Saturday, February 25, 2012

Low Carb, Paleo Friendly, Gluten Free, Low Sugar Pumpkin Pie


Day 4 of being sugar free. Not feeling very excited right now. Although I have lost 3 pounds in these last 4 days, I am having the most gnarly sugar cravings. Ugh. 
Here I have a recipe for gluten free, low carb, almost sugar free (the puree contains 4 grams per 1/4 cup serving) pumpkin pie. I do not have Celiac's or diabetes but in avoiding carbs that usually results in avoiding sugar and gluten so these recipes will reflect that. I also do not eat Paleo anymore but I always like to share my recipes with those that do because I know how hard it can be to find good dessert recipes on Paleo! To the best of my remembrance of the Paleo "rules" this is totally Paleo friendly : ) 
Before you decide to make this:
If you are expecting this to taste like grandma's melt-in-your-mouth decadent, amazingly sweet and rich Thanksgiving pumpkin pie then stop right now. If you are ok with a pretty good substitute that is healthy and packed with protein (the crust alone has 30 grams!), fiber and is very low sugar this is the one for you! Its actually keeping me right now from gnawing my kid's half eaten fruit leather right out of their grubby toddler hands. Or putting on black sweats and a ski mask and ransacking the frozen yogurt joint down the street from my house. I swear I'm not psycho though. This is what sugar withdrawals can do people! LOL.

You will be starting with the crust. 
. 3 tablespoons of organic butter
. 2 packets (or less than a teaspoon) of stevia powder
. 1. 5 cups of almond meal/flour

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Melt your butter in a microwave safe 9'' pie dish
Add the almond flower flour and stevia, mix with a spoon until the mixture is moist (if you have ever made a graham cracker crust this is the same concept). With clean hands, distribute the mixture around the pie dish with your fingers, working your way around and up the side of the dish until the surface is evenly covered.
Bake empty shell for 10 minutes.


Your crust will look somewhat like this. 
Let is sit while you prepare your pumpkin filling.




Kick your temperature up to 390 degrees

You will need: 
. 2 cups of canned Pumpkin Puree 
(In the fall I use real fresh pumpkin but right now in February that's a tall order!)
. 2 organic eggs 
. 1 half can of organic coconut milk (not pictured because I don't store mine in the can) 
. 1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice (or more to your taste preference)
. 1/2 teaspoon of Stevia (or more to taste)
. 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
***Note: I had slightly less than a half can of coconut milk so I made up the difference with half and half. 
***I chose to add a few drops of my Hazelnut Stevia to taste. This is completely optional though.


Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. I would suggest adding the raw egg last so you can continue to taste the mixture and decide weather or not you would like more spice or stevia. Mix everything together until smooth and pour into your pie shell.
 Bake for 20 minutes at 390.
Then lower your temp back down to 350 and bake for about 50 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cool and enjoy! As you can see, almond flour crust doesn't quite stay together as well as wheat flour. It won't look as pretty either. But it does taste good! Top with cinnamon or whipped cream (my whipped cream has less than 1 gram of sugar per 2 tablespoon serving!) 
I have to admit...pumpkin pie really is not my favorite, I just didn't have any other ingredients here on hand in the house to make a different flavor and I needed a sweet treat on the double! So pumpkin it was. Lol. 
** This crust however can be used to make a mixed GF berry pie, apple or even a cheesecake! 
ENJOY :D  




   





  


No comments:

Post a Comment