I believe, firmly, that this is my perfect pumpkin pie. And you will have a hard time trying to convince me otherwise of that. It is dense but not custardy, sweet but not too sweet, the crust melts in your mouth and the crunch of the rosemary sugar on top is both festive and complex. It tastes like eating really great pumpkin cookie dough in the middle of a shortbread cookie crust – and THAT is what I want a Thanksgiving pumpkin pie to be!
If you hate pumpkin pie, you have come to the right place. Let’s all convert to this kind of pumpkin pie this year. Let’s start a revolution.
Table of contents
- First, let’s talk about frangipane and how it makes this pumpkin pie different
- The key to every good pumpkin dessert is a concentrated pumpkin flavor
- Now we are onto the rosemary butter crust for this Frangipane Pumpkin Pie
- Ingredients you will need for the rosemary crust
- The importance of par-baking the crust for this Frangipane Pumpkin Pie
- Ingredients you will need for this frangipane pumpkin filling
- How to make this filling gluten-free
- A note on the rosemary sugar
- Serving and storage suggestions
- Looking for other Thanksgiving desserts?
First, let’s talk about frangipane and how it makes this pumpkin pie different
If you’ve ever had a pear tart or a plum tart, you’ve probably already fallen in love with frangipane, even if you didn’t know its name. Frangipane is a sweet almond-based filling that’s often spread into tart shells before baking. The result is something between cake and custard: tender, buttery, and lightly nutty, with a delicate crumb that complements fruit and pastry beautifully.
The base of frangipane is simple — butter, sugar, almond flour, and eggs — but it transforms when baked. It puffs slightly, sets into a soft texture, and infuses the crust with its buttery aroma. Traditionally, it’s paired with poached pears, cherries, or figs, but here it’s doing something new: instead of holding ingredients, it’s becoming the whole filling itself.
By combining pumpkin with frangipane, you get the best of both worlds: the spice and comfort of pumpkin pie and the luxurious texture of an almond tart. It’s a subtle but striking change — instead of a custard set by eggs and evaporated milk, this version feels more dense and velvety, with a melt-in-your-mouth crumb that’s far from your typical pie filling.
The key to every good pumpkin dessert is a concentrated pumpkin flavor
Yeah, I’m picking a fight with traditional pumpkin pie methods. Why does it always taste watery and like nothing to me? Well, probably because it’s just pumpkin, sugar, cream and eggs. It gives us nothing!! It doesn’t change or manipulate the pumpkin at all. So here, we are changing that a bit.
Even though this recipe calls for canned pumpkin (which already comes cooked and puréed), the step of roasting it down in the oven makes a huge difference. This process drives off excess moisture and concentrates the flavor of the pumpkin.
This small extra step gives you what we really want, which is true pumpkin flavor. You’ll notice the color deepens, the aroma intensifies, and the filling gains a certain “fudge factor” that standard pumpkin pie just doesn’t have.
Now we are onto the rosemary butter crust for this Frangipane Pumpkin Pie
This crust is more like a cookie than a crust. It’s softly sweet and infused with fresh rosemary. It makes this pie a little bit elevated. And it’s easy to prep first and store while you make the rest of the recipe!
Ingredients you will need for the rosemary crust
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened, 113 grams
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 50 grams
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, 140 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, use half if using Morton’s
- 1 large egg yolk, reserve the egg white for the topping
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
Wait, why does this crust use egg yolk?
This is not your typical pie crust. It’s meant to eat more like a butter cookie than a flaky, fall-apart pie crust. I prefer an egg-yolk crust because it’s richer and tastes like a shortbread cookie. It’s good for this recipe because we don’t need to weigh it down with pie beans, it holds together well, and the texture is excellent.
After trying this once, you may not want to go back.
The importance of par-baking the crust for this Frangipane Pumpkin Pie
This pie is all about the *textures*. The crust needs to be perfect soft and shortbread-cookie-like so that it melts in your mouth while the rich frangipane pumpkin filling layers on top. If the crust is soggy or mealy, the whole appeal of the tart will feel one-note.
