My pumpkin pie cracked right down the middle during Thanksgiving weekend

I was making dessert for my family's get-together and followed the recipe to the letter. I baked the pie at 350 for 55 minutes like it said, but when I pulled it out there was this huge crack running through the filling. I think my mistake was opening the oven door twice to check on it, which probably let out too much heat. Does anyone have a trick to keep pies from cracking like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaret3041mo ago

Totally feel your pain, that happened to me last year with my sweet potato pie and it was so disappointing lol. The temp changes from opening the door definitely did it, but honestly even pros get cracks sometimes.

umamartin1mo ago

Cracks are a feature, not a flaw. A smooth pie looks like you just followed a recipe. A cracked pie shows you actually baked something real with heat and real ingredients doing their thing. People get too hung up on appearance when the taste is what matters. Plus a little whipped cream or a dusting of powdered sugar hides anything. If someone judges your pie by its cracks they don't deserve a slice anyway.

victor_adams2d ago

I get what you're saying about imperfections showing real baking, but I've got to push back a little. Last Thanksgiving I made a pumpkin pie that cracked right down the middle and it actually dried out faster around those cracks. The texture was uneven. A smooth top helps lock in moisture better so every bite tastes the same. I've made maybe 200 pies over the years and the ones with cracks always seem to have a slightly drier edge where the crack is. A little whipped cream helps but it doesn't fix the texture issue for me.