Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Pie

I just recently had the best Thanksgiving dinner. Not only because it was vegan, and I made EVERYTHING from scratch. Not only because I cooked for two days straight and planned my dinner for two weeks. Not even because I made seitan loaf, and two weeks before Thanksgiving I made a test recipe that was deemed worthy enough, but because I found my favorite root vegetable (which I'll write about in a later post), and I made a pie recipe all my own. I'm so proud of this one.

Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Pie. 

I mean, man, I'm a genius. I really am. I love pecan pie, always had it for Thanksgiving, but since becoming vegan, I thought I would never have it again. Not so! Here is my delicious, and lovely, and most importantly––cruelty-free recipe.

Fresh Puree
1 Medium-small pumpkin
1  cup of water
2-3 piloncillo cones, or two cups of brown sugar
3 cinnamon sticks

Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 Tbs. organic granulated sugar (I use Zulka)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup vegan margarine

2 Tbs. vegetable shortening

3 Tbs. cold water 

Filling
8oz vegan cream cheese package, softened
2 cups fresh puree
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 lb halved pecans
a pinch of salt

Sugared Pecans
1/2 lb halved pecans
1 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup almond milk

I made everything from scratch––um, remember I said I cooked for two days? I baked the first of those two. So, if you are a control freak like me, and you have the time, I recommend making your own puree. It's a fantastic way of controlling the taste, sweetness, and the overall texture of the pie. Also, I have a different way of making puree. Most people bake it. And it's fine if you have a family recipe you want to continue using, but I made mine like my mother makes sweet potatoes: Simmered with piloncillo (essentially brown sugar in the shape of a cone), cinnamon, and a cup of water. You don't need much water as the pumpkin will render its own. Simmer for about an hour.

To make the puree cut out the stem, toss. Cut the pumpkin in half, remove the seeds, keep the seeds (they're delicious toasted with a sprinkle of salt). Quarter each half of the pumpkin and place in a medium sized pot along with two piloncillo cones (three if you want extra sweetness), three cinnamon sticks, and a cup of water. Set in low-medium flame and cover. Let it simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. The result will be an out of this world delicious, and flavorful pumpkin.

While the pumpkin simmers, start the pie crust. I used the same pie crust recipe I found at nomyourself.com. It's pretty fail proof––although I had to add more water than the recipe calls for.

Pie Crust

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl until well combined. 

Add in margarine and shortening while you mix it all together with your hands. Keep kneading until all ingredients are crumbled. 

Slowly add cold water 1 Tbs. at a time and mix with your hands until dough is a ball. 

Wrap the ball in saran wrap and put it in the refridgerator while you work on the pie fillings.

On to the pie filling. Remove the pumpkin from the fire, drain the juice into a large bowl. Take the pumpkin pieces and scoop out the pumpkin flesh and transfer into a blender (I used Vitamix). Toss the cinnamon sticks. Pour half of the juice into the blender and blend until the puree is smooth, and clump-free. Puree is done. If you're using the canned puree, this would be the time to pop that sucker open. 

***Side note: This much puree will make about four pies. If you're making less, use less puree, about 2 cups per pie.***

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth, add the pumpkin and mix. Then add the sugar, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon and mix. Add half a pound of halved pecans. 

I let the mixture sit while I finished molding the pie crust into the molds, and it was perfect. It had time to sit together and marry into the perfect filling. Stir before filling the pie mold to make sure the pecans are incorporated. 

Next, start the sugared pecans. Start with the remaining half pound of pecan halves. Mix sugar, almond milk, salt, and ground cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside. The candied pecans will be for garnish. 

Once the crust is ready and in the pie mold, fill with the mixture. Add the sugared pecans to the top of the pie and pour the remaining sugar mixture. Bake for 50 minutes or until the center is set. Let it cool down before enjoying. 

Happy baking!

Desserts and the Not So Vegan Sugar

We all love desserts. There is abundant truth in the phrase there is always room for dessert, after all. We eat because we need sustenance, nutrition, but we enjoy a well crafted, perfectly baked (or iced, or dried, or whipped, or fried––hello, churro) dessert.

And to those who don't: I don't trust you.

And for good reason. Think about the times you've been angry...now think about the times you've been upset or angry and had dessert...feel better, right? My parents would take me out for ice cream after an orchestra concert to celebrate. I'd get a cold stone cake for my birthday, and creamy flan when I felt down. True Blood's Sookie Stackhouse eats the last thing her grandmother will ever make: half of a creamy pecan pie. And how lucky was she it was pecan pie rather than chopped liver? Dessert makes everything better, and makes the good times great.

Of course, all of that was before I "woke up," as so many vegans like to put it (and it's quite fitting). I changed my diet, and I learned a lot. I also failed a lot. I ate almond cheese that turned out to have casein as a main ingredient. I ate gummy bears before I knew how they were made. I ate toast that had egg... the list goes on.

And a very big one I just found out about...sugar.

Yes, sugar.

Granted, not many desserts/snacks can be categorized as "vegan," per se, but many can. Here's a list of PETA's accidentally vegan foods.

