Baked Sweets and Treats

Pumpkin Pie Tart with Almond Crust

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Tart | FamilyFreshCooking.cooking.com #fall #Thanksgiving

Consider this the Modern Pumpkin Pie in tart form. Hip in every way. It fully utilizes amazing, revolutionary, gluten free blanched almond flour, my favorite sweetener stevia and of course pumpkin. It has the taste thrills of holiday comfort food pumpkin pie but gobs of great for you ingredients. Thumbs up and big applause please……

To celebrate my reinvention of this all American classic I invite you to bask in the glory of my friend Lucy Lean’s brand new book Made in America. Cook, bake and party with us!

Made in America  cookbook | FamilyFreshCooking.cooking.com #fall #Thanksgiving

As you know I get really excited when my friends write and photograph really great books. I will call them modern taste makers. Have you ever heard of my pal Lucy Lean? A few things you need to know about her: a MasterChef food judge, former editor for Edible LA magazine, publisher of the amazing blog Ladles and Jellyspoons. She is also witty, charming and very sophisticated. I Love Lucy.

We first spent time together last winter at Food Blogger Camp in Mexico. We hit it off immediately and now I chat with her frequently. Sometimes I even end up at her home for intimate gatherings of good friends.

I bring large wheels of fancy cheese to garden parties…more on that later.

Lunch party guests at Lucy Lean's home in LA

That’s Lucy. The pretty lady at the head of the table toasting to life. She has a passion for living, fueled by her beautiful family and great food. That is why she wrote the book on reinventing comfort food. It’s all coming together now, yes? To celebrate today’s launch of Made in America a group of us foodie bloggers are partaking in a virtual dinner party. Each guest is sharing their interpretation of comfort food.

One of the chef’s featured in the book is Michael Voltaggio. He cooks up a Modern Mock Turtle Soup. I went a little Mock too.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Tart | FamilyFreshCooking.cooking.com #fall #Thanksgiving

In the cookbook Lucy has over 100 of America’s most well known chefs re-create classic recipes. For this dinner party I chose to reinvent my favorite dessert.

In the next few months you have to realize that when you visit MarlaMeridith.com you will be visiting The Pumpkin Blog. Now that we have that straight lets dig in.

Traditionally this fall pie is served as dessert for Thanksgiving feasts. Generally it has a plentiful amount of sugar and a buttery, refined white flour crust. Until now. Those ingredients are fun and all, but I want to eat this pie for breakfast, snacks and everywhere in between……and stay skinny.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Tart | FamilyFreshCooking.cooking.com #fall #Thanksgiving

In typical me style, I have created a pie-tart thing that I enjoy as a mini meal before my workout. Yup. Dessert before I work out. It’s better than any packaged power bar, fitness shake, etc.

Pie. As. Power. Bar.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Tart | FamilyFreshCooking.cooking.com #fall #Thanksgiving

It can of course be served as dessert on Halloween or Thanksgiving. You can leave off the Jack-o-lantern face if you wish. Just eat pie.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Tart | FamilyFreshCooking.cooking.com #fall #Thanksgiving

And don’t forget a big glass of ice cold milk. With two straws. You might be willing to share the milk, but not the pie.

Glass of cold milk with two straws

If you would like to purchase a copy of this wonderful cookbook Made in America you sure can. It’s hot off the press and ready for you. You should have one for yourself and it would make excellent birthday and holiday gifts too.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Tart | FamilyFreshCooking.cooking.com #fall #Thanksgiving

Do you love pumpkin pie as much as I do? Do you have any comfort food recipe reinventions that you would like to share with us? Feel free to leave any links to those in your comments.

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Virtual Dinner Party Guests

Check out Lucy’s post for more dinner party fun. She has also invited you to be a gate crasher if you are not on the list. After all, party crashing can sometimes be more fun than being on the list. You can also be a fly on the wall over at twitter using #MadeInAmericaDinner

Pumpkin Tarts & Pie Recipe Links
Tidy Mom

This post has been included in TidyMom’s I’m Lovin it Fridays

I’m joining TidyMom and Whirlpool for the 4th Annual Love the Pie Party and entered to win a new Whirlpool Gold® Induction Range

~ Marla Meridith

Join the Conversation

95 thoughts on “Pumpkin Pie Tart with Almond Crust

  1. It’s all fabulous…the tart, the recipe, your connection with Lucy (still kicking myself I didnt go to Food Blog Camp 2011) and I am also loving the green/rustic table or backdrop underneath that pumpkin.

    and your photos…keep getting better and better and your food styling…amazing!!

    xoxo

  2. I am so glad to read this post! I recently started a gluten free lifestyle and was worried about how my favorite, “pumpkin pie”, would fit in my new diet. Thanks for the recipe!

    1. Hi Renee, thanks for stopping by! I am happy that you now know that you can enjoy your favorite pie any time at all. Not need to gluten free folks to keep away from their favorites any more. Freeing isn’t it 🙂

  3. The more pumpkin the merrier if you ask me! thanks so much for featuring my pizza in your round up post!

    Ah this tart looks amazing! I love that it has ricotta cheese in the filling that has to make it infinitely more delicious and creamy.

