Recipe adapted from Cathy Fisher, shared at Dr. McDougall.com
Serves 6-8
Directions for filling:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Grind the rolled oats into flour with a blender and transfer to a small bowl. Or use a scant 1/2 cup of oat flour. If you want a softer custard filling, you may use less oat flour.
- Place the nondairy milk, dates, and vanilla into the blender and let it set 15-30 minutes to soften the dates.
- Add the pumpkin or sweet potato to the blender with the milk mixture and blend untill smooth.
- Add the oat flour, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves or nutmeg to the blender mixture, and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides a couple of times.
- Pour the pie filling into the pre-baked pie crust and smooth out evenly. Arrange the pecans halves around the outer edge of the pie and the chopped pecans in the middle.
- Wrap a few 3-inch-wide strips of aluminum foil around the edge of the pie crust to keep them from over-browning. Do not touch the filling with the foil.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, testing the filling, which should puff very slightly. Cool completely before slicing.
Note: To bake sweet potato, place unpeeled on a baking sheet and bake at 400F for 60-70 minutes or until very soft when pierced with a knife.
Directions for Pecan-Date Pie Crust (which tastes like a sweet, crumbly cookie):
Preheat oven to 375F; will use a 9” inch pie pan
- Place the oats, pecans, and cinnamon in a food processor and process until the texture resembles coarse flour. Add the dates and process for about 1 minute, or until the mixture just begins to clump together. Add the milk and process until the mixture starts to ball up into dough (this will happen quickly).
- Form the dough into one big ball and place it on a large piece of parchment paper on a large cutting board or other flat surface. [I drew a large circle on the parchment paper using the rim as a guide and flaring the pencil somewhat]. Press the ball flat with your hands and then place another large piece of parchment paper over the top.
- Set aside a 9” pie pan.
- Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a circle slightly larger than the upper edge of the pie pan. Pushing in irregular area and filling in gaps works well with this dough.
- Peel of the top piece of parchment paper and with one hand under the dough center the inverted pie pan over the dough and flip the paper/dough into the pie pan, easing in the interior edges. Peel off the top piece of parchment and gently form the crust to fit and press into place. No need to poke this crust with a knife.
- Place a piece of aluminum foil over the entire crust, loosely tucking under the corners. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned.
