Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie

I have to say that my going off of all dairy last June has been a great decision! But then it hit me.... Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I mean, is there anything served on Thanksgiving that does not have a 1/2 pound of butter or cream? hmmm...after sulking for a (long) while I have decided to make the best of it. Here is the first of my contributions to my dairy free Thanksgiving, Pumpkin Pie, yum:)

I always make my pumpkin pie with a crumb crust. I replaced the butter usually in crumb crust with non-hydrogenated shortening. The one trick with this is that it doesn't have the salty flavor that butter has. Without salt, food (even sweet food) tastes flat. 

 Combine graham crackers, sugar, cinnamon and salt in your food processor and plus til fine.

Drizzle in melted shortening, pulse until well combined.

Pour crust into a pie plate and tap down with a glass until evenly spread out. Bake the crust for about 10 minutes while you make the pie filling.

In a large mixing bowl combine both sugars, spices and salt.

I substituted sweetened condensed milk with sweetened vanilla hemp milk. It's got the consistency of buttermilk and a smooth, mild flavor.

To the sugars and spices add pumpkin, eggs, hemp milk and water, mix well.

While the crust is hot, pour the filling in and place back in the oven for about 45 minutes. Baking custard type pie is very tricky and can be easily over baked, resulting in cracks in your beautiful pie:( So, I started checking mine at 30 minutes and every 5 minutes until the center 2-3 inches still jiggled when I tapped the pie plate. It will finish cooking after you pull it out of the oven, setting up nicely as it cools. Give it a try and tell me what you think or how you changed it for your family:)


Pumpkin Pie - Dairy Free

Crumb Crust:
1 pkg graham crackers
1/4 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
6 T shortening, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine graham crackers, sugar, cinnamon and slat in a food processor, pulse until desired consistency. Drizzle melted shortening in an pulse until well combined. Pour into pie plate and spread/tap down with a glass. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Filling:
1 1/2 c pumpkin, from a can is fine
1 1/3 c vanilla hemp milk
1/2 c water
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t cloves

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, mix well. While crust is hot from the oven, pour the filling into the crust almost to the top. Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes, start checking at 30 minutes to make sure it's not over cooked. Allow to cool to room temperature and enjoy!