My Favorite Pumpkin Pie Recipe (grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo)

Since it is the season for all things pumpkin, I decided to share with you my favorite pumpkin pie recipe. After all, Thanksgiving would not be complete without having a fabulous pumpkin pie! The paleo pumpkin pie filling and flakey grain-free pie crust both come from my Nourishing Meals cookbook.

Use any variety of baked winter squash in this recipe, such as sugar pie pumpkins, butternut squash, sweet meat squash, hubbard, or kabocha. Use this recipe for making Homemade Pumpkin Puree if you have a lot of squash that you would like to cook and freeze. Otherwise, just cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and place the halves flesh-side down in a large glass baking dish with a little water in the bottom of the pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes, or until squash is very tender. Since you are going to blend the pie filling you can just measure out the cooked squash without first making a puree. So easy!

Flakey Grain-Free Pie Crust Recipe

I've got a delicious grain-free and gluten-free pie crust recipe to share with you today....just in time for holiday baking! Use it to make your favorite pumpkin pie, apple pie, berry pie, or chicken pot pie (pictured above). I've tested it with many different filling recipes and it works beautifully every time.

This recipe uses a mixture of blanched almond flour and arrowroot powder or tapioca flour. I've tested it using organic, pastured butter as well as a dairy-free version using Nutiva's Vegan Superfood Shortening. You can order blanched almond flour from Lucy's Kitchen Shop or from Nuts.com (though the latter is not as finely ground and does not work as well for pie crusts). I've also noticed that Costco sells Honeyville blanched almond flour which also works beautifully in this recipe. 

I have recipes for healthy, refined-sugar free pumpkin pie fillings in my Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and my Nourishing Meals Cookbook. Get the recipe for my favorite Pumpkin Pie here!

Deep Dish Apple Pie ~ Gluten-Free & Vegan

Before I get into describing this luscious apple pie, I wanted to mention that our blog has a whole new look. I've added an About Us page and the ever-important Recipe Index! Now you'll easily be able to find the recipe you are looking for. Thank you everyone for your feedback through emails and comments over the last two years!

And now onto this nutritious gluten-free, vegan Apple Pie! I first created this crust for a potato-pea samosa recipe. Everyone loved it so I decided to create it into an apple pie. The dough isn't your normal pastry dough because I don't use a saturated fat. Instead I use a mix of grapeseed oil, applesauce, ground chia seeds, and baking soda to create the flakiness. This dough only requires two flours, one of which is Superfine Sorghum Flour. You'll want to purchase this flour, don't be tempted to use a regular sorghum flour. The end result will be very grainy. The Gluten-Free Mall sells this flour. It isn't sold anywhere here in Bellingham that I know of so I have to order it.

Vegan Dark Chocolate Almond Tart with a Pastry Crust!

Welcome to day 5 of our Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Progressive Dinner Party! It's time for dessert! Today I am going to share a favorite recipe for the holidays. It is a rich chocolaty tart meant to be shared among many.

It was one of those recipes that came to me in a flash of inspiration around midnight the night before Thanksgiving last year. I was up late baking yummy vegan, gluten-free pumpkin and apple pies, soft molasses cookies, and pumpkin cake to bring to our large Gluten-Free Thanksgiving gathering of friends. I began tossing ingredients for a tart crust together, measuring as I was going, and then whipped up a filling to go with it. It ended up being every one's favorite dessert and I hope you'll like it too!

FYI: This isn’t really a kid-friendly dessert, unless that is, you have an almost 2-year old (or in my case two of them) – who happens to stumble upon chocolate (i.e. crack for children) and grabs the whole slice off the counter (the one on the plate that you are about to take a photo of) and stuffs the whole thing in his mouth as fast as he can before anyone sees him. Not that this happened to me. So who knows you might have a child that likes this rich chocolate tart. My girls won’t touch it. The crust however, they pick off and eat like candy!

The first time I made this crust I did not use any xanthan gum, and it worked. But since then I have made it several times and found that adding 1/2 teaspoon does help with the overall integrity of the crust.

Since I use cashews in the filling I decided to also share one of my vegan pastry creams to use with the crust instead of the chocolate tart filling. I know there are many people reading this blog allergic to cashews and I want to make sure everyone can enjoy this awesome tart crust. After the crust has been baked and cooled, use the pastry cream to fill the crust then top with sliced pears and pomegranate arils and a dusting of cinnamon! Enjoy!