And the Answer is...
Most of you who guessed yesterday's mystery food were right: Pumpkin or Squash Pie is a good enough answer on this test. But, if I were the kind of teacher who demands exact answers (and I used to be), you would have had to have written "Impossible Fat-Free Gluten-Free Vegan Cushaw Pie" in order to get full credit.
What the heck is that? Well, do you remember these cute squashes?
I did a little research into cushaw squash and found that much of the pumpkin that we buy in cans is actually cushaw and its close relatives; it's less stringy than pumpkin and makes better pies. So I feel like it's okay to call this a pumpkin pie even though it originated from a crazy little crookneck squash called a cushaw.
So that's the "cushaw" part of the name. What about the "impossible" part?
If you grew up with a mother who relied on Bisquick baking mix, as I did, you may remember their Impossible pies. What you did was mix Bisquick in with the pie ingredients, and as the pie baked, a sort of crust formed on the bottom and sides. I'm not too embarrassed to say that the first cheesecake I ever made was the Bisquick Impossible Cheesecake--and it was really good. Flash forward to the present when I'm looking to get rid of the most fattening part of the pie--the crust--and the idea of a vegan Impossible pumpkin pie hit me.
So I went straight to my favorite cookbook--Google--and started looking for info on Impossible pies. I no longer use Bisquick, so I wanted to see if people had made this work with flour, and I was happy to find that they had. In fact, Something in Season and Bob's Red Mill both had gluten-free versions of the pie, so I knew it could be done without Bisquick.
What remained to be seen was whether or not it could be done without oil or dairy products. I did a whole lot of substituting, but I'm happy to report that the pie was a success: Though the inside is more like a custard than a regular pumpkin pie, a slight crust formed along the bottom and sides of the pan, so you can actually pick up a slice of this pie and eat it like a piece of pizza. But it's dangerously addictive, as shown by the fact that my husband ate about 6 pieces of it yesterday!
Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie
(click for printer-friendly version)
1 1/2 cups soymilk
1 tbsp. Ener-G egg replacer*
1/4 cup water*
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups pureed or mashed cooked pumpkin (or cushaw or winter squash)
1/2 cup rice flour (or flour of your choice)
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. ginger powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch deep dish pie pan with cooking spray. (I used a Pyrex pan, and it came out with no sticking.) A deep dish is recommended because this pie will rise a lot during cooking but will fall back down as it cools.
Put the first five ingredients in the blender, and blend well. Add the pumpkin, and puree. Add the remaining ingredients and blend on high for 2 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides a couple of times to make sure everything is thoroughly blended. Pour into a pie pan and bake for about 60 minutes. The top and edges should be brown, but the edges should not be over-done. (Since this is a custardy pie, using the standard toothpick or knife test does not work; it will remain somewhat moist in the center, but it shouldn't be uncooked.)
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the counter. For best results, refrigerate until chilled before eating.
*If you don't have Ener-G egg replacer, you can omit it and the 1/4 cup water and use any other replacement for two eggs. Of course, if you're not vegan, you could use two eggs, but why not give the vegan version a chance?
Makes 8 servings, each containing 153 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (7% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 34g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 264mg Sodium; 3g Fiber.
When you serve this pie, don't feel obligated to tell your family or guests that it's crust-free, fat-free, gluten-free, or vegan, but if they do wonder what's left after so much is left out, tell them "Flavor, pure, delicious flavor!"
Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free gluten-free
Labels: gluten-free
posted by SusanV at 3:15 PM
64 Comments:
It looks delicious and I can hardly wait to test it on my pumpkin pie loving husband. I thought it looked a little custardy. Butternut should work great in this recipe.
Susan
What would sub for sugar and have this still work?? I don't use sugar and don't even have it (or salt) in the house but am interested by this.
Carla
I was wondering when we were going to see the results of those interesting squash that you brought home from the Farmer's market some time ago. Very interesting information on the cushaw squash. It looks delicious- Did it taste like pumpkin still?
