In the end, there's one pumpkin pie I loved more than the others.Paige BennettI tried making pumpkin pies using recipes from Bobby Flay, Dominique Ansel, and Alton Brown.My favorite recipe was Flay's because it was easy to follow, and the whipped cream was delicious.Ansel's recipe was a disaster for me to make, and the final pie tasted quite bland.When it comes to fall comfort foods, nothing takes the cake quite like a slice of homemade pumpkin pie.Celebrity chefs certainly feel the same way, which is why so many have their own pumpkin-pie recipes.To find out which are worth trying this fall, I tested pumpkin-pie recipes from culinary legends Bobby Flay, Dominique Ansel, and Alton Brown.Here's how the pies turned out — and which recipe I'll totally be coming back to. Flay's signature pumpkin-pie recipe has many steps, but simple ingredientsThe ingredients for Bobby Flay's pumpkin pie weren't overly complicated.Paige BennettThough he's known as a grill master, Flay can throw down when it comes to pies.His recipe on the Food Network website has several steps, but it seemed easy to organize and measure all the ingredients in advance.The crust and filling ingredients seemed pretty standard: graham-cracker crumbs, butter, sugar, ground cinnamon, eggs, dark-brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin purée, heavy cream, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves, vanilla bean, and saltThe recipe also called for homemade bourbon-maple whipped cream, made with cold heavy cream, grade-B maple syrup, and bourbon.It sounded tasty. To make it, I needed grade-B maple syrup — but I learned that label no longer exists. So I stuck with grade A.The pie came together easily and smelled deliciousMixing the ingredients was easy.Paige BennettSince I measured everything in advance, making the filling was as simple as pouring and whisking the ingredients together, then straining it for a super-smooth center.The only hiccup I had was that I don't own a food processor. I used a small blender/food-chopper that didn't quite work as well.That made it tricky to integrate the melted butter with the crushed graham cracker.The graham-cracker crust had to bake for about 10 minutes.Paige BennettOverall, the hands-on part was quick and easy. After 10 minutes of baking, my crust was set and ready to be filled.The recipe produced far more filling than I needed, so I froze the leftovers for a future pie.The crust wasn't perfect, but it held the filling just fine.Paige BennettI baked the pie for about 90 minutes. It came out golden, with a flawless top — no cracks here.The whipped cream and the pie went together perfectlyBobby Flay's pie looked perfect once it cooled.Paige BennettI was impressed with how well the pie held its shape as I cut into it. Though the crust along the bottom was probably thicker than it should've been, I was happy it didn't crumble and fall apart.The whipped cream alone was incredibly delicious. I could taste every element: the cream, the vanilla, the bourbon, and the maple syrup.Bobby Flay's pie looked smooth and delicious.Paige BennettAs for the pie, the filling had a light pumpkin flavor with a nice balance of sweetness and spice. With the whipped cream, the dessert had the perfect balance of vanilla, maple syrup, warm pumpkin, and spices.The graham-cracker crust was fine, but I wished it were crunchier — I was disappointed by its slightly soggy bottom.The edges were crisp, but they weren't as flavorful as I would've liked.Ansel's pumpkin-pie recipe is heavy on the ginger and calls for a dough crustThe ingredients for Dominique Ansel's pumpkin pie.Paige BennettI followed a recipe for silky pumpkin pie with gingerbread crust from the famous pastry chef and inventor of the Cronut, as published on British Vogue.For the pie and crust, I needed light-brown sugar, all-purpose flour, butter, cinnamon, baking soda, lemon juice, milk, ginger (fresh and ground), vanilla bean, nutmeg, cornstarch, pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, cream, egg yolks, and sea salt.My first concern was how much ginger — fresh and ground — it called for. I like ginger, but I don't love it in large quantities.I was also expecting the pie to have a pretty rich center, since this recipe calls for a lot of egg yolks — about six or seven — in the filling.For the crust, I had to battle with the doughThe dough was incredibly difficult to roll out.Paige BennettSince it involved making a dough-based crust, this recipe required a lot of steps. I'd recommend making this the day before if you need it for a certain occasion.It took me a long time to grate the fresh ginger for the crust, so I ended up cutting the amount to about 1 ½ tablespoons from 2 tablespoons.After I mixed the crust ingredients and let it chill, it was time to roll. I cut the dough and put aside one half, which I originally planned to freeze for later.Unfortunately, rolling the chilled dough was a disaster. My first half kept sticking to the rolling pin and my surface even though I had sprinkled flo
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