I can’t believe it’s Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend! Last week when the weather was still “hot” for a few days, I was still sporting my summer dresses- clearly having a hard time letting go of summer. Now the Vancouver fall weather is in full swing, with the crisp air and beautiful autumn colours. It’s chillier than I like, but it’s sunny, so I’m definitely not complaining.

Nothing says fall and Thanksgiving like a pumpkin pie. The recipe I’m sharing is a lightened up, vegan and gluten-free pumpkin pie. It tastes just like the conventional pumpkin pie- my taste testers can concur.

I don’t follow a vegan or gluten-free diet. I’m a flexatarian (translation- I eat everything!) but I like to experiment in the kitchen and find alternatives and healthier options to traditional recipes. I’m a proud foodie and this is my kind of fun!

I love pumpkin spice, the combination of spices warms me up. The colours just resemble fall.

The crust for this recipe is versatile. It can be used for other pies and even savory pies (skip the sugar!). The whole grain oat crust tastes indulgent and crumbles similarly to graham crackers, but without the cookie taste. The dough is pressed into a pie plate to form, rather than rolling it out- simplifying things!!

My pumpkin pie filling also uses soft tofu. Soft tofu blends easily, gives a smooth texture, and picks up the pumpkin pie spices and pumpkin flavours.

I used brown sugar to give a more indulgent, caramel taste. Brown sugar makes baked goods more moist since it absorbs more water, compared to white sugar. The question I often gets asked is whether brown sugar is healthier than white sugar. Brown sugar is actually white sugar with added molasses, which is another type of sugar. So the answer is no.

Give my pumpkin pie a try and let me know what you think in the comments below.
Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin pie

Easy Pie Crust (Gluten-Free):
1 ¾ cup quick/flaked oats
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
1/4c vegetable or olive oil
60 mL water

Directions for Pie Crust:
1. Use a food processor and pulse oats until a fine powder is formed.
2. Mix flour, sugar, salt together in a large bowl.
3. Stir in oil and mix to create a crumbly consistency.
4. Add water and combine to form a sticky dough.
5. Transfer dough onto a pie plate and use fingers to press dough to create a pie crust.

*Note: the crust will be a bit more crumbly than traditional crust, but still good! 

Pumpkin Spice Mix:
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Pumpkin Pie Filling:
1.5 cup (1/2 of 796mL can) pumpkin puree
300g soft tofu
2/3 cup brown sugar
Pumpkin pie spice (above)

Directions for Pumpkin Pie:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Use a food processor to puree soft tofu.
3. Add pumpkin pie puree, spices and sugar and combine to puree.
4. Add pumpkin pie filling to prepared crust.
5. Bake for 50 minutes or until centre of pie is firm.
6. Cool and chill overnight in the fridge for best results.