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Kefir Pumpkin Pie

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Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Thanksgiving

Ingredients

Crust

  • 200 g (7 oz.) graham crackers or gingersnap cookies
  • 35 g (1 ¼ oz.) grass-fed butter
  • 15 g (1/2 oz.) fresh ginger root
  • 10 g (1 Tbsp.) dark brown sugar

Filling

  • 450 g (1 lb.) pumpkin or other winter squash, cooked and pureed
  • 120 ml (1/2 cup) milk kefir
  • 3 chicken eggs
  • 120 g (3/4 cup) dark brown sugar
  • 120 ml (1/2 cup) heavy (whipping) cream
  • 2 ml (1/4 tsp.) sea salt
  • 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp.) fresh nutmeg

Optional

  • 60 ml (1/4 cup) pomegranate arils

Instructions
 

Blind Bake crust

  • Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
  • Melt butter.
  • Grate ginger. Add to bowl of a food processor.
  • Add graham crackers and 1 Tbsp (10g) brown sugar to bowl and pulse a few times to crush.
  • Drizzle melted butter into food processor while continuing to chop. Finished consistency should resemble wet, fluffy sand.
  • Pour crumb mixture into a 9-inch round pie pan. Use a mason jar, mug or other heavy flat bottomed tool to press the crumb into the pan, forming a crust along the bottom and up the sides of the pan.
  • Blind bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes.

Filling

  • Heat the pumpkin puree on medium-high heat until it starts to boil, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the kefir, cream, salt, and fresh-grated nutmeg to pumpkin. Simmer another 10 minutes. Let mixture cool 10 minutes.
  • Remove yolk from one of the eggs, discarding the white or using for another purpose.
  • Add yolk and other eggs, and brown sugar to a bowl and mix until smooth.
  • Add the sugar/egg mixture to the puree and mix well together.
  • Pull out middle oven rack halfway, and place crust on rack. Pour the custard mixture into the pan, and carefully slide the rack back into oven.
  • If using pomegranate, after 25 minutes of baking, sprinkle pomegranate seeds over the top of the pie.
  • Bake 40 minutes, or until the sides of the pie are firm but the middle is still jiggly.
  • Remove pie from oven and let cool at least 2 hours.