Cherry Vanilla Nice Cream

In the early days of my transition to a plant-based diet, finding vegan ice cream in the market was often difficult, if not impossible. I didn’t have an ice cream habit, but on certain special occasions, it was definitely something I wanted to include in the mix. While dairy free sorbets and fruit juice bars are nice, if what you want is ice cream, they just don’t quite fit the bill. If I was lucky, I might be able to find Tofutti, the closest thing to a dairy based ice cream on the market for a very long time. But now, I can’t even keep track of all the vegan ice creams available, and I don’t always have to search out a specialty store to find them. There is a drawback to this, though. Most of the ice creams on the market, even the vegan ones, are high in fats, saturated fats, and sugars. The solution, of course, is to make your own, where you have control over the ingredients.

This cookbook has four recipes for Nice Creams with six additional variations, enough to satisfy anybody’s particular ice cream cravings. Initially I was avoiding this part of the cookbook because all these recipes call for an ice cream maker, something I don’t have, and likely won’t have as long as I’m living and traveling full time in a 5^th wheel trailer. But along the way, I discovered a workaround for making delicious and creamy vegan ice cream using pre-frozen ingredients and my VitaMix blender. While my rendition of the Nice Cream recipes in this book will stray far from the original preparation instructions, the flavors will all be present and delightfully delicious. (Robin provides a very thorough primer on making her Nice Creams in this section, very worth taking the time to read.)

The first recipe I tried was the “Cherry Vanilla Nice Cream”, page 492. The basic ingredients listed are arrowroot powder, thick vegan milk or cream, sugar, vanilla extract, and pitted cherries. Using this list as my ingredients guide, I used frozen cherries (2 cups), 1 frozen banana, ¼ cup soaked cashews (soak for at least an hour, then discard water), ¼ cup pure maple syrup, and soymilk as needed. Put everything except the extra soymilk into a high speed blender, and process until completely blended, smooth, and creamy. If necessary, stop the blender to push down unblended ingredients, and to add soymilk, a little at a time if the mixture is too thick. The cashews add richness, and the bananas contribute to a smoother texture. Not quite as rich as a full fat version, but delicious and satisfying all the same.

If this is too much to eat at one sitting, place the leftovers into a freezer container, and save for another day.

Keeping it “McDougall Friendly” check list:

• No changes necessary! J

Vegan Pound Cake

The traditional recipe for pound cake includes a pound each of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. The way to make this  “Vegan Pound Cake” (page 448), while still a rich and satisfying treat, is much lighter. And, when you replace the oil with applesauce, like I did, the health profile improves a bit more. The recipe is very simple, using flour, sugar, baking powder, non-dairy milk and tofu for the batter, flavored with vanilla extract. Initially I was concerned that leaving out the oil would cause the cake to be dry and crumbly, so I opted to stay with the all-purpose (white) flour instead of substituting whole wheat  or whole wheat pastry flour. I also used a scant ½ cup of applesauce to replace the ¼ cup of oil. This is the amount of applesauce found in the snack size containers sold under many different labels (look for the no-sugar added varieties). Happily, the final result was a delicious cake both moist and delicious.  

Slices of this cake are perfect for topping with sliced fresh fruit, vegan whipped cream, or dessert sauces, but is equally delicious with no additions at all. I made this treat for a 4^th of July gathering, and topped each slice with strawberries, whipped cream, and blueberries for a red, white and blue theme. This was a fun and festive presentation that was met with rave reviews!

Keeping it “McDougall Friendly” checklist:

• Replace the ¼ cup of oil with a scant ½ cup of unsweetened applesauce.
• Although I didn’t try this myself, to make this even healthier, substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose (white) flour.  

