Pumpkin pie is the traditional dessert of Thanksgiving, and the origins of the holiday treat have been traced to as early as the 1600’s.
This is the easiest pumpkin pie I have ever made. It doesn’t need to be dehydrated, and it tastes great.
Crust
2 cups Pecans or Walnuts, soaked then dehydrated
1/2 cup Dates (if hard, soak them for 20 minutes)
Place the nuts in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Pit the dates and place them in with the nuts. Combine until well mixed and finely chopped.
Scoop out the dough and press into a nine-inch pie plate. Set aside and mix the filling.
Filling
2 cups Pumpkin, peeled, seeded and chopped
3/4 cups Raw Honey
1/2 cup Raw Almond Butter
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Water from date soaking
Place all the pumpkin in a food processor and mix until smooth. Add the honey, almond butter and pumpkin pie spice and mix until smooth. This should be thick but if it is too thick, add water as needed (It should be thick and creamy).
Pour into crust and place in refrigerator for a few hours. Top with a cream or nut topping and enjoy.
The wonderful confectionery has undergone many transformations from the time when the colonists would cut the top off the pumpkin, remove the seeds and cook it in the fire, filled with milk, spices and honey.
Amelia Simmons published the book “American Cookery” in 1796. She was the first to bake her pumpkin puddings in a crust. From that humble beginning, came the pumpkin pie we are familiar with today.
Today, in addition to simple pumpkin pie, we have many types of pumpkin pie inspired desserts such as pumpkin cheesecakes, pumpkin mousse and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
In 2010 the world’s largest pumpkin pie was made in New Breman, Ohio. It weighed 3,699 pounds, measured 20 feet across and used 1,212 pounds of pumpkin puree and 525 pounds of sugar.
For the ease and convenience of our society, most people take all the work out of making pumpkin food.
As we all know, pumpkin comes in a can
Believe it or not, fresh pumpkin tastes different from the canned pumpkin. Another thing that affects the taste of pumpkin pie is the type of pumpkin used.
Pumpkins range in size from a pound to over 1,000 pounds. I like to use the small pie or sugar pumpkins. They are sweeter than and not as stringy as the lager pumpkins.
Pumpkin seeds can be roasted and eaten as a salty treat as an additional benefit to using fresh pumpkin over canned.
Thanksgiving seems to be a day spent in the kitchen preparing many different foods. I use a recipe that tastes good and doesn’t have to be cooked so that the oven can remain free for the other food.
The crust is one of the easiest pie crusts to make, and only requires two ingredients: walnuts and dates. If you can’t eat walnuts, pecans or almonds can be used in their place.
It is important that the nuts are dry when they go into the food processor. The crust will have an odd texture if they are soaked and not dried. The reason I like to soak nuts is to remove the enzyme inhibitor.
Pumpkin pie spice can be bought mixed, or you can make your own. It is a mix of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice. When I want to amp up my pumpkin pie spice I use raw powdered vanilla.
