Belated Pumpkin Pie

Black Friday for me was pretty... lame.  I'm glad that I didn't wake up early like I had intended to.  Granted, my version of early was 7 am.  Alex and I managed to eventually roll out of bed and get to the shopping area where I quickly flew off to Bed Bath and Beyond.  For some silly reason I figured that BBB would have spectacular deals, and I would have been one super sad shopper if I had gotten there three minutes later.  The ONLY Black Friday deal they had was 20% off of your entire purchase, if you got there by 10 am that is.  This did end up saving me a grand total of ten bucks, but I had to work hard to find stuff that I actually want/need. This trip to BBB made me realize that BBB sucks when it comes to food prep equipment.  They really don't have anything that I need that is high enough quality for me to actually want it.  I did manage to pick up some "necessities" though (pastry brush, glass cutting board for Alex since he hates our plastic ones, more measuring spoons because I can never have enough, and a pastry mat).

So... I had A LOT of pumpkin puree left over from my cornbread, and I promised Alex that I would make him a pie with it.  I almost changed my mind about making this pie after Alex ate FIVE slices of pie yesterday, but I wanted to make some for myself.  I chose to make this particular recipe because 1) it doesn't require making a legit pie crust and 2) the filling is "paleo" friendly (which means that it contains stuff that only paleolithic people ate- Alex is a fan of this approach to eating).  Wherever a paleo woman ever managed to scrounge up honey, pumpkin pie spice, coconuts, salt, and vanilla extract is beyond me.  Anyway, I wanted to continue to Thanksgiving theme by making this tonight.  I also wanted to use the arrowroot starch that I bought weeks ago, and can't find any recipes with starch in them that I really want to make with it. Oh, and hear is a list of all of the things that I am thankful for, starting with the most obvious.

• my hunk of a man
• my mom- who is my best friend.  No joke.
• all of the other members of my families
• my obese cats
• my horses and all that they have made me become
• the fact that I got into such a great school with a pretty awesome Chinese dept.
• the fact that my mom gained some weight and had to give me her brand-new super coat (thanks mom!)
• the fact that I picked up a love of cooking/baking
• China- for being so bizarre and quirky 
• the fact that I am no longer such a picky eater
• my kitchenaid mixer
• the fact that I finally started a work out that gets me off of the elliptical
• Netflix- best subscription service ever

On with the recipe!

Crust

• 2 cups ginger snap- I made my own using my recipe below (they may or may not have been fudged, but it doesn't matter since why would you make the pedestal better than the item on display?)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup maple syrup

Filling

• 1 ½ cups of pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup coconut milk
• ½ cup honey
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (I used a recipe here to make my own, since I have all of the ingredients and PP spice is pretty expensive for something that you only use during one season and then it goes bad)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Crust
Crush up the gingersnap cookies and combine with the maple syrup and olive oil.  Press into the bottom of a 9x9 pie plate (2 cups of cookies gave me enough crust to fill in the bottom of the plate, but not the sides).  If you are having problems mooshing the crust into the plate, let the crumbs soak a little bit longer in the olive oil and maple syrup.  
Filling
Combine all of the ingredients for the filling in a pretty large bowl and STIR WELL.  I would have used my stand mixer to do this, but it was dirty.  I probably would have saved a bit of time if I had, since I had issues with my arrowroot starch clumping up. 

Pour the filling into the crust.  Bake for about 50 minutes in an oven that has been preheated to 350 degrees.   Cool in the fridge (I found it best after a night in the fridge) and eat with a mound of whipped cream.

I was pretty surprised by this recipe (mainly because it came out actually looking like pumpkin pie).  I was kind of indifferent to the pie after an hour in the fridge, but this morning I couldn't stop myself from going back for a second piece of breakfast pie.