Pumpkin Pie With Hazelnut Crust

This is an adapted recipe from my last years vegan version that didn't go over so well. It tasted great but was much too soupy. I rarely use plain old sugar(raw sugar of course) but decided it would work best, not needing any more additional liquid from agave or maple syrup. The coconut milk is so delicious and blends so nicely with pumpkin, and the coconut flavor is hardly discernible. The crust is the same as from the pecan and hazelnut pie recipe, and adds a nutty aroma to the sweet pumpkin filling. I enjoy topping my pies with hand cut and scored leaves, each one adding its own character, but leaf cookie cutters will of course work just fine too.


Recipe:

Hazelnut Spelt Crust:

2 cups spelt flour(whole or white)
2 tablespoons butter or earth balance
1 cup cold water
3/4 cup whole hazelnuts (reserve 1/4 cup for topping pie)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the 3/4 cup of hazelnuts and toast until fragrant or lightly browned.(about 10 minutes)

Place 1/2 cup of the hazelnuts in food processor and blend until fine. If you do not have a food processor a coffee grinder or a rolling pin and a stiff wrist would work fine. Butter and flour a pie dish and set aside. In a large bowl place the spelt flour, salt, butter, and hazelnuts cutting in the cool butter with a dough blender, adding cold water until well mixed. (Additional flour may be necessary if dough is too sticky). Dough will roll out best if refrigerated at least one hour, but if you wish to bypass this just be extra careful rolling out the dough and use the help of a metal spatula. (I set aside about 1/8 of a cup of dough to use for the leaf topping.)

Place crust in dish and crimp edges. If desired you can brush the crust with a beaten egg mixture to give the crust a glossy brown sheen. Cut small slits in bottom of crust with sharp knife, as to not let the crust raise up with a hollow center, and place in oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Filling:

1 small sweet pumpkin
1 tablespoon safflower oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup coconut milk
3 eggs
1 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ginger powder

Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Clean and chop pumpkin into 6 slices down the center, discarding the stem. Place on pan and drizzle with safflower oil and salt, and place in oven for about 50 minutes or until very tender. Once cooled scrape flesh into blender or food processor and blend smooth. Place pumpkin puree in large bowl and mix in the sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, and ginger. Then add the eggs(lightly beaten) and coconut milk.

Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees. Pour filling into crust and bake for about 50 minutes.

Leaf toppers:

Increase oven to 400 degrees. Roll out remaining dough to same thickness as pie crust. I use a small sharp pairing knife to cut the leaf shapes and score the veins with the back side of the knife. This is of course also achieved with cookie cutters, but I prefer the hand done look. Place on pan and bake for 10-15 minutes. Once cooled place on pie top in desired pattern... my leaves actually turned into a poinsettia!

Serves 10