Hot honey and cream cheese pie! What more could you ask for this holiday season? This recipe is definitely a must try before the year ends!
I think when you are constantly on the internet, you tend to see the same favorite things enter the ring of “Should I try this this week?” conversation. This year, I have found hot honey and also caramelized honey to be at the forefront of this food exploration. Hence this fun and spicy hot honey and cream cheese pumpkin pie recipe that I hope ya’ll will make this holiday season.
This hot honey cream cheese pumpkin pie IS going to be the point of conversation this year I can tell you right now.
Hot honey has been dancing around the internet in surprising places. Fitness instagram and youtube has you putting it on chicken. Meat heads are smoking it as well as adding it to marinades pre traeger. It’s had street cred with the pizza world. And even in the baking space is showing off their versions of hot honey pastries and sourdoughs.
I also keep seeing the words caramelized honey popping around as well. And it sounds extravagant, but when you look up how to caramelize honey it’s really simple.
How Do You Caramelize Honey?
With my recipe I followed the beginning instructions to Claire Saffitz caramelized honey pie on epicurious. Basically, you brown some butter until just golden. Once you have browned your butter, take it off the heat and add your honey. Stir until combined. Place it back on the stove and continue to cook the honey and butter mixture until it’s nutty and fragrant. And then you have your caramelized honey! I would recommend also trying Claire’s pie recipe
With my caramelized honey, I chucked in some fresno peppers and a habanero to build the heat to this hot honey. The trick to not making the hot honey obscenely hot is to throw the habanero in at the tail end of cooking. That way it imparts the flavors and heat but in a controlled manner.
Once you have your heat to your liking I cool this mixture down by adding a block of cream cheese and stirring until combined. Then it’s just building the rest of the pie for you turkey dinner.
I have tested this for day of and the night before and both yield a tasty dessert. I have notice that if you bake it ahead of time and let it cool in the fridge it mellows out and has a more deeper flavor to it. Whatever you decide, this recipe will work both ways.
Another note, I used a 13 inch pie pan and it fit all the pumpkin mixture well. That being said, based on your pie tin you might have some left over. Don’t be afraid to bake that in a ramekin and keep that as the cooks treat.
Possible Changes Coming to The Blog
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy making this recipe this year.
Before I go, I wanted to say a couple things about the blog and possible changes coming.
Basically I have had some things happen in my life that I am not 100% sure how that’s going to affect my life in the long term. And for awhile now I have wanted to talk in a more personal way on here to be like an open conversation for anyone going through similar situations as me. With that being said I will be speaking more about current health things, weightloss journey, and what has been going on to my blog posts.
I know some people are so frustrated with the stories of families and what not but I think my blog is my story to share and I’m not afraid to talk about it anymore. I will still have my own privacy but I really believe I am not reaching my full potential because I am keeping myself as this mysterious recipe writer on the internet.
There will be more to come in the following weeks so just know that I am ok and I will have answers soon. I love all my readers and I hope to have more recipe content for your soon.
Hot Honey and Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
- 1 Ready Made Pie Crust I recommend anything from Claire Saffitz or just a store bought crust.
- 6 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1/3 cup Honey
- 2 Fresno Chilis (Red Jalapeno) halved
- 1 Habanero
- 1 8 oz Cream Cheese room temperature
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar light or dark
- 3 whole Eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 15 oz Canned Pumpkin libby's preferred
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour
Instructions
- Par-bake your pie crust and have ready ahead of time.
- Preheat your oven to 325°F
To Make The Hot Honey Cream Cheese Mixture
- Begin by adding your 6 tablespoons of butter to a medium pan on the stove on medium high heat. Once your butter is melted reduce the heat to medium and let the butter sputter and foam away until it is nutty in smell and has a golden hue. This can take anywhere from 5-10 minutes based on your heating.
- Take your brown butter off the heat to stop the cooking process and add your 1/3 cup honey. Stir until combined and then return to the heat. Add your 2 halved fresno peppers and let the honey mixture bubble away for 1-2 minutes. Just after this time add your 1 habanero and take off the heat. Allow the peppers to steep for a couple minutes. You should be tasting this mixture, CAREFULLY, to gauge your degree of heat you want. Remove your peppers and add your 8 oz room temperature cream cheese. Whisk together until the cream cheese is free of lumps and you have this luscious consistency. It looks similar to creamed honey. Set aside while you make the pumpkin filling.
To Make the Pie Filling
- To a large bowl, whisk your eggs until broken. Add your 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 tsp pumpkin spice, 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp vanilla, and 1 tsp salt and whisk until combined and there are no lumps.
- Add your 15 oz pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. In small increments add your cream cheese honey mixture to the pumpkin mixture, to ensure if any residual heat wont scramble your eggs. Leave two tablespoons of honey mixture behind.
- With the last bit of the honey mixture, add your flour and stir to combine. There should be no lumps of flour to this mixture. Add the remaining bit into the pie mixture and stir until evenly incorporated.
- Pour your pumpkin mixture into your parbaked pie crust. Cover the crust with aluminum foil to avoid burning. Place pie plate on a baking pan to catch any potential spillage. Place in the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the pumpkin mixture is set with a slight wobble. It's kinda what you are looking for when you bake a cheesecake.
- After your pie is set, turn your oven off and prop the door open with a wooden spoon to slowly bring the pie to room temperature. This helps reduce the potential of the top cracking. Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!
