Pumpkin Pie and Pie Crust

Last year at Thanksgiving, I was very new at doing gluten-free and I needed to make Thanksgiving as "normal" as possible, especially since we were going to my In-law's to celebrate with them. Pie is a huge thing. We had to have pie! It wouldn't have been fair to have everyone else eating a delicious pumpkin pie, while my daughter sat and watched and ate some boring cookie or something. I was on a mission to make a gluten-free pie. Our store didn't have any gluten-free pie shells, so I made my own pie shell. I didn't really know how to make something other than pumpkin pie, since I could only make a cookie-based crust (kind of like a graham cracker crust).

If you can get your hands on some gluten-free graham crackers, you can substitute those for the cookies in the crust recipe. Jo-Sef makes some really good gluten-free graham crackers.

Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients:
1 box of Pamela's Gluten-free Shortbread Cookies (or you can use the ginger cookies for a different flavor)
6 TBSP margarine, melted
2 tsp. sugar

Directions:
1. Crumb up cookies in food processor. Toss all ingredients together.
2. Press into 8 or 9 inch pie pan


Pumpkin Pie Recipe (from Libby's)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 eggs
1 can pumpkin (Libby's is gluten-free)
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 gluten-free pie crust

Directions:
1. Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in small bowl
2. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar/spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
3. Pour into pie shell
4. Bake in pre-heated 425-degree F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350-degrees F. Bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for two hours.
5. Serve immediately or refrigerate.