Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie

I’ve made this pie nearly every Thanksgiving for the past 25 years. It’s easy to make, light and delicious. Every person who has tasted it loves it. When I started cooking without gluten or dairy, I altered the recipe by substituting coconut milk for heavy cream and gluten-free flour for wheat flour in the crust. No one noticed. Then I cut out most of the sugar, substituting vegetable glycerin for corn syrup, coconut sugar and molasses for white sugar, and still they all raved.  It makes a perfect pumpkin pie every time.

I’ve used several crusts for this pie, and on occasion I’ve made it without a crust at all. The gluten-free crust I’ve used most often is one I don’t roll out, but instead press with floured fingers into the pie plate in small pieces. I’ve also made it with a sweet potato crust, which is sweeter, but compliments the pumpkin pie well. No matter what crust you pair it with, this workhorse pumpkin pie will never let you down.

Usually I decorate the pie with toasted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. I press the seeds gently around the edges and into the center of the pie a few minutes before or right after it comes out of the oven. If you put the seeds on the pie any sooner they will burn and won’t look pretty.

Serve it all alone, with coconut whipped cream, or with your favorite dairy-free vanilla ice cream. I don’t keep ice cream in our house because it’s too sugary, whether it’s dairy-free or not, but with this pie it’s a traditional treat.

Print Recipe

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie

By Springhouse Turtle – Serves: 6-8

Prep Time: 30 minutes – Cooking Time: 45 minutes – Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Light and delicious, this pie has no dairy, and the crust contains no gluten. It's a holiday tradition in our family. It tastes rich and pumpkin-y, yet contains very little sugar.

Ingredients

• unbaked gluten-free pie crust (I use my No Roll Pie Crust)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated xylitol
• 1/2 cup vegetable glycerin (food grade)
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 1/2 cups canned coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin, fresh or canned (see NOTE)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds for decoration (optional)
• whipped coconut cream or dairy-free vanilla ice cream (optional)

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2

In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, beat the eggs with the coconut sugar and xylitol for about a minute.

3

Add the coconut milk and beat for another minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl on occasion.

4

Beat in the vegetable glycerin.

5

Add the salt, cinnamon and ginger and mix well.

6

Fold in the cooked pumpkin slowly and mix until all the ingredients are combined. Be careful not to overmix.

7

Pour the pumpkin mixture into a prepared pie shell.

8

Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Check it after 30 minutes, and cover with foil if it is in danger of burning.

9

The pie is done when it bounces back after touched gently in the center. (You could also poke it with a fork to test for doneness, but that will leave unsightly fork marks in the pie.)

10

Decorate with toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds (if using) a minute before or after it comes out of the oven.

11

Cool and serve with whipped coconut cream or dairy-free vanilla ice cream.

Notes

This recipe works fine with either fresh or canned pumpkin. I prefer to use fresh pumpkin because BPA linings in cans leach into food and because fresh pumpkin tastes so much better. It's easy to make fresh pumpkin for a pie: Buy a small sugar pumpkin (about 1.5-2 pounds). Wash it, prick it a few times, then bake it on a baking dish in a 350 degree F oven for an hour or so, until the skin looks slightly wrinkled and you can push a fork into it easily. Remove it from the oven, cool, cut in half and remove the stem, seeds and pulp. (Save and roast the seeds later. Feed the pulp to your dog if you have one. Compost or throw away the stem.) Scrape the pumpkin off the skin (which you can compost), then put the pumpkin into a blender with a little of the pumpkin water that's gathered in the pan. Blend until smooth.

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