Healthy Thanksgiving Dessert

9 Nov, 2011Featured, Pies

Okay, typically I do not choose to care about calories, ingredients, and whether a food in particularly healthy on Thanksgiving. Over the years, Thanksgiving day has just become a free day, but this year we have to be a little more health conscious for my dad’s sake. We are going to stick to our regular food for the most part, however the biggest change will be in our desserts. I will be switching a couple recipes here and there to make sure they are a bit more healthy for this year’s meal. Two of my father’s favorite Thanksgiving dessert treats are pumpkin pie and brownies. So those are getting the healthy overhaul. Aside from that, I’m still giving all the family a free day without hot sauce stuff. If you cannot indulge on Thanksgiving, then when can you? Here is the recipe I will be using to make the pumpkin pie more healthy.

Healthier Pumpkin Pie

Skip the thick pastry crust and use graham crackers instead in this recipe. Also replacing sweetened milk with coconut milk helps add in some health appeal too.

What You’ll Need:

8 oz. graham crackers, crushed
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
1 can coconut milk (15 oz), shaken
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375°.
In a 9 inch pie dish combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter, toss it to coat. After coated, press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of the dish. Bake for seven minutes to toast the crumbs. While you are making the filling, let the pie dish sit on a wire rack.
In a mixing bowl add the pumpkin, coconut milk, brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Blend it all on a medium-high speed until combined.
Pour the filling in the pie crust. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the filling is set.
To cool, transfer the pie to a wire rack. Wait a few hours before serving.