Pumpkin Pie with Vanilla Meringue

Pumpkin pie is an all-time holiday dessert classic, but maybe it’s time for a glow up. For Thanksgiving this year, Cookdap challenged 5 of our favorite bakers to upgrade our basic pumpkin pie recipe. The rules? The base ingredients needed to stay the same, and the bakers could only use five additional ingredients for their upgrade. Check out the rest of the pumpkin pie recipes from our challenge, here.

As a food blogger, I can’t resist adding a little showmanship to any recipe. And a quick-and-easy pumpkin pie recipe is the perfect canvas, with its creamy orange-brown filling acting as a blank slate for a delicious, showstopping topping.

But sadly, showstoppers (especially sweet ones) take time to make. And on a day like Thanksgiving — which, let's face it, is basically the Super Bowl for food bloggers and home cooks — there's not a lot of time to spare. The obvious choice would be to pair the pumpkin pie with ice cream or whipped cream. Delicious, yes, but not quite showy enough for this food blogger.

Because instead, I top my pumpkin pie with vanilla meringue.

Why vanilla meringue? Think of it like next-level whipped cream, or even a gourmet marshmallow whip. It's light, airy, and delicately sweet, pairing well with the earthiness and warming spices of the pumpkin pie.

I can hear some of you grumbling now. But meringue takes twice as long to make than whipped cream from scratch! That's true. I won't argue with that. But most of the work is done by your stand mixer, allowing you to sneak away to the kitchen to take a breather under the guise of making dessert.

In any case, I promise the 15 minutes to make the meringue will be worth it. Why? The trick is to adorn the pie at the table. And then, just like the classic restaurants of yesteryear that torched cr?me br?l?e tableside, fire the meringue in front of your guests too. Ignite a chef's torch over the meringue and watch as the glossy, light-as-air topping toasts dramatically. The room will be filled with a delightful toasted marshmallow smell, as well as the sounds of impressed "oohs!" and "aahs!" from your guests.