If we skipped the par-bake, this crust would be too weighed-down to ever reach its full potential. We want it to be nicely dried out so that when we bake it with the filling, it will come out tasting like a cookie that melts on the tongue.
Ingredients you will need for this frangipane pumpkin filling
This filling is magically smooth. Here are the ingredients you will need to bring it together:
- 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin purée
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened, 113 grams
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, 100 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup almond flour, 100 grams
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon & 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour, 11 grams
How to make this filling gluten-free
This filling only uses 11 grams of flour as the binder, so it can easily be made gluten-free by swapping that for cornstarch or 11 grams of a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend.
The crust is a bit more tricky, so I recommend buying a gluten-free pie crust for this recipe, and then it will be fully gluten-free!
A note on the rosemary sugar
If you don’t think your group is up to adventurous flavors, this can just be plain old sugar. This could also be cinnamon sugar, ginger sugar, citrus sugar, really anything you want to zest into turbinado sugar, you can. Here are a few of my suggestions:
- Nutmeg cinnamon sugar – grate 1/4 teaspoon of whole nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon into the sugar and mix!
- Ginger thyme sugar – grate in a 1-inch knob of fresh ginger and add 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves. Mix together and you have ginger thyme sugar.
- Cranberry sugar – spoon in a tablespoon of cranberry sauce (wild) and stir it with the sugar. It will get syrupy, so drizzle it on top of the tart and spread it to the edges. It’s a great tart kick!
Serving and storage suggestions
This tart does come out thin, so I suggest serving it in eight slices. My favorite side-kicks for it are:
- Cinnamon whipped cream
- Vanilla ice cream
- Any clotted cream or creme anglaise!
For storing it, this pie both freezes and keeps in the fridge beautifully.
- For the fridge: Store it in individual slices wrapped in cling wrap or in ziploc bags. They will keep for 7-10 days.
- For the freezer: Use the same storage suggestions as above. The slices will keep for six months. To thaw them, put them in the fridge for 24 hours. Then they will be ready to eat or warm up!
Looking for other Thanksgiving desserts?
Here are a few festive ones I love!
And that’s it for this Frangipane Pumpkin Pie!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Frangipane Pumpkin Pie with Rosemary Sugar
Equipment
- 1 electric hand mixer
- 1 sheet of cling wrap
- 1 9-inch tart pan or pie pan
- 1 sheet of parchment paper
- 1 Rolling Pin
Ingredients
For the rosemary butter crust
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened, 113 grams
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar 50 grams
- 1 cup all-purpose flour 140 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt use half if using Morton’s
- 1 large egg yolk reserve the egg white for the topping
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
For the pumpkin frangipane filling
- 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin purée
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened, 113 grams
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar 100 grams
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup almond flour 100 grams
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon & 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour 11 grams
For the rosemary sugar topping
- 1/3 cup turbinado sugar 65 grams
- 1 -2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
Instructions
- Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 300°F.
- Begin the rosemary butter crust. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to mix together 113 grams softened butter with 50 grams of granulated sugar. Add 140 grams of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal kosher salt (use half if using Morton's) and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Add the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of rosemary and mix on the lowest speed until a tacky dough forms.
- Transfer this dough to cling wrap and store in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
- Make the frangipane pumpkin base. On a half sheet pan, use a spatula to spread out the pumpkin purée into an even layer, about 1 cm thick. Transfer this to the oven and gently roast out the pumpkin's moisture for 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through.
- When the pumpkin is darkened in color and tacky like play dough, scrape it into a large bowl. Increase the oven's temperature to 350°F convection or 375°F standard.
- Add 113 grams of softened butter and 100 grams of brown sugar to the bowl. Whip with the hand mixer until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 100 grams of almond flour, 1 egg, 1 egg white, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 11 grams of flour. Mix again until smooth. Set aside.
- Make the rosemary sugar. Add 65 grams of turbinado sugar to a dish with 1-2 tablespoons of chopped rosemary. Press together with your fingers until the sugar is very aromatic and smells of rosemary. Set aside.
