Crustless Pumpkin Pie With Coconut Milk for Full GAPS

This crustless pumpkin pie has the cinnamon, ginger and clove flavor of a holiday pie, with a soft filling baked straight into the dish. Fresh cooked pumpkin, homemade coconut milk, honey, eggs and plain gelatin make the whole mixture. There is no separate crust to mix, ferment or press into the pan.

Combine the filling, pour it into a greased pie plate and bake at 350°F. Start checking at 45 minutes. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean, rather than carrying wet orange mixture back out of the pie.

Making a GAPS Thanksgiving was fun for our family. It wasn’t traditional, but everyone loved the food and the time together. I keep that in mind when planning a holiday menu. A dessert can feel familiar without copying every part of the old table, and leaving off the crust is a useful way to keep one baking job simpler.

This version is for Full GAPS. It uses fresh pumpkin instead of canned purée and plain homemade coconut milk. The coconut oil used to grease the plate keeps the main version dairy-free. It still contains eggs, and the gelatin belongs in the filling rather than being an optional topping.

Measure Fresh Cooked Pumpkin

You need 1½ cups plain cooked pumpkin purée. Measure it after the pumpkin has cooked and been mashed or blended smooth. The starting amount is finished purée, not one and a half cups of raw pumpkin pieces.

If you are preparing fresh pumpkin, remove the seeds, cook the flesh until it is completely soft and separate it from the skin. Purée the plain flesh without adding butter, garlic, salt or extra water. Let it cool before mixing it with the eggs.

A spoon should press through the cooked flesh without meeting firm corners. The finished purée should look evenly orange, without long strings or pieces of shell. Large fibrous pieces will still be noticeable in a pie filling.

Drain away any loose cooking water before measuring. You want the pumpkin itself to give the filling body. A cup that contains a puddle of water and a few soft pieces is different from a cup of smooth purée.

GAPS lists canned vegetables and fruit among foods to avoid. Starting with fresh cooked pumpkin gives this recipe its pumpkin ingredient without using canned purée or a sweetened pie-filling mixture.

Use Plain Homemade Coconut Milk

Measure ¾ cup of hot-water homemade coconut milk. That recipe makes a plain strained milk from coconut and filtered water. Make it ahead of the pie mixture so it has cooled before you add the eggs.

Stir or shake the milk before measuring. Homemade coconut milk can separate into coconut fat and a thinner liquid after chilling. Mixing those parts back together gives you a representative three-quarter cup, instead of taking only the thin liquid from one part of the jar.

Use the finished milk as it is made. Do not stretch this measured amount with extra water. The pie already combines a set amount of milk with the pumpkin, eggs and honey.

The linked milk is unsweetened. The half cup of honey in this pie is its own ingredient, so there is no need to sweeten the milk first. Keeping that jar plain also makes the remaining milk useful in other recipes.

Keep The Gelatin And Eggs In The Filling

Use two large eggs and one tablespoon plain unflavored bovine gelatin powder. The eggs help the filling set as it bakes. Gelatin also provides body as the finished pie cools.

The powder needs to be gelatin that gels, rather than a collagen supplement that dissolves without setting. Choose a plain product without flavoring, sugar or other additions. Do not use a packet of sweetened jelly dessert in place of the measured tablespoon.

Keep the gelatin measurement separate from the eggs. This recipe contains both. The tablespoon of gelatin does not turn the pie into an egg-free recipe, and leaving the eggs out would change the filling.

Measure the powder with a tablespoon and combine it evenly through the mixture. Check for dry powder pockets while whisking, especially along the bowl’s sides and bottom. They should not go into the pie as separate pale lumps.

Measure Honey And Warm Spices

The filling uses ½ cup honey, ½ teaspoon salt, two teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves. Cinnamon is the largest spice measurement. Ginger adds warmth, while the smaller amount of clove gives a deeper spice note.

Use pure ground spices without sugar, starch or a flavored seasoning mixture. Measure the cloves carefully. A quarter teaspoon is a small addition, and a large unmeasured shake can change the flavor of the whole pie.

For the listed spice-blend option, replace the cinnamon, ginger and cloves with one tablespoon of an additive-free pumpkin pie spice blend. Use the blend instead of those three measurements, not in addition to them. The card keeps the individual spices as the main version.

Honey goes into the filling, not over the baked pie afterward. Scrape the measured half cup into the bowl so it can mix with the pumpkin and coconut milk. Any honey left stuck in the measuring cup has not yet sweetened the filling.

Grease The Pie Plate Before Mixing

Heat the oven to 350°F. Use an oven-safe pie plate that has room for the filling below its rim. Grease the inside with a thin coating of virgin coconut oil, including the bottom and the sides where the filling will sit.

There is no pastry underneath this pie. Greasing helps when you lift a cooled portion, but it does not create a crust. Keep the layer thin rather than leaving a pool of oil in the bottom of the dish.

