Fair warning on this one…it is a little time consuming but boy, is it worth it. I have had a couple of “pumpkin” pies that are made with cashews and carrots with pumpkin pie spice. They were good but tasted like carrot pie with cinnamon and nutmeg! Wanting a real pumpkin pie, but knowing that the challenge would be to get the starch out of it to make it palatable, I dehydrated it and then, softened it up again! Never going over the 116 degrees, the enzymes, vitamins and minerals are still intact!
Pumpkin is full of carotenoids which are really good at neutralizing free radicals. Pumpkin is also high in lutein, which helps protect your eyes and prevent macular degeneration. Full of antioxidants, pumpkins also have a lot of common nutrients, like iron, zinc, and fiber. Good for you and so good to eat! You will need to start this the day before. Actual time making it is not bad, but you will need to do a little soaking and dehydrating.
Crust:
- 2 C Pecans (previously soaked and dried)
- 4 Dates (soaked until soft)Put pecans into food processor with dates. Process until well ground. Press into 8″ tart pan
, wrap with plastic wrap or paper towels and place in refrigerator.
Filling:
- 1 Medium Sugar Pumpkin (not the kind you carve for Halloween) About 5 C chopped.
- 3 C Water (divided)
- 1/2 C Agave
- 1/4 C Maple Syrup (not raw but used in raw food cooking)
- 1/2 C Coconut Butter
- 1/2 C Cashews (soaked for at least 4 hours)
- 2 t. Cinnamon
- 1/2 t. Nutmeg
- 1/2 t. Ginger
- 1/4 t. Cloves
The day before you will start preparing the pumpkin. This is important because if you used the pumpkin completely raw, it would have a very unpleasant starchy quality to it. Peel the pumpkin and slice in half. Slice into 1 inch slices. Chop the slices into pieces that are about 1/8th inch thick. So, the slices will look like a 1″ square that is 1/8″ thick. Place on dehydrator screens and dehydrate at 116 for about 3-4 hours. Make sure you remove them before they are hard!
Place dehydrated pumpkin in a bowl. Cover with 2 C of the water and let sit for about 3 hours. You can do this the night before and just put it in the refrigerator and leave it. Soak the cashews and dates at the same time and you will be ready to rock in the morning!
To make the filling:
In the food processor, place all ingredients except the remaining 1 C water and cashews. Process until it becomes a mash. Add the cashews and process until well mixed. Transfer half the mixture to the vitamix. Add 1/2 C water and blend until smooth. This will require some patience and the plunger but the results are well worth it. Repeat with remaining filling and 1/2 C water. Mix the two batches together then spoon into the crust. Refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours before serving.
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YUM! This will go great with my raw whipped cream (coconut oil, almond milk, and dates/agave OR coconut milk and dates/agave)!
My husband is allergic to coconut. Do you know any alternatives to coconut butter? Thank you!
Very pleased with the texture which I attribute to the step involving dehydrating the night before. Needed just a bit more sweetner (I used honey). Enough filling for two pies out of the 5 cups. the remaining filling I made pumpkin cookies (use a melon ball scoop), adding almond flour(dehydrated pulp left from almond milk) raisins and nutmeg. Sprinkle coconut and pumpkin seeds. Dehydrate about 6 hours.
Hi, your Pumpkin Pie looks delish! How did you get the formed crust out of the pie pan for the presentation in the photos?
I used a tart pan.
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