Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie

Years ago I gave up trying to cook everything the day before Thanksgiving. I do as much as I can well ahead of time and really, no one knows the mashed potatoes and stuffing have been sitting in my fridge for a couple of days. Or if they did, no one cares. So last weekend I started my holiday cooking. Here's one of the desserts - a dairy-free pumpkin pie. It's going right into the freezer.

DAIRY-FREE PUMPKIN PIE

• 1-3/4 cups mashed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) (one 15 ounce can)

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 1-1/2 cups coconut milk

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 9-inch unbaked dairy-free pie crust

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Beat the pumpkin, sugar and brown sugar with a whisk or electric beater set at medium for a minute or until well blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the coconut milk, add the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt and beat ingredients for a minute or until well blended. Pour into the pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 40-45 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool. 

Makes one pie serving 8-10 people

0 notes

Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie

Every family has its own particular cast of characters. You know, the people comedians joke about when they say “wow, can you imagine what it’s like at their Thanksgiving dinner?” 

Well, we have ours too, although not along the lines the jokes are about. Our family loves getting together, we enjoy each other’s company, mostly think along the same lines socially and politically, think its okay for a few of us to go into a different room to watch football and generally consider it a very good, festive day.

Our cast of characters has to do with the food. There are kosher, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarians and nut-free among us.

That could make planning dinner a challenge for some, but I love figuring out solutions to all of these culinary matters.

Here’s my answer to the dairy-free thing: Coconut Milk Pumpkin Pie. The crust is not gluten free, but if you need one, try this. 

Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie

1-3/4 cups mashed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) (one 15 ounce can)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

1-1/2 cups coconut milk

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 9-inch unbaked dairy-free pie crust

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Beat the pumpkin, sugar and brown sugar with a whisk or electric beater set at medium for a minute or until well blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the coconut milk until well blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt and beat ingredients for a minute or until well blended. Pour into the pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Makes one pie serving 8 people

Dairy-free Pie Crust

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

8 tablespoons cold Earth Balance Buttery Spread

4 tablespoons cold shortening

4-5 tablespoons water or juice, approximately          

Combine the flour, salt and lemon peel, if used, in a large bowl. Cut the Spread and shortening into chunks and add to the flour mixture. Work the fat into the flour mixture using your fingers or a pastry blender until the ingredients resemble crumbs. (If using a food processor, give the ingredients several quick, short pulses, until the mixture resembles coarse meal.) Add the liquid, using only enough to gather pastry into a ball of dough. Cut the dough in half and flatten each half to make a disk shape. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it stand at least 30 minutes. Makes enough for a one crust pie or two bottom crust only pies

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

It’s one thing if people are fussy about food and make a big deal about it when there’s a mushroom or hunk of broccoli on their plate. 

But it’s really quite another thing when there are actual health concerns. Issues like allergies, lactose intolerance, high blood pressure, gluten intolerance. And so on. Or when someone has a commitment to vegetarianism. 

To me, none of these is the same as being fussy. So if I have a guest at my table for, say Thanksgiving, I try to accomodate. 

My daughter has a life-threatening allergy to fish and certain nuts. We discovered this early on so I learned how to change recipes and substitute. I also become more aware of and sensitive to other people’s health issues.

I never cook fish when Gillian visits. I never bake or cook with walnuts or pecans.  I bake Hazelnut or Cashew Pie, not pecan pie. 

On Thanksgiving we sometimes have guests who are vegetarians and some who can’t eat gluten. So I’ll make Mujadarah as an additional main course (that’s a bulgur wheat and lentil casserole) — it’s also a good side dish with turkey!

And I’ll bake a gluten-free pie. This year it’s Pumpkin Pie. 

It can be a challenge to cook for people who can’t eat the usual foods you cook. But I have found it to be an enjoyable creative challenge. 

In case you need dessert for someone who’s on a gluten-free diet, here’s one for gluten-free Pumpkin Pie. Everyone else will enjoy it too.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

1-3/4 cups mashed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons molasses or pure maple syrup

3 large eggs

1-1/2 cups half and half cream, evaporated milk or nut milk 

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 9-inch unbaked gluten-free pie crust

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the pumpkin, brown sugar, white sugar and molasses in a bowl and beat with a whisk or electric beater set at medium for a minute or until well blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the cream until well blended. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat ingredients for a minute or until well blended. Pour into the pie crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for another 55-60 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool. Makes one pie serving 8 people

Crust:

1 cup rice flour

1/4 cup almond flour or garbanzo bean flour

1/4 cup cornstarch or potato starch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

5 tablespoons cold butter or margarine

3 tablespoons cold water or milk 

Place the rice flour, almond flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and shortening and work into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingers, until the mixture is crumbly. (To use a food processor, use the pulse feature.) Add the liquid and mix until a soft ball of dough forms. Press the dough into a 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using. NOTE: instead of the rice and almond flours plus cornstarch, you can use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour

Which is better, the food or the memory of the food?

Was your mother really a good cook? Was that chocolate cake or those hash browns you had 20 years ago at that restaurant really fabulous?

Food memories can be funny. Our tastes change. Maybe Mom’s chocolate chip cookies weren’t really that good, maybe those hash browns were actually a bit too greasy and if we ate these foods today in someone else’s kitchen or in a different restaurant we wouldn’t rave.

But we remember them so fondly that we think we’ll never find the ultimate recipe for whatever it is we thought was so wonderful.

I have that feeling about a lot of foods. My Mom’s Nut Roll. The Apple Tart at L’Orangerie in Los Angeles. My grandmother’s baked blintzes. The Hot and Sour Soup at Temple Garden in New York’s Chinatown.

When autumn comes and I see the trees turning orange and gold, my food memory turns to pumpkin pie and that makes me remember the Automat. It went out of business when I was a little girl, but I still remember my Aunt Roz and Uncle Mac taking me there for lunch or dinner when we went into Manhattan to go ice skating or to see a show. They were the kind of aunt and uncle that took their nieces and nephews to places and we all loved them so much that the food that came with the day would of course be wonderful no matter where or what it was.

At the Automat, if it was autumn, there was pumpkin pie.

It was the very best pumpkin pie. In my memory. I have been trying to duplicate its flavor and texture since I started cooking. But food memories linger so no matter what I come up with, it’s never “the one” even if the results are fabulous. Someone once gave me a recipe that was supposed to be the Automat authentic version and I made one. Of course I didn’t remember the pie tasting like my pie did.

So which is better, the food or the memory of the food?

Both really, for different reasons. We can savor the memory and eat something delicious even if it isn’t quite the version you remember.

Here’s a terrific recipe for Pumpkin Pie. Not too spicy and with a hint of molasses. Don’t use pumpkin pie “mix”, use plain pumpkin puree or fresh mashed pumpkin (press fresh mashed pumpkin to extract excess liquid).

Pumpkin Pie

• 1-1/2 cups mashed pumpkin (canned is fine)

• 1/3 cup brown sugar (any kind)

• 1/4 cup white sugar

• 3 tablespoons molasses

• 3 large eggs

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1-1/2 cups half and half cream or evaporated milk

• 1 9-inch single pie crust, unbaked

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Spoon the pumpkin, brown sugar, white sugar and molasses into a bowl and blend ingredients thoroughly. Beat in the eggs. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cream. Blend ingredients thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the crust. Bake for 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees F and continue baking for 55-60 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Makes one pie

Ask Ronnie a question: http://ronniefein.com/ask

To comment: http://ronniefein.com/submit