White Chocolate Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust

Returning from vacation this week, I was super excited to get home. My oldest son had decided to come home from college for the weekend and I would have less than 24 hours with him. We were arriving close to dinner time and it would be our only meal together. Sébastien loves my pies but I knew I didn’t have enough time to go all out or whether I had everything I needed on hand to make him a pie.  In a time crunch and unprepared,  I just couldn’t not make something special for him. I looked in the pantry and found pumpkin, gingersnaps and white chocolate. So was born this new recipe! By the time dad had grilled steaks, I had a gorgeous pie ready for a special dessert for our beloved son! With a layer of white chocolate over the crust and white chocolate shavings over the top with a crunchy toffee-like cookie crust, it was decadent and a nice variation on the traditional pumpkin pie.  I’m guessing you’ll be really happy Sébastien came home too!

• Servings: 8
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CRUST: 2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies; 6 T melted butter; 3 oz of white chocolate.

Grease an 8 inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine the cookie crumbs with the butter and pat into the pan, extending some of the mixture about an inch up the sides. Bake at 375 F for 5 minutes. Cool. Melt the white chocolate and with a spatula, spread evenly on the crust.

FILLING: 3/4 cups sugar; 15oz can of pumpkin purée; 2 large eggs; 12oz almond milk(any milk is fine); 1 T pumpkin spice; 1/2 t salt.

Increase oven heat to 425 F. Beat the eggs, add all the other ingredients and mix until the custard is smooth. Pour into the prepared crust. Bake at 425F, on a cookie sheet to catch any drips, for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350 F and bake an additional 40 minutes. Cool before removing the sides of the springform pan.

TO SERVE: Using a vegetable peeler, shave 1 oz of white chocolate into curls and scatter all over the top of your pie. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Today I’m taking this to Fiesta Friday #41 hosted by Angie, author of The Novice Gardener who with today’s post of a puff pastry courtesan reminds me I need to rent The Grand Budapest Hotel.  It is amazing that Angie remembers anyone from middle school, let alone have tracked down 2 classmates who are also food bloggers and comhosts today, Tracy@Scatch It and Stephanie @Cozy Cook.  How awesome is that?