Pumpkin Cream Pie

So here is one of the Thanksgiving desserts I wanted to try out before hand to see if it was worthy of making it to the big meal.
I love pumpkin pie, plain and simple, but I wanted to try a couple of other desserts that played around with the pumpkin and the pie, and presented it with a little twist.

This pie is made with a basic pie crust, and then filled with a pumpkin flavored pastry cream. Pastry Cream has the texture of a thick pudding and I have to say that this was a really delicious one.
I made 1/2 of the pastry cream and decided I was going to make mini pies. I made a bunch of mini pie crusts in my muffin tin, you just cut out circles of pie crust with a cookie cutter and bake them for about 10 minutes- watch them close so they don't burn. I made 6 minis and then baked up the rest of my pie crust in small (about 4-in) dishes.

The chilled pastry cream is scooped into the pie crust and chilled in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Then it is topped with sweetened whipped cream and candied pepitas.

This has all the same flavors as traditional pumpkin pie, but the pastry cream is much smoother than a normal pumpkin pie filling. The candied pepitas add a nice little crunch. I used roasted, salted pepitas in my candy and really like the little bit of savory that added to the super sweet candy.
This pie is perfect for Thanksgiving. I definitely think it would keep traditional pumpkin pie lovers happy and also has just a little bit extra to get other people excited too. Yum.
*note- the recipe says that the pastry cream takes 10-15 minutes to thicken up and boil, but mine was ready in 2-3 minutes. Don't overcook it, as soon as it is thick, it is ready.

Recipe for Pumpkin Cream Pie