Whenever the test kitchen develops a vegan recipe, our goal is to create a dish tasty enough to stand on its own, all dietary preferences aside. In that spirit, it is a special point of pride that our omnivorous taste testers gobbled up this pumpkin pie without stopping to ponder its dairy content — they simply loved it.

We put a lot of thought into the fats because they’re so critical to the texture of both the filling and the crust. For the filling, we tested all sorts of options, including soft tofu, but always came back to coconut cream. It’s neutral, it’s blendable, and it gives our filling a silky-smooth texture that’s more custard than pudding. We also rejiggered the sugar and spice, so it’s less sweet, more pumpkin-y and complex.

Of the various and sundry vegan butters we tested on the crust, Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter was the clear winner. It created a dough that chilled and rolled out just like a butter dough — and yielded a layered, flaky crust full of buttery flavor and well able to stand up to the rich pumpkin filling.

All this to say, it’s a scrumptious pumpkin pie, and if you make it for Thanksgiving, your vegan family members will be touched and delighted. {And, if you’re sly, the omnivores will be none the wiser.}

Servings: 10

Ingredients

For the dough:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp kosher salt

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 ¼ cups Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter, diced and chilled

4 to 6 Tbsp ice water

For the filling:

1 ½ 15-oz cans pumpkin purée

1 cup, plus 2 Tbsp light brown sugar

1 cup Thai Kitchen unsweetened coconut cream

5 Tbsp arrowroot starch

1 ½ tsp vanilla

¾ tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp allspice

¼ tsp ground cloves

Directions

1. To make the crust: Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine.

2. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture forms pea-size clumps.

3. Add the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the mixture just begins to hold together.

4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, form it into a disk, cover it with plastic wrap, and chill it in the refrigerator for 2 hours or preferably overnight.

5. Preheat the oven to 350º.

6. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼-inch thick. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch round pie pan and press it into the bottom and sides of the pan. Trim off the excess dough, crimp the edges, and chill the dough for ten minutes.

7. Line the dough with parchment paper, fill it with pie weights or dried beans, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the pie weights and parchment paper, and bake for an additional 7 minutes.

8. To make the filling: combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth and homogenous. Pour the mixture into the pie crust.

9. Bake the pie for 60 minutes. The outsides of the filling will set, and the center will jiggle gently. If the crust begins to darken, cover the edges with aluminum foil.

10. Let the pie set at room temperature for 4 hours before serving.

Calculate nutrition information for this recipe.