Pumpkin Pie with a Hint of Rum



Vegan pumpkin pie recipes are very easy to come by in today's world, especially with the internet at your fingertips. I remember my happiness at finding one vegan pumpkin pie recipe in a magazine about 20 years ago, and I still use that recipe to this day, it's fool proof, delicious, and still my favorite. But in the interest of being fair and working my way through all 1000 recipes, I relented this past Thanksgiving and made the "Pumpkin Pie With a Hint of Rum" (page 460) from this book. This recipe is actually quite similar to the one I normally make, minus the rum, so I wasn't disappointed at all. The rum really is just a hint - only one tablespoon, and as the recipe notes say, you can even leave that out if you wish. In addition to the pumpkin, the filling consists of silken tofu, sugar, egg replacer, pure maple syrup, and the normal pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg). The most challenging part of this recipe to keep healthy is of course, the crust. Pie crust is extremely hard to duplicate using healthy ingredients. First of all, it's the fat, usually shortening or margarine that gives crust its characteristic tenderness. And whole wheat flour, even whole wheat pastry flour, isn't the greatest for a tender and delicate crust. My solution? I don't eat the crust anymore. I purchased a pre-made crust to bake the filling in, and to serve at Thanksgiving for those who wanted it, but I just ate the filling like it was pudding. And the good news is, the filling ingredients didn't require any modification at all!