang. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until crust is dry around the edge, about 20 minutes. Remove paper and weights and bake until surface of crust looks dry, 5-10 minutes. Brush bottom and sides of crust with 1 beaten egg. Return to oven and bake until dry and set, about 3 minutes longer. (Brushing crust with egg and baking will prevent a soggy crust.)
• Whisk pumpkin purée, sour cream, bourbon, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, mace, if using, and remaining 3 eggs in a large bowl; set aside.
• Pour maple syrup into a small saucepan; scrape in seeds from vanilla bean (reserve pod for another use) or add vanilla extract and bring syrup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thickened and small puffs of steam start to release, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add cream in 3 additions, stirring with a wooden spoon after each addition until smooth. Gradually whisk hot maple cream into pumpkin mixture.
• Place pie dish on a rimmed baking sheet and pour in filling. Bake pie, rotating halfway through, until set around edge but center barely jiggles, 50-60 minutes. Transfer pie dish to a wire rack and let pie cool.
• Just before serving, sprinkle pie with granulated sugar and, using a kitchen torch, brûlée until sugar is melted and dark brown.
• DO AHEAD: Pie can be baked 1 day ahead (do not brûlée). Cover and chill.

MAPLE-BOURBON PUMPKIN CRèME BRULéE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F. Prepare a large roasting pan (or two) that will fit 6-8 ramekins. Caramelize the pumpkin puree in a shallow saucepan over medium-heat for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the white and brown sugars and set aside
• Once caramelized (but not burnt!), whisk the cream, milk, and vanilla into the pumpkin puree and bring the mixture to a simmer. Remove from heat and add the salt and all the spices.
• Add ¼ cup of the pumpkin-cream mixture to the egg-sugar mixture and whisk to temper the eggs. Slowly whisk in the rest of the pumpkin-cream mixture while pouring it into the bowl in a thin stream. Add the maple syrup and the bourbon.
• Divide the mixture among your ramekins and place them in the roasting pan(s). Fill the pan(s) with hot water half-way up the sides of the ramekins. Carefully place in the oven - the water may slosh as you move it so mind it doesn't end up in the custards. Bake for 40-60 minutes until set.
• Remove the custards from the pan and place on a cooling rack. For food safety reasons, you don't want to leave the custards un-refrigerated for long, so allow them to sit just until they are cool enough to handle, 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a tray or pan, cover with saran wrap, and chill in the fridge, 2 hours to overnight.
• Right before serving, sprinkle a tablespoon or so of raw sugar on each chilled ramekin of pumpkin custard and caramelize the tops with a brulée torch (be sure to follow all instructions related to this piece of equipment). If you try to do this step earlier and then refrigerate, the caramelized sugar will loosen and start to get watery. They still taste fine, but its definitely not as pretty, so it's best to wait. Enjoy!

PUMPKIN CREME BRULEE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300°F.
• In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves over medium heat, stirring occasionally, just until it comes to a boil. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse at least 15 minutes.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the granulated sugar. Whisking constantly, gradually pour in the hot cream mixture. Whisk in the pumpkin puree.
• Strain mixture into a large glass measuring cup (the measuring cup makes it easier to pour into the ramekins without mess).
• Bake in the center of the oven until almost set but still a bit soft in the center, 30 to 40 minutes. The custard should "shimmy" a bit when you shake the pan; it will firm up more as it cools.(Center Temp will be between 161F-168F).
• Remove from the water bath and let cool 15 minutes. Tightly cover each ramekin with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic does not touch the surface of the custard.
• Refrigerate at least 2 hours, and up to 24 hours. Uncover the chilled custards. Pour as much coarse sugar as will fit onto the top of 1 of the custards. Pour off the remaining sugar onto the next custard. Repeat until all the custards are coated. Discard any remaining sugar.
• Fire up your kitchen torch and melt/brown the sugar. (You can do this under a broiler, but I feel it heats up the brulee too much. You want the top crisp but the brulee cold and that result is difficult with a broiler. If you love brulees like I do--buy a torch!).
• Let cool 1 minute before serving.