Thursday, November 21, 2013

Allergy Friendly Pumpkin Pie

I decided to try to make several of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes allergy friendly. I wanted to try them out before the big day and it's going much slower than I thought.

One of the reasons is because I really wanted to make a good, allergy friendly pumpkin pie. I thought it would be a breeze until I looked at the recipe from my mother-in-law that we always use. I saw the number of eggs and the other ingredients and thought, "uh oh!" I never before realized that pumpkin pie is basically a custard pie and custard is made from eggs. Great! The crust, which I originally thought would be more challenging was the easy part.

But I really wanted a good pumpkin pie that Cody could eat also, so I started experimenting. I made mini pies because I was worried about having too much leftover pumpkin pie. Ha! Most of it went in the trash.
So here's what I tried using as egg replacement:
Daiya vegan cream cheese- a runny, oozy mess and the flavor took over the pumpkin. 
Tapioca flour - gummy and gluey, not good. Also looked strange and shiny. 
That was day one. On day two I decided to make the custard without the crust so as to not waste more crust and time. I have a job and a small, energetic child to take care of during the day, so I have limited time to devote to my crazy kitchen (lab) experiments!

On day two I tried:
Arrowroot flour - not as bad as the tapioca, but still too gummy, gluey and shiny.
Chickpea/garbanzo bean flour - my new best baking buddy! It looked like pumpkin pie and when my husband tasted it he said, "mmm, that's pumpkin pie." Hurray! Or as Cody likes to say, "Puh, puh, hey!"

I should have known. I have used chickpea flour to make delicious egg-free omelets and frittatas, so it makes sense that it would work.

And I'm thrilled with how the crust came out! I am going to try a graham cracker crust next since that's what I usually make with pumpkin pie.

Below is the recipe for the crust and pie. Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree-nut free, soy free, fish-free and shellfish free) and vegan.

Have any of  you had any luck using other ingredients to make an allergy friendly pumpkin pie?

Pie Crust

1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup well chilled vegetable shortening (I like Spectrum Organic shortening)
4 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

In a food processor, combine the flours and salt until well blended.
Chop the chilled shortening into pieces, add to the food processor and blend until you have small clumps (like breadcrumbs).
Slowly add the cold water 1 tablespoons n at a time until a ball starts to form.
Test by pinching some of the dough between you fingers. Is it stays together it's ready.
Place the dough in the pie pan and use your fingertips to press the dough evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin
1 cup oat milk (or other non-dairy milk you like)
1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons chickpea or garbanzo bean flour
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Mix the pie filling ingredients in a food processor until well combined.
Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust.
Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 40 - 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let cool completely before serving.


The first picture is the tapioca filling with the crust. The second picture is the chickpea flour filling without crust.


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