Oreo's are listed here. The first ingredient is SUGAR. Now, I love me some Oreo cookies, but here is my problem. I just recently––and I really mean recently, as in a week ago––found out not all sugar is made the same. Meaning, not all sugar is vegan.

Cane Sugar and the Bones that Make it Appealing

Cane sugar is made from cane stalks. Have you ever had cane stalks in your punch? I have. They're delicious, but you have to work to get the sweetness. Chew chew chew. That's how. Same goes for the sugar process. the cane stalks are chopped, shredded, and crushed.

According to scamsweet.com, "from there, calcium hydroxide is added to the juice and carbon dioxide is bubbled through the mixture, which helps to clarify the juice by creating insoluble calcium compounds. The calcium hydroxide also raises the juice's pH level. With the help of polyacrylamides, calcium compounds, muds, and other impurities are filtered out of the juice.

Next, the juice travels to a filter where it is treated with activated carbon.

After being filtered, the juice is sent through an evaporator to remove water, causing the juice to thicken.The juice is then sent to a boiler where it is heated in a vacuum and fine "seed crystals" are added to aid in the formation of sugar crystals. 

Crystallization leaves behind a substance called "mother liquor" that will ultimately be made into molasses. To separate the sugar crystals from the mother liquor, they are put into a centrifuge. The final product is raw sugar, which is ready to be refined into white sugar.The refining process begins with affination, where the raw sugar crystals are melted into a syrup, dissolving the remaining molasses. Then the sugar is washed.

From there, the sugar is clarified and decolored--either with phosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide or with sulphur dioxide. 

Finally, the solution is boiled one last time to concentrate it into white granulated sugar crystals."

It all sounds pretty innocent, but where does the bone char come in? In the whitening process. 

The Vegetarian Resource Group published an article in 2007 about sugar companies and the use of bone char as a whitening process. The first article they wrote was back in 1997. Revisiting the issue 10 years later, the same companies using bone char continue to do so, only now they call bone char "natural charcoal." 

"There are a few small cane sugar companies, but there are really only two large cane sugar enterprises—Imperial/Savannah Foods (Dixie Crystal) and Florida Crystals. Florida Crystals owns American Sugar Refining (Domino Foods) as well as the C&H Sugar Company, both of which now call bone char "natural charcoal."

According to VRG, if your sugar is labeled, "100% Pure Cane Sugar," it was most likely refined using bone char. However, sugar labeled as "100% Pure Beet Sugar," and organic sugar are most likely vegan, and therefore char-free.

VRG's Vegan Sugar List

Bone Char-Free Sugars Produced By U.S. Companies
Company	Brand Name
C&H Sugar	C&H Pure Cane Washed Raw Sugar C&H Pure Cane Certified Organic Sugar
Cumberland Packing Company	Sugar in the Raw
Domino Sugar	Domino Demerara Washed Raw Cane Sugar Domino Pure Cane Certified Organic Sugar
Florida Crystals	Florida Crystals Demerara Natural Sugar Organic Evaporated Cane Juice (granulated and powdered) Golden Granulated Evaporated Cane Juice Florida Crystals Milled Cane Natural Sugar Florida Crystals Certified Organic Natural Sugar
Great Eastern Sun	Sweet Cloud Organic Raw Cane Sugar
Hain Celestial Group	Hain Organic Brown Sugar Hain Organic Powdered Sugar
Shady Maple Farms	Shady Maple Farms Granulated Maple Sugar
Tropical Traditions	Rapadura Whole Organic Sugar
Wholesome Sweeteners	Light Muscovado Sugar Dark Muscovado Sugar Sucanat (granulated and powdered) Organic Sucanat (granulated and powdered)
NOTE: 100% Pure Beet Sugar is not passed through a bone char filter.

So where does all this information leave us struggling vegans? When I found out about sugar and the process of whitening, I raced to my pantry and checked my sugar label. I use Zulka Morena Pure Cane Sugar.

I have for years. I don't think I have ever used a different sugar than this since my mother switched from white sugar to this less processed, but not quite brown sugar. Not quite convinced I was in the clear, I searched the website and was pleasantly surprised my question was in their FAQ section. It is vegan. 

Q: Is Zulka vegan?

A: Some sugars go through a refining process which uses bone char to make it more white. We’re proud to say that Zulka is never refined and does not use animal products in any part of production

I was in the clear. Desserts were happy again. My safe place was mine again. I could breathe. 

But what about the processed foods I eat, the foods I spend hours checking the ingredient list. The foods like Oreo Cookies whose first ingredient is sugar, but is listed as a vegan food even in the PETA website, what about those foods? Will I ever know? Should I cut out all processed foods and be content making my own? And what about those lazy days all I want is a fucking Oreo cookie and some almond milk? Should I even care about the bone char white sugar? 

My answer is yes, I care. Will I cut out those admittedly unhealthy, but comforting foods that are in that gray unknown? I don't know yet. All I know is that a part of my brain is constantly working and thinking about ingredients and the possibility that I may never know if what I eat is truly, wholly vegan.