Healthy Human Pumpkin Pie

Just in time for the holidays, here is a healthy pumpkin pie that you can be proud to serve to your family and friends with confidence, because it's both healthy and delicious!!

First, I have to tell you that I love pumpkin pie.  It’s delicious!  I like that it’s a little spicy, not too sweet, and has a nice firm texture.  However, since I don’t consider traditional pumpkin pie a healthy food, I haven’t had it in years, and then….   A friend shared this recipe with us, and now I can add to my list of “likes”, it’s healthy!!  Yup, we have here a recipe for a truly healthy pumpkin pie that I honestly believe everyone will enjoy!

Pie Crust

Ingredients:

• 1¼ cups rolled oats
• ½ cup pecan halves (2 ounces)
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 5 Medjool dates (2½ ounces), chopped
• 1½ tablespoons non-dairy milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Put oats, pecans, and cinnamon in a food processor and blend until ground almost into a flour It takes about about 40 seconds.
3. Add chopped dates and blend for about a minute, until it begins to clump
4. Add the non-dairy milk until it balls up, almost like dough
5. You can either roll the dough on parchment paper, about ⅛th inch thick, and then transfer to the pie pan and push into the corners. OR, if you have a glass or heavy metal pie pan you can place the ball of dough in the pan and just push it into shape with your hands. It gets a little sticky, so kitchen gloves may be helpful if you go this way.
6. Cover the pan with foil, and make for 10 minutes
7. Remove from oven and the crust is ready to fill!

Pie Filling

Ingredients:

• 8 Medjool dates (4 ounces), pitted and chopped
• ¾ cup non-dairy milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup rolled oats, ground into flour
• 1½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground clove
• 1 can (15 ounces) cooked pumpkin - not "pumpkin pie mix"

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place the dates, the non-dairy milk, and the vanilla extract into a blender. Let sit for 10 minutes.
3. In a medium-large mixing bowl, add the oat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove and mix with a fork. Add the pumpkin.
4. Blend the dates, non-dairy milk and vanilla on high speed until smooth. Add this to the bowl of pumpkin and spices and blend until smooth, using an electric beater
5. Put the mixture into the pre-baked pie crust and smooth out evenly
6. Cover the edges of the pie crust with foil, to prevent it from burning. You can re-use the foil that was used to cover the pie crust.
7. Cook for 20 minutes at 350, then remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes until the edges start to brown
8. Remove and cool before serving.

Enjoy!!

This recipe is based off a pumpkin pie recipe from Cathy Fisher, or Straight Up Food (http://www.straightupfood.com/blog/2013/11/22/pumpkin-pie/)