This is my latest eggless, soy-free pumpkin pie recipe. After working on it for four years, it's my favorite of all the varieties I have made.
CREAM CHEESE MAPLE-PUMPKIN PIE
1 unbaked pie crust
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups pumpkin purée (steamed is
best)*
or 16 oz. can
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 tsp. blackstrap molasses
Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Place pie crust dough in a 9-inch deep-dish
pie pan. Trim edges and prick bottom and
sides with a fork. Reserve extra
dough. Bake for 10 minutes until crust
is dried out. Remove from oven and let
cool.
Blend
cream cheese and pumpkin together (a food processor is good to use).
In
a small bowl, stir dry ingredients together.
Add maple syrup gradually, stirring until smooth. Stir in blackstrap molasses.
Add
syrup mixture to pumpkin mixture and blend until smooth and uniformly
mixed. Pour into pie crust.
Bake
at 350 deg. F for about an hour or until small cracks appear in
filling. Let cool.
Roll
out remaining pie crust dough and make leaf and acorn shapes. Bake on a cookie sheet at 375 deg. F until
golden. Garnish pie just before serving.
Store
in refrigerator.
* Note: I cook my own pumpkin for the purée. It's easy to use a steamer
to cook cut-up pumpkin chunks (about 1"), slice the skin and strings
off after cooking, and purée in a food processor or blender. This
produces a light, wonderful texture for the pie. If you use canned
pumpkin, you might want to mix a little rice milk or water in, to get a
consistency of stirred yogurt.
