Pumpkin Pie

My absolute favorite Thanksgiving dessert is Pumpkin Pie. So, Gluten-free Thanksgiving 2009 was not going to be without. The scary part about tackling the gluten-free version of this pie was that a) I have never made a regular pumpkin pie before and b) I have never made pie before. Not a problem...I am always trying new things, I can do this.

Yeah...not a problem, until I found out that the night I was planning on making the pie crust (which happens the night before you bake it) I had to participate in a 3 hours conference call from 7-10pm. So, I literally flew through Whole Foods in about 15 minutes after work to gather all my ingredients and then when I got home I tossed all the ingredients in a food processor in about 10 minutes...and you know what? The pie, gluten-free crust and all, was awesome. It was a huge hit. So much so that there was only 1 piece left for the next day, in which I called dibs in about 2 minutes after dessert was over.

Pie Crust: (adapted from Gluten Free Girl)

1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup potato starch
3 tablespoons sweet rice flour
3 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick cold butter
1 large egg
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 ice-cold water

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients, including the sugar and cinnamon. Add to food processor along with the butter (cut into ½ inch pieces). Pulse until butter has turned into small granules. 2. Add the egg and apple cider vinegar and pulse again until incorporated. Then slowly add in water and pulse until dough sticks together (shouldn't be too wet).
3. Drop dough on a big sheet of parchment paper. Top with another piece of parchment. Then with a roller, roll out to form a circle the size of a pie plate.
4. Refrigerate the dough overnight.
5. Next day roll out dough a little bit larger than the pie plate. Then peel off top of parchment; flip over onto the pie plate. Smush the pie dough into the pie plate. Then remove other piece of parchment and with your fingers mold the dough to the exact size of the plate (crust will shrink a bit).




Filling:

3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
15 oz can Pumpkin Puree
12 oz can evaporated milk

1. Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
2. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool and serve or refrigerate and serve next day.