Sugar-Free Pumpkin Pie With Allulose: A Thanksgiving Custard That Browns Like the Real Thing

The pumpkin pie season is in full flow. Food Network refreshed its 25 best pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving on 13 October, and Old World Garden Farms posted a homemade pumpkin pie on 26 October that calls for a third of a cup of white sugar and half a cup of brown, which is the normal sweetness for the dish. This is the version for the person at the table who cannot have any of that: no sugar, no honey, no maple syrup, and a filling that still browns.

The sweetener is allulose, a sugar the body absorbs but does not metabolise the way it handles sucrose. In its final guidance of October 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration said it would not object to manufacturers leaving allulose out of the total and added sugars lines on labels and counting it at 0.4 calories per gram instead of 4, while noting that it must still be included in total carbohydrates. That is the whole case for it in a custard: it is less sweet than sugar, so you use more, but it dissolves and it browns.

The browning is the part other sweeteners cannot do. Erythritol stays pale and recrystallises as it cools, which is why so many sugar-free pies taste cold and gritty. Allulose caramelises; Heal Nourish Grow, which has published an allulose pumpkin pie since 2020, warns that it browns more than erythritol and that an almond crust needs its edges shielded. The pumpkin itself brings what little carbohydrate there is: 8.09 g per 100 g, with 2.9 g of fibre, in the USDA record for canned pumpkin. By our count from that figure and the USDA almond flour record, a slice of this pie carries roughly 7 g of total carbohydrate before the allulose, about 3 g of it fibre.

Ingredients

Makes one 23 cm pie, 10 slices. About 95 minutes plus cooling.

• For the crust: 200 g fine almond flour, 50 g unsalted butter melted, 1 medium egg, 40 g granulated allulose, a quarter teaspoon fine salt, half a teaspoon ground cinnamon
• For the filling: 425 g canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling), 2 medium eggs plus 1 yolk, 200 ml double cream, 150 g granulated allulose, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, half a teaspoon ground ginger, a quarter teaspoon each ground nutmeg and cloves, half a teaspoon fine salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• To serve: 150 ml double cream whipped with 1 tablespoon allulose, optional

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170C fan (190C conventional). Mix the almond flour, 40 g allulose, salt and cinnamon in a bowl, then stir in the melted butter and egg until it forms a soft dough.
2. Press the dough evenly over the base and up the sides of a 23 cm metal pie tin, using the flat bottom of a glass to compact it. Prick the base with a fork.
3. Cover the rim with a ring of foil and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the base is pale gold. Allulose browns fast, so check at 10. Leave the foil ring on for the next stage.
4. While the crust bakes, whisk the eggs, yolk and 150 g allulose together until the sweetener has dissolved and the mix is smooth. Whisk in the pumpkin, cream, spices, salt and vanilla.
5. Lower the oven to 160C fan (180C conventional). Pour the filling into the warm crust and smooth the top.
6. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until the edges are set and the centre wobbles like a jelly when the tin is nudged. The surface will darken at the rim; that is the allulose caramelising, not burning. If the crust edge goes past deep gold, add a second layer of foil.
7. Cool on a rack for 2 hours, then chill for at least 2 hours more. The custard sets as it cools; cutting it warm will give you a soft slice.
8. Serve with the whipped cream. Slice with a knife dipped in hot water for clean edges.

Tips, variations and storage

Allulose makes custards slightly softer and more moist than sugar does, because sugar competes for water and allulose competes less. If you prefer a firmer set, add one more yolk. A crustless version works in the same tin at the same temperature for 35 to 45 minutes, and in ramekins in a water bath for 25 minutes. For a dairy-free filling use full-fat coconut milk in place of the cream and coconut oil in the crust.

The pie keeps covered in the fridge for 4 days and, because there is no sugar to crystallise, freezes well in slices for a month. One caution on quantity: allulose is a sugar the gut does not fully absorb, and large servings can cause bloating in some people, so treat a slice as a slice. Readers managing blood glucose should count the pumpkin and almond carbohydrate as they would any other food.

Thanksgiving is on 26 November and the 5.99 dollar Costco pie, back in the bakery aisle since August according to Tasting Table, will do for most tables. This one is for the end of the table where nobody expected dessert, and it is the first sugar-free pie we have baked that goes brown on top.