Pumpkin Pie – and it’s vegan!

I am not a vegan, however, I have beloved family members who keep Kosher and one who is deathly allergic to eggs. As you can imagine, this can present quite a challenge when it comes to desserts – especially for the holidays. And I have an aversion to making something with substitutes that isn’t almost as wonderful as the real thing. It’s taken some searching and experimentation, but I think that my vegan pumpkin pie is as good as pumpkin pie with milk and eggs. It has the right taste and mouthfeel. So if I didn’t have to work within these restrictions would I still make the vegan version – probably not, but when I eat this do I feel as if I am “making do?” Definitely not. It’s one darn good pumpkin pie. And my niece, who has eaten both, swears she likes this version better!

Vegan Pumpkin Pie      

Ingredients

1 unbaked 9 inch pie crust (I use the Crisco recipe)

12 ounces silken tofu, blended until liquefied

1 recipe non-dairy condensed milk (see attached recipe)

15 ounce can pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix)

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 rounded teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground clove

2 Tablespoons molasses or buckwheat honey

3-5 cracks of black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Mix all of the ingredients together in a blender until smooth and well-blended
3. Pour into pie shell and bake on the lowest rack of the oven for 10 minutes
4. Cover the crust with foil or a pie guard and continue baking for about 30 minutes more or until the center just jiggles a little. Turn off the oven, open the door slightly and leave the pie in the oven for 10 more minutes. Don’t worry if it cracks a bit and poofs up. It will settle down as it cools. My baked filling is very dark because of the spices and molasses.
5. Allow to cool thoroughly. This tastes best when made a day ahead.
6. Because this is not a real custard, you don’t have to worry about refrigerating it.

I brought this to my niece’s house for Shabbat and it is the favorite dessert of my goddaughter/great niece.

Instant Dairy-Free Sweetened Condensed Milk Alternative

Author: Alisa Fleming

Serves: Makes approximately 14 ounces

Ingredients

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons dairy-free, vanilla milk powder (I used Growing Naturals Organic Vanilla Rice Milk Drink but I’m not sure this is still available, so you might look for either a soy-based version if you have no issues with soy or Better Than Milk brand Rice Beverage Powder Mix – Vanilla. I have not yet tried either of these, so I am going off of reviews on the internet. )
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup hot water
• 2 tablespoons canola, rice bran or grapeseed oil
• Generous pinch salt

Instructions

1. Place the rice milk powder and sugar in your blender. Whiz the ingredients for about 30 seconds, or until powdered.
2. Add the water, oil, and salt to your blender and blend for 2 minutes, or until thick and creamy.
3. Use as a substitute for sweetened condensed milk in recipes.