Originally posted on Chef in Residency on December 25th, 2013
This is the pie that I won the Le Cordon Bleu student pie-baking contest with while in culinary school back in 2000. Needless to say, no one will miss the eggs and evaporated milk! This dairy-free filling does tend to crack more than its custardy cousin when baked, so if you don’t like how it looks, feel free to decorate!
If you prefer tartlets to a full-sized pie, follow the recipe with the following changes:
- Spray 16 muffin cups with non-stick spray, then roll out both pie crusts and cut out 16 4-inch circles; press circles into muffin cups and fill to the top with pumpkin pie filling.
- Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
Award-winning Vegan Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
- 1–12 ounce package firm, silken tofu (lite or regular)–this is the kind that sits on the shelf unrefrigerated
- 1–15 ounce can pumpkin (without sweetener or spices)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust (pre-made or from recipe, below)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In food processor or blender, blend tofu, pumpkin, brown and white sugars, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt until completely smooth (no white tofu specks should be visible).
- Pour filling into the piecrust and bake for 35-60 minutes. The timing is always quite different for me; check with a thermometer in the center to see when it reaches at least 160℉. Alternatively, you can remove it from the oven when the edges are well set and the center BARELY jiggles. Cool completely on a rack and then refrigerate until serving.
Notes
Serve with Whipped Coconut Cream or Vegan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.
Pie Crust
This is the pie crust that I use. It makes two 9-inch pie crusts, which is actually enough for two pies (or one double-crust pie). You can halve the recipe or freeze the second half of the dough for another pie. To save time, you can use a store-bought pie crust instead if you wish.
Ingredients
- 1–¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tsp salt* (Only use if making the recipe with butter or shortening. If using Earth Balance or vegan “butter” only add 1/8 teaspoon salt)
- ½ cup cold, unsalted butter (vegetarian) or Earth Balance Buttery Sticks (vegan)
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening or unrefined coconut oil
- 4–5 tablespoons ice water
Instructions
- In medium mixing bowl (or food processor), add flours, salt, butter (or Earth Balance) and shortening (or coconut oil).
- Use a pastry blender (or food processor) to cut (or pulse) in the butter and shortening until pieces are pea-sized or smaller.
- Stir (or pulse) in one tablespoon of ice cold water at a time until dough forms a ball. Mixture will be slightly crumbly but can be pressed into a ball when it has the appropriate amount of moisture.
- Separate dough into two equal pieces and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. You can also freeze at this stage if doing ahead.
- Remove half the dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured countertop, roll out with rolling pin until dough is 1/8-inch thick and large enough to fill a 9-inch pie pan.
- Fold dough in half and then in half again. Transfer dough to pie pan with the point of the folded dough exactly in the center of the pan. Unfold dough to fill pie pan. Crimp or scallop edges of crust as desired.
Notes
- You can use any scraps of dough that you trim off the edges to cut out shapes to decorate the top of your pie as shown in the picture. Place decorations on top of the pie just before putting the pie into the oven to bake.
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