Keto Pumpkin Pie in a Cup

Thanksgiving! My favorite meal of the year. I read somewhere that when you're a PWD (person with diabetes), you never get a holiday and that's true. Just because it's Thanksgiving doesn't mean your blood sugar gets to take a holiday and go off the charts. You need to plan ahead, make choices or substitutions and measure portions just like every other day of the year. I know for me, giving up my favorite holiday foods, especially dessert, would leave me feeling unsatisfied and left out of the festivities. The experts will tell you "don't make it about the food" but, let's be honest here, Thanksgiving is very much about the food! Are those experts giving up their slice of pumpkin pie? (I doubt it.) Well, neither am I!

This excellent recipe has been perfected after many trials. I tried making a low carb crust with almond flour in various combinations, but they all turned out to be duds. Either they were too crumbly, too high in carbs, or were too far from the REAL pumpkin pie taste that they failed the test. I almost gave up on the idea of crust altogether and thought I'd have to settle on pumpkin custard (which is good but doesn't have that same pie taste without the crust), then a light bulb went on over my head! The crust doesn't have to be on the bottom, I can have a little bit of real crust on the top while keeping the carbs down with other minor adjustments to the filling recipe -- I can have it all and so can you! Have a happy and sweet Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Pie in a Cup
(Makes 8 servings)

Pudding Ingredients:

3 eggs
One 15 oz. canned pumpkin (2 cups)
2 tablespoons Swerve Brown
1/3 cup LaKanto Monkfruit Sweetener (or other erythritol sweetener)
1 teaspoon stevia powder, or to taste (I use Sweet Leaf brand)
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups almond milk or coconut milk (no sugar added, not vanilla flavor)

Optional Crust Cut Out Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup almond flour

1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

Whipped topping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. In a large mixing bowl or 5 cup measure, beat eggs and add canned pumpkin. Whisk in brown sugar, sweeteners, spices (2½ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice can be substituted), salt and almond milk; set aside.

2. Place eight (4-ounce size) custard cups into a 9" x 13" baking dish. Divide pumpkin mixture equally between the custard cups. Pour very hot water into pan until it reaches about half way up the side of the custard cups and carefully transfer to oven. (Tip: To avoid spilling water, place pan on oven rack before pouring in hot water.)

3. Bake for 45-55 minutes until set and a knife comes out clean when inserted in center of custard. Remove from oven and transfer custard cups to a wire rack to cool completely.

4. While custard is cooling, preheat oven to 375-degrees. Mix together the crust cut out ingredients with a fork and gather the mixture together into a dough ball. Roll dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap. Cut out small leaf shapes with tiny cookie or pie crust cutters. Place on a cookie sheet that has been covered with a piece of parchment paper (or lightly grease with butter). Bake for 12-15 minutes or until browned. Remove to wire rack to cool. Store in a sealed plastic bag until serving time. To serve, place 2-3 cutouts on each pumpkin custard as garnish.

Nutritional Information per serving of pumpkin pudding (Optional crust cut outs not included in this calculation, see below): 59 calories, 7 g carbohydrate (2.2g dietary fiber, 2.1 g sugars, 3.2 g sugar alcohols), 2.3 g total fat (0.6 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat), 70 mg cholesterol, 128 mg sodium, 105 mg calcium, 30 mg potassium, 1 mg iron, 3mg Vit C, 2881 IU Vit A, 3 g protein. Net carbs per serving: 4.8 grams

Nutritional Information for Crust Cut Outs (1/8 recipe, 2-3 cut outs): 59 calories, 2.3 g carbohydrate (1.4 g dietary fiber, 0.3 g sugars), 4.9 g total fat (2.7 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat), 31 mg cholesterol, 93 mg sodium, 5.4 mg calcium, 14 mg potassium, 37 IU Vit A, 1.4 g protein. Net carbs per 2-3 cut outs: 0.9 grams. 

Original recipe by Kathy Sheehan, copyright 2009, revised 2023

All rights reserved. Please do not duplicate without the author’s permission.

How does this recipe compare with traditional Pumpkin Pie? It is much lower in calories, fat and carbohydrates, plus, with this recipe, you actually get more pumpkin filling than you would if you had a slice of pie! For comparision, the nutritional information for 1/8th of a 9" traditional pumpkin pie is 375 calories, 52.5 g carbohydrate, 16.2 g total fat, 7.5 g saturated fat, 2.5 g fiber, 5 g protein.