Challenging Times

After talking to our doctor and explaining that my boy didn't tolerate gluten, she suggested doing the blood test for coeliacs disease. This involves 6-8 weeks of consuming large amounts of gluten. So our entire Christmas holidays and part of first term was spent eating copious quantities of gluten and reacting and behaving accordingly. Fun times. For all of that the test was negative, but back to gluten free we went.

This recipe is also a recipe for challenges, but salicylates challenges. I served this at our recent autumn feast and it was loved by all, even those who were very familiar with the version that's loaded with gluten and dairy liked it. This, to me, is proof that the recipe is a winner and it's not your standard aussie dessert.

Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients

Sweet shortcrust pastry (the same recipe that I have used before)

• 340g gluten free plain flour
• a small pinch of salt
• 150g nuttelex
• 90g icing sugar
• 2 eggs beaten

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180℃
2. Sift flour, salt and sugar into the bowl of a food processor add the nuttelex and pulse until the nuttelex is incorporated and you have something resembling bread crumbs.
3. Add the eggs with the motor running and process until a dough starts to form.
4. Tip out onto some cling wrap, knead into a ball, wrap and put in the fridge for at least an hour.
5. Roll the pastry between sheets of baking paper and line a 25cm pie dish trimming the edges.
6. Re-roll the offcuts to make the decoration for the top. As the theme of the day was autumn I cut leafs using some biscuit cutters that I have and some were done free hand to get that leaf pile.
7. Line with baking paper and fill with baking weights or dried beans or rice.
8. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove beads and paper and bake for a further 4 minutes or until the pastry is just cooked, but still pale. Bake the leaves on a tray at the same time. They look better if they have cooked unevenly.

Filling

• 2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin (the round ones are nicer ie. kent, jap, grey, but if you want slightly less salicylates use butternut)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 Tbsp flour (corn starch or another GF flour)
• 1 Tbsp golden syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup rice milk
• 3 beaten eggs

Method

1. combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Mix in pumpkin thoroughly
3. Add milk and eggs and mix in well.
4. Pour filling into pastry shell and bake for approx 40 mins at 180℃

This pie is delicious served solo, but if you have dairy eating friends sharing it with you, whipped cream goes rather nicely with it.

Variations
Gluten- Use white flour
Dairy- Use butter in the pastry and cream in place of the milk in the filling.
Salicylates - With all the spices the salicylate levels are huge, even if you are only having a slice. To tone it down a bit use the butternut pumpkin and reduce the spices. In reality you could still get a really nice flavour with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and a decent shake of nutmeg.

An ode to Autumn