I've made this crust-less pumpkin pie before in the crock pot, and have gleaned a few "tricks" to apply to this "treat".
Trick #1 Grease that crock pot beforehand, or you'll be soaking it all night.
Trick #2 I like to place paper towels under the lid to avoid making the pie all soggy from the condensation--that can be applied to all manner of "baking" in the crock pot.
Thanks for that tip Sandra Lee (I've seen her do that on her show before with breads and cakes made in the crock pot). Since this is a pie and not a cake, it's probably not super vital...it's "wet" anyway, not "dry" like a cake, but I like to keep the pie a little drier.
Trick #3 Cook this on low, not high. If you make it on high it tends to burn the edges.
Trick #4 It's easy to make this pie dairy free, sugar free, and gluten free, just swap out the milk for coconut milk, and coconut oil for the butter. I used Sucanat (unrefined dehydrated cane juice) instead of refined sugar, and reduced it from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup. It was not super-sweet, which was perfect for me. The original recipe is already gluten free; it calls for Pamela's baking mix (but that does have small amounts of dairy in it, so if you are dairy free, use another baking mix).
Trick #5 Stephanie O'Dea (the author of the cookbook I was using: Make it Fast, Cook it Slow) recommends touching the pie to check for doneness, but it is hot, very hot, so if you want to use the back of a spoon instead, that will avoid any finger burns from hot, undercooked batter sticking to your finger.
Trick #6 This took me 3 1/2 hrs on low, in my 4 qt crock. Yours could be different.
Trick #7 Making this pie without refined sugar, and reducing even the dehydrated cane juice, I felt pretty good about letting this be breakfast the next morning! Pumpkin, eggs, spices, coconut milk...it's all good, and makes a delightful breakfast cold from the fridge. Also goes beautifully into the lunchboxes for a lunchtime treat.
Trick #8 This recipe is made in a 4 qt crock, (not a 2 qt. as I stated earlier...), but sometime I may try it in a 6qt. It would be thinner and reduce the cooking time...)
Trick #9 Which brings me to my last trick...make this early. It is way, way better fully cooled, not hot. It has the perfect consistency the next day in fact.
Now for the recipe. There's no point really, in me re-typing this thing when you can read it directly off of Stephanie's website, so I will link it for you right HERE .
Oh guess what? Stephanie's new book just came out! 365 Slow Cooker Suppers. I am a fan. I pre-ordered it weeks before the release date, and then kinda forgot about it, but lo and behold, it arrived on my doorstep right on the release date. It was so fun--like a little unexpected gift arriving, from me to me. This book had great color photos and all the recipes look good, but I kinda missed the really fun, more "unusual" stuff like desserts, and even crafts! that were in her last two books. I'm kinda quirky about crock pots that way.
Luv Stephanie's earlier books too Make it Fast, Cook it Slow, volumes 1 and 2. She has such a fun, girlfriend-like writing style. Two caveats though...as usual, like with EVERY slow cooker book on the market, cooking times, for chicken especially, are way too long--about double. Go figure. I have no idea why that is. Are my crock pots just unusually hot or what??! Also, sometimes Stephanie will put frozen food into the crock, but other sources (America's Test Kitchen) says that putting frozen food into the slow cooker is a food safety no-no. Apparently the food needs to get up to 140 degrees by two hours, or it's a food safety risk. And as far as I'm concerned, it would mess up cooking time and risk shock/cracking of my pot...so I never put frozen food in it. But having said those two things...Stephanie is one of my very favorite cookbook authors. Most everything I've made out of her books have been huge successes, AND, the best part...EVERYTHING in all of her books is gluten free--woo hoo!
Enjoy your first taste of pumpkin season.
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