One of the great inventions of the culinary world is canned pumpkin. If you’ve ever tried to peel and boil a real pumpkin, you will appreciate the canned version.

The only problem is there are two types of canned -- plain and spiced. The already-spiced is for the recipe-challenged: Open can, spoon into pie shell, bake. It tastes like it.

Plain pumpkin offers a chance to freshen it with your own spices. It’s an easy step to season your own, but it pays off with pumpkin pie worth savoring.

Of course, now that we have that solved, we can work on further improving pumpkin pie. Enter the praline pumpkin pie. This converts the pumpkin into a smooth, almost custardy filling. Then comes the surprise. The filling is not resting on the top of the pie shell. It’s on a layer of melted butter, brown sugar and pecans, a classic Southern praline concoction.

Whoever thought of this enjoys a neat trick. Just as you’re thinking, “Oh my, yet another pumpkin pie,” you hit that praline-candy layer. You will never go back.

The recipe is unusual. It’s baked separately, in two layers, starting with an unbaked pie crust. The rest is pure genius, your next favorite pumpkin pie.

PRALINE PUMPKIN PIE

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

Pecan layer:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter softened

Pumpkin layer:
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In small bowl combine pecans, brown sugar and butter. Press into bottom of unbaked pie shell. Bake 10 minutes. Remove and reduce temperature to 325.

In large bowl combine eggs, pumpkin, brown sugar, flour and spices. Blend in cream until smooth. Pour into partially baked pie shell. Bake 40-45 minutes or until filling is set.

Recipe from Yvonne Indorf via The Repository.