A typical pumpkin pie is loaded with eggs and heavy cream, yet when I make a dessert, I want something simple and healthy.
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My eggless version is a super-hit. It’s a crowd favorite that checks all the boxes—and it’s really easy to make.
Pumpkin is a fabulous choice for a healthy dessert because of it’s beta-carotene.
Beta-carotene is found in all orange, yellow, and red vegetables. As an essential pre-cursor to Vitamin A, it’s going to support liver, skin, and eye health.
The pumpkin itself is cooling, anti-inflammatory, and demulcent, which means it soothes ulcers, acid reflux, and any irritation in the gut.
Overall, pumpkin is light and dry, which serves as a balancing force for the heavier nature of the flour, butter, and condensed milk we are going to use in the recipe.
Finally, the spices provide essential digestive support to this healthy dessert.
You can think of it in terms of the digestive support and energy you need to assimilate the nutritional benefits of the pumpkin pie are baked right into the recipe.
I served this exact pumpkin pie to my party of ten for Thanksgiving this year, and it was a total hit!
I was so happy to have succeeded in my goal of creating a truly great pumpkin pie. People truly loved it!
I’m not going to lie. It took a few failures to get this right so that I could bring this to you. I think you’re going to love it too.
Why no eggs?
Going eggless for your pumpkin pie is a choice.
I just think desserts taste better without eggs, such as my uber popular eggless lemon bars here.
It allows each ingredient to shine individually, whereas eggs, when baked, tend to take over and make their influence known throughout.
Most vegetarians in India also avoid eggs, so there’s a great tradition of baking without eggs to serve this population.
If I think about it, avoiding a difficult to digest protein like eggs in a dessert is also not a bad idea.
Proteins are difficult for the body to digest. Ideally, you want to eat proteins first, and avoid mixing too many proteins in a single meal.
Since a dessert is typically eaten last, and you’ve already eaten your main protein, it makes sense to avoid protein in a dessert.
Whether all this matters to you or not, I guarantee that you will not miss the eggs in this recipe.
Condensed milk
Condensed milk is cow’s milk with most of the water removed.
To make it, the milk is thickened and concentrated, and sugar is added to make the milk even sweeter.
It’s pretty yum.
You can make it from scratch, but most people (including me) are going to purchase it in a can from the store.
As you can imagine, condensed milk is very high in calories. The entire 14-ounce can that goes into this recipe contains 1300 calories.
Still, that’s not bad if you divide your pie into 6-8 servings.
It’s dessert after all!
Whole pumpkin or canned?
Most people will prefer to use canned pumpkin for this recipe.
You will need two 15.5-ounce cans to yield 2 cups, but this will give you some leftover pumpkin puree.
You can either freeze it for your next pie, or use it up in your next vegetable soup.
There is something called sugar pie pumpkin that is available for a very limited time around the holidays.
This is a special pumpkin that is smaller, sweeter, and less fibrous than the ones used to carve pumpkins. If you are going to make your own filling, I’d advise using a sugar pie pumpkin, or opt for the cans.
Eggless Pumpkin Pie
Helpful Kitchen Tools:
- Food processor optional
- Pastry blender optional
Ingredients
For the homemade crust
- 5 to 7 tablespoons cold water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
- 1 cup white flour, unbleached
For the filling
- 2 cups pumpkin puree, (either sugar pie pumpkin or two 15.5-oz cans of pumpkin puree)
- 1 ¼ cups sweetened condensed milk, (14-ounce can; sub with coconut cream)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly-grated
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- pinch freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Prepare the crust
- If you are using a purchased pastry crust, follow the instructions on the package to prepare it, and skip the remaining steps in this section. You may choose to do the blind bake steps in the separate section below, or skip it. It is true that many pumpkin pie recipes do not use blind baking. Doing the blind bake is likely to result in a crispier crust, but you also risk overcooking and burning it, so be careful with it.
- You can either make this crust in a food processor, or in a bowl. A food processor makes it really easy. If you make it in a bowl it really helps to have a pastry blender. This is a tool with multiple blades for cutting through the butter, and it is just the right shape to fit in a bowl.
- Add salt to water and stir for about a minute to dissolve, then refrigerate to make the water really cold. Cube your butter and refrigerate it at the same time.
To make in the food processor:
- Add the flour, then the cubes of cold butter. Pulse gently until the butter is somewhere between the size of peas and rice.
- Add in 5 tablespoons of water and pulse. If the dough is still too dry, add a bit more water. You are looking for the dough to come together into a shaggy mass.
- Dump the dough onto your counter and gather it in to a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill well in the fridge for at least an hour.
To make in the bowl:
- Add the flour and cold butter, then cut the cold butter into the flour using a pastry cutter, or with your fingers until you get something between peas and rice sizes of butter.
- Add in 5 tablespoons of water and mix a little more. If the dough is still too dry, add the remaining water. You are looking for the dough to come together into a shaggy mass.
- Dump the dough onto your counter and gather into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill well for at least an hour.
Cook the pumpkin (or use canned)
- If you will make your own pumpkin puree, follow the steps below. Otherwise, you will need two 15.5-ounce cans of pumpkin puree, and there will be some left over.
- Use a large, sharp knife to carefully cut the sugar pie pumpkin in quarters. Scoop out the seeds, pith, and fibre with the help of a large spoon.
- Place the pumpkin cut-side-down in a steamer basket. Place the basket inside a pot with boiling water and steam for 15-20 minutes, until the pumpkin is tender when pierced with a knife.
- Allow to cool, then scoop flesh out of the skins into a mixing bowl. Puree with an immersion hand blender or potato masher until smooth.
Roll out the dough and blind bake the crust
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the chilled dough on a floured surface. Roll out the dough to a circle approximately 12″ in diameter to line a (9-inch) pie dish. Use plenty of flour below and above the crust. Fold the crust into 4 quarters and place into the pie dish. Carefully open the crust to fill the dish. Fold and crimp the edges with a fork.
- Cover the crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil and fill with 1 pound beans, such as black beans or kidney beans, that you will keep for this use.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges of the crust turn pale brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool about 5 minutes. Remove the weights and pour in the filling.
Make the pie filling and bake
- In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin puree, condensed milk, spices, and salt, and whisk until there are no lumps.
- Pour the filling into the crust. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the filling is set and no longer jiggly, and the top crust is lightly brown.
- Cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
- Cut into wedges and serve with fresh whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or sweetened yogurt (see notes).
Notes
Sweetened whipped cream
In a small chilled mixing bowl combine 1 cup whipping cream, 1-2 tablespoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat using a whisk or electric mixer until soft peaks form. Do not over-beat!Make the crust gluten-free!
Substitute with Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour *This recipe is adapted from here.Nutrition
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