Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Tart (or Pie)

In memory of last Thursday (Thanksgiving) I will share with you the delicious recipe I made for the feast. I admit that  I was really nervous about this, especially because I had to make some variations from the original recipe. Also, I baked mine in a tart pan (thus the “tart” name in the title) because my mom had all of our pie pans in use! At first I was a bit flustered about that, but I dare say I think I liked it better as a tart. (Just goes to show that sometimes having things our way isn’t always the best; life has lots of little surprises for us!) For this type of crust it was especially nice to just pat it in the pan instead of having to roll it out.

Despite all my concerns, this “pie” turned out to be absolutely delicious…and very pretty to boot! I received several compliments on it and guests especially loved how creamy it was (thanks, blender). Plus, you can feel good about eating this because of the wholesome ingredients.

This recipe is adapted from Angela at OSG’s Vegan Pumpkin Pie with a Spelt Crust, which was, in turn, inspired by Care2’s Vegan Pumpkin Pie. Gotta love the blogging world!

It’s only shiny here because I covered it with foil while it was still warm and it “weeped” a bit on the pie.
 
Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1/2 cup oil (I used canola)
• 1/4 cup raw sugar (or Sucanat)
• 2 cups whole grain spelt flour
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Filling:

• 2 cups pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 12 ounces silken tofu
• 1/2 cup raw sugar (or Sucanat)
• 1/4 cup agave nectar (or maple syrup)
• 1.5 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (OR: 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon ginger; 1/4 teaspoon cloves)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• pecans for garnish (optional)

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400F. If you are using a pie pan (instead of a tart pan) lightly spray it with non-stick spray.

Step 2: For the Crust: Whisk together dry ingredients until well mixed. In a separate bowl whisk together non-dairy milk and oil. Add to dry ingredient mixture and mix by hand (or blend with a hand blender, if you wish).  Use your hands to form the dough into a ball.

Step 3: Pat the crust dough into the bottom of your pan and up the sides. If you would like to attempt rolling it out for a more traditional crust, check out Angela’s directions (and great pictures) here. Set aside crust while you make the filling.

Step 4: Filling: Blend the silken tofu in a food processor until smooth, stopping often to scrape the sides of the processor. (I used a blender and it worked fine; it will require additional scraping, though, and the tofu won’t blend very well until  the additional wet ingredients are added…at least in my blender. A high-speed or sturdier blender should give you no problem.)  Once that is smooth, add pumpkin, raw sugar, agave nectar, vanilla, sea salt, and spices. Blend well.

Step 5: Pour the filling into the pie shell.
 
Get a load of that smoooooth and creamy goodness.
  
Step 6: Place in the oven and cook at 400F for 42-45 minutes. You may want to cover the pie crust carefully with tin foil for the last 10 minutes of baking as my pie crust got brown. You can add pecans
for a garnish (as shown below) either before baking (for a roasted nut effect) or after (like I did).

Step 7: Cool for at least 30-45 minutes and then enjoy with some non-dairy vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. It is also perfectly luscious all by itself! (Psst! Try it chilled for breakfast—hey, it’s got your whole grains [spelt], protein [tofu], healthy fats [flax], fruit [pumpkin]…why not?!)

This recipe would also be great baked sans crust in a large soufflé dish or several ramekins (for individual servings) and enjoyed as a lovely—and egg-less!!—pumpkin custard. I just may have to try that next time.

Let’s compare…

Normal cholesterol-laden (and completely boring) pumpkin pie:
 

Healthier and tastier creamy vegan pumpkin tart:
 

The better choice is obvious, no? Now, I can’t wait to try my hands at a RAW pumpkin pie! Maybe next Thanksgiving.

But don’t wait until next Thanksgiving to make this treat for your family. Oh, and don’t tell them about the flax and tofu and stuff until after they’ve tried it. : )