- What did you end up doing with the other squash?
-Teresa
This looks wonderful! I can't wait to try it. Can whole wheat flour be used in place of the rice flour? And repeating what Carla asked: is there a good sub for sugar?
Yummm, this look so good! And we are in a sort of pumpkin kick lately, I made pumpkin pie (regular, with crust), pumpkin muffins, and my son already asked for pie again. I think I will give yours a try, even more so since I don't care for the crust myself!!
So, in this impossible pie, it does not have a crust or it actually forms a crust by itself as it bakes? (I was a little confused, since I have never heard about this type of pie...)
Ana
Puddy, I think Butternut sounds great. Hope you enjoy it!
Carla, I hesitate to tell you what to substitute for sugar, since it makes up a large part of the volume of the recipe. You could sub maple syrup, agave nectar, or some other liquid sweetener, but I would only use 1/2 cup since too much liquid could affect the outcome of the recipe. I would have to experiment before suggesting ways to make it completely sugar-free, though I'm sure it's possible. If I come up with anything, I'll be sure to post it.
Teresa, I still haven't cooked the blue Hubbard squash, though if my family has a say in it, they'll want me to make it into pies, too! Oh, and it tasted exactly like pumpkin pie, though I thought the cushaw by itself actually tasted sweeter than pumpkin.
Ana, I would have to say it forms a thickening rather than a true crust. I think that if you don't like crusts, you would probably like this.
Also, Anonymous, you could use whole wheat flour in this if you like. It may make it a little heavier, but that won't necessarily be a bad thing.
Susan, this looks quite yummy. Beautiful color!
thank you for so many wonderful recipes. i'm hopeless in the kitchen, but its inspiring me to try harder =)
How did you cook and puree the cushaw? Did you bake the cushaw or cube and cook it in water on the stove? I have a blender, but only a teeny tiny food processor (I live in a teeny apartment) and I have a potato masher. I suppose that if I had too, I could puree cooked cushaw in the blender, clean the blender, and then start the recipe.
Also, as I am gf, I wanted to thank you for making such a tasty recipe gf (and lower cal). Do you know whether it would work to substitute a self-rising gf mix (specifically, Pamela's Baking and Pancake mix) for the rice flour and baking powder. I figure that this should work since Bisquick was a pancake mix too.
Lastly, do you think it would work to substitute almond milk for the soy milk? I don't drink cow milk and have heard that too much soy is harmful for gf folks.
yummy! Looks really wonderful. Already time to make another? Lol!
Hi Anon. Here's how I prepared the cushaw. First I cleaned it out and cut it into pieces about 1 to 1 1/2 inch wide. I put them in a steamer basket in the pressure cooker, added water up to the bottom of the steamer, and cooked them at high pressure for 3 minutes. I did a quick pressure release. You could steam them in a regular pan on the stove just until tender.
When they were cool, I peeled the skin off of the pieces, mashed them, and then proceeded with the recipe. The cushaw would have been too thick to puree without some other liquid.
I think it would work fine with gf baking mix--I saw other recipes that used it. Also, any type of milk should work, but the richer types will work better, so I think almond milk would be fine.
Oh wow! Yum! I gotta try this!!
Any idea what the nutritional information is on it?
How long would you guess it would take to steam the cushaw in a regular steamer insert-in-a-pan assuming the pieces were 1-1.5" wide?
Yay for pureeing with simply a potato masher!
Did you use that entire huge cushaw to get the 2 cups pureed or did you have some leftover? I'm trying to gauge how large of a cushaw I need :)
Thanks for answering all my Q's!
Hmmm...I'm not sure about the cooking time. I would allow a half an hour but check it every once in a while to see if it's done.
This was a smallish cushaw and I had about 2 1/2 cups leftover after making the pie. So I really could have made another one, but I decided to do something else with it, which I'll write about tomorrow. :-)
I just found your blog via Something in Season - I can't believe I didn't find it sooner! It's terrific. I'm not vegan but I have so many food allergies that I eat about 75% vegan. Love the gorgeous pictures!