Strawberry Parfaits with Cashew Crème

“Strawberry Parfaits with Cashew Crème” (page 478) is the perfect recipe for those times you want to indulge, but without all the guilt. While this isn’t a fat free dessert, with ½ cup cashews in the mix, it is split between four servings (if you can be that disciplined!),which comes out to just two tablespoons per serving. The Cashew Crème is made by blending cashews, sugar, soy milk, and tofu into a rich and creamy mixture that is refrigerated for at least 30 minutes. I would recommend even longer, though, as I think the flavor improves both by letting the ingredients blend for a longer period of time, and by being thoroughly chilled. Once the crème is ready, it is just a matter of layering the strawberries and crème in parfait glasses. An easy, yet elegant dessert and wonderful this time of year when strawberries are coming into season.

Hint: I recommend soaking the cashews in 2 cups of water for a couple of hours (or longer) before making this for improved blending and increased smoothness. Drain and discard soaking water before proceeding

Keeping it “McDougall Friendly” checklist:

No changes necessary! J

Chocolate-Cranberry Otameal Cookies

The more practiced I get with oil-free baking, the more of a feel I get for which ingredients (and how much) make good substitutions. Take the "Chocolate-Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies" (Page 431), for instance. In the past if I saw a recipe that called for ½ cup margarine, I would probably skip over it altogether, believing I wouldn't be able to make tasty cookies without the margarine. Now, I enjoy the challenge! The instructions in this recipe say to cream the margarine, sugar, and apple juice together. My work around for this was to take one large banana (you want at least half a cup, maybe a little more), the sugar, and ½ cup of applesauce and blend them in my Vitamix blender (any blender would work). I followed the rest of the directions as written at this point, increasing the amount of flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour) just a tad as the dough didn't seem quite sticky enough. These cookies were delicious, and although still a rich food that should be reserved for special occasions, I felt that they were made much healthier by my adaptations.

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

• Omit the margarine and apple juice, following my instructions above for using  bananas and applesauce instead, blending with the sugar.
• Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose (white) flour.

Baked Chocolate Pudding

I've made a lot of pudding in my life, going back a long, long way. I've made many different types of pudding, from that instant powdered stuff that comes in a box, to the "from scratch" versions that are cooked over the stove, to baked puddings and custards in water baths in the oven. In recent years I've started making vegan puddings using everything from silken tofu, to soymilk, to corn butter as the base. My favorite flavors are chocolate and butterscotch and I've been able to master beloved versions of both in my plant based diet. And, if there is one consistent thing about all these puddings, it's that they more or less wind up with similar outcomes, that is, the end product is sweet, soft and creamy. I've never made a pudding, for instance, that ended up being cake…until now! The "Baked Chocolate Pudding" (page 473), whether by accident or design, is really a recipe for chocolate cake. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out if this was the intended goal, or if there was a misprint in the ingredients list in the recipe. The ratio of liquid (1 ½ cups soymilk) to flour (1 cup) seemed odd to me, and as soon as I had all the ingredients mixed together, including baking powder, it was clear that this would result in a cake, not a pudding. But what the heck - chocolate cake is good too!  I scraped the batter into individual serving dishes, baked as directed, and enjoyed these petite cakes very much! For the small amount of oil called for in this recipe (only 1 Tablespoon), I decided to use a tablespoon of peanut butter instead. That amount is not enough to interfere with the chocolate flavor, although I happen to really enjoy the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, and I will think about this idea for future baking projects.

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

• Use a tablespoon of nut butter instead of oil.
• Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose (white) flour.

Molasses Spice Cookies

If cookies are what you are craving, you might want to try the "Molasses Spice Cookies" (page 433). The recipe uses molasses as part of the sweetener (along with sugar), and a list of spices that you might find in pumpkin pie - ginger, cinnamon, and allspice. And, as you might expect, the recipe also calls for margarine, in this case ¼ cup. However, I have been so pleased with the results of my fat-free baking efforts lately that I wasn't at all daunted by substituting ½ cup applesauce for the margarine. (Pureed prunes would also have worked here, since the cookies are already a nice brown shade from the molasses). The instructions say to form the dough into two logs, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least one hour, at which point you are to cut thin slices off of each log to put on the cookie sheet and bake. I'm not sure, but I think the fact that I didn't use margarine interfered with being able to slice the dough. The dough didn't firm up, as I'm thinking it might have had I used  margarine. But this did not stop me from forging ahead. I simply formed dough balls instead of dough slices, placed those on the cookie sheet, and baked as directed. These cookies were delicious, and I can't imagine the flavor was compromised whatsoever by my modifications. As the recipe notes say, these cookies are wonderful with a cup of hot tea.

