I tried making Ina Garten's pumpkin, apple, and pecan pies. I'll never use anyone else's crust recipe again.

By: Paige Bennett

25 November 2024 at 07:59

a pumpkin pie, an apple pie, and a pecan pie on a kitchen cutting board — I made pumpkin, apple, and pecan pies with recipes from celebrity chef Ina Garten.
Paige Bennett

I followed Ina Garten's recipes for pumpkin, apple, and pecan pie to see which I liked best.
The pecan pie tasted like a cocktail, and the apple pie was shockingly simple to throw together.
I ended up with extra pumpkin-pie filling, but Garten's buttery crust was the real winner.

With the holidays just around the corner, there's no better time to brush up on my baking skills.

I cook and bake a lot, but I'm not a huge fan of making pies. I sometimes struggle to create a buttery, flaky crust, and my fillings don't always have the right texture.

I decided to sharpen my skills using three approachable and delicious-sounding recipes from Ina Garten.

Here's how my day of baking went as I attempted to make Garten's pecan, pumpkin, and apple pies.

Before I could get started making each pie, I had to prep the crust.

ingredients for pie crust in a food processor — I made Ina Garten's pie dough in my food processor.
Paige Bennett

I've followed a few Garten pie recipes before, and I remember liking her easy-to-make crust. That memory held true.

I needed to make four crusts: a bottom and top for the apple pie and one crust each for the pumpkin and pecan pies. It only took me about 10 to 15 minutes.

Garten uses a food processor for her "perfect pie crust," which makes it easy to prep. I divided the dough into two batches, and I could already tell from the look and feel that the crusts would be buttery and delicious.

With all of the dough resting in the fridge, I was ready to start tackling the individual pies.

I started with the easiest recipe, the maple pecan pie.

ingredients for ina garten's maple pecan pie on a cutting board — The ingredients for the pecan pie seemed straightforward.
Paige Bennett

Garten's maple pecan pie has just 10 ingredients, excluding the crust.

I was excited to taste the combination of maple syrup and bourbon with the pecans. And I liked that she included some fresh orange zest to cut through the richer ingredients, like corn syrup and honey.

The filling smelled incredible while it was baking.

pecans and pecan pie filling in a bow with a whisk — I whisked the pecan-pie filling together quickly.
Paige Bennett

To make the pie, all I had to do was whisk the filling ingredients — minus the pecans — together.

Then I simply added the nuts and gave it a final stir before pouring the filling into the prepared pie crust.

I put the pie in the oven for just under an hour.

unbaked pecan pie ready to go into the oven — The pecan pie took a while to bake, but it smelled delicious.
Paige Bennett

To ensure I got an evenly cooked crust, I turned the pie halfway through the bake.

The process was easy, and I loved the enticing smells coming from the oven while it was baking.

I was pretty impressed with my first pie.

ina garten's maple pecan pie on a kitchen cutting board — Ina Garten's pecan pie tasted a little like an old-fashioned cocktail.
Paige Bennett

The flavors of the pecan pie reminded me of an old-fashioned cocktail, thanks to the bourbon and orange.

But the pecans ended up a little chewier than I would've liked. If I make this pie again, I'd probably toast the nuts first for a better texture.

It tasted good, but I should’ve let it firm up in the fridge before serving.

slice of pecan pie on a plate — The pie slices fell apart when I cut them.
Paige Bennett

Despite letting the pecan pie fully cool before slicing into it, the pieces fell apart on me.

Next time, I think I'd let it chill in the fridge before serving so the filling can firm up more.

Garten’s pumpkin-pie recipe included a homemade rum whipped cream.

ingredients for ina gartens pumpkin pie on a cutting board — I was excited to try the pie and the whipped cream from Ina Garten's recipe.
Paige Bennett

I moved on to making Garten's pumpkin pie.

I was intrigued by some of the ingredients in the filling, like orange zest and rum, but I was very excited to make the accompanying rum whipped cream.

It sounded like a delicious and indulgent addition to the homemade pie, with ingredients like cream, crème fraîche, and rum.

I needed to bake this pie crust twice.

blind-baked empty pie shell in a pie tin — I needed to blind-bake the crust of the pumpkin pie.
Paige Bennett

I rolled out my crust and filled a pie tin.