What could I substitute for the cornstarch to make this corn-free? I'm dairy/gluten/corn/soy free. I plan on subbing almond or rice milk
Thanks!
You could use either arrowroot or potato starch, if either of those is okay with you. You just need some kind of thickener in it.
That looks so delicious, and I love that there is no tofu in it!
susan,
for most of our marriage, my husband cooked. delicious full of fat vegan food to which my post-marriage weight gain can attest. As I lost that weight and more-almost 50lbs (following eat2live)- your blog has served as a wonderful example to him of how to make flavorful fat free food for me. well this impossible pumpkin pie recipe inspired this non-cook into the kitchen. I made the recipe, being even brave enough to make some changes (milled flour for rice flour). the pie is cooking now so i can't give the definite comment on its outcome but the batter was very tasty. thanks for the time and talent invested in this site.
What type of rice flour did you use? Brown? White? Sweet? Thanks!
Anonymous, the rice flour I used was from an Indian market, so I think it's white rice flour. I think any of the kind you mentioned should work.
Keda, I hope you liked the pie! I have to admit that I liked the taste of the batter so much that I thought it would make a nice smoothie. :-)
Thank you for this recipe. I try to omit gluten as I can (even if I'm not allergic but just a bit intolerant) and follow the Seignalet diet. So I find this recipe very appropriate and nice for this autumn.
This pie worked out great, substituting real eggs, Pamela's GF flour blend, and butternut squash! Thanks so much - everyone loved it!
Susan, thank you so much for this recipe! I made it last night and it turned out great!
I followed your recipe almost exactly, but used a mixture of whole wheat flour and white bread flour (it was all I had).
So easy! So delicious! :)
Susan, I just want to be the latest to let you know that I made this pie, and it was delicious. I was amazed at its crust-forming abilities. I never used to like pumpkin pie as a kid, but with recipes such as yours it's fast becoming my favorite- thank you!
Thank you! I finally found a great tofu free vegan pumpkin pie! I love tofu, just not in pumpkin pies! I will be making this thursday (thanksgiving) it looks delish! I am so happy there are so many vegan blogs. Sincerely, a fellow vegan.
Would it make a difference that I cook with "raw sugar"? (Sugar in the Raw)
Raw sugar should work just fine. Just make sure it gets blended well after you add it.
Thanks, also (I know this is defeating the purpose) would it be ok to use a homemade deep dish pie crust. Would the cooking time need to be adjusted?
I think it would take the same amount of time with a pie crust because you'd still want it to set completely. Just watch the crust, and if it starts to brown too much, put some foil around the edges.
Thank you! I am really hopeless in the kitchen most of the time, this website with all of the responses has made it alot easier. I will be sure to tell you how it turns out!
Hey Anonymous--yes, please do! I'll be interested to hear how it is with a real crust.
If you wanted to make this sugar free, do you think that the Splnda would work?
I have not baked with Splenda myself, but plan to try some recipes using it.
Anonymous, I hesitate to offer an opinion about using Splenda in this recipe because I haven't tried it myself. Baked goods are always tricky to change, because if you change the ratio of liquid to dry ingredients, the timing and consistency will change, too. If you try it as an experiment, please post your results so that others will know whether or not it works. Good luck!
I had made this a few months ago, the flavor was dashing! so I re-did it yesterday, but with a crust this time, and the results are smashing! ;p
thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with the world.
Well, the pie's in the oven! I batter was sooooooo delicious!! Honestly the most delicious thing I have ever made! I used whole wheat pastry flour, raw sugar, and a handmade (vegan) whole wheat crust. Also I reccomend using a food processor instead of a blender. I couldn't fit all of the ingredients in my blender and it wouldn't mix it all up so I switched to the food processor. I can't wait to eat it done tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving everone!
