Double-Layer Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

Life has so gotten in the way lately. Graduate school, plus getting married a month ago, has really put me off cooking. We haven't done much lately. But now that it's the holidays, I'm back in the cooking mood.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our apartment this year. So, the turkey took 2 hours longer to cook than I originally thought it would. We had sangria, we had friends, and we had appetizers. And the turkey turned out really damn good (for the record, we stuffed it with quartered onion, green apples and buttered croissants, then rubbed a mixture of butter, rosemary seasoning mix and garlic under the skin, and placed a whole bunch of lemon quarters around the turkey in the pan and covered it with foil sprayed with cooking spray and DIDN'T baste. The stuffing and foil/cooking spray were my mom's instructions, we added the rest. Next time, I think we'll squeeze the lemons out over the turkey first.)

But the real show-stopper was my pie. Or at least, I thought it was the pie. I'm obsessed with pumpkin. My family knows that if anything is labeled "pumpkin flavored" or "pumpkin pie spice" I'm on it like frosting on a cupcake. So I'm pretty good at making a standard pumpkin pie. That's not what this is. I will admit that I can't take credit for the idea. Nor can I take credit for the individual recipes. I CAN take credit for combining these particular recipes into one phenomenal pie. I had something similar at a fundraiser in college and it's been sitting in the back of my mind for the four years since, and I finally decided to do something about it. So here's what ensued:

Double-layer Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

I usually don't like cheesecake, but when combined with the yummy spicy goodness of pumpkin pie and pumpkin spices, I'll eat just about anything. You'll need just one 16-oz can for the whole pie, and I recommend using a deep-dish 9-inch pie crust (sorry, I can't recommend a good recipe because I'm terrible at pie crust. We just use the Pilsbury pre-made crusts).

For the cheesecake
1/2 cup (1/2 can) pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 2/3 T brown sugar
2 t heavy cream
1/3 t vanilla
1/2 T bourbon (optional; you could also probably add up to 1 T)
2 2/3 T white sugar
1 t cornstarch
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t cloves
1/8 t salt
8 oz cream cheese

In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, cream, vanilla, and bourbon, set aside. In a large bowl, stir together white sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Add the cream cheese and beat on high until creamy and smooth (about 3 minutes). Reduce the speed to medium and add the pumpkin mixture, until thoroughly mixed. Fill a pie crust about halfway with the cheesecake filling (you will probably have some cheesecake left over). Place the half-filled pie in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow the cheesecake to firm up before pouring the pumpkin pie filling on top. While the cheesecake is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 F then make the pumpkin pie filling:

For the pumpkin pie filling:
6 T white sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
1 egg
1/2 cup (1/2 can) pumpkin puree
6 fl. oz. Evaporated milk
1 T bourbon (optional)

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the egg then stir in the pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture, followed by the evaporated milk. Gently pour this mixture over your cooled/firmed cheesecake filling until the pie crust is full. Again, you may have some filling left over. Bake the pie at 350 F for 50-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean (some of the cheesecake will stick to the knife, but the knife should not be coated in pie).

The cheesecake recipe is adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake and the pumpkin pie filling is adapted from the recipe on the back of the Libby's pumpkin puree can. In place of the individual spices in each filling, you could substitute 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, but it will change the flavor a little bit because it's a different ratio. I prefer to use spices individually to make it easier to tweak, but if you have pumpkin pie spice and that's what you like, then go for it.