Pumpkin Pavé – Spiced Pumpkin Filling on Streusel

Are your attempts at pumpkin pie dough getting you down? Can’t roll it out because it’s either too tough or crumbly? Is it sticking to your counter and rolling pin even with heavy dustings of flour? Did the crust turn into a soggy mess after baking?

Ditch the pie dough and bake it on streusel instead.

Baked flat and sliced into square or rectangular portions, pavé pastries are so named because of its resemblance to tiles or paving stones. The dessert itself is the farthest thing from a brick, though. In this recipe, the smooth cream cheese filling is lightly sweetened to let some of its mellow tang through. With the addition of allspice and cinnamon, pumpkin pavé will be familiar even if its name and appearance are anything but.

Aside from being less finicky than pie dough, streusel is probably the ideal serving platform for the creamy pumpkin filling. Its crumbly texture provides much-needed contrast, and more importantly, because of the addition of ground pumpkin seeds, doesn’t fade into the background flavor-wise.

recipe adapted from Michel Suas’ Advanced Bread and Pastry
Sugar High Friday hosted by Dessert First

Pumpkin Pavé
Spiced Pumpkin and Cream Cheese on Streusel

makes one 9 x 13-inch pavé

Equipment:

• 9 x 13-inch baking dish

For the Pumpkin Seed Streusel:

Ingredients                  Volume          Ounces          Grams
pastry or all-purpose flour   1 1/2               7            198
brown sugar                     1/2 cup packed    4.25         120
hulled pumpkin seeds, ground    3/4 cup + 2 tbsp  3.5           99
butter, at room temperature     2/3 cup           5.25         149

Notes:

• Since I’ve been on a pumpkin seed kick lately, I decided to use it in the streusel instead of hazelnuts, as suggested in the original recipe, or almonds.
• Variation: The original recipe suggests reserving half of the streusel as a topping. I prefer a thicker bottom streusel crust, such that the crust and filling are almost the same thickness, so I use all of it for the bottom crust in the following instructions. If reserving half of the streusel as a topping, lower the streusel baking time to 12 to 15 minutes.

Pumpkin Seed Streusel Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF/177ºC.

Using a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment of your mixer, mix all of the pumpkin seed streusel ingredients together until coarse crumbs are formed.

In a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, press down the streusel to form the bottom crust.

Pressed pumpkin seed streusel crust.

Bake at 350ºF/177ºC for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. The crust will rise slightly after baking. Let the streusel crust cool completely at room temperature.

For the Pumpkin Filling:

Ingredients                  Volume          Ounces          Grams
cream cheese                  1 1/3 cups         10.875        308
vanilla extract                 1/2 tsp
allspice, ground                1/2 tsp
cinnamon, ground              1 1/2 tsp
sugar                             1 cup + 2 tbsp  8.125        230
maple syrup                       1 tbsp
pumpkin puree                   2/3 cup           6            170
large whole eggs                  3

Notes:

• All of the pumpkin filling ingredients should be at room temperature.

Pumpkin Filling Instructions:

Using a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment of your mixer, mix the cream cheese, vanilla extract, allspice, and cinnamon until smooth.

Add the sugar slowly and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

Add the maple syrup and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

Add the pumpkin puree and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

Add the eggs one at a time until thoroughly incorporated. The pumpkin filling consistency will be similar to thick pancake batter at this point.

To Assemble and Bake the Pumpkin Pavé:

Preheat the oven to 325ºF/163ºC.

Pour the pumpkin filling over the pre-baked streusel crust and spread evenly by tilting the baking dish in all directions.

Unbaked pumpkin pavé.

Bake at 325ºF/163ºC for about 35 minutes. The center of the pumpkin filling will still be slightly jiggly at this point. Let the pumpkin pavé cool completely at room temperature to set.

Baked pumpkin pavé.

To Serve:

For best results, refrigerate the pumpkin pavé overnight before portioning. Slice into square or rectangular serving pieces.

Equal parts pumpkin filling and pumpkin seed streusel.

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