    1. Joanne, the ricotta adds so much and it is a nice balance with the crumbly almond crust. Besides the fat free ricotta plays well against the creamier, richer nuts & oil. Love that pizza with the pumpkin crust that you made. Genius!

  4. I feel like I always say this to you… but I cant help it cause I always think it when I am here. You are making the world a better place. A healthier place. A prettier place. You rock!

    1. Amanda…..we make a great team. Thanks for you sweet words that really make me love what I do! You also always inspire me. My pumpkin pies would live very happily next to your stunning American flag cake. Fun to be in this virtual dinner party with you. Now we just need to get together for reals 🙂

    1. Hi Allison, it was such a fun day at Lucy’s house. My kids were even there…trying to behave 😉
      I hope you and your friends get to enjoy some of these pies.

    1. Thanks Ari! Sounds like we both can’t get enough pumpkin in our lives. Love that! Isn’t it also great to know that it is good for us too?!

  5. Marla, this looks terrfic! As does the book. Great idea, perfect for food lovers like me. Love you tart and your take on pumpkin pie (my favourite since I was a kid) but I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.

  6. I am baking up this pie for Thanksgiving – DELICIOUS – and thank you for being you – as Amanda says – you rock – and rocking the American Comfort food with healthy easy alternatives – that I bet people won’t even know they are eating Gluten Free. (Still waiting for the reinvention of the ski bunny poster)

    1. Lucy, you are right about that – you would never know you were eating gluten free with this tart. The nuts make it taste so decadent and rich. Nothing missed at all.
      The reinvention of the ski bunny poster would make for the best dinner party conversation. I am on it. Just need a boob job and the bright yellow uni-ski suit 😉
      Congrats again on your book my friend. You truly amaze me. I feel like I am really getting to know the inside scoop on these chefs 🙂 The recipes are heavenly. I must make that egg scramble with the cream cheese…like tonight!

  7. Hi Marla! This looks delish! I pulled out the old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, you know the one Grandma used to use, this week to pull out some old time recipes and re-vamped them. My first re-vamp was an apple coffee crumb cake. The flavor was out of this world, but I am so not the best photographer. Pictures just don’t do it justice. I just love old school recipes! By the way I’m buying Lucy’s book! Thanks for sharing! http://peanutbutterandpeppers.com/2011/10/03/apples-apples-apples/

  8. Dessert before a workout? Love it! That’s the kind of approach we should all take – exercise but not denying ourselves delicious things 🙂 This looks gorgeous – love the updated take on a pumpkin pie.

  9. What a great idea, this tart sounds fabulous! I’m always looking for desserts to make my brother’s girlfriend, as she can’t eat gluten. This would be perfect. 🙂

    1. Jen, Iove adding spices & seasonings to my tart shells. Adds such a great dimension of flavor. The almond meal alone is so wonderful – the spice does kick it up a notch.

    1. Dara, thanks for your sweet words. You would absolutely love this book. It is so fun to learn about the chefs. Lucy’s writing style is casual & very informative. It is obvious that she has fun relationships with each person she met with. Also being a mom of 2 small kids, she truly amazes me with how much work she put into this book. The recipes are amazing too. Such creative reinventions.

  10. Thanks, Marla! So nice to be featured in great company. You know I’m totally a pumpkin fanatic too and hence I must try this tart – the almond crust sounds fab!

  11. Hi Marla,
    Great to have found you too! I am an almond lover and am a huge fan of using almond flour in baking. I never even thought to make an almond crust for pumpkin pie. What a perfect flavor combo. You are making my belly hungry for some Thanksgiving grub. But really this pumpkin pie would be great anytime!
    Gorgeous photos as well!
    Cheers,
    Erin

  12. Thanks for sharing!! We are pumpkin, and squash, crazy here too!! I will visit your blog for inspiration:)!

  13. It always amazes me how I find things that fall perfectly into place with me its events going on in my life. I just went on a trip and the photos of (which I cannot avoid like I usually do) tell the truth. I’ve got to get back in control of my figure. Its exciting to read your recipes and know I can do this….my family and I can eat well together without me having to be on a special diet all alone!

  14. I’m sending this on to a gluten-free buddy, pronto. I love traditional pumpkin pie, but am excited to try your variation (most of it — I still use sugar, honey, maple syrup and evaporated cane juice). Almond flour has been cropping up lately and I’m going to make some.

  15. I made this last weekend, and we all LOVED it ~ I used regular stevia because I didn’t have the vanilla drops, and it turned out great. This will become part of my Fall Must-Make List!

    1. Donna, your comment thrills me. That is a huge compliment coming from you. Not only is it so sweet but I am thrilled that you baked up my tarts 🙂 I am always enamored by your cooking/baking skills. The regular stevia is perfect! I am just addicted to those vanilla drops 🙂

  16. I cannot wait to make this for Turkey Day! I am hosting a dinner party of 8-eek, lol but I am so looking forward to it, I love to cook and bake. Your site has inspired so much of my cooking and baking lately, thank you so much for doing this to make us all healthy and happier 🙂 I am also making the green beans with leeks and maple pecans, I am going to use the pecans to fill tiny wine glasses and use these with place cards I made as the seating decorations. I will take a picture and show you. Now if I can just be confident in how the turkey will come out, I am still trying to find a good recipe and decide, basting or browning bag, any suggestion? Have a great day