Unlike the other two recipes, this one required me to blind-bake the crust before adding the filling. I found some dried lentils and rice to use as pie weights to ensure it didn't puff up too much.

The first bake helped prep the crust for the liquidy filling, but it also meant it got a little darker by the end than I'd hoped.

I ended up with way more filling than I needed.

unbaked pumpkin pie sitting next to a bowl with extra pie filling — All the pumpkin filling didn't fit into my crust.
Paige Bennett

The pumpkin filling was easy to make just by whisking all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

But I had way more than I needed for the pie crust, so I put it aside to find another use for it. My partner had a fun idea to make pumpkin-pie custards in ramekins.

The crust may have been darker than I wanted, but it was still delicious.

baked pumpkin pie on a kitchen cutting board — The pie turned out smooth and creamy.
Paige Bennett

Despite the slightly overdone crust, the pumpkin pie turned out great in terms of both taste and texture.

The filling was sweet but not too sweet, and the little hint of orange helped balance the richness of the custard filling.

The pie had a perfect custardy texture and a supportive yet buttery crust

slice of ina garten's pumpkin pie with a bowl of homemade whipped cream next to it — The pumpkin pie was even better with the rum whipped cream.
Paige Bennett

The crust was buttery but still strong enough to support the weight of the pumpkin filling. Each slice came out of the tin without crumbling.

The rum whipped cream was a unique companion to the pumpkin pie, and I liked it much better than regular whipped cream.

Garten's apple pie called for sour green apples.

ingredients for ina garten's apple pie on a kitchen cutting board — I chopped up some green apples to prep the pie filling.
Paige Bennett

I saved the most intimidating pie for last.

I've made apple pies many times before, but I was still worried about whether the top crust would turn out right and if the filling would soften enough by the time the crust was done baking.

Garten's recipe called for Granny Smith apples, which tend to be more sour and tart than sweet. The filling also called for both lemon and orange juices and zest, plus plenty of spices.

I was worried the pie may not be sweet enough.

All my worries went away pretty quickly.

chopped apples in a bowl with cinnamon, butter, and sugar — The apple pie was much simpler than I thought it would be.
Paige Bennett

The crust was so easy to roll out and transfer to the tin thanks to the butter and vegetable shortening in the dough. It made easy work of assembling the pie.

The filling was also easy to make — at least once I finished peeling and chopping what felt like 100 apples.

I couldn’t believe how beautiful it looked, both before and after baking.

unbaked apple pie ready to go into the oven — I was really proud of my pie crust.
Paige Bennett

I let the pie bake for about an hour.

Afterward, the top crust was a deep, golden color, and it looked and smelled incredible.

The crust was the tastiest part of the apple pie.

baked apple pie — I was so pleased with the buttery, golden crust.
Paige Bennett

Garten's apple pie was pretty good, but the crust was by far the best part.

The extra sugar sprinkling on top gave it a sweet flavor and crunchy texture. It was so good I could eat it on its own.

But I didn't love the flavor of the filling.

slice of apple pie on a plate — I wish there was more of an apple flavor in the filling.
Paige Bennett

The filling had just a little bit too much citrus for me.

I was glad the apples softened well without becoming mushy, but I think I'd precook them a little bit more next time. That would hopefully help concentrate the apple flavor and keep the filling from shrinking so far away from the top crust.

I also might sub some of the sour apples for a sweeter variety, because the combination of the green apples and citrus made for a pretty tart pie.

All of the pies were good, but I was actually most impressed by Garten's crust.

slice of pecan pie on a plate, slice of apple pie on a plate, and slice of pumpkin pie on a plate — I'll definitely be making Ina Garten's pie crust again.
Paige Bennett

Garten's pies all turned out pretty good, and they were easy enough to make in one day without breaking a sweat.

I like that she adds fresh flavors to each one of these pies. The rum whipped cream that went with the pumpkin pie was also delicious, and I think it would taste great with the maple pecan pie, too.

But my favorite part of all three recipes, by far, was the pie crust.

It was super quick and easy to make, and it worked well with all the different fillings. I'll be using this crust for all my pies moving forward.

This story was originally published on November 19, 2023, and most recently updated on November 25, 2024.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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