5 Easy Ingredient Swaps for an Egg-free Pumpkin Pie

5 Ways to Make an Egg-free Pumpkin PieThere are more than a few reasons why you may be avoiding eggs in your holiday Pumpkin Pie this year. Maybe one of your guests has a dietary restriction, maybe you are looking to lower the cholesterol in your recipes or maybe you just want to give an egg-free pie a whirl. Eggs add texture and flavor to a pumpkin pie, so you will want to find suitable ingredients that properly replace those qualities. An egg-free pumpkin pie is easy with these five ingredient ideas…

1. Use Soaked Cashews
Soaked cashews act as an excellent egg replacer. You soak them overnight, drain and rinse them, Then you process them until smooth and creamy. They will give your pie a creamy and fluffy texture similar to eggs.

Related: 10 seasonal fruits you can enjoy anywhere, anytime

2. Coconut Oil Magic
If you have played around with virgin coconut oil, you know that is has the ability to firm up recipes when chilled, and creates a silky rich texture as well. So if you are worried about your eggless pumpkin pie firming up in the fridge after baking, simply try this trick: substitute every 2 eggs with 1/3 cup of melted coconut oil, plus 1-2 Tbsp non-dairy milk or a scoop of applesauce. And this trick works best on pies that you will be chilling before serving, since coconut oil is liquid at a a heated state and becomes hard in consistency when chilled.

3. Use Walnuts
Just like cashews, wlanuts act to replace the texture and rich consistency that eggs provide. But walnuts do not need to be soaked overnight and they are actually perfect for making a raw, bake-free pumpkin pie!

Related: 11 tasty recipes for the pumpkin-obsessed

4. Applesauce it
The old tried and true egg-replacer of applesauce certainly does work for pumpkin pie. Just be aware that since apple sauce is sweet, you may want to reduce your recipe's overall sugar a bit. You can replace 2 eggs with about 1/2 cup of applesauce.

5. Cheesecake it
By using a combination of vegan cream cheese and soaked cashews, you can make a delicious pumpkin pie flavored cheese cake, without using eggs.

- By Kathy Patalsky
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