Hi, my name is Faith, and I just came across your site. I've been making vegan pumpkin pie for a few years now very similarly to how you did, except I buy a pre-made pie crust. I basically just follow the recipe in Joy of Cooking, but replace the eggs w/ Ener-G.
Thank you so much for this recipe. When I went home this weekend, I made the pie for my family. My parents, who are not GF, loved it and finished it that night (my parents and brother are hearty eaters). I did have a difficult time with the mixing, since the blender we have is very old and looks smaller than the one in my apartment.
My father is the midwestern type who, until now, only eat four veges: white potatoes (with butter), iceberg lettuce (with blue cheese), tomatoes (with motzarella) and maybe peas if he is feeling like he needs to be healthy. Since I made this pie, my mom has made it two more times, using the rest of the first butternut and some other winter squash that was like a orange ball. We used our Vitamixer which blended the pie better; my mom thinks that the added air made it taste better too. All three pies were rapidly consumed so I thank you for showing my dad that vegetables can be yummy. (He also had some of Karina's chili with sweet potatoes and loved her apple crisp). I have never seen him eat so much produce - thank you!!
~Michelle
Do you have the nutritional facts for this? It looks tasty!
Here's the nutritional breakdown:
Makes 8 servings. Each contains: 153
Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (7% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 34g
Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 264mg Sodium; 3g Fiber.
Hi,
I'm an Australian and have never tried pumpkin pie before. I decided to give this a try since it was vegan and looked so easy..and Oh my goodness, it is delicious! It tastes like a custard tart! (well, what i remember them tasting like anyway :) Even my young sons, who don't like pumpkin at all, loved this pie. One of them even asked for me to make it for his birthday desert soon.
Thanks for a fabulous recipe. I'm definitely going to check out some of your other recipes now too. Cheers, Nat.
I tried the pie yesterday and wanted yo thank you for this so delicious recipe. I had a vague childhood memory of pumkin pie but never made any...with yours I found the memory and much more! I just don't have the same crust-like aspect, maybe it needed a bit more time in the oven....anyway it was my first but won't be my last one! (I used an egg for half of the recipe but next time, I'll try the vegan version). You'll find the picture and the recipe in French on my blog.
Hi, I'm so glad I came across this website...
I made this recipe and was quite happy with the results (I'm terrible in the kitchen). I sub'd the sugar with Splenda and it tasted fine, but i think I might have put a bit too much baking powder in - I could taste it. Just wondering, do you have to add the salt?
Thanks for the recipe :)
Hi. I made this pie tonight and it came out great. It had a nice flavor but the one thing that ruined it for us was that we thought the clove taste was too strong. So, next time, I'll probably leave that out. Thanks for a great recipe.
Super...deliciousssss, I cut back the sugar N omit the clove too,it was still so sweet of the pumpkin.Every one must try this..TQ Susan.U R Great.
you can find this awesome recipe here!
http://lushposh.com/blog/2007/10/11/impossible-vegan-pumpkin-pie/
I can not tell you how great this recipe is! My husband said, "It is everything I like about pumpkin pie", and I could not agree more! Thanks for sharing such great recipes!
i only came across this recipe two weeks ago and i've already made it five times. yes, five times. test run, dinner party, birthday cake, work, and another dinner party. wonderful success.
thanks susan,
alex
I am a plump vegan so I sub splenda (oh the guilt) in all my baking. I buy the splenda that measures the same as sugar and always use a little less than the recipe calls for because splenda always makes it a bit sweeter than sugar. Also, when subbing flours, I always use whole-wheat pastry flour instead of just wheat. It keeps my baked goods from getting too heavy. I LOVE this recipe and have already made it twice. Thank you sooo much!
