Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Pie

Spud, my younger (now 13!!!!) year old loves pumpkin pie.  He absolutely cannot wait for Thanksgiving for his pie.  He needs it at Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and Pi Day, and once, it was even his birthday “cake”.

I don’t really need to change up my pumpkin pie recipe since the classic is a classic for a reason, but I just can’t help myself!  I have tweaked pumpkin pie in small ways a number of times and this is the latest. 

Spud (again) wanted a pumpkin pie. I had most of the ingredients and could have run to to the store for the rest, but I had a few odds and ends in the refrigerators that I was hoping to use up.  I had heavy cream, but not enough to make the heavy cream version of pumpkin pie.  I also had some homemade dulce de leche still hanging around that I knew needed to be used sooner rather than later.

That got me thinking.  The most basic version of pumpkin pie calls for sweetened condensed milk as the sweetener and the dairy.  Though I made my dulce de leche from scratch, I know that one method starts with sweetened condensed milk.  So that got me thinking.  If dulce de leche can be made from sweetened condensed milk, can pie be made from dulce de leche?  The answer is yes.

I didn’t have the equivalent of a full can of condensed milk in my dulce de leche, so I supplemented with the heavy cream I wanted to use up, plus some brown sugar.  The pie was amazing and one I would definitely make again should I decide to make more dulce de leche!

Dulce de Leche Pumpkin Pie

Inspired by Worldly Treat

Pie Dough

1 ¾ cups pumpkin puree

3 eggs

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1 ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup dulce de leche

½  cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and make the pie dough.  Roll out half the dough and place into the pie plate, crimping the edges as desired.

Whisk together the pie ingredients and pour into the prepared pie crust. 

Place the pie in the oven and reduce heat to 350 degrees F Bake pie for 45 minutes.  Add additional toppings (like the pi symbol) and reduce heat to 325 degrees F. Bake for an additional 20-30 minutes or until the edges are set but the center is just barely jiggly.

 Remove from the oven and cool before enjoying.

Pumpkin pie is best served the day it’s made.  Cover and refrigerate leftovers.