Shut Up and Eat.: Oh My, Pumpkin Pie!

It's Fall. Only the best time of the year. The weather is perfect. The leaves are gold, red, and brown. Starbucks is finally bringing back the Pumpkin Spice Latte, which I have recently taken full advantage of. For the women, Riding boots are becoming acceptable to wear again. For men, legging season is back, be happy. And everyone just seems to be in a better mood :) Why not add a homemade clean pumpkin pie to the mix?

I got the urge to make said pumpkin pie the moment my pumpkin spice grande latte was called by the Starbucks lady. That first taste of pumpkin, spice and everything nice is, in my opinion, like a liquid hug. Perfection. I knew right then and there I had to make a pumpkin pie. I would be dishonoring the best season if I didn't! So in true Laura fashion, I woke up way too early on a Sunday morning, had my breakfast and decided the next logical thing to do was to make a pumpkin pie.

Best Sunday morning ever.

My whole apartment smells like nutmeg, cinnamon and pumpkin right now. I am proud to say I did not use an ounce of sugar anywhere in this recipe. But the pie still tastes amazing! For those of you concerned about calories, 1/8 of this pie comes to about 192 calories. Not too shabby for a scrumptious pumpkin pie! And com'on! Who doesn't love pumpkin pie?!? I had several friends tell me this week that I had to save them a piece because it's just that good. So if you have a Sunday coming up where you feel like doing a little baking before you're friends or family wake up, MAKE THIS PIE.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour, plus additional for work surface

1 tsp Truvia (Or any sweetener of choice)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup Almond milk, or low-fat milk

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Pumpkin Pie Filling

2 cups prepared pumpkin
1/2 cup agave or honey
4 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk (you can substitute unsweetened soy, almond or rice milk)

Prepare the Crust

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, combine flour, Truvia, salt and baking powder.

Mix thoroughly.

In a measuring cup, whisk together milk, egg yolk, oil and vinegar. Whisk just enough to combine ingredients.

Slowly pour liquid into dry ingredients. The mixture will be partially crumbly, but will stick together when squeezed.

Pour dough out onto a well-floured surface. Squeeze dough together into a mound and pat it down into a disc, about 1/2-inch thick. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out until 12 inches in diameter. Set rolling pin at bottom edge of dough and gently roll dough onto pin, so that dough drapes over pin. Transfer dough to pie dish. Gently press dough into the edges of the dish and up the sides. Fold excess dough under and pinch, creating a roughly 1/2-inch rim. Using your fingers, or with the tines of a fork, crimp entire rim. Poke dough all over with a fork to create steam holes.