Low-Carb Praline Pumpkin Pie

We're having a fellowship at church tomorrow evening. In light of my recent attempts to eat more sensibly, I thought I'd make a dessert that I can eat. I'm also making a pasta salad using the Dreamfield's rotini noodles, and I've already put half a pig through the smoker, so I know for sure that there will be at least 3 things there that I can eat, enjoy, and not feel too terribly guilty about. There's usually an abundance of veggie trays, too, so I'll be good to go providing I can stay out of the potatoes. Darn those potatoes, anyway. Why do they have to taste so good? Rhetorical question, folks. They taste so good because I'm not supposed to eat very much of them. Simple, really.

This is the recipe for the dessert - a pumpkin pie in a pecan praline crust. Not a scrap of flour to be found in the rascal. I found the recipe I based it on at http://www.cdkitchen.com/. Of course, I can't leave any recipe alone, I've got to tweak it. That's just what I do. Sometimes I even remember to write the tweaks down, but usually not. The pie is in the oven right now, and my house smells so wonderful, it's hard to think of this as a low-carb thing. I would guess that if you're not really watching your carbs, you could use regular sugar. This is not a low-fat recipe, but hey, if you cut out everything that's bad for you all of the time, you end up with sawdust, and who wants that?

Here's the recipe as post at cdkitchen. My changes are in blue.

Low-Carb Praline Pumpkin Pie
Serves 12
Prep: About 10 minutes
Bake: About 1-1/2 hours total

Ingredients:
***Praline Crust***
2 tablespoons hot melted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup sugar substitute (recommended: Splenda) - I used Splenda Granulated
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
I doubled the crust recipe and quadrupled the cinnamon (1/2 tsp total). When I make this again, I'll also use one more Tbsp of butter as the crust turned out a little on the dry side, which made patting it into shape a challenge.

***Pie Filling***
1 can (15-ounce size) no sugar added pumpkin filling
I couldn't find no sugar added pumpkin filling, so I just used 100% pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar substitute (recommended: Splenda) - I used Splenda Granulated
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, plus 1 dash
1 1/4 cup heavy cream - I used heavy whipping cream
4 eggs
The filling wasn't quite sweet enough, probably because I used plain pumpkin, so I added 1/4 cup Splenda brown sugar. Mmmmm.... tasty!

***Low Carb Whipped Cream***
1 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar substitute (recommended: Splenda)
1 teaspoon no sugar added vanilla extract -yeah, watch your vanilla for corn syrup or sugar! I didn't know it was in there until I read labels at the grocery tonight. Scary how much stuff has corn syrup in it.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the crust: Mix all crust ingredients together in a small bowl. While mixture is still warm from the butter, press it evenly into the bottom of a deep-dish pie pan. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until browned. Remove piecrust from oven. I took the extra crust and patted it up the sides of the pie pan, too.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Make the filling: Place all filling ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well with a wire whisk. Pour filling into prebaked piecrust. I took pecan pieces and spread them around the edge of the pie. This served two purposes: A, it alerts people to the fact that there are nuts in the pie, which is important if somebody has an allergy, and B, it just looks pretty. Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Continue to bake for an additional 50 to 55 minutes. To test for doneness, stick a toothpick in the center; if it comes out clean, the pie is done.

Cool and then chill before serving. To serve, top each slice with a dollop of low carb whipped cream.

Low Carb Fresh Whipped Cream: With an electric mixer on high, whip the heavy cream just until frothy. Then add in the sugar substitute and vanilla extract and continue to whip on high until peaks form. Be careful not to over-whip, or cream will break. Transfer to a pastry bag or just spoon onto pie.

Nutrition Information Nutritional Analysis per Serving Calories 241 Total Fat 24 grams Saturated Fat 12 grams Carbohydrates 7 grams Net Carbohydrates 6 grams Fiber 1 gram These numbers will change since I modified the crust recipe.

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I just pulled it out of the oven. It looks and smells divine. It puffed up quite a bit during baking, but it's falling back down as it cools. I just took the picture that is at the top of the post. I submitted it to the website, too, since they don't have a picture of the pie. I don't know if I'll mess with the low-carb whipped cream or not. Probably will since I have all of the stuff to make it, and nothing else to do with it.

Another find at the grocery tonight was unsweetened coconut. I know, what's so exciting about that? Just try to find some when you've got a really cool coconut recipe to try out. It barely exists here locally, and I'm usually in a hurry to try the recipe and don't want to take the time to order some in. Of course, now that I've found some, can I remember the recipes? Um, no. Must be early-onset senility or something similar. :o)

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Edit added Monday, September 3, 2007 -

Oh.... My..... Gosh......

This is simply the best pumpkin pie I've ever made, with or without sugar. It's moist and flavorful. I made the mistake of putting a little flag on it at the church social that identified it as sugar-free. Hardly anybody touched it. Silly people. They just don't know what they're missing... but, on the plus side, that leaves plenty for me and Jack... :o) I know, I'm selfish. What can I say?

This pie doesn't need whipped cream, or anything else on it for that matter. It tastes wonderful just the way it sits. I've had some pies that you had to have the whipped cream on them in order to choke them down, but not this one. Very tasty just the way it is.