Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie With Homemade Pie Pastry

Prepare, bake and cool pie crust (see below).

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

With an electric mixer or food processor, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugars and blend until smooth. Then add whole eggs and yolk, vanilla, lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, pumpkin and half-and-half. Blend until smooth and evenly mixed. Pour the filling into the pie shell.

Place pie pan on center oven rack and bake 25 minutes. Rotate pan 180-degrees and continue baking 20 minutes, or until the top has puffed slightly. The center may still be a little wobbly but it should not be soupy.

Transfer pie to cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. Cover loosely tented with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.

For Basic Pie Pastry: Sift together the flours, sugar and salt. Put into a bowl or food processor. Add the pieces of shortening and butter, cut in by hand or use the pulse button on the processor until large flakes are formed.

Add cold water and work just until the dough begins to hold together. Transfer to a sheet of plastic wrap and form dough into a flat disk. Refrigerate at least an hour or overnight.

Lightly spray a 10-inch deep-dish pie pan with cooking spray and set aside. If dough has been refrigerated overnight, remove about 30 minutes before rolling.

Roll dough between lightly floured sheets of plastic wrap to a 15- inch circle. Remove top sheet of plastic and invert dough over pie pan. Use plastic to mold dough into the pan, then remove and discard. Crimp top edge of dough. Refrigerate 30 minutes or freeze 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mold a piece of aluminum foil over the dough and add pastry weights or dried beans to cover the bottom, don't fill entire shell with weights. Make sure the edge of the dough is also covered with foil.

Bake on center oven rack 20 minutes. Carefully lift foil and weights out of pan and with a fork lightly pierce dough that has puffed up. Continue baking 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack completely before filling.