Making Dairy Free Pastry Crust and Graham Cracker Crust Along with a Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie

In honor of Pi Day (3.14) Chef Donna Valente has made some delicious pies, as well as given us some tips for creating dairy free pie crusts!

Pumpkin Pie Ingredients:

• Pie Crust Ingredients

  • 1 and 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour (or a 1-to-1 gluten free flour mix)

  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt

  • 1/2 cup of dairy free butter (you will dice and chill this butter)

  • 1/4 cup of cold water (as needed)

• Pie Filling Ingredients

  • One 16-ounce can of pumpkin puree

  • One 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

    • If you want to make this pie dairy free, you can substitute the same amount of coconut milk (14 ounces)

  • 2 whole eggs

  • 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie Pastry Crust Instructions:

1. Get out a large mixing bowl and add the following:

   • 1 and 1/4 cup of flour

   • 1/4 teaspoon of salt

2. Mix these ingredients together with a mixing spoon.

3. Get your butter out of the refrigerator.

4. Dice the 1/2 cup of butter into small squares.

5. Add the diced butter to the large mixing bowl.

6. Use a pastry blender or your clean, washed hands to mix the butter into the dry ingredients. You will know the butter is incorporated into the dry ingredients well when the mixture resembles coarse. crumbs. It will NOT be smooth.

7. Measuring out your 1/4 cup of cold water.

8. Add 1 Tablespoon of the cold water to the large mixing bowl.

9. Mix with a large mixing bowl or spatula (or your washed, clean hands) until the mixture resembles a dough and comes together.

10. Keep repeating steps 9 and 10 until you get the doughy consistency you are looking for. It may not take the full 1/4 cup of cold water.

11. Shape your dough into a disc, like a large hockey puck.

12. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap so it is completely covered.

13. Put the covered dough in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (or overnight if you do this step the day before).

14. When ready to “roll out” your dough so it can become your crust (after at least 4 hours), take the dough out of the refrigerator and unwrap it.

15. Sprinkle some of your flour onto a clean work surface (your counter top for example) and set your disc of dough in the middle of the sprinkled flour.

16. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough so it starts to flatten out. You will need to add little bits of flour to your rolling pin and to the top of the dough as you roll it out so it does not stick to the rolling pin.

17. You want to try and roll the dough out so that it is an 11-inch circle.

18. Carefully pick the dough up and place over the top of your 9-inch pie dish.

19. Press the dough evenly to the bottom and sides of the dish.

Pumpkin Pie Filling Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Your pie crust is already fit into a 9-inch pie dish from the previous instructions.

3. Place the pie dish (with your pie crust in it) onto a baking sheet.

4. In a large mixing bowl add the following ingredients:

   • 16-ounce can of pumpkin puree

   • 14-ounces of your sweetened condensed milk or milk substitute

   • 2 eggs

   • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

5. Using a large mixing spoon, mix your ingredients together until combined and blended. This is your pie filling.

6. Pour the pie filling into your pie crust.

7. Your oven should now be preheated. Put your pie (on the baking sheet) in the oven. Please use an oven mitt!

8. Set a timer for 15 minutes.

9. When your timer goes off, turn down the temperature on your oven to 350 degrees F.

10. Set a timer for 30 minutes.

11. When the timer goes off, check to see if your pie is done by sticking a fork or toothpick into the middle of the pie. If the fork or toothpick come out “clean” with no pie filling on it, the pie is ready to take out of the oven. If the fork or toothpick do NOT. come out “clean” move to step 12. Remember: use your oven mitt!

12. Set a timer for 10 minutes.

13. When the timer goes off, check to see if your pie is done.

14. Remove your pie from the oven (with your oven mitt!) and set it on the stove top to cool off. Let your pie cool completely before serving.

Some tips for making Pumpkin Pie Dairy Free:

• Pumpkin pie is easy to make dairy free by substituting coconut milk in the same amount as other milk called for in recipes (typically evaporated milk).

Some tips for making Dairy Free Pastry Crusts:

• Pie pastry is easy to make dairy free with plant butter or vegetable shortening.

• Chef Donna Valente’s essential tools for a great crust include

  • a pastry cutter

  • rolling pin

  • silicone pastry mat

  • beautiful pie pan (typically these are 9-inch pie pans)

Dairy-Free Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of finely ground up. graham cracker crumbs (you can buy graham crackers and crush them up yourself OR buy graham cracker crumbs)

  • If you are gluten-free, purchase gluten-free graham crackers and crush them up yourself

• 1/3 cup of white sugar

• 6 Tablespoons of unsalted, dairy free butter (you will melt the butter)

• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (optional)

Dairy-Free Graham Cracker Crust Tips:

• If you are wanting a BAKED CRUST, you will bake the crust in the oven at 375 degrees F for 7 minutes. The crust needs to cool down before you add any filling.

• If you are wanting a NON-BAKED CRUST, you will set the crust in the refrigerator to chill for one hour before adding the pie filling.

• Different types of pie, will require a bake or no-bake crust, it depends on what pie you are making.

Dairy-Free Graham Cracker Crust Instructions:

1. If you bought graham crackers, you need to crush them up by placing them in a large ziplock bag and hitting them with a meat cleaver or other heavy object (canned good) or rolling over them with a rolling pin.

2. Measure out 1 and 1/2 cups of your crushed graham cracker mix you have made and set aside. You will need this in a later step.

3. Put your 6 Tablespoons of butter in a microwave-safe dish and microwave for 15 seconds.

4. Repeat step #2 until the butter is melted. DO NOT let it get so hot that it explodes all over the inside of your microwave and is bubbling.

5. Carefully take your melted butter out of the microwave (it may be hot!) and set aside. You will need it for the next step.

6. Get out a large bowl. In the large bowl add the following ingredients:

   • 1 and 1/2 cups of finely ground up graham crackers

   • 1/3 cup of white sugar

   • 6 Tablespoons of melted butter

   • 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (optional)

7. Using a mixing spoon, mix these ingredients together until they are well-blended.

8. Get out your 9-inch pie dish.

9. Pour the mixture from the large bowl into your pie dish.

10. Press the mixture to the bottom and up the sides of the 9-inch pie dish. You will use your hands and fingers to do this, so make sure you wash your hands first!

Some tips for making Dairy Free Pastry Crusts:

• Pie pastry is easy to make dairy free with plant butter or vegetable shortening.

• My essential tools for a great crust include: a pastry cutter, rolling pin, a silicone pastry mat, and a beautiful pie pan.

“I made a vanilla pudding pie for my honey using a dairy free graham cracker crust and Jello pudding that is cooked on the stove with milk. It is not dairy free. I’ve tried using alternative milk in both boxed pudding and pudding made from scratch and it does not firm up enough to work in a pudding pie. I used graham cracker crumbs that were already crumbs and they worked great. I usually go more rustic and manually crush the graham crackers, but I had fallen and injured my hands. The boxed crumbs are much more consistent in size.”

- Chef Donna Valente