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Bill’s Chiffon Pumpkin Pie, Revised

Posted November 26, 2014 by Hayley

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I can hardly believe it. The past couple days we have gotten a few questions about our pumpkin pie recipe.

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This recipe was one of our very first desserts we made when we started blogging, and is also included in our first cookbook, Make it Paleo.

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Bill’s dad’s pumpkin pie is something that no Thanksgiving dinner should be without, so the year we started blogging, we decided to recreate it in a way that we could eat it for Thanksgiving. It’s become a fan favorite, which we didn’t expect at the time, but it really means a lot to us, because that is such a special family recipe.

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Like I said, we have gotten some questions about the pie the past few days, because people are preparing to make this pie for their Thanksgiving meals, and our original recipe doesn’t really look much like the type of desserts we (or anyone in the community) make now. If you haven’t noticed, the grain-free community makes some absolutely stunning baked goods now, and things that are so similar in flavor and texture to wheat based baked goods! This pumpkin pie filling is pretty much perfect to this day, however we got a question about the gelatin we use in the filling. We didn’t even know that Great Lakes Gelatin existed back then (4 years ago), so yes you can absolutely use Great Lakes instead of Knox. We only use Great Lakes grass-fed beef gelatin these days.

The original crust, although delicious, isn’t the prettiest, so that’s where most of the questions came from. When we made that crust we were still using almond meal, instead of blanched almond flour (huge difference, HUGE), and although it is a tasty crust, it doesn’t hold up quite like the crusts we make now, nor was it really enough to fill the pie pan properly. If you follow this blog, and own our cookbooks, you know that I typically blend almond and coconut flour with arrowroot, or tapioca starch, because it yields a much better texture with grain-free baking. I started doing this with recipes in Gather, and my dear friend Brittany Angell taught me a bit more in the last year about using starch in grain-free baking. It’s a real game changer.

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For this revised recipe, we simply swapped the Knox gelatin for Great Lakes, as well as used the crust I made for the Cranberry Hand Pies we posted last week. It turned out better than ever! The hand pie crust makes more than enough to fill a standard pie pan, and make a few decorative mini cut outs for the top of the pie.

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We always top this pie with some piped whipped heavy cream, or whipped coconut cream, because really, what is pumpkin pie without a generous dollop of whipped cream?!

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Thank you all for so much wonderful support over the years, we are so touched that this pie is still loved so much by all of you, and we are just so grateful. We hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with love, joy, laughter, and of course, delicious food!

xoxo,

Hayley and Bill

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Pie Crust

This is the perfect Paleo pie crust for any sweet pie filling.

Serves: 10

Serves: 10decrease servingsincrease servings

Ingredients

Process

Note, these instructions are written assuming the standard serving size, since you have modified the number of servings, these steps may need to be modified for best results
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9" pie pan with palm shortening.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the maple sugar, almond flour, arrowroot flour, sea salt, and baking soda.
  3. Using your hands, add the palm shortening to the dough. Once the shortening is added to the flours, you will have a crumbly dough.
  4. Lightly whisk the egg whites, and add them to the dough, using your hands again to knead the dough, until you have a nicely formed, smooth ball of dough.
  5. Add about 1-2 tablespoons of arrowroot flour to the outside of the dough if it's a touch too sticky.
  6. Press the dough into the pie pan, forming a 1/4"-thick crust.
  7. Bake the pie crust for 20 minutes on the middle rack, in the center of the oven, and allow to cool completely before filling.

Notes

Any remaining dough left over can be used to roll out for miniature holiday cut-outs to decorate the pie. Bake these on a parchment lined baking sheet for 7-10 minutes.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

This beloved holiday recipe is a Staley family tradition, passed down from my grandmother to my father, and now we make a grain-free version! Our original version of this recipe dates back to 2010 on our blog, and also was included in our first cookbook, Make it Paleo. We made the latest version of this recipe with our new Samsung Flex Duo Range and Family Hub Refrigerator ... total game changers! Enjoy this updated version at your next gathering!

Serves: 12

Serves: 12decrease servingsincrease servings

Ingredients

Process

Note, these instructions are written assuming the standard serving size, since you have modified the number of servings, these steps may need to be modified for best results
  1. Make an almond flour pie crust in a 9-inch pie pan.
  2. In a saucepan combine pumpkin puree, maple syrup, salt, Primal Palate Pumpkin Pie Spice, egg yolks, and almond milk.
  3. Whisk thoroughly to combine over medium heat.
  4. Once the mixture begins to steam, whisk in the gelatin a little bit at a time to prevent clumping.
  5. Bring the mixture to a low boil while whisking, then remove from heat, and allow to cool.
  6. Once the pan is cool enough, put the filling in the fridge to chill until it is completely cool, and slightly set.
  7. If the filling sets too much, allow it to come up in temperature slightly which will allow the gelatin to soften enough to fold the egg whites in, and beat with a hand mixer on high for 20-30 seconds to smooth out the mixture.
  8. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks have formed. Gently fold the egg whites into the filling mixture.
  9. Pour filling into pie crust, and smooth the top with an offset spatula.
  10. Cover pie with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until set.
  11. An optional topping is to whip heavy cream and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Notes

Dad says to “'beat the hell” out of the egg whites, which is part of the secret to success with this recipe. He says, “you might think you’re beating them too much, but that’s just the right amount. This recipe can be made 1-2 days ahead of time, but refrain from topping with the heavy whipped cream until just before serving.

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    COMMENTS
    1. sarahanddavidb
      November 26, 2014

      I don’t have maple sugar on hand for the pie crust, should I substitute coconut palm sugar or maple syrup?

      1. Hayley
        Hayley
        November 26, 2014

        You can use coconut palm sugar, or any other granulated sugar you would prefer to use! A liquid sweetener like maple syrup might make the dough too wet.

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