THE Ultimate Holiday Dessert

Looking for an outrageous dessert that screams holiday spirit? I’ve found THE dessert (thank you Pinterest!). Actually, I found it about a month ago or longer but decided to give it a serious look again. My best friend is going through a rough season and I wanted to make something for her. So I made THE ultimate holiday pie. It’s crazy like the piecaken but totally not the same.

Now that we’ve established it as THE ultimate holiday pie. What exactly is it? It is a layered pie. Cheesecake on the bottom, followed by pumpkin pie in the middle, and topped with pecan pie. In each and every bite you get the distinct flavor of the individual layers but in combination! And if that’s not enough to convince you just wait until the smell of this pie while cooking is wafting through the house. Holiday smells irresistible.

The key to layering this pie is that each layer is made separately, poured into the pie pan, and set to freeze before the next layer is added. That way the layers don’t mix together and stay nice and separate while baking.

The original recipe called for a pastry crust but I’d never use a pastry crust on cheesecake so I went with graham cracker crust instead. It was the right move. Since the cheesecake is on the bottom the graham crust melts in the cheesecake just as you’d expect from your typical cheesecake. But with pumpkin pie and pecan pie on top this cheesecake is anything but typical:

The pumpkin pie layer is the thickest layer, appropriately so:

After the pumpkin pie layer is frozen on top of the cheesecake layer you spoon the pecan pie filling on top. The pecan pie filling is thin and once cooked sort of melts into the top portion of the pumpkin pie layer. Another reason that the pumpkin pie layer should be slightly thicker. No need to freeze again, but bake and enjoy the delicious smell filling your house. A little pointer: I was extremely nervous putting my frozen glass pie pan into a hot oven. I got lucky with no broken pie pan but next time I will not preheat the oven and let the pie plate heat up with the oven.

I could not follow the original recipe in regards to the pecan pie because it called for corn syrup and that’s just not something that makes its way into our house. Instead I found a recipe using agave and it worked! This whole recipe is not the kind of thing I usually make as it is laden with sugar but like I said, best friend, rough season, seemed like a good time to give this a try.

Once the pie is done, the pecan pie filling will be browned and the pie will still be jiggly but not wet. We had to taste test immediately but it’s much better when it’s had adequate time to set up in the fridge. Topped with whipped cream this pie is the perfect combination of the holiday season and flavors.

I’m pretty sure I can alter this to be refined sugar-free and grain-free but I had to have the original recipe under my belt first.  The classic pumpkin pie was set to make an appearance on our Thanksgiving table but I’m reconsidering. Classic pumpkin pie or THE ultimate holiday pie?! We’ll put it to a vote.