Recipes

Martha's Vineyard Catering, Culinary & Agricultural Experiences

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie - Crustless of Course! 

(I attached a dynamite crust of pecans and coconut that will work for those that are paleo or gluten free!)

Consider this “pie”  dessert!  Or Breakfast! 

It does call for maple syrup which I think is so “fall” and in very limited quantities (and for very special occasions), it is worth it! And yes, you can replace it with one packet of stevia. 

 You can substitute pumpkin with squash. Here I used the honey nut and sweet pumpkin.

And please use fresh ginger, if possible. 

It takes about 5 minutes to prepare. It’s just that easy. Well, ok, you do have to have all your ingredients in place and it will take 5 minutes!
Mise en place is French for “putting in place” and is used for prepping kitchen equipment and food before serving 


Mise en place

1 tsp butter or coconut oil (to butter your pie pan)

Spices:

 11/2 tsp ground cinnamon,  ¼ tsp nutmeg, ¼ tsp cardamom OR 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger - if you don’t have ginger, sub with ½ tsp ground ginger,

1 ½ tbsp organic cornstarch or arrowroot flour is a gluten-free substitute for cornstarch. You should use twice as much arrowroot as you would cornstarch.

2 cups pumpkin puree (or one 15 oz canned pumpkin puree if you must!)

     (or honey nut or  sunshine squash) 

¼- ½ cup maple syrup  ( I used ¼ cup) 

3/4 cup half and half OR creamy coconut milk or cream

3 eggs, whisked together 

2 TBSP vanilla extract

2 tsp sea salt

1 tablespoon molasses - and if you dont have- no worries! - it is ok to skip!

To prepare

Preheat oven to 300°F

Butter a 9 inch pie pan

Mix together the spices and starch 

(corn or arrowroot) until well mixed with no lumps.

Whisk the eggs together.

Add the maple syrup to the whisked eggs, and the vanilla. Whisk well.

Stir in the pumpkin puree. Whisk well.

Add the cream (or coconut milk). Whisk well.

Pour the mix into the pie pan.

Bake for 60 to 80 minutes, until golden and firm to the touch.

Remove pie pan from the oven.

Cool uncovered at room temperature. This can be made a day ahead  and refrigerated.


Top with plain or maple whipped cream

For a whipped cream topping

2 cups Whipping cream or coconut cream (well chilled) 

2 TBS maple syrup

2 tsp vanilla extract

Orange zest  for the top of the cream!

Whip until peaks form



Here  is my recipe for pecan coconut crust! 

Pecan Coconut  Pie Crust

 Of course this is gluten free and paleo!

This can be used for just about any pie crust. My two loves are key lime pie and pumpkin.

For pumpkin, zest orange peel (skin only) or lime for the key lime pie!!


½  cup coconut flakes

1  cup pecans

1 cup almond flour

2 tablespoons coconut butter 

5 dates 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

zest of 1  key limes  ( for key lime pie) 

OR 1  orange   (for pumpkin pie)

pinch salt

Start with toasted pecans and coconut. Place in 350 oven and lightly toast for about 10 minutes  

Pulse the pecans and coconut into almost a flour. Add the dates and the coconut butter, (or the butter) and pulse until it all comes together. Add the vanilla, zest and salt and blend well.  It should be crumbly but when pressed together become dough like and holds together.

Using your hands,  pack the mixture and spread  it evenly with your hands on the bottom and up the sides. 

Now it is ready for your pumpkin mixture to cook or key lime mixture to chill!

Some more notes: 

Pecan flour is just ground up pecans  and sometimes called pecan meal. And you can omit the almond flour and use all pecan flour or oat flour and yes, you can pulse oats to make a flour and almonds to make an almond flour! AND just be careful that you oats are organic as they are otherwise loaded with glyphosates!

And just in case you are wondering about the coconut flakes: You can make your own coconut butter, place unsweetened shredded coconut in a blender or food processor and puree until a liquidy butter forms.

Jan BuhrmanComment