Gluten-Free Black-Bottom Maple Pumpkin Pie
 
 
Ingredients
  • Crust
  • 2 cups Gluten-Free Sunstart Stem Ginger Cookies
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
Black Bottom
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 4 ounces bittersweet organic chocolate chips
Filling
  • 2 cups pumpkin purée
  • 3/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 5 egg yolks (whites set aside)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp mace
  • 8-10 pecan halves
Meringue
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 5 egg whites
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. To make crumbs, crush Sunstart Ginger Cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Stir in melted butter. Press into a 9? round pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and set on a rack to cool.
  3. Pour cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat until almost boiling, then remove from heat and stir in the chocolate pieces. Mix until the chocolate has completely melted and blended in.
  4. Pour carefully over the partically or completely cooled pie crust. Allow chocolate to partially set on the counter or in the fridge.
  5. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, stir together the pumpkin purée, maple syrup and salt. Heat the cream cheese gently for about 10 seconds in the microwave then whisk into the pumpkin mixture. Beat in the egg yolks. Stir in vanilla and the cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and mace. Slowly pour over the partially set chocolate layer.
  6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 60-70 minutes or until a knife inserted 1? from the edge of the crust comes out clean. If you wish, arrange pecan halves around the outside edge of the pie in the last 10 minutes or so of baking.
  7. Remove to a rack to cool and then refrigerate until ready to serve.
  8. To make the meringue, combine 3/4 cup sugar with 1/4 cup water and cream of tartar in a medium saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Cook until sugar is melted and mixture becomes a syrup. Remove from heat. Beat egg whites in an electric mixer fitted with an a whisk attachment. Beat on high until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Slowly, pour hot syrup in a stream down the side of the bowl as the beater is moving, continue to beat until stiff peaks of meringue form, about another 2 more minutes.
  9. Dollop and swirl the meringue all over the pie, leaving a larger amount in the center using the back of a spoon. Using a kitchen hand-torch or the oven’s broiler, toast gently until the peaks of the meringue have begun to brown. (2-3 minutes in the oven). Serve warm.
Notes
Adapted from Simple Bites
Recipe by Just a Smidgen at https://justasmidgen.com/2012/11/09/a-little-white-lie-for-sky-high-or-black-bottom-pumpkin-pie/