Nearly a decade ago, as their allergy-friendly, soft-baked cookies swept the nation, Enjoy Life Foods shared a delicious recipe for gingerbread pumpkin pie with us. It was the first of its kind that I’d seen with an option to be egg-free, but the best eggless option still wasn’t clear. So I turned to our resident vegan pie expert, Hannah, and asked her to whip up the tastiest, easiest vegan version of this gingerbread pumpkin pie.
This gingerbread pumpkin pie recipe update is sponsored by Enjoy Life Foods. They wanted to make sure this delectable dessert could be loved by all! The new photos shown here are by Hannah Kaminsky.
Originally, it was more of a humble pumpkin pie in a gluten-free gingerbread crust. But Hannah opted to amp up the spices in the filling for a more cohesive spiced flavor throughout.
The crust worked out “magically” with no modifications needed, and the filling came together “painlessly” with a simple aquafaba swap. But don’t worry; there aren’t any beany notes in this gingerbread pumpkin pie. It’s pure sweet and spicy goodness. Just ask Hannah’s coworkers. Vegan or not, they happily enjoyed every last slice.
Special Diet Notes: Vegan Gingerbread Pumpkin Pie
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian, and generally top food allergy-friendly.
- 1 box Enjoy Life Gingerbread Spice Soft Baked Cookies, finely ground (about 1 ½ cups crumbs)
- ½ cup gluten-free flour blend (tested with Enjoy Life All-Purpose Flour Mix)
- ¼ cup palm shortening (like Spectrum) or coconut oil, melted
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 to 3 teaspoons water
- 1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¾ cup aquafaba (you will need 1 to 2 cans of chickpeas)
- ¼ cup tapioca starch
- Preheat your oven to 375°F and lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate.
- Add the cookie crumbs and flour mix to a medium bowl, and stir to combine.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the melted shortening or oil, molasses, and salt.
- Drizzle the wet ingredients over the dry, and stir until coarse clumps form. Slowly sprinkle in the water, adding just enough to bring the whole mixture together.
- Press the mixture into your prepared pie plate, smoothing it evenly up the sides and across the bottom.
- Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, to set the crust. if it has puffs up and/or slides, while still hot, take the side of a metal measuring cup or a drinking glass to press it back into place.
- Place all ingredients in your blender, and blend until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust and smooth out the top.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake the pie for 50 to 60 minutes. It should look set around the edges but still jiggle slightly in the center when tapped, much like a cheesecake.
- Cool completely. Serve warm or refrigerate until chilled. Refrigeration will allow it to further set up.
30 Comments
I have never hear of this aquafaba. What is it?
Here’s my post on aquafaba with full details -> https://www.godairyfree.org/food-and-grocery/aquafaba
Hi there! This looks great but I’m really not a fan of molasses…can I use maple syrup instead? Thanks!
In the crust? Yes, that should work fine, but it might be a little wetter / stickier, since the maple is thinner.
Looks good! Does the aquafaba need to be whipped at all? This is my first time trying it. Thanks!
Hi Susan, you’re whipping it in the blender! So no, you don’t need to whip then blend – enjoy 🙂
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This looks so uber delicious! Love the gingerbread crust!
This is such a lovely pie, and those pictures are gorgeous! Can’t wait to make this… I have the cookies in my cupboard right now 😉
Aren’t they? I hope you do get the chance to make it Chrystal – SO good!
I admit that gingerbread is not one of my favorite flavors, but everyone else in the house would be over the moon with this dessert!
Really? Well, I have a straight up pumpkin pie for you, too, Amanda 🙂
I really need to make this! It fits with all of the allergens we avoid. What a creative way to make a pie. Thank you so much for sharing!
So glad it hits the mark with your family Lindsey!
Oh that looks so tasty! The cookies for the crust was a great idea.
Isn’t that genius?! I’m definitely making that one again for another pie.
So many great flavors in one pie. Even better on the vegan take!
So I went to a cafe in Fort Collins with a friend and we had the most delicious Stout Gingerbread. Ever since then I have been on a gingerbread kick. This pumpkin pie should satisfy my quest for more gingerbread. A plus is that it looks so easy with Enjoy Life Cookies. Now the aquafaba is a new one in pumpkin pie for me. So intrigued … I have some frozen in the freezer needing to be used up.
Oh yes, that cafe! I must get the name of it from you. Yes, I think aquafaba is probably the best swap in pie I’ve seen yet for egg-free.
I would have never thought to use those cookies as a crust, even though they’re my favorite cookies. What a great idea!
Right? That’s the crafty Enjoy Life team at work with that inspiration.
I love the ingredients used for the pie crust. Adding the molasses is brilliant! I bet it really gives a great flavor to the ginger cookie crust! Thanks for sharing.
You really can’t ever go wrong with molasses. That’s one of my favorite sweeteners!
Alisa, what a cool idea to use those gingerbread cookies for the pumpkin base! We love the Enjoy Life line of products, and their mini-chips are fabulous.
Honestly, I’d never thought soft cookies would work in the crust – it was Enjoy Life’s original crust recipe – so we were surprised and pleased with how well it worked!
This looks great! I have never used aquafaba, but it might be about time to give it a try!
For egg-free, it’s pretty cool and definitely worth trialing.
I just love anything gingerbread! So good to combine the 2 classic holiday flavor favorites
You and me both Rebecca!
This looks so good! I love pumpkin pie.