Autumn is full on with cool weather, falling yellow leaves, a bit of rain and a bit of sunny days altogether and days getting shorter. And so I continue flirting with pumpkin and in this post, our relationship is all about being a nice and delicious pie with a friend a bit unusual to tag along in pies: phyllo!

 

 

 

So yes, I love phyllo and I want to use it in every possible way. In this recipe I use it instead of a traditional pie crust made with flour, butter, salt and water. In fact, the ingredients are the same in this pie as well, however because of phyllo sheets being so light and thin, the crust is not as dense and overpowering.

 

 

Since the crust is lighter than usual, you have a lot more room in your mouth to enjoy pumpkin filling. In fact, the filling is very much like a pumpkin flan. The only difference is that it has a little bit (just 2 tablespoons) of flour. Actually if you take away the flour and maybe add a few more eggs, you can come close to a pumpkin flan recipe. Hmm, a new recipe to think about!

 

This recipe originally belongs to celebrity Greek chef Aki Petretzikis. However, as always, I made my own twists here and there and changed some of the measurements, added a few things and also changed the way of doing it.

 

 

The recipe is not that hard, but I will mark it “medium” as difficulty level because it needs a bit of flexibility while stacking the phyllo layers on top of each other and then shaping them inside pie dish to turn them into the crust.

 

 

As before in my many other phyllo related recipes, I used the phyllo marked as “baklava” sheets that I bought from Turkish markets in Itäkeskus (Alanya and Kimene Oriental Markets). They are easier and more pleasant to handle than frozen phyllo sold in regular Finnish markets. So if you have possibility to get a hold of these, then do it. Otherwise, the frozen phyllo from other markets perfectly work too, you just need to thaw them correctly. Enjoy the pie!
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Ingredients:

 

Difficulty:  ★★☆ (Medium)
(serves 8-10, made in a 24cm pie dish)

 

Printable PDF-recipe (no photos)

 

6 phyllo sheets
50 gr. butter, melted and cooled just a bit
1 can (425 gr.) pumpkin puree*
1 can (400 gr.) condensed milk
2.5 dl (or 1 cup or 200 gr.) brown and soft sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

 

butter to grease the dish

 

*You can find this in big K-markets. If you want to do it yourself, check this link: https://thecookful.com/prepare-your-own-pumpkin-for-pie/

 

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1. Preheat the oven to 190C.

 

2. Butter the pie dish generously and set aside.

 

 

3. Take one phyllo sheet and brush the surface with melted butter. Put second phyllo sheet perpendicular to the first one and again brush it with butter.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Put the next two sheets diagonally to the first ones and each time, brush the surface with butter after positioning.

 

 

 

 

5. Put the final two sheets again diagonally but tilted a little to create a shape loosely resembling a circle shape altogether. Do not brush the final surface with butter.

 

 

 

 

6. Put the “glued” phyllo sheets gently on the pie dish and by pushing them gently inside, let them take the shape of the dish. There will be an excess part still outside dish, by compressing these excess parts into the edge of the dish, create a rustic pie crust shape. Put the dish aside.

 

 

 

 

 

7. In a mixing bowl, put pumpkin puree, condensed milk and sugar and beat in medium high speed until it is well mixed.

 

 

 

 

 

8. Add eggs and continue mixing. Scrape the sides and bottom if needed.

 

 

 

9. Add flour and spices and mix in medium high speed until it is a smooth mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Pour the filling mixture into the prepared pie crust. If you have any melted butter left, brush the top of the crust’s sides a little with that butter so that it browns well. Put in the oven, in medium rack and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the filling is cooked on the edges but a bit jiggly in the middle. Let the pie cool down for 2 hours after baking before serving. Enjoy!