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

• Omit the margarine and substitute ½ cup of either applesauce or prune purée.
• Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose (white) flour.

Giant Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

The recipe notes fittingly ask, is the "Giant Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake" (page 452) a "cake that thinks it's a cookie or a cookie masquerading as a cake?" My husband and I ate this dessert for several days, and after we finished every last delicious bite, neither one of us could rightly answer this question. It doesn't really matter, though, since no matter how you slice it, or bite into it, the bottom line is how good it tastes! And making it even more appealing to me was that the recipe does not call for any added oil or margarine. Not that it isn't rich enough, with ¾ cup peanut butter, this is a very indulgent dessert, and a little goes a long way. Besides the peanut butter, the cookie-cake contains maple syrup and brown sugar, soy milk, flour, baking powder, and vegan chocolate chips. Like I said, this is a very rich treat!

 Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

                                                                                                 

• Use whole wheat pastry flour or King Arthur's brand of White Whole Wheat flour instead of all-purpose (white) flour.

Pear Gratin with Cranberries & Pecans

Including dessert in a healthy low-fat diet can be a challenge, but if you look for those that are mostly fruit, you can find plenty of options. "Pear Gratin with Cranberries & Pecans" (page 491) is a fairly healthy choice, especially if you leave out the margarine (as I did), because all it really amounts to is fresh fruit sprinkled with nuts. I say "fairly healthy" because there is a significant amount of nuts in this recipe, which are high in fat. Sliced pears are tossed with dried cranberries, sugar, ginger, and cornstarch, arranged in a gratin dish (I used a pie plate since I don't have a gratin dish), drizzled with a splash of soymilk, topped with chopped pecans, and baked in a hot oven until the fruit is soft. This was a delightful dessert, although the cornstarch didn't seem to thicken up the juices much. In retrospect, I think I could have left out the ¼ cup soymilk without detracting from the overall enjoyment (and maybe the dessert would have thickened up some as well). The recipe calls for dotting the top of the gratin with ¼ cup margarine prior to baking, but I left this out completely, and didn't miss it at all. If you are really feeling decadent, the recipe suggests serving this warm topped with a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream. (Of course, this would cancel out those benefits of a fruit-only, low-fat dessert!)

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

                                                                                                                            

• Completely omit the ¼ cup margarine. You won't even miss it!

Magical Mystery Chocolate Cake

"Magical Mystery Chocolate Cake" (page 446) truly is mysterious! The biggest mystery to me, though, is how I even ended up with something edible, after realizing halfway through I failed to follow the instructions correctly (note in instruction #2 you are to add just half the cocoa powder at this point, oops!). Upon discovering my mistake, my first thought was to start completely over, but I had used the last of my cocoa powder and sugar, and I didn't feel like going to the store for more, or throwing out my efforts altogether, so I improvised and continued on. Luck was with me! The magic pulled through and I ended up with a most extraordinary and delicious cake. The unusual preparation (spreading a thick batter into the bottom of a pan and topping with a very liquid concoction of sugar-cocoa-water) results in a final chocolaty confection that is densely cake-like on the bottom, moist pudding in the middle, and like the crispy top of a brownie on the surface. The recipe calls for ¼ of oil, but I replaced this with prune purée  (I used a small container of baby food prunes; applesauce would work just as well). Try this cake if you are feeling adventurous!

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

                                                                                                                            

ü  Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose (white) flour.

