Craft the Milk Bar's Pumpkin Pie Recipe: Unveil Autumn's Secret

Cakes, cookies, and more importantly, pies. That’s Milk Bar for you. Guided by the capable hands of chef Christina Tosi, and a whole lot of locations across the US, Milk Bar is perhaps the number one choice when it comes to one of the three above. But, Milk Bar’s pumpkin pie recipe, a fall season favorite, is truly a sight to behold.

Admittedly, making this one at home is far from easy. Still, you will gladly create a mess in your kitchen after the first time, since it is quite addictive. Savory, earthy, and crunchy, Milk Bar’s pumpkin pie recipe is a must-try!

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Pro Tips
• Milk Bar's Pumpkin Pie Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients

1. The crust

• Butter — 9 tbsp.
• Granulated sugar — 2 tbsp.
• Egg — 1 pc.
• All-purpose flour — ½ cup
• Brown sugar — 5 ½ tbsp.
• Baking powder — ⅛ tsp.
• Baking soda — ⅛ tsp.
• Salt — ⅓ tsp.

2. The filling

• Vanilla extract — 1 tsp.
• Pumpkin puree — 2 cups
• Egg yolks — 4 pcs.
• Whipping cream — 6 ½ tbsp.
• Salt — ¼ tsp.
• Granulated sugar — ¾ cup
• Brown sugar — ½ cup
• Dry milk powder — 1 tbsp.
• Butter — ½ cup
• Oats — 1 cup

Instructions

1. Set your oven to 350°F degrees and lightly grease a cookie sheet.

2. Using a mixer, combine 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, 6 tablespoons of butter, and 4 tablespoons of brown sugar.

3. Beat until mixed.

4. Add one egg and beat again for a minute or two.

5. This time, add the oats, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

6. Beat well, which should take a minute or two.

7. Pour the filling onto the cookie sheet.

8. Bake for 15 minutes.

9. Remove from the heat and let it rest.

10. Crush your now-prepared oat cookie into small pieces and transfer to a mixing bowl.

11. Add 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 ½ tablespoons of brown sugar.

12. Beat until consistent.

13. Transfer the mixture to a glass pie dish.

14. To prepare the filling, set your oven to 350 degrees.

15. In a mixing bowl, combine brown sugar and granulated sugar, dry milk powder, salt, and butter.

16. Give it a thorough mix.

17. Add whipping cream, egg yolks, and vanilla.

18. Whisk until combined.

19. Pour the filling mixture over the crust.

20. Bake for half an hour.

21. Remove from the heat and let it cool for an hour or two.

Substitutions

• Whipping cream — Milk Bar’s pumpkin pie recipe makes a dessert that is so creamy and smooth that you might be wondering the key to this. Well, it’s whipping cream. Still, it could be easily replaced. We’ve tried making this recipe with a combination of milk and butter, and the results were delicious. ⅔ cup of both would do the job. If that’s not an option, you could also try coconut cream, a vegan alternative!

• All-purpose flour — All-purpose flour is perhaps the most commonly used flour in pie recipes, and Milk Bar’s pumpkin pie recipe is not an exception. With that being said, you could get away with using cake flour or pastry flour. A 1/1 substitute would be fine.

• Vanilla extract — Although we’d strongly recommend sticking to vanilla extract, Milk Bar’s pumpkin pie recipe could be made in different ways. On our second try, we replaced vanilla extract with vanilla powder, and while it wasn’t the same, our dessert was still fairly smooth. If you’re looking for vegan alternatives, however, you’d be better off opting for maple syrup or almond extract instead.

Variations

• Earthy — It’s no secret that Milk Bar’s pumpkin pie recipe is a fall season favorite. So why not go ahead and add some seasonal spices that would elevate your dessert to another level? Earthy and nutty spices like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger added to the filling would be great! A teaspoon of each would be enough to get the job done.

• Pumpkin — You might have noticed that there isn’t any pumpkin used in this pumpkin pie recipe. If you want, you can always make things better instantly by adding some pumpkin puree to your filling. Nothing much, just two cups would be enough. Give it a try! We weren’t disappointed with it.

Equipment

• Measuring cup

• Measuring spoon

• Hand mixer

• Mixing bowl

• Cookie sheet (9 x 13)

• Oven 

• Glass pie dish

• Whisk

Storage

• Transfer the leftovers to an airtight container, or simply wrap them with foil. Once stored in your fridge, the leftovers will last for four days at most.

• If you’d rather freeze the leftovers, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag. Once stored in your freezer, the leftovers will last for three months.

Pro Tips

• The ingredients — We’d strongly recommend using room temperature ingredients. This would make stirring things far easier, resulting in a lighter and fluffier pumpkin pie.

• The cooling — We recommend cooling the pie two hours before serving. This would allow the ingredients to blend thoroughly. If, however, you find yourself in a rush, an hour and a half would be enough as well.