- Par bake the crust. Take the crust out of the fridge. Lightly flour it and roll it out on a sheet of parchment paper until is is about 1/4 cm thick. Transfer it on the parchment paper to a tart pan. Press the dough down into the sides and fold any excess dough into the edges so they are nice and thick. See the blog post for photos. Dock the bottom of the pan with a fork. Par-bake for 16-19 minutes or until lightly golden.
- When the crust has par-baked, take it out of the oven and gently fill it with the pumpkin frangipane filling. Smooth out the top and sprinkle it generously with the rosemary sugar.
- Bake the pie for another 28-33 minutes or until the edges are golden and the surface of the tart is dry to the touch.
- Remove from the oven, let cool and then slice as you like!
How far in advance can this be completed before serving?
It will keep well for 2-3 days in the fridge! You could also freeze it but I wouldn’t suggest that.
Would you keep it in the individual slice you have in the instructions for 2-3 days? Or can you keep the pie whole in the fridge?
Also do you recommend reheating to serve if it’s been in the fridge a couple days? Or just room temp?
I am genuinely very confused because you say in the recipe that it freezes “beautifully” but here you recommend against freezing. could you clarify?
I was just providing the user with the greatest ease of use! If they are making it for Thanksgiving, storing in the fridge is the much better option, and my preferred. It was a case-by-case basis 🙂
ahh okay that makes sense, thank you!
Does the crust need to bake w weight in it?
Not this one! Since it’s a pate sucree it won’t puff up the same way a laminated pie crust does 🙂
My crust seems extremely dry. It doesn’t look like your video. Should I trust the process? Or add another egg yolk?
That might mean two things, either your butter is cold and you’ll need to keep mixing for a few minutes (trust the process! If it’s extra cold it will take time) OR if you didn’t measure by weight, you might have some ratios that are off. Either way, I’d hold on adding an egg yolk until you’ve given it a few minutes of good mixing!
Can the almond flour be substituted with regular all purpose flour? Thanks!
Hello! Unfortunately, due to how almond flour absorbs moisture and turns rich and chewy, it’s the best flour for this, whereas an all-purpose flour would get crumbly and dry. I’m sorry that it’s not a 1:1 swap!
What would be the best substitute for the almond flour? I have several family members with nut allergies
Are they allergic to coconut? Coconut flour would be my next best suggestion, unfortunately oat flour would come out too gummy here.
I wouldn’t recommend coconut flour at all unless you make sure to reduce the quantity by a lot. Probably to around a couple tablespoons. Coconut flour is highly absorbent and fiber rich. It acts very differently than almond flour.
I tried it with oat flour and didn’t find the texture gummy, it came out quite good. I did blend up oats and it wasn’t super powdery so perhaps that is why. Everyone loved this dish and I’m planning to make it for a work potluck.
It’s a beautiful recipe. I just wonder what the pumpkin filling texture is like? Cakey or still custardy after adding in almond flour?? Thanks
It’s like cookie dough! Rich and dense but not cakey 🙂
This looks amazing!!!! Cannot wait to try! Thank you
Made this recipe tonight, turned out great! I don’t own a tart pan, but used a small springform and the crust browned beautifully for any bakers without a tart pan! Thanks for the beautiful addition to our Friendsgiving, will definitely be making this again soon.
This comment makes me so happy – I’m so glad you liked it!
This pie is amazing! True to its word, it had a whole family of self proclaimed pumpkin pie haters coming back for seconds. This will be a new staple for my family!
Worth every second it took to make this!! I subbed the almond flour for oat because it’s what I had on hand, and roasted a pumpkin we had. I will be making this again in a few weeks so will try it with the almond flour.
I’d love the rosemary crust by itself, as a shortbread biscuit- it’s delicious!
So so happy you liked it!! And good to know oat flour can work as a sub!
Made it for Thanksgiving and it was great. And I’m a certified pumpkin pie hater. I subbed in ground pepitas for the almond flour because I’m allergic and it worked well. Probably created a more nutty taste than the almonds because they were roasted.
