Easy Peasy Pumpkin Pie in an Oatmeal Cookie Crust
with Maple Pecans and Cream
There are a gazillion and one ways to make pumpkin pie. In my opinion, it’s tough to mess it up. I love the ease and texture of silken tofu, it gives pies a pudding-like consistency (and also makes a great pudding base!)
In addition to this version, I have made pumpkin pie using soaked and pureed cashews, and coconut cream. I have made it sweetened with dates, date syrup, brown rice syrup, coconut sugar, you name it. I am not super picky about pie crusts which IMHO are just the vehicle from which to eat your pudding. My main rule is that it must be easy. In fact, I often make desserts that require no baking of the crust or filling because sometimes I just don’t feel like it. But I still want dessert, so….(see my recipes for no bake desserts!)
How can we mess this pie up? For me, it would be too much clove. But f you love clove, it might be the cinnamon, or the nutmeg…so this recipe is an easy base with which to customize to your liking! And use your favorite store-bought or homemade crust.
Easy Peasy Pumpkin Pie in an Oatmeal Cookie Crust
recipe from Lisa Rice's Kitchen Plantastic
Ingredients
*Crust:
2 cups rolled oats
2/3-3/4 cup pitted medjool dates
1/8-1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Add:
1/3 cup almond, cashew, or sunflower butter
2-4 tsp plant milk
Filling:
1.5 containers firm (or extra firm) silken tofu (save the leftover half a container for the whipped cream topping)
1 can unseasoned and unsweetened pumpkin puree
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut or date sugar
2 T corn starch or arrowroot powder
1 T vanilla
1 T pumpkin pie spice
OR
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch of ground clove
Maple Pecans:
1/2 cup pecan halves
3 T maple syrup
sprinkle of cinnamon
pinch of salt
Cream Whip:
1/2 silken tofu, 1/2 cup soaked cashews, coconut milk (or other milk), 5 dates, pinch salt, tsp vanilla, small squeeze of fresh lemon or orange juice
Garnish: Fresh pomegranate seeds
*crust recipe adapted from one of Dreena Burton’s
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350
In a food processor, pulse the oats, dates and salt until crumbly like breadcrumbs. Add the nut butter and process a minute, scraping down as necessary to help combine. Pulse in one tsp of plant milk, pulse and add another, and keep going until it sticks together but is not wet (you should be able to pinch it). Press into a 9” pie pan.
Pour the filling evenly into the crust and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in to the center comes out almost clean. Allow to cool completely, cover and keep in fridge to chill.
Maple Pecans: in a non-stick skillet, toast pecans over medium high heat until fragrant about 5 minutes. Add maple syrup and stir frequently until all the syrup is absorbed and it becomes crystallized on the pecans. Add a pinch of salt and a sprinkle of cinnamon, stir and spread out on a plate to cool.
Cream: blend all ingredients in a handheld blender for at least one minute until smooth. Chill for 30 minutes or more. Add to a squeeze bottle to decorate your pie.