Set out the mixing bowl, whisk or sturdy spoon, measuring cups and spoons, and the prepared plate. A thin knife will be useful for checking the center near the end of baking. Have a heatproof support or rack ready for the hot dish too.

Combine Until The Filling Is Even

Put the cooled pumpkin purée, mixed coconut milk, eggs, honey, gelatin, salt and spices into a bowl. Whisk or stir thoroughly until the mixture is evenly combined.

Work through the egg and honey rather than just folding the top layer of pumpkin over them. The filling should have one even orange color, with fine spice speckles distributed through it. Separate yellow egg streaks or white coconut-milk pockets mean it needs more mixing.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Thick pumpkin and honey can cling there while the center looks mixed. Check that the gelatin has not remained as a dry patch under the spoon.

Pour the filling into the greased plate and smooth the surface. This is a pie mixture, so do not add flour to turn it into a dough or extra water to make it thinner. Keep the measured ingredients together as you move from the bowl to the plate.

Bake Until The Center Passes The Knife Test

Bake at 350°F for 45 to 55 minutes. Begin checking at 45 minutes by inserting a thin knife into the center. Draw it out and look for wet filling on the blade.

A clean knife is the finish cue. If the blade is coated with loose orange mixture, continue baking and check again within the remaining time. The center should have set rather than moving as a liquid wave inside firmer edges.

The filling can look softer in the middle than around the edge, which is why checking only the rim is not enough. Keep the knife check near the center of the pie.

The cinnamon and other spices give the baked pie a warm spice aroma. You do not need a dark browned top to bring out that flavor. Take the pie out when the center meets the clean-knife cue rather than continuing just to brown the surface.

Let The Pie Cool Before Serving

Set the hot plate on a suitable rack or heatproof support. Let the pie cool before trying to lift portions. The freshly baked filling is delicate, and cooling gives it time to become firmer.

A chilled slice will feel more compact than the warm filling. Use a pie server or thin spatula to support it from underneath. There is no firm pastry base to carry the wedge for you.

Serve the pie plain if you want the pumpkin, coconut and spices to stay clear. It already has its measured honey in the filling. A crustless pie does not need to become a layered dessert with another sweet topping.

Where This Pie Fits On GAPS

This is a Full GAPS dessert with cooked pumpkin, homemade coconut milk, whole eggs, honey, plain gelatin and pure spices. It is not an early Introduction Diet dish simply because it has no crust.

The main version is dairy-free when you grease the plate with virgin coconut oil. It has no almond flour or other nut-flour crust. It does contain eggs and animal-derived gelatin, so those ingredients remain part of the recipe when you choose it for your household.

Keep the fresh pumpkin and homemade milk forms clear. A canned pie-filling blend, sweetened coconut drink or flavored gelatin packet introduces a different mixture. This recipe starts with plain foods and measures the honey and spices separately.

Choose The Pumpkin Dessert You Want

For individual portions, the separate Coconut Milk Pumpkin Pie Custard uses a different mixture and a hot-water bath around ramekins. That recipe has five eggs and three tablespoons honey. This pie has two eggs, half a cup of honey and gelatin, and bakes directly in a pie plate.

Follow the directions for the dessert you choose instead of moving one filling into the other recipe’s method. The water bath and the direct pie-plate bake are different jobs.

If you want pumpkin flavor in a soup course before dessert, Pumpkin Ginger Soup With Chicken Meat Stock uses cooked pumpkin in a savory bowl. Keep its onion, garlic and stock preparation separate from the plain pumpkin purée for this pie.

Store The Cooled Pie

Cover the cooled pie and refrigerate it. Cut portions with clean utensils, then return the remaining covered plate to the refrigerator.

Keep the pie in a single supported layer rather than stacking bare slices together. Without a crust, the edges of a cut piece need a little care. A covered container is useful when you are storing only a few remaining portions.

If the pie has been chilled, serve it cold or let a portion lose its refrigerator chill before eating. It does not need to return to the oven for another full bake.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use Canned Pumpkin?

Use fresh cooked pumpkin purée. GAPS excludes canned vegetables and fruit, and the recipe needs plain pumpkin without a sweetened filling mixture.

Is Gelatin Optional Here?

No. The one tablespoon is part of this filling, along with the two eggs. Keep both in the measured recipe.

Can I Use Pumpkin Pie Spice?

Use one tablespoon of a pure additive-free blend instead of the listed cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Do not add both spice options.

Why Does The Center Still Look Wet?

Keep baking until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. A firm edge by itself does not show that the center has finished.

Can I Double The Recipe?

Use the card’s 2× amounts and prepare two pie plates. Keep the 350°F oven setting and check each center, rather than pouring a double-depth filling into one plate.

A Simpler Holiday Dessert Plan

The upcoming Thanksgiving On GAPS Cookbook is the closest WFLI companion for this pie. It will bring the holiday meal ideas together, from the main dish to dessert. Pair it with the planned Holiday Menu & Prep Timeline when you want the preparation jobs laid out alongside the menu. Find release information in the WFLI shop.

Crustless Pumpkin Pie Recipe