My Family's Favorite Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

My family has loved homemade pumpkin pie forever. Over the years, we've tried several store and restaurant pumpkin pies, but we keep going back to our favorite pie ever: Libby's. Thankfully, this recipe is also naturally gluten free(!)—as long as you use gluten-free spices too. Here's the recipe, direct from the can!

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie

(Makes 2 pies, 16 servings) 

1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs
1 can (29 ounce) Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
2 cans (12 ounces each) Carnation Evaporated Milk
2 unbaked 9-inch (4 cup volume) deep-dish pie shells 

Mix sugar, salt cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. 

Pour into pie shells. 

Bake in preheated 425°F. oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350°F.; bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. (I usually cook them about 55 minutes) Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

For the pie crusts, I used America's Test Kitchen's recipe found in The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook. It's literally the best pie crust recipe I've used. I've also tried various pie crust mixes, and there is truly no comparison to this recipe! This gluten-free pie crust dough actually feels and tastes very similar to regular gluten-containing pie crusts! I was so happy to have pie crusts that don't crumble when you cut into the pie!

America's Test Kitchen Gluten-Free Double-Crust Pie Dough

(Obviously, just use one crust for each pie!) 

5 tablespoons ice water
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 and 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons America's Test Kitchen Gluten-Free Flour Blend*
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces and frozen for 10-15 minutes 

Combine ice water, sour cream, and vinegar together in bowl. Process flour blend, sugar, salt, and xanthan gum together in food processor until combined, about 5 seconds. Scatter butter over top and pulse mixture until butter is size of large peas, about 10 pulses. 

Pour half of sour cream mixture over flour mixture and pulse until incorporated, about 3 pulses. Pour remaining sour cream mixture over flour mixture and pulse until dough just comes together, about 6 pulses. 

Divide dough into 2 even pieces. Turn each piece of dough onto sheet of plastic wrap and flatten each into 5-inch disc. Wrap each piece tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. Before rolling out dough, let it sit on counter to soften slightly, about 15 minutes. (Dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days.)

*America's Test Kitchen Gluten-Free Flour Blend

24 ounces (4 and 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup) white rice flour
1 and 2/3 cup brown rice flour
1 and 1/3 cup potato starch/flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch/flour
3 tablespoons nonfat milk powder 

Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined. Transfer to airtight container and freeze. (I use a Ziplog gallon bag.)

*I didn't use a food processor when I made this pie crust, I used a regular Kitchen-Aid hand mixer—you know, the ones with two beaters you can remove and lick! ;) You see, there's no need to worry about over-mixing gluten-free flour—and making the pie crust tough—because there's no gluten in it! So, just continue mixing until the dough comes together. Also, I didn't refrigerate the dough for very long and everything worked very well! Although, I'm sure if you follow ATK's recipe exactly, you'll have even better results than I did—and mine were pretty fantastic!!! :)

Here are some photos of my happy pie progress!

I used the extra dough to make pie crust cookies, a childhood favorite of mine! :)

Our gluten-free pie crust cookies were so yummy!

Seeing this photo of my happy pies fills my heart with such joy!

Oh, and I made real whipped cream for our yummy pies, but it was much too heavy for my palate. My favorite is Land O Lakes Aerosol Light Whipped Cream. I can't find the link to their light cream, so you'll have to "survive" with the heavy cream link.

Lastly, I've recently read up on recipe copyright laws. While I assume I'm okay posting these recipes here, I must state that I'm not trying to infringe on anyone's copyright! As far as I've read, recipes are okay to post as long as we give credit to where we originally found the recipe. Obviously, there's no need to give credit if we've created the recipe ourselves! :) Also, as one website put it, "The ingredients and directions are fair game." I completely agree! Plus, I just found a story about America's Test Kitchen on NPR and they put the recipes directly on NPR's website as well. If anything, I'm helping spread the word about the awesomeness of America's Test Kitchen! :)