ü  Replace the oil with an equal amount of prune purée or unsweetened applesauce.

Maple-Baked Rice Pudding with Dried Cranberries

You will find the "Maple-Baked Rice Pudding with Dried Cranberries" (page 475) in the dessert section of this book, but I prepared it for breakfast, as I love hot rice with sweetener and soymilk for morning fare. This dish requires cooked rice, so you will have to plan ahead a bit, but otherwise you'll find this is a super simple dish to prepare. Cooked rice is combined with soymilk, maple syrup, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and cranberries (or raisins) and baked in the oven until hot and slightly thickened. You might want to start slow with the sweeteners and taste the mixture before adding the full measure. I omitted the sugar altogether, as the maple syrup and dried fruit made the entire dish plenty sweet. The recipe doesn't specify white or brown rice, but I used brown. Wonderful hot out of the oven, or even at room temperature, but the rice tends to stiffen a little if served cold.

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 

ü     Use brown rice instead of white.

Chocoloate Sauce

Not every dessert has to include white flour and/or some sort of fat. Point in case: "Chocolate Sauce" (page 497).  A simple sauce consisting of liquid sweetener, cocoa powder, soymilk, and vanilla extract, warmed and stirred together to dissolve all the ingredients. However, the question still remains, what will this most delicious sauce be used on? That's where you might have to be careful! The first time I made this sauce, I used it to improve the taste of some rather tart strawberries, so all-in-all, not too rich for a dessert. The recipe notes suggest putting the sauce in a plastic squeeze bottle and using it garnish plated desserts for a fancy presentation. I liked the squeeze bottle idea, and it worked superbly for decorating my strawberries!

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 ü     No changes necessary!  J

Ginger-Spice Brownies

The recipe for "Ginger Spice Brownies" (page 437) is definitely a different approach to traditional brownies, but I found the deep and warm flavors of ginger (both fresh and powdered), cinnamon, and allspice combining wonderfully with the chocolate cake base. The chocolate comes from both cocoa powder and chocolate chips. The sweetener is from both molasses and sugar. And if all this wasn't enough, chopped walnuts provide additional richness and texture. This is a complex and sophisticated dessert, and with every bite I found myself focusing on a new dimension of flavor, texture, or aroma. I actually thought the finished product resembled a cake more than brownies, but that might have been because I completely omitted the oil, using puréed prunes instead. The brownies were exquisite still warm out of the oven, but actually seemed to improve upon sitting once they had cooled down, tasting best on the second or third day. This seems to be the case with most no-oil added baked goods - that is, they improve after a day or two. I opted to sprinkle individual servings with powdered sugar, but the recipe suggests poached fruit or a scoop of vegan vanilla ice-cream as possible toppings.

 

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 

ü  Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose (white) flour.

ü  Omit the oil and use an equal amount of puréed prunes (or a jar of baby food prunes), or applesauce.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's hard to imagine anyone who doesn't like "Chocolate Chip Cookies" (page 428), but even when you discover that making them vegan is ridiculously easy, you still have to be careful not to eat an entire batch in one sitting! The challenge with most recipes for vegan cookies is figuring out how to get around the added oil or margarine. This particular recipe calls for an entire cup of margarine, which equates to around 176 grams of fat (gulp!) and over 1500 extra calories. Not to mention, even vegan margarine or shortening is still not health food, and is something I try to minimize. In this recipe, I decided to use a blend of 2/3 cup peanut butter and 1/3 cup applesauce. Not that peanut butter is low-fat by any means, but 2/3 cup only adds 86 grams of fat and around 1000 calories, significantly less than margarine, and adds nutrients such as fiber, protein, and carbohydrates.  But what did I say about being careful about eating too many cookies in one sitting? This still hold true regardless! The peanut butter definitely adds a distinctive flavor to these cookies (which I really liked), and cookies made without butter or margarine definitely have more of a cakey nature than a crunchy cookie, but they are certainly no less delicious! This recipe does not include any "extras" such as walnuts or raisins, just your basic cookie ingredients - flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, etc.

