Even those of us who are keeping healthy habits or dealing with food allergies can enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving! This gluten-free, dairy-free, no refined sugar added, mousse-like pumpkin pie in its almond cookie crust also happens to be one of the best tasting pies I’ve ever made. The recipe is for one 8 inch pie plate, but you can easily double the ingredients to make two 8 inch pies at one time. The preparation is simple and straightforward, but worth following precisely to insure that you don’t end up with a soggy crust, a common pitfall with pumpkin pie recipes.

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 1 ½ cups Almond Meal (finely ground from blanched almonds – I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 2 Egg Whites
• 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 tbsp Real Maple Syrup (Grade B will yield the best flavor)

For the filling:

• 1 15 oz can Pumpkin Puree
• ⅝ tsp Cinnamon
• ⅝ tsp Ground Ginger
• ¼ tsp Nutmeg (freshly grated, if possible)
• ⅛ scant tsp Ground Cloves
• (About 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice can be substituted for the Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, and Cloves, above)
• ⅛ scant tsp Finely Ground Black Pepper (Don’t omit! Black pepper subtly increases the complexity of the spice blend and is one of Dr. Perricone’s secret anti aging ingredients that aids in nutrient absorption!)
• ⅛ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
• ½  cup Real Maple Syrup, room temperature (Grade B will yield the best flavor)
• ¼ cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk, room temperature
• 1 Large Egg, plus 1 Egg White, beaten, room temperature

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease one 8 inch pie plate. In a small bowl, whisk almond flour and salt with a fork. In a separate small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the egg whites, olive oil, and maple syrup with a fork until well blended, then pour over almond meal mixture. Continue to stir with fork until you have a well combined, sticky dough.

Turn out dough onto greased pie plate. Use your fingers to press the dough to fill the bottom and all the way up the sides of the plate. You’ll want the dough to very thinly coat the bottom of the plate, but the sides can be a little thicker. Some 8 inch pie plates won’t require all of the dough in this recipe. (Any extra dough can be baked alone as a cookie – Yum!) Gently prick the crust 6 -8 times with a fork, and bake in the oven until just golden, 10 minutes. (Prepare the filling, below, as the crust bakes.) Remove the crust from the oven and press down gently with the back of a spoon on any places that have puffed up during baking. Adjust oven rack to the lowest ⅓ of the oven space. Place a metal cookie sheet or large metal pan on the rack to preheat and increase the temperature to 425 degrees.

While the crust bakes, prepare the pumpkin filling. Stir the pumpkin, spices, pepper and salt together in a deep, medium sized microwavable bowl. Heat in microwave for 1.5 minutes, stirring after each 30 second interval. Stir in vanilla, maple syrup, and coconut milk, and microwave 1 to 2 minutes more, stirring after each 30 second interval, until the mixture is very warm.

While blending or beating with an immersion blender or hand mixer, slowly pour the beaten eggs into the warm pumpkin mixture. Beat or blend a few seconds longer, until the warm mixture is smooth and well blended.

Pour warm filling into hot crust, filling the pan quite full – either almost level with, or just higher than, the top of the crust. (The filling will reduce a little as it bakes and cools.) Return filled pie to the oven, placing it on the hot pan in the lower ⅓ of the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for 25 to 30 minutes more, until most of the pie looks set. (It’s OK if the very middle of the pie looks slightly jiggly; The center will continue to cook slightly on residual heat as the pie cools.)

Remove the pie from the oven and set on a rack to cool at room temperature, 3 hours. After the pie is completely cool, store it in the refrigerator until time to serve, bringing it to room temperature for one hour before serving, if desired.