A new take on Mom-mom’s pumpkin pie

My grandmother makes the best pumpkin pie. Her scratch-made pie dough is the perfect flaky crust for her creamy, sweet, and wintery spiced custard. And she bakes her famous pie in a well-seasoned, weathered, almost cracked ceramic pie dish that actually has a pumpkin pie recipe blazed on the face of it. Funny enough, the recipe isn’t what Mom-mom follows at all! Much to my brother’s chagrin, he had already claimed Mom-mom’s famed pie dish as an heirloom inheritance because for the longest time he thought the recipe on it was her special one. And to be honest, I always thought she used that recipe as well…. until last year that is, when I helped Mom-mom bake her pies for Christmas. I quickly learned her recipe is a mish-mash of hand-written index cards, which written in lovely, yet rather difficult-to-decipher cursive.

The secret to Mom-mom’s flaky pie crust is vodka. Yes, you read that correctly. Vodka. Knowing that she is part Polish, this makes perfect sense! And her pumpkin custard is nothing out of the ordinary, just a simple base of canned pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, sugar, and eggs. She puts in all the classic spices, like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice; but I think it’s her ratio of all these heart-warming spices, and of course that grandmotherly love, that makes her pumpkin pie so out-of-this-world delicious.

My rendition of Mom-mom’s pumpkin pie is paleo and plant-based, with a very simple crust made using just a tortilla wrap. I recently saw this idea to use tortillas as a pie crust and I thought I would give it a try using my favorite Siete paleo tortillas. Siete Foods makes fantastic paleo tortillas. My favorites are the cashew flour and almond flour tortillas, made from their respective nut flours, of course, but they also make cassava flour and chickpea flour tortillas, both of which I love too! The cassava flour tortilla comes in a regular size and burrito size, which is just the ideal for a pie crust. If you can’t find the burrito size wraps, you can overlap three of the regular size wraps, in any of the varieties, to cover the bottom of the pie dish.

As if the crust isn’t easy enough, the pumpkin filling is almost just as simple. Organic canned pumpkin puree, maple syrup, almond milk yogurt, Mom-mom’s same wintery spices, and a bit of arrow root starch to thicken it up all blended together in a food processor.

I do blind bake my tortilla crust, as any proper custard crust should be, so as to get it nice and crisp before the creamy custard gets poured in. After the pie bakes, I let it cool to room temperature and then chill it overnight. And what’s pumpkin pie without whipped cream? I continue the trend of simplicity with this pie and buy a can of plant-based whipped topping. Whole Foods makes its own store-brand oat-based whipped topping, which is by far my favorite dairy-free whipped cream. My second runner up is a thawed tub of So Delicious CocoWhip.

I know my pumpkin pie is a bit different from Mom-mom’s classic, but it rivals hers in deliciousness, and I hope you enjoy it too!

Pumpkin Pie

Serves 4-6

For the crust:
1 gluten-free or grain-free burrito-size tortilla, recommend Siete cassava flour burrito-size tortilla (you can also use 3 regular size tortillas, overlapped Venn diagram-style in the center of the pie dish)

For the filling:
1 15 oz. can organic pumpkin puree
1 5.3 oz container unsweetened plant-based yogurt, recommend Kite Hill original unsweetened almond milk yogurt (NOT the Greek style)
2 Tbsp. arrowroot starch
1/3 cup organic maple syrup
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
Pinch of nutmeg
¼ tsp. allspice
¼ tsp. ground cloves

For serving:
Oat milk whipped cream for serving, such as Whole Foods brand

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Bake the crust: carefully center the cassava flour tortilla in a pie dish and fill it with baking beans or a smaller round baking dish so as to hold the tortilla down when it bakes. Bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes, or until the tortilla is crisp and slightly golden, but not burnt. Once the tortilla crust is finished baking, remove the baking beans or smaller baking dish from the center and set the crust aside to cool.
3. While the crust cools, prepare the pumpkin filling: In a food processor, combine the canned pumpkin puree, almond yogurt, maple syrup, arrow root starch, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Puree until everything is thoroughly mixed, then pour the pumpkin filling into the cooled tortilla crust.
4. Smooth out the top with a spatula and bake at 350 F for 45 minutes or until the custard is golden brown on top.
5. Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool. Chill overnight, or at least 4 hours before serving.

Serve with oat milk or coconut milk whipped topping and enjoy!