A Fresh Take On Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! A few years back I took a cooking class here in LA called Meal and a Spiel, specializing on Thanksgiving recipes. It's a great class because it teaches you how to make tasty comforting recipes, just a little bit healthier.

Just in time for Thanksgiving I thought I would share the creator, Elana Horwich's recipe for Pumpkin Pie. It's unique because it actually uses fresh pumpkin! It's also gluten free, paleo friendly and grain free. So eat up and enjoy!

pumpkin pie slice and pie

 Photo courtesy of Elana Horwich

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

  • 3 cups pecans

  • 7 tablespoons butter or 4 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil, plus 1 for greasing pan

  • 10-12 dates, pitted

For the Filling:

  • 1 small sugar pumpkin

  • 1 small kabocha squash

  • zest of 1 lemon

  • juice of ½ lemon

  • zest of 1 orange

  • juice of ½ orange

  • ½ tsp ginger

  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon

  • ¼ of a whole nutmeg, grated

  • ¼ - ⅓  cup raw unfiltered local honey 

  • 3 eggs

For the Crust:

  1. Place the pecans, dates and virgin coconut oil in a food processor and pulse into paste. 

  2. Use the remaining butter to amply grease tart pan. 

  3. Use your fingers to “smush” the paste into the pie pan to form the crust. You want it to be about a ¼ inch thick and hence, you might have extra. 

For the Filling:

  1. Preheat oven to 400.

  2. Place the pumpkin and kabocha squash on the center rack and bake until very soft to the touch. A good hour. 

  3. Cut the squashes in half horizontally, remove the seeds with a fork and scoop out the soft flesh. You will want 3  cups total. 

  4. Add the flesh of pumpkin and kabocha to food processor and reduce to a purée. 

  5. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, orange zest, orange juice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, honey and eggs. Pulse into well mixed.

  6. Pour mixture into pie crust.

  7. Bring oven 350 F

  8. Bake for 30 minutes. 

  9. Cover Pie Crust: Take out of oven and use tin foil to cover the crust that is showing as to prevent it from burning. Just go ahead and place two large sheet of aluminum foil on top of each other like a plus sign, place pie pan on top and fold over until the desired effect.

  10. Bake for another 25 minutes or until firm to the touch.

  11. Let cool to room temperature before serving.  Can be made in advance

pumpkin pie closeup on plate
Photo Courtesy of Elana Horwich
Note: If you would like, it is possible to make the pie in a 9” springform pan to resemble the photo. Apply crust “dough” on bottom and sides of the oiled springform, pour in filling and bake. Let cool completely. Remove outer piece of springform but leave pie on the bottom disk...this pie is too fragile to remove (unless you place it in the refrigerator overnight and then freeze it for an hour, and are very careful while moving it.) Put on a cake plate and serve.
whipped cream on pumpkin pie slice
Photo courtesy of Elana Horwich
Have you ever made pumpkin pie with real pumpkin before? Tell me below in the comments!
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