RECIPE: No Pie - Pumpkin Pie

You don't have to be a health expert to know that most pie, including traditional pumpkin pie, lean towards the unhealthy side of eating. In fact, one eighth, or one slice of pumpkin pie from a nationally known restaurant chain, who's name we won't mention to avoid shaming, contains over 450 calories (540 with whipped cream). Contributing toward that high calorie count is the 40 grams of sugar it's loaded with - more sugar than a can of soda! Add the fat and dough conditioners found in the crust and you've got yourself one health-busting dessert.

So what to do? Trade in your pumpkin pie for kale chips? Hardly. This healthy No Pie - Pumpkin Pie recipe is portioned right, packed with better nutrition, and comes in at 100 calories and only 10 grams of sugar per serving! That's roughly 1/4 of the calories and sugar than the restaurant version mentioned above. With this spin on traditional pumpkin pie you can have your pie and eat it to!

No Pie - Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

15 oz Pumpkin puree (can or homemade)

12 Dates (deglet noor)

1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves)

1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 Medium/large Sweet Potato

(Makes about 10 servings at two slices/serving)

Directions

Soak dates in a bowl of warm water for 20-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. While dates are soaking, slice the sweet potato into 1/4" slices. Place slices on a non-stick baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes (lightly oil pan with olive oil if needed).

While sweet potato is baking, drain the water from the bowl of dates and mash the dates with a fork until a paste like consistency. Add pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla to the bowl and continue mixing with fork until blended.

With a spoon, place a dollop of the pumpkin mix onto each sweet potato slice. Place back into the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. For some additional flavor/texture, sprinkle some chopped nuts (walnuts work well) on top before baking.

Notes:

Serve as a finger-food dessert or plate a couple slices. Kick up your plating presentation with a light chocolate drizzle.

To further reduce sugar content, reduce the number of dates used, or substitute the dates with your choice of low/no sugar sweetener such as stevia.