Maple Pumpkin Pie Brûlée

As I was making pies for the Lake County Fair, I made this pie thinking I had entered the Pumpkin Class competition.  I had not.  I was not feeling inspired by Pumpkin this year, so I didn't even come up with this recipe on my own.  I just made a few changes to one I found online.

The recipes I found is here: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/bruleed-bourbon-maple-pumpkin-pie

I made my usual crust instead of doing the chocolate.  As I had never made it before I didn't want to risk two things going horribly wrong.  I also left out the bourbon, as I had received a comment last year that I should indicate when I use alcohol (which I hadn't in that pie), which leads me to believe that the judges are not big fans of alcohol.

I baked the pie on Saturday and brûléed it on Sunday.  I had a slight issue with moisture and the sugar not spreading evenly.  After I noticed the issue that caused during the torching, I blew as hard as I could to even it out, leading to a light dusting of sugar over my counter tops.  I suggest making this pie the morning of and not refrigerating it in order to be able to do a nice, even brûlée topping.

The pie was good.  It was nice and creamy, yet firm enough to stand.  The brûlée topping added a nice texture element that one usually misses with a traditional pumpkin pie.  Sadly, the maple was hardly noticeable.  I could barely taste it and I knew it was there.  Someone who didn't know would not have guessed there was $8 of premium maple syrup in it. 

I will definitely make this pie this Thanksgiving and enter it in both the Lake County and Illinois State fairs next year.

Piece out!
Justin