Coconut Kissed Pumpkin-Persimmon Pie with Millet Carob Crust

Coconut-Kissed Pumpkin Persimmon Pie with Carob Millet Crust

Coconut-Kissed Pumpkin Pie with Banana

(Or, “My, My, Me Oh My, I Love Pie”)

Does anyone remember the John Travolta movie Michael about an angel who behaves most unlike an angel? Nora Ephron wrote the screen play. Pie is very important to the plot of that movie and its off-beat treatment of disillusion and faith. So if you’ve never seen it, or if you have seen it, and the little song Andie McDowell’s character Dorothy sings on Michael’s command about loving pie is something that you have sung to yourself over the years every once in a while (come on, you know you have), then I hope you’ll enjoy this scene from the movie when her pie ditty first appears all over again.

Now that we know how to sing about pie, let’s go on and learn how to make one that those of us who need to be gluten, sugar and flour free to keep feeling good can enjoy.   This unique pie is a delicious holiday treat for anyone. But it’s especially for my internet friends who can’t have the things that usually go into more traditional vegan pies (like sugar, flour, gluten, soy or oil), and also for my non-banana eating friends. Because everyone should be able to celebrate with a little treat over the holidays, and not have to pay for it with a bout of serious pain or debility. And there’s just something about pie, that is, so, well, fun. And, like the song goes,  “me oh my,” it  sure does remind me “I love pie.”  (And, if you can’t find or don’t like persimmons or bananas, read on to find out about yet another option.)

       Print Recipe    

The first time I made this version of pumpkin pie, I was going to use leftover homemade date paste to sweeten it, but alas, I only had less then 1/4 of a cup and it just wasn’t enough (which I discovered in the middle of adding it). So it was ripe banana to the rescue. I threw in half a banana and a tbs of maple syrup. Here’s what that pie looks like:

It’s yummy too, and a little darker and more dense. I think that’s because the banana darkens as it cooks and acts more like an egg than the persimmon. Also, in this version I used potato starch (by mistake), which is the thickest of all the starches. And no coconut milk, just almond milk and coconut extract. The crust did not have any fruit in it. I wanted to try just the sweetness of the carob, so I added a little more of that. I like it fine, it tasted really good, but it stuck to the pan, as you can probably tell in this photograph:

That’s why in the persimmon version I added a little fruit rather than more carob, and “greased” pan pie pan with less than 1/4 teaspoon of almond butter. It came right up off the pan and stayed together. If some of you are telling yourselves you will make this with cocoa powder instead of carob, remember that carob powder is sweeter than cocoa powder so you will probably need to have sweetener of some kind in your crust.

If you wanted a more rich and calorie dense pie,  you could try using all coconut milk or more coconut in the crust. But honestly, that might be over the top in taste as well as calories. This little bit of reduced fat coconut  and milk and/or extract is more than enough to give just a light kiss of coconut. More than that might overpower the taste of the pumpkin and the fruit and cause you to add more sugar. . .and on down the slippery slope, which is fine, if that’s where you want to go. I like staying here, though, where I can have two pieces at a time if I like and no regrets. Rich as it looks, this pie is a bit like those so called two-ingredient cookies. You can have a lot if you want to.

And now that I’ve sung the praises of this pie, I have a confession to make. I came up with this to begin with because one of my favorite fall desserts has become a dessert dish  full of cooked leftover squash with a dollop of the carob fudge from A Tale of Two Ingredient Cookies on top of it, and maybe a sprinkle of ginger, cinnamon, or cloves. But that’s too weird to bring to Aunt Millie’s, right? So I made it into a pie. For extra guilt free decadence, make a little extra of that fudge and put a spoonful on top of a wedge of pie. Oh me, oh my.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I’m so blessed to get to write for such amazing readers. Thank you for helping me have so much fun!!