Par-bake pie crust: Place your pie tin fitted with a rolled out, trimmed, and crimped pie dough in the freezer until firm, about 10 to 15 minutes. Heat oven to 375°F. Dock frozen pie shell with a fork. Lightly coat a large square of foil with nonstick spray and press it tightly against the entire pie dough. [I find with a frozen crust and tight foil, you can skip pie weights.] Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until the crust is pale but beginning to set. Carefully peel off foil, pressing back any parts that have bubbled up, and patching any tears with an extra scrap of dough, and return to the oven for bake 5 to 10 more minutes until crust is golden brown and lightly crisp. Set aside until needed.

Lower oven temperature to 300°F degrees.

Prepare filling: In a medium saucepan — larger than you think you’ll need, because it can bubble over — over medium-high heat, reduce maple syrup to 1/2 cup, which takes about 5 to 7 minutes. Whisk in cream and bring back to a simmer, briefly. Remove from heat and pour into a medium bowl with a pouring spout, if you have one. In a medium bowl, whisk together yolks and whole egg. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle cream mixture into eggs. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve back into the bowl with the pouring spout, if using. Stir in salt, nutmeg and vanilla.

Bake pie: Pour filling into crust and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until pie is firm to touch but jiggles slightly when moved, about 1 hour. Let cool to room temperature before serving with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, softly whipped cream, and a few gratings of nutmeg, if you wish. Do ahead: Pie keeps well in the fridge for up to 5 days.