I’ve been tweaking this one for years, and while it will ever be a work in progress, I’ve recently hit on an innovation that makes the finished product good enough to carve in stone — I mean, in the ever-changing whorls and zephyrs of the Internet. And I have the eponymous toddler (preschooler, now!) to thank for it.
We went to a pumpkin patch last weekend, and let Francis pick out a pumpkin or three. I grabbed a sugar pie pumpkin on our way out, and finally got around to breaking it down, roasting it, and making pie on Saturday. I’m considering it a Thanksgiving preview.
My default recipe has had 2 eggs forever, and has also taken ages to set. This time, Francis had sliced up a banana earlier, and left it lying in a dish on the counter. He’s an enterprising sous-chef — these days, if it isn’t nailed down, it’s going in your recipe, whether that was your plan or not. So, after the pumpkin, coconut milk, sugar, and eggs were in the food processor, in went the banana. (I sort of knew this would happen, and didn’t stop it, figuring how much could it hurt…?)
It turns out that this is genius. The banana adds a sort of silky touch, and helps with binding and setting every bit as much as a third egg would. I also cranked the temperature up to 350°F (why have I been baking at 325°F all these years?!), and between that and the banana, the resultant pie was everything you’ve dreamed of, texturally.
It could use a few tweaks yet, to be sure. More spices? A pinch more of salt? A splash of bourbon? Something to up the flavor ante. But, as it stands, this absolutely my go-to pumpkin pie, and would not go amiss at any festive table.
As a bonus: the baby loves it! 🙂
Non-Dairy Pumpkin Pie
Originally based on this red kuri squash pie recipe, I initially posted this here, and have since further adapted it.
Ingredients
- 2 C squash purée from a 2–3 pound squash (sugar pie pumpkin or red kuri squash both work really well)
- 2 T coconut oil
- 1 C coconut milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 banana
- 1/2 C white sugar
- 1/4 C brown sugar
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 1 t ground cinnamon
- 1/2 t ground ginger
- 1/4 t allspice
- 1/2 t salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Prepare the crust: Roll out the pie crust; put it into the pie dish. Poke little holes in the bottom. Freeze for 20 minutes while you prepare the pumpkin.
- Prepare the pumpkin or squash: Cut the pumpkin in half, and scoop out all of the seeds and stuff. Rub it down with coconut oil (you might have to microwave a few tablespoons; this stuff goes solid pretty quickly in the cupboard). Place it cut-side down on parchment paper or aluminum foil on a baking sheet. Bake it in the preheated oven until a fork goes right through it, maybe 40 minutes.
- Par-bake the crust: Drop the oven to 350°F. Line your frozen crust with parchment paper and pie weights. Put it in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the tips of the crust are just starting to turn golden brown.
- Prepare the filling: Peel or cut the skin off the baked squash, and puree it in a food processor. Use 2 C of purée for the filling; freeze the rest for a future pie. To prepare the filling, process all ingredients, including the pumpkin, in a blender or food processor.
- Assemble & bake the pie: Pour the filling into prepared pie crust and place in the oven. Cook in preheated 350°F oven until the filling is just about set in the middle (it will continue cooking a bit after you take it out of the oven). This will take about 50–60 minutes; if the pie starts to brown, cover it loosely with foil while it finishes baking.
- Allow the pie to cool before serving. Serve with homemade whipped cream to which you’ve added a healthy pinch of both ground ginger and cinnamon (I like to add a little organic powdered sugar to my whipped cream, too). 1 cup of organic cream makes about 2 cups of whipped cream, way more than enough for serving the pie.
Notes
- Either red kuri squash or sugar pie pumpkins work well here.
- You could use 3 eggs instead of the banana.
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