Pumpkin Pie with a Pecan Reishi Cardamom Crust
This festive pumpkin pie recipe is a perfect treat for any holiday, naturally grain free and refined sugar free, not to mention sooooo good! It’s tweaked with adaptogens like wild pine pollen and reishi that boost resilience, immunity, and mood, and contains lots of tasty healthy fats required for your body to create hormones. There’s even a grain free crust infused with fragrant medicinal cardamom, and all you need is a food processor to blend the filling. What better autumnal pie to make than this?
Ingredients you’ll need for this pumpkin pie with a pecan reishi cardamom crust
This pumpkin pie recipe is a vast upgrade from the usual drab, canned pumpkin pies of yesteryear which often contain wheat, refined sugars, industrial seed oils, added flavours, and factory farmed dairy. Not this pie! Instead of a holiday food coma and bloating, the ingredients in this pie will have you feeling energized and great afterwards, all year round.
For the crust
Raw pecans or walnuts (preferably activated overnight in salt water for better digestion – I used brain boosting walnuts for the bottom crust and garnished the finished pie with pecans, but you could use one or the other, or both combined)
Grass fed goat butter from my local organic farmers, or virgin cold pressed coconut oil for a dairy-free option
Pasture raised egg
Cardamom powder
Ceylon cinnamon
Sea salt – I used Peruvian mountain salt, which at the time of writing has the least microplastics, heavy metals, etc. Icelandic or Mayan sea salt are also great low-toxin options.
Roasted pumpkin purée, blended in a food processor
Maple syrup or Medjool dates
Wildcrafted pine pollen powder (optional)
Grass fed collagen powder (optional)
Reishi (dual extracted powder or tincture, optional) – I like the Surthrival brand as it’s dual extracted and wildcrafted or wood grown, and sourced somewhat locally in the northeastern US. Superfeast is great too – use code ROOTTOSKY10 for 10% off at Superfeast! Both brands house their precious tonic herbs in violet Miron glass that preserves the integrity of the herbs, keeping artificial light out and letting sunlight in.)
For the pumpkin pie filling
Roasted pumpkin purée
Grass fed butter, or coconut oil
Pasture raised eggs
Lemon juice
Ceylon cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ground ginger (or a pre-made pumpkin spice mix)
Maple syrup
Sea salt
Vanilla bean
Grass fed collagen powder (optional)
Reishi – dual extracted powder or tincture (optional)
Wildcrafted pine pollen powder (optional)
How to make this pumpkin pie with a pecan reishi cardamom crust
It’s always good to have your pumpkin purée roasted and blended all nicely and ready to go before you begin the actual pie. Carefully cut a small sugar pumpkin into medium sized chunks (winter squash also works!), then roast it for 30-40 minutes on a tray lined with unbleached parchment paper at 400 F to get it all soft. Let it cool to room temp, peel off the tough skin, and blend the pieces in a food processor with a splash of water to make a purée.
In fact, whenever fall rolls around, I always have a few batches of frozen roasted pumpkin purée in the freezer ready to go for baking, soups, etc. Since the canned stuff usually contains BPA or phthalates that seep into the food from the can lining, I make my own from scratch and freeze any extra in silicone or glass containers.
For making the actual pie: preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease your pie pan with some coconut oil or grass fed butter. Make the crust first, and blend the pecans/walnuts into a flour in a food processor. Mix the wet with the dry crust ingredients, spread it evenly on the bottom and sides of the pan, and par bake that shiz (see below). Remove and let it cool.
Make the filling by blending up everything in the food processor until it creates a fine paste. Plop the paste into the center of the pie crust, and spread it out evenly with a spatula. Bake the whole thing for 45-50 minutes, or until top is golden, crispy, and no longer shiny. Serve with a dollop of maple sweetened coconut kefir, extra cinnamon sprinkle, or extra chopped toasted pecans.
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Happy fall baking!
Pumpkin Pie with a Pecan Reishi Cardamom Crust
Equipment
- Pie pan (about 8-10 in. diameter)
- food processor
Ingredients
Pecan reishi crust ingredients
- 1/4 cup grass fed butter or organic virgin cold pressed coconut oil
- 1 1/2 cups organic pecans and/or walnuts activated
- 1/2 tsp organic cardamom powder
- 1/2 tsp organic Ceylon cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 pasture raised organic egg
Pumpkin pie filling ingredients
- 2 cups roasted organic pumpkin purée
- 1/3 cup grass fed butter or organic virgin cold pressed coconut oil melted
- 1/4 cup organic maple syrup
- 3 organic pasture raised eggs
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed organic lemon juice
- 1 tsp organic vanilla bean
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp organic pumpkin pie spice mix, or 1 tsp each of organic Ceylon cinnamon, nutmeg, ground clove, and ground ginger ("pumpkin spice")
- 2 tbsp grass fed collagen optional
- 1 tsp organic/wild, dual extracted reishi powder or 1 full dropper reishi tincture, optional
- 1 tbsp wild pine pollen powder optional
- toasted, chopped organic pecans or maple sweetened coconut kefir to garnish
Instructions
Roasted pumpkin purée
- Preheat your oven to 400F. Cut up your pumpkin into 1-2 inch chunks, and roast it for 30-40 minutes. Let it cool to room temperature, peel off the tough skin, and blend it all into a fine purée in a food processor, adding a splash of filtered water as needed to thin it out. Rinse out and dry the food processor.
Pecan reishi cardamom crust
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease your pie pan with a thin layer of butter/coconut oil.
- In the food processor, blend to reduce the pecans/walnuts into a flour. To the food processor, add the dry ingredients first: cardamom, cinnamon, and sea salt. Blend to combine evenly with the nut flour. Add the wet ingredients last: the remaining butter/coconut oil, and egg. Blend again to combine into a paste.
- With a spatula, spread the paste into an even layer on the base and sides of the pie pan. Par bake the crust for 10 minutes, then remove and let it cool.
Pumpkin pie filling
- Preheat the oven to 350 F again. While the crust bakes, simply blend all pie filling ingredients until it's super smooth: pumpkin purée, melted butter/coconut oil, maple syrup, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla bean, sea salt, pumpkin spices, and collagen, reishi, and pine pollen, if using.
- With a spatula, scrape out the filling into the center of the baked pie crust. Spread it out evenly, then pop it into the oven for 40-50 minutes. Keep an eye on the pie, it may take more or less time depending on the size of the pie pan or if you doubled the recipe. The pie surface should be golden and crispy without any shine or jiggle, and the top will be quite cracked. Enjoy!
Notes
- I highly suggest making batches of the pumpkin purée ahead of time, as it’ll make the baking process much quicker. Carefully cut up a sugar pumpkin or small winter squash into 1-2 inch chunks. Roast it at 400 F for 30-40 minutes on a tray, let it cool, peel off the skin, and blend it in a food processor with a splash of filtered water to thin it out as needed. Freeze batches in silicone or glass containers, or use right away.
- The amount of maple syrup I used is just a guideline, if you’d like to use more, go ahead, if you cannot do sugars/sweeteners at all, omit completely
- If you don’t tolerate eggs you can easily substitute an equal amount of chia/flax eggs. Simply soak 1 tbsp chia or ground flax seed in 3 tbsp filtered water for at least 5 minutes for each chia/flax “egg”. Scale up according to the amount of eggs you’re using.