A Pinch and a Dollop

It’s hard to think of fall and not think of pumpkins and pumpkin pie. And, while I love just roasting it and eating it in savory dishes, nothing’s more satisfying than the iconic pumpkin pie. Today I wanted to see if I could get away with making a good one that didn’t have sugar or dairy or wheat, and mission accomplished! This recipe is definitely one of my favorites, and I even had a friend come over to sample it, and it got a resounding YES! So, let’s see what everyone else thinks!

These are squares only because I left my pie dish somewhere and only had a 9×13 pyrex baking dish. I’m sure it would work great as a pie as well!

Crust:

2c Almond Flour

(I used the remnants from my home made almond milk, so it was slightly wetter than packaged varieties).

1 c shredded unsweetened dried coconut

10 dates, soaked in boiling water, pitted (drain water before using)

Filling:

10 dates, soaked in boiling water, pitted (drain water before using)

1 medium pumpkin (about 3 1/2 c pulp)

1 c almond milk

dash vanilla

~ 1Tbs Ground Cinnamon

~ 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg

~1/8 tsp Ground Mace

1 Tbs Arrowroot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, combine all crust ingredients, and pulse until incorporated. The mixture will be crumbly, so you just want to make sure the dates are evenly distributed. Press into bottom of 9×13 inch ungreased pyrex dish or 2 9″ pie pans. Place in oven for about 10 minutes, but watch to make sure crust doesn’t burn. I may have undercooked mine so that it could be baked with the pumpkin, so you might be able to cook a little longer.

Fo filling, roast pumpkin whole if you are using fresh pumpkin, and once the skin becomes hard and you can feel that inside is soft, remove pumpkin from oven, and let cool. Once it is easy to handle, pull top off and remove all skin. Break apart pumpkin, remove the seeds (Do not discard. Clean these, removing any pulp, and roast them on a baking dish for an excellent treat). Place all of edible pumpkin flesh into food processor, along with all other ingredients. Mix continuously until most of the date bits disappear into the mix, and you are left with a creamy pudding like consistency. When crust is ready, simply spoon or spatula over the crust, and bake an additional 30-40 minutes until top of pumpkin has browned. Remove, let cool slightly, and enjoy!