Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie and Sweaters

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I’ve been craving pumpkin pie. However, I needed a recipe that was gluten-free, and preferably dairy-free as well, but that still would taste amazing. After much searching, test cooking, and nail biting, I discovered this fabulous gluten-free pie crust from the Skinny GF Chef. This particular crust is made with almond flour and coconut oil, which gives the crust a rich, nutty quality. I made some changes to the original recipe, subbing out the added butter for extra coconut oil and omitting the psyllium husks. I paired the crust with this dairy-free pumpkin pie filling recipe from About.com, and I LOVED it. The pumpkin has an almost custardy quality, very light and not too sweet. Absolute perfection.

Pie Crust

Ingredients:

3 cups finely ground almond meal
3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1 egg, beaten
dash salt
2 tablespoons sugar coconut palm sugar, or honey (I used coconut palm sugar)

How to do it:

Heat oven to 325 F. Lightly spray a 9 inch pie plate with coconut cooking oil. I used a springform because I (gasp) do not own a pie dish.
Melt the coconut oil in the microwave if need be. Mine was already melted because the room was warm.
In a medium bowl or food processor, mix all ingredients together thoroughly until dough forms.
Knead dough a few times until firm and press into a disc. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or more
In the pie pan, pat the dough evenly out from the middle and up the sides with your fingers.
Bake for apx 15-20 mins until crust is lightly brown. I baked mine for just 10 mins to par bake it, since I knew that I would be baking the pie filling in it, and didn’t want to overcook it.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can canned pumpkin (or roast your own!)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup coconut milk (you could also use almond milk instead)
1/2 cup maple syrup (I used coconut sugar instead)
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/8 t. ground cloves
1/8 t. salt

How to do it:

Preheat over to 425 F
In a medium-sized mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer or a standing mixer, mix the pumpkin, eggs, coconut milk, maple syrup, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and salt until smooth and well combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared crust
Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the oven to 350 F and bake for 35-40 minutes more or until a skin forms on top of the pumpkin, and the crust is just lightly golden (gluten-free crusts do not brown quite like wheat-based ones.) Mine took less time, more like 25-30 minutes. Just keep an eye on it.
Transfer the pie to a wire cooling rack to cool completely, then place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2-4 hours.

One of my favorite places in our house is our bedroom. The bed is luxurious, and the room is very calming; I love white in bedrooms, it makes everything feel so light and relaxing. Somehow, with two cats and a two year old, we manage to keep the white bedspread pretty close to pristine. There are few things that I enjoy more than reading, so curling up on our bed with my kindle, dressed in a cozy sweater, and armed with an awesome guilt-free treat is pretty much my version of heaven. Usually, thanks to being a mom, this heaven happens around 11pm.

Along with being on the hunt for the best pumpkin pie, I am constantly on the look-out for cozy sweaters. Sadly, I’m TOTALLY allergic to wool, cashmere, etc. So finding an adorable and animal-free sweater is always a win! I am currently in love with this beautiful knit crew neck marled sweater.