Love all of your recipes but this is the first of your dessert recipes I have made. Now I am on a mission to make more 🙂 In the spirit of using what I have, I roasted a small pumpkin from my CSA and had about 8 ounces of puree. I did my best to make a half recipe and divided it into four ramekins. It made the perfect mini pumpkin pie desserts! Thank you for sharing!
Love this!! So glad you liked it 🙂
Excellent—what a unique take on pumpkin pie. The filling is the star of the show (which is a rare take for a crust lover like myself)—somehow both lighter and richer than a usual pie but I think the combo of whipping it fluffy and roasting the pumpkin worked wonders. The rosemary sugar topping was a good texture combo. Thank you for sharing!!
This is the nicest comment! So glad you enjoyed 🙂
I am a pumpkin pie hater, too, and eternally looking for a way to enjoy it but check that Thanksgiving pumpkin pie box for others so this is my winner for friendsgiving this year! I saw the previous comment about making it ahead. Similarly would the crust and filling probably keep okay for a day or two if made and then baked just before serving?
They should be fine made a few days ahead! The crust freezes beautifully if you need it to keep a bit longer. The one thing I wouldn’t recommend doing early is the par-bake, which might dry out the crust 🙂
Sorry would you consider the day before okay? Just bake it then refridgerate then cut up next day at the event?
That’s totally fine!
I had to know if I could eat my Halloween decorations and it turns out, you can! I roasted my grey pumpkin and used it for this recipe and man, it was a win.
Love this!
Made mini versions in cupcake tins! Had to double the amt of cookie but otherwise it translated well and came out great! I might attempt a vegan version… any suggestions for egg yolk/white replacements?😬
Hmmm I feel like 2 tablespoons of flax egg would be your best bet!
The best Pumpkin Pie ever! Who knew rosemary would compliment pumpkins so well🧡. I’m tempted to try the recipe with Kabocha. I guess it might becone more dense? Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Hi Kaori! It wouldn’t be dense so much as a potato-ey texture – but if you love the squash and want to go for it, go for it 🙂
Made this tonight, planning to freeze half for Thanksgiving next week, it was 10/10. Thanksgiving for the great recipe, delicious and easy to follow.
Is there anything differently you have to do if you are doing it in a pie pan rather than a tart pan?
The only thing is don’t let the crust have any overhang in the pie dish (similar to the tart pan), so that it will give the frangipane the space to become a flat layer that’s the same level as the pie crust 🙂
I made this and it was great! I’ll be repeating it for Thanksgiving dinner.
Crust comments: I didn’t have a tart pan so I made it in a springform pan. I did my best to roll out the dough, but it was a bit crumbly so I just pressed in the pieces that had broken off. The edge of the crust wasn’t even, but the rustic look came out nice. I think that pre-baking the pumpkin filling really helped avoid a soggy bottom – the bottom crust stayed very crisp, which I often find hard to achieve.
Filling comments: I didn’t have almond flour so I ground up 100g of skinless almonds in the food processor. The result was more moist than almond flour and not as fine, but the pumpkin filling still came out totally smooth. The taste overall was delicious. I sprinkled only 30g of turbinado sugar on the top which I felt like was enough.
I left mine at room temp on the counter over night for 2 nights, and it seemed fine to keep eating.
Thanks, Justine!
This blew me away. Incredible flavor and textures. Even pumpkin pie haters were raving about it. Thank you!!
I love the idea of the frangipan but I must admit I’m a sucker for normal crust. Would you say regular flakey pie dough and this filling would be a good combo?
Absolutely! Just make sure to weigh down the pie crust with pie beans over parchment paper as you par bake 🙂
Not fair with the stars because we haven’t tasted it yet! One note would be my dough definitely fell apart in a major way but nothing a teeny bit of ice water wouldn’t fix.
Oh no! Did you roll it out on a sheet of parchment paper like the instructions call for? I find that eliminates any breaking because you can just transfer the parchment paper into the pan!
