Easy as Pie

Happy Monday, my friends.  I tried to get a day off from Motherhood due to the whole Columbus Day thing, but it turns out that there are no National Holidays from parenting.  The good news is that the Muffin Man is on the mend.  He was definitely out of sorts this weekend, which was evident when he took four naps on Saturday as opposed to his usual one.  When my party animal kiddo chooses sleep over socializing, I know he's under the weather.

Noah's cold kept us pretty close to home this weekend, since I didn't want to risk infecting other kiddos at the birthday parties we were supposed to attend.  We still haven't put up our Halloween decorations, nor have we purchased any pumpkins, but I did make a pie, so I guess the cooler fall weather is bringing out my inner Martha Stewart.  My healthy eating habits have not curbed my sweet tooth, but my body just really cannot handle sugar, so I've created a pumpkin pie recipe that's just as delicious as the original, but doesn't have anything bad in it.  I figured that sharing my "healthy" pie recipe with all of you should make up for the fact that I don't have any cute pictures of our weekend to share.  Let me know how it turns out!

Gluten-free, Sugar-free, Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie
For the crust: (Adapted from 125 Best Gluten-free Recipes)
This crust recipe makes enough for two single crust pies.  Freeze the extra crust to use for another pie or a quick weeknight quiche.
1/3 cup ice water
2 tsp. cider vinegar
2 egg yolks
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup shortening, softened (I use Earth Balance shortening sticks)

In a small bowl, combine ice water, vinegar and egg yolks.  Set aside.

In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, and salt until mixed.

Add shortening and pulse until mixture resembles small peas, about 5-10 seconds.  With machine running, add egg yolk mixture in a slow steady stream.  Process until dough just holds together.

Divide dough in half.  Place each half on plastic wrap and flatten into a disk and wrap well.  Refrigerate for at least one hour.  Let cold pastry stand for 10 minutes before rolling out.

Place the pastry disk between two sheets of parchment paper, and roll out into a circle about an inch larger than the diameter of your pie dish.  Remove the top layer of parchment and invert the pastry over the pie plate, easing it in.  Carefully remove remaining sheet of parchment paper.

Trim excess pastry to edge of pie plate and patch any cracks with trimmings (gluten-free crust is very forgiving!).  Flute edges.

Par-bake crust: prick the bottom and sides of the dough with a fork and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes until golden.

For the filling:
3/4 cup coconut sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
pinch of ground cardamom
1 can pumpkin puree (you can also make your own by roasting a pumpkin, but I'm not that ambitious)
1 1/2 cups coconut milk (approx. one can)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat the eggs with the sugar, then add the spices and the salt.  Stir in the pumpkin puree and then the vanilla extract and the coconut milk.  While the crust is baking, warm this mixture in a saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it is hot to the touch.  Do not boil.

Fill the pre-baked crust with the warm pumpkin mixture and bake 30-40 minutes until the mixture jiggles a little bit.  Remove from the oven and let cool a but before serving*

* I personally prefer pumpkin pie when it's cold, but I'm weird.  Either way, this pie is so good you may find yourself curled up on the couch eating it straight out of the dish.