- Courtesy of whatscookingamerica.net
If I could, I would personally thank the guy who invented pumpkin pie. I’d walk right up, pat him on the back, and congratulate him for doing his part to make Thanksgiving—and the world—a little bit better. I’d also golf-clap for the guy who first whipped the cream and dropped a dollop atop said pumpkin pie, because that was a stroke of genius and creativity I can’t even comprehend.
I know I’m not alone in this. People are freaks for the pumpkin pie. Case in point: A few years ago, we met up with some friends to attend the Circleville Pumpkin Festival. We arrived promptly at 8 PM, but by then, not a single slice of pumpkin pie remained. Not a flaky morsel of crust, not a smudge of pumpkin filling—it was as though the whole concept of pumpkin pie had never really existed. We walked from display to display, only to be greeted by empty countertops. The disappointment, it was too much. Shame, shame, Circleville Pumpkin Fest. Shame, shame, I know your name.
And that is how I feel about pumpkin pie.
My five-year-old is allergic to dairy and eggs. This means he has never had a slice of pumpkin pie (!!!), and this wounds my heart in ways I can’t explain. I searched and searched for a good allergen-free recipe, gave up, and then stumbled across one last week. And so, today, at approximately 6PM, my boy will seize his fork and claim the same pie-eating freedom the rest of his fellow countrymen enjoy–all because some other guy, who probably also had food allergies and couldn’t eat the goodness, found a way to make sure he could.
How’s that for American ingenuity?
~*~
Dairy-Free, Egg-Free Pumpkin Pie!
Crust
1 cup ground graham crackers
½ cup dairy-free margarine, melted
2 Tbsp sugar
Pie Filling
2 cups canned pumpkin
¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 ½ cup water
6 ½ Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp allspice
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ginger
Process
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Mix crust filling, then press into a pie pan.
- In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients for the filling. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken, stirring constantly
- Pour filling into pie crust.
- Bake 30 minutes until firm.
- Pile on the whipped cream and dig in.
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