Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! There are so many things I am grateful for: my friends, my family, my health, my fabulous life in San Francisco, biking, yoga, beautiful views, purple clouds over twilight blue skies, and the abundance of delicious and healthy foods that I have access to like persimmons, chestnuts, bosc pears, green kale...and chocolate!  I got the idea for this chocolate pumpkin pie when I was up late at night, lying in bed planning my Thanksgiving menu in my head!  I knew I wanted to make sweet potato rosemary rolls, herb crusted turkey breast, pomegranate cranberry sauce, shredded brussel sprouts, mashed sweet potatoes, and for dessert I was thinking of making my now famous chocolate cream pie and a pumpkin pie.  But then I had the great idea to combine these two and make a chocolate-pumpkin pie instead!  The chocolate ended up mixing in with the pumpkin filling, giving it a very rich flavor.  Please, enjoy this spicy, sweet, and uniquely delicious pie!

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 cup of gluten free oats
• 1 cup of pecans
• 1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 tbs of brown rice syrup
• 2 tbs of Earth Balance or coconut oil
• 1 tbs of cinnamon
• 1 and 1/2 oz of 100% dark, unsweetened chocolate

Filling:

• 1- 15 oz can of unsweetened pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup or so of maple syrup
• 1/2 cup of coconut milk
• 1 tbs of cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp of all spice
• 1/2 tsp of ground cloves
• 1 1/2 tsp of ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp of salt 
• 3 large eggs

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  
2. In a food processor, grind the oats and nuts until they become tiny crumbs.
3. In a bowl mix together ground oats, nuts, coconut, Earth Balance, brown rice syrup, and cinnamon.
4. Press mixture into a 9 inch pie pan, making it as even as possible.
5. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so until crust is set.
6. Meanwhile, in a double boiler, melt the chocolate down.
7. When pie crust is ready, pour the chocolate into the pie crust and spread across the bottom. Put in the fridge to let chocolate cool.
8. Meanwhile, mix all the other ingredients for the filling together in a large bowl.
9. When chocolate is hard and cool, pour the filling into the crust and bake in the oven for about 50-60 minutes.  (to prevent crust from burning, sprinkle cold water onto the crust a few times throughout the baking.)
10. When pie is firm, take the pie out of the oven and let cool.
11. When ready, serve with some Coconut Bliss Ice cream, or make your own whipped cream by taking the separated coconut fat from a can of coconut milk and whipping it with some vanilla and agave!