Pumpkin Custard Pie

The other day I was reading a newsletter in which someone said they’ve never found a good recipe for allergen-free pumpkin pie.

“WHAT?!!” I said. I’ve used the same recipe for a long time, adapted from Jennifer Raymond’s The Peaceful Palate. It is billed as a “heart-healthy version of a traditional favorite.”

Raymond’s original recipe uses a cup of Grape Nuts and 1/4 cup of undiluted apple juice concentrate to make a fat-free crust. While Perky’s Nutty Flax cereal might be a good gluten-free substitute, there are a few good allergen-free pie crust recipes out there. Some use ground almonds, some use a blend of gluten-free flours.

The Food Allergy Survival Guide, http://www.foodallergysurvivalguide.com/, has some good crust recipes. Just make sure you’re using a blend of gluten-free flours as using one flour alone might make a shoe sole you can slap people with rather than a crust. Gluten Free Mama, http://www.glutenfreemama.com/, has a coconut blend flour that works great for baking.

Anyway, choose your crust. Then use:

1 1/2 c. of rice milk (or other non-dairy milk)

4 T. cornstarch

1 15 oz. can solid pack pumpkin

1/2 c. sugar (I use a little stevia instead. That way my neighbors don’t see me doing a Dance Dance Revolution on the roof to polka metal with a road cone on my head.)

1/2 t. salt

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. ground ginger

1/8 t. ground cloves

…or just be like me and dump in a liberal dose of cinnamon and the wondrous Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend from Spice Hunter. Cinnamon lowers your blood sugar, by the way.

If you’re going the Perky’s Nutty Flax route, bake your mashed-together crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees and cool it before filling it. Otherwise, follow the directions for your chosen crust.

Continuing on (Julia Child voice)… while the oven’s preheating to 375 degrees, whisk together the milk and cornstarch and then blend everything else in. Pour this into the pie shell and bake for 45 minutes until firm. Cool it before you cut it.

I often double this recipe, especially when company’s coming. It makes a very tasty pumpkin custard pie even though it’s unleaded (in food allergy speak). It’s healthier than the leaded version and is very easy to make.

Don’t know how to bake? You can still accomplish this. You’re stirring basic ingredients and pouring it into a shell. Pie shell, that is, you hear? If anyone sends me an email about conches or user interfaces… If you need an allergen-free whipped cream, chill a can of coconut milk ahead of time and then whip the part that solidified.

There’s no need to miss out on pumpkin pie on the holidays. You can be allergic to a lot of foods and still enjoy this recipe. Recipes like this are the reason I tell people that food allergies aren’t so much about cutting things out as they are about substituting things. I’ve found that I like a lot of the “substitutions” better, and many are better for you.

Alley Christine! or whatever The Chairman says at the beginning of Iron Chef— allez cuisine? On Hawaii Five-0, the same actor plays slippery bad guy Wo Fat, which is something you won’t be if you cook like this.

Enjoy!

*************************************************************************************

One cannot manage too many affairs: like pumpkins in the water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other. -Chinese Proverb

(Editor’s note: who puts pumpkins in the water and why? Maybe next fall we’ll try bobbing for pumpkins. Although that might be more like headbutting pumpkins. At least we’ll cut the stems off so they don’t poke us in the eye.)

*************************************************************************************

©2012 H. Hiatt/wildninja.wordpress.com. All articles/posts on this blog are copyrighted original material that may not be reproduced in part or whole in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from H. Hiatt/wildninja.wordpress.com.