Holiday Dessert: Pumpkin Pie |

As the holidays are kicking off, we are likely to be invited to more and more family gatherings and holiday parties. This season, don’t show up empty handed or even worse…with a store bought pie!

A few years back, I had decorated the house with a grip of pumpkins. Out of curiosity, I thought I’d attempt to bake my first pumpkin pie with the ingredients I already had at home. Since then, it has been a tradition of mine to bake – probably THE HEALTHIEST pumpkin pie out there!

What you’ll need:

1 sugar pumpkin (per pie)
1 unbaked pastry shell
2 eggs
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of almond milk
1/2 almond butter
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
These are the only ingredient I used for my pies…

*If you would like it sweeter…*

1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds. (I personally like to eat the seeds so I set them aside to soak.) Place cut side down on a cookie sheet and cook for 45 minutes, or until flesh is extra tender when poked with a fork. Leave out to cool and scrape the flesh from the peel. Mash or puree peel in a blender (use almond milk to thin). Increase oven temp to 450 degrees F.

2) In a mixing bowl, add pumpkin puree. Mix in two slightly beaten eggs, flour, salt, almond milk, almond butter, and cinnamon. Stir well.

3) Pour mixture into unbaked pastry shell. Place a pie crust shield to prevent the edges from burning OR a strip of aluminum foil.

4) Bake for 20 minutes at 450 degrees then reduce the temp to 350 degrees. At this point, spread out pumpkin seeds onto greased baking sheet. Add honey, salt, and cinnamon to caramelize. Place into oven. Bake an additional 50-60 mins or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove the crust shield or strip of foil as well as the seeds ~ 30 minutes before the pie is done for a golden brown crust. Cool pie, and refrigerate overnight for best flavor. (Eating your pie the day after, allows plenty of time for the filling to set. As the pie cools, this results in a more solid, gel-like filling.)