Like many people in the Sacramento area, I was trapped indoors all day due to the poor air quality. This has been an extremely trying time for all the victims of the Camp Fire and I feel thankful to merely suffer the fallout of such a horrific event. In the spirit of thankfulness, I made this pumpkin pie. I know it’s good when a non-vegan assures me it is better than the real thing and will be making it for her family on Thanksgiving! The inside is custard-like and lightly spicy, the topping adds the perfect nuttiness and sweetness, and the crust was flaky and didn’t become soggy with the pie. Enjoy!

Before You Start

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease a sheet pan and a pie pan with butter

Ingredients

Crust

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1.75 tsp of sea salt
3 tbs of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of butter, cold (Earth Balance is fine here)
1/2 cup of vegetable shortening, ideally not warm
1.5 tsp Ener-g egg powder plus 2 tbs water, whisked
4 tbs of cold water

Filling

1 medium pumpkin (I got mine from Trader Joe’s) or about 1.5 cups of pumpkin puree (the real pumpkin is a game changer though so I wouldn’t cut this corner)
1 tbs of Ener-g egg powder plus 4 tbs water, whisked
1/4 cup melted butter (Miyokos or cashew-based is best)
1/4 cup of half and half (I used Ripple, available at Target, but a thick nut or soy milk should be fine)
1/4 cup + 2 tbs of granulated sugar
1/4 tsp of cinnamon
1/8 tsp of nutmeg
1/16 tsp of cardamon, cloves, and ginger
Pinch of salt

Topping

1/3 cup of pecans, ground
3 tbs of brown sugar
About 1 tbs of cold butter (Earth Balance/Margarine is fine here)

Preparation

Add the flour, sugar, and salt into a blender or food processor and mix until combined. Then add the butter and vegetable shortening to the processor in chunks and pulse until you have formed a mixture that is crumbly throughout.
Add your whisked Ener-g Egg to the blender and pulse until combined. Then add the water a tablespoon at a time, pulsing in between each addition, until the dough begins to come together.
Dump the dough, which at this point should be starting to adhere to itself, onto the counter top and form into a solid mass. Cut the dough in half, wrap in plastic or store in a container in the fridge for 2 hours.
Cut your pumpkin in half, cut off the stem, and gut the seeds and strings with a spoon. Place the pumpkins (open-face down) on the greased sheet pan, and cover with tin foil. Place in the preheated oven and set a timer for an hour and a half.
After the pumpkin has finished baking, peel off the skin and add the flesh to the blender along with all of the rest of your filling ingredients. Blend on high until the filling is thick and gooey. It won’t be fluffy but it should not be watery either.
Add all of the topping ingredients to a food processor and pulse until you have a crumbly mixture. If you are like me and do not have a food processor, grind the pecans in a coffee grinder and then add them to a small bowl with the brown sugar and mix. Cut in the butter with a fork until you have a crumbly mixture.
Once the dough has refrigerated for at least two hours, allow to warm at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Roll it out on a flour-dusted counter top with a roller pin or wine bottle until it is a few inches wider in diameter than your pie pan.
Using a large knife or a spatula for leverage, lift the edge of the dough that is farthest from you onto your rolling pin and roll the pin toward you. This prevents the dough from cracking. Raise the dough over your pie pan and begin unrolling the pin to drape the dough over your pan. Gently press the dough into the edges of the pan and trim any dough that is hanging over the pan. If there are any tears in your dough, you can patch them with this excess dough.
Pour the filling into the pan and roughly even the surface with a spoon. Start rolling the edges of the dough toward the filling so it looks like it is curled over the filling. Sprinkle the topping over the pie.
Bake in the oven for an hour at 350.
Open the oven to release some heat and to check on your pie and then reduce the heat to 325 for 10 minutes and then 300 for 5-10 minutes. The center will rise a lot toward the end of the hour so I slowly lowered the temperature to avoid the center of the pie completely collapsing. Remove the pie and allow it to cool on the stove top until you can safely hold it and then refrigerate until completely set.
Serve with whipped cream or coco whip!

Annalise

Pumpkin Pie