Real Food Pumpkin Pie

I had a pumpkin that was getting a bit past it’s best, so I thought that I would make a pumpkin pie with real food ingredients. I found this recipe on a paleo website called thepaleomom.com. I am not great at strictly following recipes, but this time I did as I have never made a pumpkin pie before so thought improvising could prove disastrous! Pumpkin pie is certainly more of an American dish than an Australian one, in fact the one time that I have tried it was at a dinner party where an American fellow brought a pumpkin pie along. I was pleasantly surprised at how great the pie turned out and it even got a BIG tick from my husband!

INGREDIENTS – Base

1 ¼ cups raw walnuts
1 cup almond flour
1 egg white
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
2. Grind walnuts in a food processor until finely ground and just starting to clump together.
3. Mix walnuts, almond flour, egg white, and salt together, I did this step by hand.
4. Press into a 9” pie dish.
5. Pierce the crust with a fork every ¼” or so to stop the shell from bubbling up while it bakes.
6. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until starting to turn golden brown.
7. While baking prepare the custard for the centre of the pie as below.
8. Once base is cooked let cool at least 10 minutes before pouring the custard in.

INGREDIENTS – Custard

1 ¾ cups pumpkin puree
2/3 cups raw walnuts
1/3 cup raw cashew nuts
3 eggs + 1 egg yolk
¼ cup natural honey
¼ cup natural maple syrup
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp cardamon
¼ tsp salt

1. Keep the oven temperature at 180 degrees.
2. Place cashews and walnuts in your food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add eggs, honey and maple syrup and blend for 2-3 minutes until completely smooth. It is very important to blend until completely smooth, otherwise your custard will be watery.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until combined.
4. Pour into cooled pie shell. Spread the top out evenly with a spatula.
5. Bake for 40 minutes. Allow pie to cool completely before serving.

It is a great dish to take to a party or simply make in for yourself and serve with a spoon of coconut yogurt and a cup of ginger tea as I did. Enjoy!