Lower Carb Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

I say "lower" carb b/c pumpkin naturally has a LOT of sugar, so it's hardly a sugar-free recipe.  But in making a couple of simple and tasty swaps, I got the total number of grams of carb from about 50g per slice to 14g per slice.



No deep dish pie plate?
Use a cake pan!

I haven't done anything really extraordinary here...just started with this delicious recipe from King Arthur Flour, made my State Fair Show-worthy nut crust and subbed in Splenda for sugar.  I did however learn a few interesting things in paying close attention to my ingredients. 

First of all, nuts are not carb-free.  They're not like double chocolate cake or anything, but there's enough there to pay attention to.  Pecans and walnuts contain about 3 or 4g of carb per 1/4 cup serving and almonds have twice that much, so I chose pecans for this pie. 

Also, if you get lower fat dairy products (like fat-free evaporated milk and 1/3 less fat cream cheese), they tend to have slighter higher amounts of carb than their full fat counterparts...no extra sugar is added to these products but the part of the milk they are made from naturally contains more sugar.


 Lower-Carb Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
Makes 8 servings

Crust:
2 cups pecans
3 tbsp Splenda
2 egg whites

Process the nuts and splenda in a food processor until finely ground.  Mix with the egg whites.  Press with damp hands into a deep dish pie plate (I used a 9" round cake pan).  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.  Cool before filling.

Cheesecake layer:
8 oz. low-fat cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup splenda
1 egg

Beat all together well, adding the egg last.  Pour into prepared crust.  Refrigerate while you prepare the pumpkin layer.

Pumpkin layer:
1 cup evaporated milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup splenda
15 oz. pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
pinch salt

Whisk eggs and milk together.  Whisk in splenda and pumpkin.  Stir in spices.  Spoon carefully on top of cheesecake layer.  Bake 15 minutes at 425F, then reduce oven temp to 350F and bake 40-45 minutes. Pin It