Pumpkin Pie With Tofu Whipped Cream

[Guest guest]

> Filling: 1 1/2 cups baked winter squash puree or a 15-ounce can pumpkin

> puree

> 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder

> 1 1/2 cups organic soy milk, rice milk or almond milk

> 1 teaspoon cinnamon

> 1/4 teaspoon each nutmeg and ginger (or 1 teaspoon freshly grated

> ginger)

> 1/8 teaspoon each allspice and cloves

> 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

> 1/2 cup pure maple syrup or another wet sweetener (all or part brown

> rice malt syrup, FruitSource syrup, or barley malt syrup)

> 3 tablespoons agar flakes

>

> Single Crust Cutout Pastry with Glaze

>

> 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

> 3/4 cup unbleached white flour

> 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

> 1/4 cup light vegetable oil (walnut, canola, sesame, almond, sunflower,

> safflower, etc.) Up to 1/4 cup wet or dry sweetener, e.g. 1 to 4

> tablespoons brown rice syrup, FruitSource syrup, pure maple syrup,

> barley malt, or sorghum syrup; or granular FruitSource, maple syrup

> granules or evaporated sugar cane juice (optional).

> Up to 1/2 cup water, apple juice or cider, or organic soymilk, less

> (none to 1/4 cup) with wet sweeteners, more (1/4 to 1/2 cup) with dry

> sweeteners

>

> Glaze: This new glaze creates a golden sheen without a milk or egg

> wash.

> Glazing the pie before it is baked is not as effective > virtually

disappears (as doing so towards the end of baking).

>

> 1 tablespoon brown rice syrup or FruitSource syrup

> 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons water

>

> Tofu Cream (optional):

> Makes 2 1/3 cups

>

> 1 pound organic tofu, fresh and firm or medium

> 1/2 cup pure maple syrup or part brown rice syrup

> 1 tablespoon vanilla

> Nutmeg for garnish

>

> 1. To prepare the squash, place it either whole or halved and cut side

> down on a baking sheet. (Halving the squash cuts the cooking time in

> half, but leaving large hard squashes whole makes for a happy cook.)

> Bake squash at 450° until quite soft when pierced with a fork or knife,

> 20 minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on the size of the squash (and

> longer at a lower temperature, e.g. 350°). Discard skin or shell and

> seeds. Puree squash. You may need to add a tablespoon of water if

> squash is quite dry (e.g. kabocha squash). Measure yield; a pound of

> squash yields around 1 cup of puree.

>

> 2. Turn heat down to 350°. To prepare pastry, mix the dry ingredients

> (flours, salt, and dry sweetener if included). Stir in the oil until

> lumps or beads of dough form, or until it resembles coarse meal. Add

> wet sweetener if desired (be sure the syrups are at room temperature

> for ease in handling). Then add the liquid (water, juice or soymilk)

> gradually. Mix quickly until you have a somewhat soft, pliable ball in

> the center of the bowl. Add a little more flour if necessary.

>

> 3. Pinch off 1/4 to 1/3 the dough for making pastry cutouts. With

> cookie cutters, cut out 10 shapes, one for each serving, or enough

> shapes to partially cover the surface of the filling. A medium-large

> autumn leaf cutter is delightful used this way. Place cutouts on a

> baking sheet lined with parchment paper or brushed with oil.

>

> 4. Roll out bigger portion of dough in a circular shape between sheet s

> of waxed paper; sprinkle flour over the bottom sheet and on top of the

> dough. Transfer to a lightly-oiled pie plate. With your fingers or

> scissors, trim off the excess dough to within a finger¹s width of the

> rim, leaving enough to fold over toward the inside of the pan to form a

> rim. If the dough tears, patch it with a small disc of dough (the

> reliable cut-and-paste technique). Crimp the edges or simply score the

> edges with a fork. Bake the pastry and cutouts for 8 minutes. Mix the

> glaze ingredients and brush over the rim of the pastry starting from

> the inside edge. Take care not to let glaze run between rim and pan

> where it could stick. Brush tops of leaves too. Return the pie and

> pastry leaves to the oven until golden, 5 to 10 minutes more.

>

> 5. To make the filling, place the arrowroot powder in a small bowl with

> enough of the measured liquid (one of the milks) to cover generously.

> Place the remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and whisk to

> submerge agar. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally, and simmer until

> agar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Whisk arrowroot mixture into hot

> liquid and return to a simmer to thicken.

>

> 6. Whisk the hot liquid with the squash puree and transfer filling to

> pastry. Filling gels refrigerated or at room temperature. Decorate

> surface with pastry cutouts.

>

> 7. To prepare the tofu whipped cream, blend the ingredients until

> creamy smooth. This takes about a full minute in a food processor.

> Spoon a large dollop (a little less than 1/4 cup) on top of each

> serving of pie, or squeeze the cream through a pastry bag with a small

> tip for a more decorative effect. (Refrigerate the cream if you need to

> firm up the texture.) Garnish with nutmeg.

>

> Remarks:

>

> Meredith McCarty (author of this recipe) prefers to use freshly- baked

> sweet winter squash for her " pumpkin " pies. The color is richer and the

> flavor is naturally sweeter than canned or even fresh sugar pie pumpkin

> puree. (Squash is the main ingredient in canned pumpkin puree.)

> Baking enhances the sweetness of butternut squash, the variety most

> widely available. When pureeing in a food processor, add water to very

> dry squash to make it thick, smooth and creamy. This no-bake recipe

> uses soymilk for a custardy filling texture. Both agar sea vegetable

> flakes (for a gelled consistency) and arrowroot starch (for the creamy

> smooth consistency) are used to create the great mouth-feel. Since

> commercial pumpkin pie spice may contain sugar, dextrose and extractive

> of spice, look for a more natural combination of cinnamon, ginger,

> nutmeg and allspice. Or measure your own as in this recipe.

>

>

>

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