Total Time

1 ½ hours, plus 2½ hours’ cooling and chilling

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

1 ¼ hours, plus 2½ hours’ cooling and chilling

This dessert, featured in “Barefoot Contessa Family Style” (Clarkson Potter, 2002), was inspired by a pumpkin mousse that my mother had made for years for Thanksgiving. It’s lighter and much more flavorful than that cloying old pumpkin pie. People really do go nuts for it.

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For the Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs (14 crackers)

⅓ cup/66 grams granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ cup/113 grams unsalted butter, melted

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For the Filling

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée

½ cup half-and-half

1 cup/147 grams light brown sugar, lightly packed

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 extra-large egg yolks

1 package (2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin

1 ripe banana, finely mashed

½ teaspoon grated orange zest

½ cup/118 milliliters cold heavy cream

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

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For the Decoration

1 cup/236 milliliters cold heavy cream

¼ cup/50 grams granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Orange zest (optional)

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1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar, cinnamon and melted butter in a bowl and mix well. Pour into an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and press evenly into the sides and then the bottom. Bake for 10 minutes and then cool to room temperature.

2. For the filling, heat the pumpkin purée, half-and-half, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water until hot, about 5 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks in another bowl, stir some of the hot pumpkin mixture into the egg yolks to heat them, then pour the egg-pumpkin mixture back into the double boiler and stir well. Heat the mixture over the simmering water for another 4 to 5 minutes, until it begins to thicken, stirring constantly. You don't want the eggs to scramble. Remove from the heat.

3. Dissolve the gelatin in ¼ cup cold water. Add the dissolved gelatin, banana and orange zest to the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes.

4. Whip the heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer) until soft peaks form. Add the granulated sugar and continue to whisk until you have firm peaks. Carefully fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture and pour it into the cooled tart shell. Chill for 2 hours or overnight.

5. For the decoration, whip the heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Add the granulated sugar and vanilla and continue to whisk until you have firm peaks. Pipe or spoon the whipped cream decoratively on the tart and sprinkle, if desired, with orange zest. Serve chilled. When slicing the tart, wipe off the knife with a warm, damp kitchen cloth between cuts.