Pumpkin MoGa Cheesecake Pie

The name MoGa stands for mousse-ganache, and it is a cheesecake pie because it has the consistency of a cheesecake but is actually a pie. If you cannot tell, it is hard to say for sure what it is, except that it is really good and the best pumpkin pie I've ever made.

You first start by making a caramel, and this is really easy to make a few days before and keep in the fridge. It makes about a cup of caramel so a 1.5 cup mason jar works great. 

Caramel Ingredients: 

1 cup sugar 

1/3 cup heavy cream 

6 tbs butter 

1/4 cup water 

2 tbs corn syrup 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

2 tsp kosher salt (or a big pinch) 

Caramel Method: 

1. It really helps to have all your ingredients measured out in little bowls. I usually don't do this, but for a caramel where everything is happening quickly, it makes a difference. It is also important to keep the heavy cream and butter cold, so when measuring everything just do those two last so they're a little colder. Also the butter should be cut into individual tablespoons. 

2. Start by combining the 1/4 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 2 tbs corn syrup in a medium saucepan and use a heatproof whisk to combine and wet over medium heat. As you stir, it will go from cloudy to clear and once it becomes clear, stir less. Technically you’re not supposed to, but a little is fine and don’t swirl it like crazy, just mix or move it a little. 

3. Why shouldn’t you stir when it becomes clear? If you do too much, then the caramel will raise on the edges of the pan and raise in temperature and crystallize and then it falls back into the caramel. 

4. Keep cooking over medium heat and it will start to bubble more and slowly turn a yellowish color and then an amber color. When you see the yellow color start to be ready because when it turns a golden brown amber color (the second picture), turn off the heat and put on a new burner if the burner stays hot. 

5. Add the 6 tbs of butter one tablespoon at a time and keep the whisk constantly moving and stirring the butter in. The first few will bubble up and that is because when I made it, my caramel was at 350F or 175C, and I just put cold butter into it. Be careful because there will be steam and a bubbling hot caramel in front of you, but after the first few tablespoons, the caramel will calm down a bit. 

6. After adding the butter, it will start to actually look like caramel, and please know that after the butter being added, even though it looks calm, it is still hotter than boiling water, so be careful. 

7. Slowly stream in the 1/3 cup heavy cream and keep whisking. After that, add the 2 tsp of vanilla extract and the 2 tsp of salt. You can eye-ball these like one gloop of vanilla and a big pinch of salt, it is to your taste, but DO NOT TASTE IT. 

I also recommend making the streusel a day or two before to make it easier. Keep it in an airtight tupperware at room temp. 

Streusel Ingredients: 

1/2 cup flour 

1/3 cup brown sugar 

1/3 oats 

6 tbs room temp butter 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp salt (or a big pinch) 

Streusel Method: 

1. Preheat your oven to 325F or 160C and combine all ingredients into a bowl. Mix until it is fully combined. It will seem like it is too dry, but if you keep mixing, it'll come together and even out. 

2. Spread on a parchment lined baking sheet it should be reasonably thin so probably like a quarter inch or half a centimeter, but it's very forgiving. 

3. Bake at 325F or 160C for 15 mins and it should be a golden brown when you take it out. Let cool and when cool place on a cutting board and cut up however you like. I liked cutting into squares the size of a dime, and yes that does not make sense but you got it. 

Filling Ingredients: 

2x 15oz cans of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix) 

227g (1.25 cup) heavy cream 

129g (1/3 cup) corn syrup 

64g (5tbs) unsalted butter 

443g (16oz or 2.5 cups) white chocolate chips 

3 tsp pumpkin pie spice 

Filling Method: 

1. Preheat your oven to 325F or 160C and spread the two cans of pumpkin on a greased parchment lined baking sheet and roast for 20-30 mins. The pumpkin will decrease a bit and become darker. 

2.  Add 443g white chocolate to a large heatproof bowl and combine 227g heavy cream, 129g corn syrup, and 64g of butter in a saucepan and heat until boiling. When boiling, pour into your bowl with the white chocolate. Let it sit for a minute before whisking. 

3. Add pumpkin, 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice, a pinch of salt, and mix together until smooth. If you want, you can use an immersion blender to make it extra smooth, but it should already be pretty smooth. 

Pie Crust: 

I have made pie dough before and it's not that fun and there are so many great parts of this pie, it's going to be hard to tell if you made a homemade crust. That's better suited for something like apple pie where the crust is a more important part. 

I used a store-bought one and it worked well, but on my first try, it shrunk down the sides of the pie pan so I didn’t have much room to pour the filling. So on my next try I stretched it higher and over the sides so that wasn’t the case. 

Bake the crust according to the packaging instructions and poke a lot of holes on the bottom to let steam through, I’m not sure if it says that on there but it's important. 

Whipped Cream: 

The ratio of whipped cream to powdered sugar is 1 cup heavy cream to 1/4 cup powdered sugar. 

Pour the cream into a bowl and whisk and slowly add the sugar, it should be fully added before it starts to stiffen. It's fine still adding the sugar if it's thicker and starting to form but should be totally mixed before it is fully stiff. 

I used about a cup and a half of heavy cream and about a third of a cup of powdered sugar. It doesn’t have to be exact, and you can taste and see if you want to add more or less. 

You can also add vanilla extract if you’d like and that is 1/2 tsp vanilla for every cup of cream, but if you like more or less, it's up to you. 

Since the caramel needs to be cooled before pouring the filling, and the pie crust needs to cool, and there are a lot of different parts, here are the steps that worked for me.

Pie Process: 

1. Make the caramel a few days before. 

2. Make the streusel a day or two before. 

(the caramel can be made more in advance than the streusel). 

3. Bake the pie dough. 

4. Put the caramel in the microwave in 10 sec increments until it is a good thick but still pourable consistency. 

5. When pie dough is out of the oven let cool and then put the caramel on top. 

6. Put the pie crust with caramel in the fridge to cool and then bake the pumpkin. 

7. As the pumpkin is baking, assemble things for the filling. 

8. Take the pumpkin out and then start heating the cream mixture for the filling. 

9. Make the filling and then pour on top of the cooled caramel. It's important that it is cool, so maybe put it in the freezer for 10 mins during the time in the fridge. 

10. After you pour the filling, cover with plastic wrap and immediately put in the fridge. 

11. Add the whipped cream after it has cooled. Add the streusel on top of the whipped cream and enjoy!