Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie

I love pumpkin pie and was kind of bummed out that I wouldn't get to have any this year since I cannot eat dairy right now.  But then I decided I would experiment and see if I could make a pumpkin pie dairy-free.  Guess what?  It worked!  And I like this version even better than the "normal" version.  I think I'll be making my pumpkin pies this way from now on. 

I got the crust recipe from cooks.com, but came up with the pie recipe on my own.  This was seriously so easy to make.  The pie crust was a cinch - the food processor does all the work.  Using a food processor is seriously the only way to make pie crust, in my opinion.  I've done it the old fashioned way before, but not for many, many years.  Using the food processor takes about a minute or two, tops.  So easy.  I love this crust recipe, too.  I have  a friend that loves to eat just plain pie crust.  She used to ask her mother-in-law to make a pie crust and just bake it plain for her.  I never understood that until I made this crust.  I baked the extra dough I cut off the edges of the pie - some I sprinkled a little sugar on the top, some I didn't.  I actually like the crust without the sugar best.  So good. 

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie

Crust (makes one 8 or 9-inch crust, double this recipe if you need a top and bottom crust):

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup lard
2-3 Tablespoons water


Place all ingredients in your food processor and pulse until dough forms.  Remove from food processor and place on a Silpat.  Roll out with a rolling pin to desired size to fit your pie pan.  Try not to use much extra flour while you are rolling it out, as this will make the crust tough.  Place crust into pie pan. 

Filling

2 eggs
1/2 cup sucanat or brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or you could use 1 1/2 t. cinnamon + 1/4 t. nutmeg + 1/4 t. cloves)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 can of pumpkin puree (or puree your own fresh pumpkin, about 2 cups)
1 cup almond milk

Whip eggs until they are frothy.  Beat in the sucanat, spices, and salt.  Next add the pumpkin and almond milk.  Mix until smooth.  Pour into prepared pie crust. 

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes.  Then reduce the heat to 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until set.  The pie will seem a little jiggly, but as long as a knife comes out clean when testing the middle of the pie, the pie is done.  It will set up as the pie cools. 


This post is shared at:
Fat Tuesday @ Real Food Forager
Simply Indulgent Tuesday @ SS&GF

3 comments:

Mary Voogt said...

Looks delicious!! Sounds almost identical to how I'm going to make our pumpkin pie tomorrow except I'll use heavy cream instead of the almond milk. And I might try to do more egg yolk/less egg white. We'll see. I'm nervous about experimenting when I'm making it for other people :)

Sara said...

I'm sure yours will turn out great with heavy cream and more egg yolk/less whites! Hope to see a post on it to hear how it is. :) Happy Thanksgiving!

The Voogts said...

Pie done. It looks delicious :) I can't wait to try it! I used one whole egg and the rest yolks. I've never liked pumpkin pie...but my homemade real food version just might change my mind.