The Pumpkin Pie Ingredient That Adds Tons Of Extra Flavor

Everyone may be lining up for pumpkin spice lattes at your state's local coffee shops in the fall and winter, but we all know that when the weather turns cool it's really pumpkin pie season. This MVP of pastries is a crowd pleaser, packed with sweet and spiced flavors just like everyone's favorite latte, and the recipe is so basic that you don't even need any baking skills to make one. If you really want to take your pumpkin pie to the next level, however, there's one ingredient swap that adds tons of extra flavor: eggnog.

Most standard pumpkin pie recipes call for some sort of dairy in order to make the pumpkin custard, and it's usually sweetened condensed milk. But where's the fun in that? You can get all the spiced, rich goodness of eggnog's nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and rum notes into the pie custard and get the same texture — all you have to do is swap out the condensed milk for the all-important 'nog. Most eggnogs are pretty thick (it's actually also a thin custard thickened with eggs), so you can easily substitute them into any pumpkin pie recipe one-to-one for condensed milk or heavy cream.

If you're planning to make a pumpkin pie with eggnog instead of cream or condensed milk, you have a choice as to whether you want to use homemade or store-bought 'nog. The better choice here, however, is store-bought for a couple of reasons. First, store-bought eggnogs tend to be around the same thickness, which is similar to heavy cream. Homemade eggnogs can vary quite a lot in texture, depending on how your family likes it, which can mess with the structure of the pumpkin pie custard. Also, it's a lot faster to use store-bought eggnog than it is to make your own. 

Unless you have a batch of 'nog already in the fridge, there's quite a process to making an eggnog recipe from raw ingredients, especially if you're already making your pumpkin pie from scratch. If you're pressed for time, you don't need to bake the eggnog into your pie to get in on the creamy, rich flavors. You can also add about ½ cup of the sweet stuff to heavy whipping cream to make eggnog whipped cream. Whip the mixture to stiff peaks and then serve a dollop on top of a slice of pumpkin pie. It's so good that you might even want a little on top of your PSL, too! And for your next bake, be sure to check out these other unique ingredients that will seriously upgrade your pumpkin pie.