Honey’d Paleo Pumpkin Pie

 

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Mmm…pumpkin pie!  We love pumpkin pie over here, and had no idea it could get even better with honey!  Seriously, the honey sends this Paleo pumpkin pie into a whole new realm of yumminess!  After my third try I think I’ve got the perfect recipe for you!

Honey’d Paleo Pumpkin Pie is full of healthy ingredients, so you can enjoy your Fall holidays, without worrying about the damage you may be doing to your body!  Pumpkin brings fiber, vitamin A, and other healthy nutrients to the table.  The nut flour crust has lots of protein and healthy fats.  Coconut cream helps you process the sugars.  I could keep going on the health benefits of this pie, but for now we’ll save that for another post!

Does the thought of rolling out a pie crust strike terror in your heart?  Well, don’t worry, this one’s really easy!  I don’t actually roll out the crust, then transfer it.  Instead, I press the dough into a greased 9.5″ glass pie dish and smooth it out with my fingers and a small pizza roller.

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Before we get to the recipe for Honey’d Paleo Pumpkin Pie I want to invite you to join with others who are making healthy changes, if you haven’t done so already.  I’d love to walk alongside you in your journey towards wholeness and health! Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full!”  Freedom from food addictions is part of having a truly full life.  

Serves 8-10

For the Crust:

• 2 1/2 Cups Cashew Flour (Cashew tastes way better than almond for pie crust! If you don’t have any, put the raw nuts in your food processor and run it until they become a meal)
• 1/2 Cup Tapioca Flour
• 1 Tbsp Coconut Sugar
• 1 Egg White
• 1 Tsp Sea Salt
• 2-4 Tbsp Coconut Cream
• 1/4 Cup Raw Honey (set aside for after the crust has pre-baked)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9.5″ glass pie dish with coconut oil.  Make sure to grease it liberally, because otherwise the honey you’ll add will make this crust stick.  Mix together all of the dry ingredients, then stir in the wet ingredients with a fork.  Add just enough coconut cream to bring the dough together into a ball.  It will be clumpy when you stir it with the fork, but should come together fairly easily into a ball.  Press the ball down flat, then use your fingers to push it down into the bottom and sides of your pie dish.  Use a small pizza roller to smooth it out if necessary.  If your fingers get sticky try dipping them into water.  Make sure the crust is even and not too thick.

Bake for 12 minutes, just to get it a little crusty.  If any bubbles come up in the crust they’ll probably go down on their own in a couple minutes.  Try not to let any holes open up in it, though, or the honey will seep in too much.

Now, here is where my husband, Jim, and I disagreed over the best way to use the raw honey in this Honey’d Paleo Pumpkin Pie.  I spread it on the bottom of the crust after this initial baking step, then added the pumpkin filling on top.  While baking, the honey seeped down into parts of the crust and bubbled up into parts of the pumpkin filling.  There was a mild honey flavor with every bite, and some bites had huge happy bursts of honey.  Some spots on the bottom of the crust got a little burned, but those are actually my favorite parts!  I definitely prefer it this way!

Jim, however, says he would prefer to have the honey spread evenly throughout the pie.  I’m going to leave it up to you.  If you like to have a bit of mystery, spread about 1/4 cup of raw honey onto your warm crust, before pouring in the pumpkin mixture (recipe follows).  If you want the honey evenly spread throughout your pie, mix it into the filling.  You’ll have to melt the honey for about 20 seconds in the microwave to make it loose enough for mixingl.

For the Filling:

• 4 Large Eggs
• 1 Can Organic Pumpkin
• 1 1/4 Cup Coconut Cream
• 1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar or Xylitol (Xylitol is a natural low carb sweetener that tastes and bakes like sugar.  It’s not Paleo, but I recommend it for diabetics.)
• 2 Tsp Vanilla
• 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
• 2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

Make sure your oven is still heated to 350 degrees F from pre-baking your crust.  Whisk together all of the filling ingredients, then pour them into the crust.  I actually placed the crust on the oven rack first, then added the filling, so that I didn’t have to move it too much.  Place a pie shield around the edges to prevent burning. Bake the paleo pumpkin pie for 45-55 minutes, making sure to check it at 40.  The center should be mostly set.  Gently place a pumpkin cookie cutter in the middle of the pie, and sprinkle cashew flour inside of it to make the pumpkin shape.  I also sprinkle my pie with extra cinnamon.  Serve cold with dairy free whipped cream.  Enjoy!

In the next week I’ll be posting a collection of gluten free, mostly dairy free, diabetic friendly Thanksgiving recipes.  Hopefully that will help your planning for the big day!!!

 

One resource I highly recommend if you are living a gluten-free lifestyle is a subscription to Simply Gluten Free Magazine.  This magazine is full of awesome recipes and ideas, and many of them are both dairy and gluten free.  They even have sections for Paleo recipes, and each issue includes a few articles on health, nutrition, and research related to gluten!  You can click on the link above to subscribe.