Preheat your oven to 350° F on bake.

Remove the phyllo from the packaging. You'll only need about 10 sheets, so I'll usually keep the box and wrapping and place any extra phyllo back in the box to use for another recipe. Phyllo dries out quickly, so it's best to open the box only when you're ready to prepare the phyllo circles. You can place a damp cloth on the exposed phyllo sheets so that they don't dry out. Then, line a 9" x 2" baking pan with parchment paper.

Assemble the phyllo circles and blind bake. Melt 1/3 cup of unsalted butter. On a clean large surface (your kitchen counter or table), take one phyllo sheet from the stack of phyllo and place it on the counter. Dip a pastry brush into the melted butter and brush one side of the pastry sheet with butter. Place another phyllo sheet directly on top of the buttered phyllo sheet.  Lightly press down and brush the phyllo sheet evenly with butter.  Scrunch the sides of the phyllo sheets together and roll the phyllo into a loose circle and place it in the middle of your baking pan. Continue this process by placing phyllo circles around the centre until you've reached the sides of the baking dish.  Lightly brush the tops of the phyllo with any remaining butter and place the baking dish in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the tops of the phyllo circles are a light golden brown colour. While the phyllo is in the oven, prepare the pumpkin pie filling.

Prepare the pumpkin pie filling. In a large mixing bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, and 1/4 a cup of white sugar well together. I usually mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla for a few minutes first or until the egg mixture is light and frothy. Then add in 1 cup of milk. Next, add in the can of pure pumpkin puree, the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice,  1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Whisk together so that there are no clumps, and set the filling aside. 

Remove the baking pan from the oven. Once the tops of the phyllo circles in the oven are golden brown, it's time to remove the baking pan from the oven and set it aside on a heat-resistant surface.

Pour the pumpkin mixture over the crispy phyllo circles. Once the phyllo circles are crispy, pour the pumpkin pie filling slowly and evenly over the baked phyllo circles so that the phyllo is almost fully submerged.  The tops of the phyllo circles will still be exposed. 

Bake the phyllo pumpkin pie. Place the baking pan in the oven and allow the pumpkin pie to bake for 25-30 minutes at 350° F or until set in the centre.  The centre of the pie should be slightly jiggly as you remove it from the oven, but the pie will settle more as it cools.

Allow the pumpkin pie to cool. It's so tempting to dig in, but you'll need to let the pumpkin pie cool for at least 20-30 minutes before slicing it.  You can slice the pie in the baking pan, or after the pie has cooled for at least 30 minutes, lift it from the pan and slice.