Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Healthy Holiday Pumpkin Pies


Last month I made several kinds of delicious pumpkin pies/cakes for Canadian Thanksgiving. This was the first in many years that I've eaten "real" pumpkin pie. A healthy one though. A gluten free, refined sugar free, and dairy free version of a classic pie that I'm sharing with you today. I also made a raw vegan pumpkin pie which I posted on Sweetly Raw HERE (and where you can find lots of other raw and/or vegan pumpkin recipes).

To recap, I made a completely nut free no-bake vegan pumpkin cheesecake on this blog after getting lots of requests for a nut free dessert. I made this cheesecake three times just to get it perfect to my taste and because I love it so much. In fact, I'm going to make it a fourth time today because I haven't had anything pumpkin in a few weeks, lol.


Here I made the vegan no-bake pumpkin cheesecake on an almond coconut crust and topped it raw caramel sauce and pecans.

Since I didn't get a chance to post my pumpkin pie during our holiday I thought it would be perfect to post now for American Thanksgiving. Of course a big dollop of whipped cream goes perfectly on top, or serve it with a scoop of raw vanilla ice cream on the side (or both ;).


Pumpkin Pie
Dairy Free - Gluten Free- Refined Sugar Free

Crust

For the crust I chose this delicious recipe by Gluten Free Goddess that I made two years ago for thanksgiving.

1 cup flaked unsweetened organic coconut
1 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup all purpose gluten-free flour blend
1/2 cup coconut sugar or organic light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons vegan or regular butter (Earth Balance)


Place all of the dry ingredients into a food processor bowl and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add in the vegan butter and pulse several times in short bursts until the crumbs are moist and begin to fall away from the sides of the bowl.
Dump the crumbs into 9" pie place and spread evenly in the bottom and up the sides using your fingers.
Bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 7 minutes- to set. 
Set aside. 

Filling

I love how this pie filling turned out. I would enjoy it baked without a crust too! Adjust the spices to suit your taste. 

15 oz can pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk 
3 eggs
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, or to taste

Beat or whisk together all ingredients until smooth. Taste, add more spices to your liking (tasting a touch of raw egg won't kill you).
Pour into the baked pie crust. Return to the oven and bake at 350F for 45-60 minutes (the edges will be brown and firm but the center should still be jiggly). 
Cool before eating.



Serve the cooled pie with a generous dollop of whipped cream (multiple recipes here) or raw vanilla ice cream.


I hope you'll try this baked pumpkin pie or the no bake vegan pumpkin cheesecake (nut free version in this blog post).


Happy almost Thanksgiving to my American friends! 


12 comments:

  1. Wow that is way too much pumpkin goodness for me- I need another holiday so I can make one ;)

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    1. Hahaha... hence why you only buy one can of pumpkin a year right?! ;)

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  2. These are fabulous!!! You need a pie book now :D

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    1. Thanks my dear! Maybe that will by my next one!!!

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  3. Heather, your pumpkin pie sounds so good! I need a piece :)! I decided not to make anything too time consuming this year so very minimal desserts, but I could use this on my table :)!

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    1. Want to swap Amy?! Some pie for some chocolates?! ;)

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  4. Loved this one too. The spices and texture were so perfect! And it was a magical distraction from the icky boys surrounding me on that greyhound trip...

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    1. Thank you lovely! Icky boys on the bus?!!? On no!

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  5. These are all BEAUTIFUL! I really like the looks of the nut free pumpkin cheesecake!

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    1. Thanks Lisa! Yes, it's such a tasty nut free option :D

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  6. My family wanted chocolate pie for our American Thanksgiving this year. I made one for them, and my mother-in-law brought a pumpkin pie. I also made Chocolate-Covered Katie's No-bake Chocolate Pumpkin Pie, since I couldn't make up my mind as to which pie flavor I wanted. If I had made the pumpkin pie this year, I would have made your recipe.

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    1. Your family picks well, going for the chocolate! You'll have to try my no bake pie next year ;)

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