Pumpkin Pie “for dummies”

Growing up on the prairies I was always impressed by my grandmother’s “Impossible Pie”. Milk, eggs, flour, baking powder and coconut (and probably other things) were thrown into a bowl, blended together, poured into a pie plate and baked in the oven. Miraculously what emerged from the oven was a fully-formed pie with a crust, custard filling and firm coconut top. A miracle!

Well I’ve got a recipe for an “Impossible Pumpkin Pie” that is the best I (or others) have tasted and it’s all made in one bowl.

Impossible Pumpkin Pie
1-1/2 cups coconut milk (or soy or almond or whatever, but coconut milk gives it a lot of richness and a great taste)
1 tbsp egg replacer of your choice mixed with 1/4 cup water
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups cooked, mashed, puréed pumpkin (I use canned)
1/2 cup unbleached white flour (or rice flour, but NOT whole wheat flour)
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar (I use a mixture of organic light and dark sugar)
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch deep dish pie pan (I use a spring form pan) with cooking spray, or coat it with Earth Balance (vegetable-based maragine) or your butter replacer of choice.

Place first five ingredients into a deep bowl and use a hand mixer to blend well. If you have an incredibly powerful blender or food processor you could use them, but I find the hand mixer gives the batter more volume).

Add the 2 cups of pumpkin and purée. Add the remaining ingredients and blend on high, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Pour into your pie pan or spring form pan and bake for about 60 minutes. The top and the edges should be brown, but not burnt. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the counter. For best results refrigerate a few hours before consuming. To top this pie see my next recipe for Coconut Whipped Cream Topping (see below).