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″ pie plate, 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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looks lovely! i too think those carrot recipes kinda taste carrot-y. thanks for working so hard to get the pie down for us.
curious as to why you say at least 4 hours for the cashews. i don’t find they get much different after 2 hours.
I a looking for a certain consistency. If you break a cashew open after only 2 hours of soaking, you will see that the water has not reached all of the nut. You can also see: Soaking Nuts
I been raw for a year and since i live in nyc i never felt the need to make my own raw dishes. But your recipes have inspired me to make my own raw food. i’m soooo inspired by you and you view towards a raw lifestyle. so much class.
I’ve never seen a flourless crust. That’s quite an impressive pie! Happy Thanksgiving!
YUMMY> I love pumpkin pie : )
What a beautiful looking pumpkin pie! I actually did make a raw pumpkin pie some time ago,and used butternut pumpkin.It was ok as raw and did not have to dehydrate it.
Thanks for this one Susan! I’m going to make the cheesecake AND this pumpkin pie for thanksgiving, so I hope it rocks!
be well-
Mike
yum, i’m so making this. thank you!
I made one very similar to this last year! Looks lovely!
Just bought me a sugar pumpkin!! Going to make this tomorrow. Love pumpkin, can’t wait to taste it.
Those look like some delicious alternatives for Thanksgiving!
We made this wonderful recipe. We dehydrated the finished product to reduce the liquidity even after refrigerating overnight. We will reduce the water added in the final step next time. I must say after the dehydrating it looked “baked”, what a wonderful presentation to all of our “cooked” friends
. I must mention, the recipe made twice as much pumpkin filling as was needed for one 8″ pie plate. I suggest to either double the crust recipe or 1/2 the pumpkin filling recipe. Taste wonderful! Thank you!
That certainly could be possible as I used a deep dish pan.