I am making this for dinner this year (I’m not a fan of pumpkin pie either). What are your thoughts on a GF substitute for the flour? I have one guest who is intolerant and hope to have a dessert he can enjoy.
Hello! While I’m not a gluten-free expert, most people find a 1:1 gluten free blend like King Arthur Baking’s is their best bet! You could also use a store-bought gluten free crust to be extra safe, and then swap out the flour in the filling for cornstarch.
Hello! I have successfully made this pie using bob’s red mill 1:1 gluten free flour. Hope this helps.
I made this recipe last week as a test before Thanksgiving and it was great. I liked it best warm and my husband liked it room temp. I am planning to make 3 more for friends and family over the holiday.
Jumping on an earlier conversation about making ahead of time, I am wanting to prep this recipe before Thanksgiving and bake it fresh on the morning off. If I pre-make the filling, will all the work done to extract water from the pumpkin filling be useless?I am wondering if I need to make the dough ahead of time but the filling fresh.
You can absolutely pre-make the filling! Store it wrapped in a bowl and it should still be nicely spreadable by the time you need it. I love the idea of baking it fresh for Thanksgiving.
I really want to make this, but do need to make it gluten free… do you think I could just use any other GF pate sucree recipe for the crust and add the rosemary to it to get a similar effect?
Absolutely, and we’ve also had people in the comments who had success with Bob’s 1:1 gluten free flour and this same recipe 🙂
Can you use 1:1 gluten free flour for the all purpose flour
We’ve had people in the comments who had success with Bob’s 1:1 gluten free flour!
Hi when you say transfer it on the parchment paper paper do you mean youre baking the crust with the parchment paper on?
& if you were making a gluten free version with premade crust would graham cracker style or regular suit better? also do you need to parbake premade shells?
The ingredient list says 2-3 tablespoons of chopped rosemary for the sugar topping but the instructions say teaspoons. Just wondering which was correct – thanks!
Do you have any suggestions for using a ceramic pie dish instead of metal, i.e. how much longer to bake for?
It should be the same amount of time 🙂 The tin heats up faster but the ceramic holds more heat.
My crust looks like it melted in the oven! Very oily and the walls caved into the bottom. What did I do wrong 😭
It might have been too warm! Did you chill it for at least 30 minutes? And did you measure the flour by weight? Those are all important to make sure it bakes out well
This pie fully convinced my pumpkin pie hater parents that redemption is possible! I made it in a pie dish and the first slice or two were a bit messy to cut but overall so, so impressed with how it turned out.
I have found my forever pumpkin pie. So much better than every other pumpkin pie I’ve ever made. Everyone raved about this!!
I had multiple people at Thanksgiving tell me this was the best pumpkin pie they’ve ever had (I agree). I added a tiiiny splash of LorAnn buttery sweet dough extract to the filling which I think tied it really nicely with the shortbread crust. I’ve already been told that I’ll be expected to bring this pie again next year so this was a winner!
Rave reviews from all my friends and family. So many people asked me for the recipe, I made a sign with your information on it. Love love love it!
Made this for thanksgiving, followed the recipe to a T and it turned out perfect. thank you so much for this recipe! it was exactly the kind of elevated yet simple pumpkin pie i wanted to make:)
This was so good! Pumpkin pie lovers and pumpkin pie haters both agreed it was the best pumpkin pie they’ve ever had! Great recipe.
The only pumpkin pie I will be making from now on! Delicious with or without whipped cream, as the flavors are amazing on their own!
This recipe was a hit at my family’s post thanksgiving pie bake-off and it won first place! The only issue I ran into is that my crust did puff up when I par-baked it, but that may be because I used a glass pan (didn’t have a tart pan available) and forgot to adjust the oven temp accordingly. Otherwise worked great! And using fresh rosemary cut from the garden brought it to the next level.
Absolutely phenomenal. Glorified pumpkin pie hater but this recipe has changed it all for me. The savory crust and the sugar top. What dreams are made of
This will be my new go-to pumpkin pie recipe, and I’m doing shortbread crusts from now on. I like traditional pumpkin pie, but this one is far more interesting texturally and taste-wise.