Mini Pumpkin Pies with Almond-Oat Crust

My boyfriend doesn’t have a huge sweet tooth but, come Thanksgiving time, he starts begging for pumpkin pie early and often. While I would love to help him with his seasonal craving, pies are a big commitment when you live in a house of two. After we enjoy our first slices we are still left with a giant portion of pie and are thrown into a race against time to finish it while it’s still good. Plus with the holiday season’s copious amounts of baked goods thrown at you everywhere you go, I wasn’t too keen on adding another calorie laden dessert in our fridge. That’s when the light bulb went on!

What if I could make single serving pumpkin pies that are big enough to satisfy a sweet tooth but won’t leave you feeling like you need to run an extra mile the next morning to justify eating it? The only tricky part came down to the crust. I love the texture and simplicity of a graham cracker crust, but needed to find a way around adding anything processed to the dessert. Also, I wanted a healthy alternative to a traditional crust filled with butter and sugar. The almond-oat crust was my answer. It had the crunch and texture that I was looking for and was just sweet enough with the added honey without needing any butter or sugar (Kele didn’t even notice the missing sugar when he bit in!) The pies did take a bit of time to make, I would say the same amount of time it takes to make full size pie, so don’t let the size fool you into thinking they’re faster. But once I made the recipe the first time, I froze the pie dough and the filling and was able to whip up our single serving desserts again the following week in no time.

Crust
1/2 cup almonds, ground (a mini chopper is great for grounding)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/8 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cold water

Filling
I used Heidi Swanson’s filling recipe at 101 Cookbooks but eliminated the hazelnuts, added an extra tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice blend, used light coconut milk and added crystallized ginger.
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice blend (I used the blend because Trader Joe’s had some for only $1.99 but you can easily substitute this with 1 tablespoon cinnamon and a 1/3 tablespoon of allspice, ground cloves and ground ginger)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 extra large eggs
1 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped crystalized ginger

Toasted almonds, chopped to sprinkle on top
6 ramekins

Makes 6 pumpkin pies.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the crust, combine all of the ingredients up to the cold water. Once your ingredients are mixed together, add cold water one tablespoon at a time to help your mixture clump together. Set aside. For the filling, mix together ingredients through the vanilla in a medium bowl. Once mixed, slowly stir in the coconut milk and eggs, then fold in the ginger. Now take a large tablespoon worth of dough (about the same amount you would use for a cookie) and pat it into the bottom of the ramekin to make an even layer. Pour filling into the ramekin – there is usually an inside rim that serves as a great guideline for where to fill it up to – and put your pies in the oven.

I baked 2 at a time and it took about 35 minutes but increase baking time if cooking more than two. You want the pie to have a firm top but should jiggle just slightly when you pick it up. Let cool, then sprinkle with your chopped, toasted almonds. Delicious if served with a small scoop of vanilla yogurt.

Note: I highly recommend using homemade roasted pumpkin puree while pumpkins are in season as the taste is superior to canned – here is how you roast/prep the puree – but you can substitute canned in a pinch.

Tagged as: almond oat crust, dessert, pumpkin pie, Recipers