I made this last night and it came out great. Instead of the Ener-G I used 1 tsp Baking Powder, 1/2 tsp Baking Soda, 2 Tbsp Flour, 3 Tbsp Water. The color of mine came out a lot darker than the photo, though.
i just want to thank you so much for this recipe. My dad has had heart disease since i was about 11 years old (i'm now 23). I've witnessed firsthand the struggle he's gone through, maintaining a fat free vegan diet for his health, while keeping variety and "comfort food" in his life. He loves pumpkin pie and hasn't had it for about 12 years. I was absolutely thrilled when i found this recipe. When i brought this home over the summer for father's day he was like a little kid eating pumpkin pie for the first time. He was ecstatic and i was so happy I could bring him his favorite pie again. I have three in the oven right now (preparing for thanksgiving) and just wanted to say to you, Thank you SO MUCH.
Margaret, thank YOU, for reminding me that while some of us choose to eat a fat-free diet, others HAVE to. I'm so glad to have been able to help your father regain a little of his comfort food. I wish you both a happy Thanksgiving.
Never tasted authentic pumpkin pie before so I have nothing to compare to but I absolutely loved this. Ultimate comfort food and healthy to boot! I used less pumpkin and subbed soy flour and agave in mine. This is my new favourite food and I will undoubtedly make many more times before the winter is through. Thank you!
Hi Susan,
I've been reading your site and your blog for a few months now and I am so glad I found it. I made - watch out, new name - "Impossibly good pumpkin pie" yesterday (with butternut squash) and my kids and some visitors ate it all in like 5 min.
Thanks for all your effort, I am spreading the word about you here in Europe! Take care, Polona
Well I'm pretty sure my pie wasn't fat free, but I made a awesome tofu free pumpkin pie this year. My husband found me condensed soy milk online at vegan essentials. I made some flax eggs, 1/3 cup flax meal ( i just use bulk flax seeds in my coffee grinder) to 1 cup water, makes "9 eggs". Added 1/3 cup of that. Added 1 tbsp of cornstarch,and my pumpkin & spices of course. My pie set, it was tasty and it was cruelty free. Happy Unturkery Day for me! and the turkeys!
This was my first time making pumpkin pie (or in my case, squash) and it was so easy! I made the following adjustments to keep it soy and corn-free (and also to keep from running out to the store for more ingredients), and it came out perfectly:
- vanilla rice milk, instead of soy milk
- 2 T ground flax whisked with 6 T water, instead of the Ener-G + water mixture
- arrowroot, instead of cornstarch
- 1 1/2 cups of frozen butternut squash, defrosted and pureed
- 1 t Ener-G baking powder, instead of 2 t
- 1/2 cup maple syrup, instead of 3/4 cup sugar
I baked my pie for the full one hour, but it might need a little longer next time because it didn't brown quite as much as the picture. It still tasted spectacular! (You don't know how long I've been looking for a tofu-free vegan pumpkin pie recipe!) I think next time I might try replacing the squash with sweet potato!
Back again. I wrote the previous comment posted on 1:05 PM December 25 2007.
Just wanted to report that I tried the recipe again, but this time I used frozen sweet potatoes, defrosted and pureed. I also baked the pie for about 67 minutes, turned off the oven, then left the pie in the oven for several hours. It developed a much better "crust."
Love this recipe!
hey there -
i just found your site & am loving it!! i've already tried a couple of your recipes w/ smashing success!! i'm totally excited to try this one, but can i substitute the fresh pumpkin w/ the canned pumpkin? i realize the fresh will be better, but i'm short on time... i promise to buy the best, high quality, organic stuff! thanks in advance!
hey there -
i just found your site & am loving it!! i've already tried a couple of your recipes w/ smashing success!! i'm totally excited to try this one, but can i substitute the fresh pumpkin w/ the canned pumpkin? i realize the fresh will be better, but i'm short on time... i promise to buy the best, high quality, organic stuff! thanks in advance!
Hi Amy, go ahead and use the canned pumpkin. I'm sure it will be fine.
Wonderful. I found a use for my Tofutti. Which has been sitting around in my fridge...
This one seems like an Indian sweet we get in Bangalore. I will try this soon and let you know the results:)
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