 

Keeping it McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 

• Substitute the one cup of margarine with a blend of 2/3 cup peanut butter and 1/3 cup applesauce.
• Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose (white) flour.
• Instead of oiling the baking sheet, use a non-stick pan, parchment paper, or a silicone product.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

The "Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting" (page 504) is an easy spread that you can whip up in a flash whenever you want a rich frosting for cakes and cupcakes. A simple blend of peanut butter, cocoa powder, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and non-dairy milk yields about 3 cups of delicious frosting. The recipe calls for "thick" dairy-free milk or cream, which often times translates into something containing oil. I opted to use plain soymilk and got good results. The directions call for mixing this in a food processor, but I was able to mix it up in a bowl using a whisk, much easier and less messy.

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 

• Make sure the non-dairy milk is oil-free.

Banana Walnut Cake

As I've mentioned before, trying to recreate healthier versions of traditional desserts can be a bit of a challenge. When you replace the ingredients that most people associate with the familiar texture and consistency of a delicate cake, or a melt in your mouth frosting, you end up with something, while still delicious in its own right, is quite different than the original version. The "Banana-Walnut Cake" (page 448) is a case in point. After switching out the white flour for whole wheat pastry flour, and using apple sauce to replace the oil, what I ended up with was something more like banana bread, rather than cake. Mind you, I am not complaining, not in the least! This healthier version of an already vegan dessert is not only delicious, it is a guilt-free indulgence for those times I am craving a dessert. With three bananas in the batter, the "cake" is already very moist, and using applesauce instead of oil provides a complementary flavor.  The recipe suggests a couple of different toppings, but I chose to frost it with the "Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting" found on page 504, which turned out perfect!

  

Keeping it "McDougall Friendly" checklist:

• Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose (white) flour.
• Substitute 1/3 to 1/2 cup apple sauce for the 1/4 cup oil.
• Use a non-stick cake pan that doesn't need to be oiled before baking.

 

Fresh Cherry-Vanilla Bread Pudding

"Fresh Cherry-Vanilla Bread Pudding" (page 480) was my first experience making a dessert using fresh (as opposed to canned or frozen) cherries. It was a little daunting preparing the two cups of pitted and halved cherries, as I don't have a cherry pitter, but the worst thing that happened was my fingers turned red! J It didn't take as long as I thought it would to split and pit the cherries, and once that was done, the rest was a breeze. Pieces of cubed bread are covered with the prepared cherries and topped off with a blend of soymilk, tofu, sugar, and vanilla extract. Lastly coconut is sprinkled over all and the pudding is baked in the oven. The most surprising thing about this delightful dessert was how the cherries turned a sort of bluish-purple during the bake, and how they dyed the bread this color as well, almost the color of blueberries. I like fresh-fruit based desserts because they tend to be healthier than most, and this was no exception. The one change you could make to make it even healthier is to use whole grain bread instead of white.

 

"Keeping it McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü Use whole grain oil free bread for the "cubes".

Lemon-Lime Teasecake

One of my favorite vegan cookbook authors is Jo Stepaniak. If you haven't already checked out her multiple cookbooks, or her website, "Grassroots Veganism", I urge you to do so today! One of my favorite recipes from her "Vegan Vittles" cookbook is Lemon Teasecake, developed by acclaimed vegan chef Francis Janes, former owner of Ambrosia, a vegan restaurant in Seattle. I was pleasantly surprised to find a slightly different version of this same dessert here, in this case "Lemon-Lime Teasecake" (page 456). The most amazing thing about this "cheesecake", and what nobody would likely ever guess, is that the main ingredient is cooked millet! Cooked millet has similar properties to cooked polenta, in that it firms up quite nicely after cooling down. In this recipe, the cooked millet is processed in a high speed blender with cashews, lemon and lime juices, agave nectar, vanilla and lemon extract. This mixture is poured into a nutty crust, and allowed to chill for several hours before serving. Be prepared for the most pleasant surprise of your life when you take your first bite, you will be astounded! I like to add a spoonful of cherry pie filling to each slice for a special treat, but you could also just use the slivered almonds as a garnish as suggested in the recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Notes:

1. Because the crust recipe provided here calls for ¼ cup of canola oil, and I couldn't think of anyway around this, I opted to use another crust recipe I have that is nut based, but without any added oil.

