I have been collecting vegan pumpkin pie recipes ever since I became a vegan almost 16 years ago. The funny thing is, I never make pie. My mother-in-law makes pie and she does a very good job! When she enters her pies into a pie contest, she wins first and second prize! So on Thanksgiving she whips out 6 or 8 pies before I could even figure out where to start. Therefore…I don’t make pie. Until now.
We have been doing a Meatless Monday Supper Club once a month as a follow up to the Forks Over Knives Movie. After watching the film many people wanted to change their diets but were not quite sure what to do, so our monthly supper clubs help people try new recipes and learn more about making positive health changes.
This month’s theme was Thanksgiving, I knew everyone would want a really good Pumpkin pie recipe. But, my mother-in-law’s pumpkin pie is not vegan (her apple, peach, and cherry ones are, and yes she makes all of them!) I had to come up with something new. So I chose four recipes that that I had collected to do a throw down.
Enter the contestants…
Pie #1 – Patty’s Foolproof Pumpkin Pie (recipe below) (firm texture more like a traditional pumpkin pie, nice color, had a few cracks)
Pie #2 – Julie’s Mini Pies (recipe here) this recipe has a video so you can watch too. I omitted the sherry and used extra coconut milk to replace the liquid. I also used a traditional crust.(nice texture, dark in color, the most attractive pie, I think)
Pie #3 – Mori Nu’s Pie Recipe (soft texture, light in color)
Pie #4 – Vegan Librarian’s Pumpkin pie (recipe here) I used coconut milk in place of soy milk. (fairly good texture, dark in color but covered with a wonderful pecan streusel topping which made it appear very appetizing but did not look like a traditional pumpkin pie.
The results were mixed, all the pies were good and had redeeming qualities. However, the overall winner was # 1. But some loved the crumble topping on #4 and others insisted # 2 was perfect. I think the least favorite was #3 but one or two loved it. So in the end it is just a matter of preference. My favorite was #1 and I might occasionally put the crumb topping from #4 on #1.
Pie # 1 – Patty’s Foolproof Pumpkin Pie (From Patty Lavanture’s Country Life Cooking School)
- 1 cup soymilk
- 1 cup cane juice crystals
- 1 block Mori-Nu Regular Silken Tofu, extra firm
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon agar powder
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon each: ginger, allspice and cloves
- 15 oz. can pumpkin
- Blend all of the above EXCEPT PUMPKIN for about 2 minutes on HIGH until creamy smooth and warm. Lastly, add pumpkin and mix again, just until blended evenly.
- Pour into UNBAKED pie shell.
- Bake @ 425o for 15 minutes; reduce temperature to 350o and continue baking for 45-50 minutes more. Cool and serve with whipped topping. (May also be served slightly warm – will have a softer texture.)
