Pumpkin Pie

My family is coming to our house for Thanksgiving and I am testing recipes for the pumpkin pie. My goal is to make a pie that is allergen free, but that looks, tastes and has the texture of a traditional pumpkin pie. This pie is dairy free, egg free, gluten free and sugar free.

The essence of traditional pumpkin pie is the pumpkin based custard made with milk, eggs and sugar, and seasoned with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove. The challenge of an allergen free pie is recreating the texture of the custard without using eggs.

The milk is easy to replace with soy, nut, rice or coconut milk. I can think of three ways to replace the eggs. First, is to replace the egg with silken tofu which replicates the texture of the custard. The second is to add starch, such as cornstarch, arrowroot or tapioca starch to the pumpkin puree to create a custard. The third is to use kanten (agar agar) to set the pumpkin.

For this pie, I decided to combine silken tofu and arrowroot starch to replace the milk and eggs, and maple syrup to replace the traditional sugar. For the crust, I ground almonds for a grain free pie. I topped the pie with SoyaToo soy whipped cream, which is clearly labeled as dairy and gluten free.

The verdict? The pie came out great. It had an excellent custard texture, but came out lighter and less sweet than an egg and sugar based pie. I don't think anyone could tell that it was made without eggs.

And, we all had quite a bit of fun with the soy-whipped-cream in a can.

Here's the recipe:

Crust:
3 cups sliced almonds
4 tablespoons Earth Balance buttery spread (or other margarine)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Process almonds in food processor until coarsely ground. Add margarine and salt and process until incorporated into the almonds.

Press mixture into 9" pie pan, and set aside.


Pie:
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 box Mori Nu firm silken tofu
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground clove

Preheat oven to 350.

Puree the ingredients until smooth.

Pour into crust and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until set.

Refrigerate overnight to firm.

Serve with whipped soy cream.