2. In both versions of this recipe the cooking directions call for cooking the millet for 50 minutes. I have never had to cook it this long. Start checking it after 30 minutes. Millet will really stick to your pot if you cook it for too long, or run out of cooking liquid.

3. The filling in this version of the recipe makes about two cups more than would fit in the crust. I poured the extra into a bowl, chilled it, and served it sans crust, like a lemon pudding.

 

 

"Keeping it McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü  Make or buy an oil free crust. Especially good is a graham cracker style crust if you can find or make an oil free version.

"Buttercream" Frosting

For all of you who have ever made powdered sugar frosting, my variation on the "Buttercream Frosting" (page 503) will be quite familiar. Any recipe that calls for an entire cup of vegan margarine (such as this one) is going to be drastically different in nature once that key ingredient is substituted with something else, or is omitted altogether. By turning a buttercream frosting into a basic powdered sugar frosting, I have probably stretched the limits of recipe conversions. But if you don't mind having a slightly thinner, less creamy frosting for baked goods that are calling out for a sweet topping, this adaptation works quite well. However, you will have better luck if you frost your muffins or cupcakes or slices of cake just before you plan to eat them; otherwise this frosting will "melt" into the baked good over a few hours time. The great news is, you can store the frosting very nicely in the refrigerator until you need it, and frost your treat just as you are serving it up. This recipe has three variations to the basic mixture: Coconut, Spice, and Lemon. I made the Spice version, and used it to frost the "White Cupcakes With Variations (Spice)".

 

"Keeping it McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü  Simply omit the 1 cup of vegan margarine, thereby converting this to powdered sugar frosting instead of "Buttercream". (You won't need an electric mixer to blend the powdered sugar and soymilk, just mix with a fork until everything is smooth and well combined.)

White Cupcakes With Variations (Spice)

Making desserts without added fat can be quite challenging. In the end, you just have to accept the fact that a no-oil-added dessert is going to have a distinctly different character than something made with shortening, margarine, butter, or oil. Once you decide you are okay with that concept, a whole new world of baking opens up, and if you are like me, over time you actually begin to prefer the heartier, earthier flavors of a cupcake or quick bread made with whole grain flours, and not saturated with oil. The "White Cupcakes With Variations" (page 459) were a big hit in my house, although with the alterations I made, they ended up resembling a muffin more than a cupcake. But there you have it - keeping it healthy does by default change the nature of the end product. A very basic recipe, these "cupcake muffins" consist of nothing more than flour, soymilk (turned into "buttermilk" with the addition of vinegar), sugar, leavening, and vanilla extract. Of course the recipe does call for oil, but instead I used applesauce with excellent results. There are three possible variations to the basic white cupcake, as the recipe would suggest: Coconut, Lemon, and Spice (and I wonder, do the variations count in the final tally of 1000 recipes?). I opted to make the spice variety, and also topped them with my own version of the "Buttercream Frosting".  

 

"Keeping it McDougall Friendly" checklist:

 

ü  Use whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour (aka white flour).

 

ü   Instead of using ¼ cup oil, use ¼ to 1/3 cup apple sauce. This is especially nice in the spice variety of this recipe.

 

ü  If you aren't using cupcake liners in your muffin tin, use a non-stick tin such as one made from silicone. Paper liners tend to stick to products cooked without oil initially, but after storing a day or two, will peel off easily.

 

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!