{"id":87,"date":"2008-12-01T15:20:39","date_gmt":"2008-12-01T23:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/2008\/02\/01\/vegan-pumpkin-pie\/"},"modified":"2009-10-25T14:38:16","modified_gmt":"2009-10-25T21:38:16","slug":"vegan-pumpkin-pie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/2008\/12\/01\/vegan-pumpkin-pie\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan Pumpkin Pie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shhh…don’t tell anyone it’s vegan: they’ll never guess.\u00a0 The first time we made this was Thanksgiving 2007<\/a> and it (along with all the cashew cream) was devoured. Someone else’s pumpkin pie (homemade with traditional ingredients) still had half left.\u00a0 In 2008<\/a>, this Thanksgiving treat was one of 3 pumpkin pies (all gluten-free as it happens) and got the nod as first or second from everyone who tried the selection.<\/p>\n

\"Pumpkin

Pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving 2007<\/p><\/div>\n

Because I couldn’t find one perfect recipe, I used the crust from one and the filling from another. Actually, Michael did the work.<\/p>\n

Lowcarb notes: we’ve made this pie (filling and crust) with xylitol instead of sugar and it works fine.\u00a0 Leave out the molasses.<\/p>\n

We decided to triple the recipe this year but somehow ended up with 4 pies (and 6 crustless cupcakes we made for a nut-allergic friend).\u00a0 We used small\/medium springform pans.<\/p>\n

The crust:<\/h2>\n

From:
\nhttp:\/\/www.somethinginseason.com\/2007\/10\/pumpkin-pie-from-scratch-part-1.html<\/a>
\n(note: this lovely site has been shut down)<\/p>\n

Basic recipe:<\/strong>
\n2 cups whole pecans (you can substitute walnuts if you like)
\n1\/4 cup brown sugar
\n1 egg<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Michael

Michael processing pecans<\/p><\/div>\n

I used pecans and organic cane sugar and flaxseed goo for the egg (1 tablespoon fine flax meal in 1\/4 cup water, nuked for a minute then left to cool). You simply grind it all in the food processor and then press it into the pan. Cover the bottom and an inch or more along the sides with a good thick crust (1\/4″ or so).<\/p>\n

\"Crusts

Crusts ready for filling<\/p><\/div>\n

The filling:<\/h2>\n

From: http:\/\/www.tazarat.com\/results.asp?id=33<\/a><\/p>\n

Basic recipe:<\/strong>
\n3\/4 lb firm tofu
\n1 (16 oz) can pumpkin puree or 2 cups fresh-cooked pumpkin
\n1 cup Sucanat (organic evaporated cane juice\/cane sugar) or brown sugar
\n2 TB oil
\n2 TB molasses
\n1 1\/2 tsp cinnamon
\n1 tsp salt
\n3\/4 tsp ginger powder or 1.5 tsp fresh grated ginger
\n1\/2 tsp nutmeg<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Michael

Michael & Miriam measuring pumpkin puree<\/p><\/div>\n

We used homemade pumpkin puree (from Peterson pumpkins<\/a>) which I measured into 2 cup bags and froze. For the sugar, we used organic cane sugar. Michael used 4\/5 of a cup instead of a full one in 2007 but we forgot in 2008 and used the full amount.\u00a0 The pies tasted great and weren’t too sweet. The oil was sunflower (also oiled the pan with it). Instead of ginger powder, we used twice as much grated (both fresh and frozen work well) ginger.\u00a0 In 2008, we couldn’t find nutmeg in the pantry so substituted cardamon (yum…I think we’ll have to do both next year).<\/p>\n

\"Pumpkin

Pumpkin pie filling<\/p><\/div>\n

You just food process and\/or mix everything and pour it on the crust. Spread out evenly.<\/p>\n

\"Filling

Filling the crusts (picture by Miriam Norwitz)<\/p><\/div>\n

The directions say to cook for 1 hour at 350*F, until cracks appear.\u00a0 But this isn’t nearly long enough.\u00a0 The filling takes 1.5 to 2 hours; unfortunately, the crust starts to burn after you pass 1 to 1.5 hours.\u00a0 The secret is to turn off the oven after an hour or so, before you get that burnt smell, but leave the pies inside where it is warm.\u00a0 The filling will continue to set.\u00a0 If your oven doesn’t hold heat well, leave it on a low temperature (like 200 or 250).<\/p>\n

The good news is that overcooking the crust actually tastes good.\u00a0 People liked it even when it was burnt, though it was better when it was just caramelized.\u00a0 Just keep an eye on it and you’ll be fine.<\/p>\n

\"Pumpkin

Pumpkin pie display<\/p><\/div>\n

This is a rich pie with plenty of spice, but still a good pumpkin flavor. It is softer than your usual pumpkin pie but part of that is regular pies have a very firm crust that holds the filling (this crust doesn’t do that at all). The texture is good. All in all, it was a success.<\/p>\n

I made a cashew cream<\/a> to go with it. The cream was also a huge hit. It was great on it’s own but even better with the pie. They went together superbly.<\/p>\n

\"Pumpkin

Pumpkin pie with cashew cream<\/p><\/div>\n

Note: Recipe rewritten with new pictures 11\/08.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shhh…don’t tell anyone it’s vegan: they’ll never guess.\u00a0 The first time we made this was Thanksgiving 2007 and it (along with all the cashew cream) was devoured. Someone else’s pumpkin pie (homemade with traditional ingredients) still had half left.\u00a0 In 2008, this Thanksgiving treat was one of 3 pumpkin pies (all gluten-free as it happens) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,26,99,3,4,23,64],"tags":[7,6,8,11,51,77,5,12],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-desserts","category-food","category-places-to-go","category-recipes","category-holidays","category-snacks","category-thanksgiving","tag-dairy-free","tag-egg-free","tag-gluten-free","tag-lowcarb","tag-photos-family","tag-photos-food","tag-vegan","tag-vegetarian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}