How do I get through the holidays without completely ruining my good eating habits? Here are a couple of our favorite yummy holiday pie recipes for delicious chocolate and pumpkin pies. The pecan crust works wonderfully for both. Enjoy!

Sugar-Free Chocolate Cream Pie

1/3 cup cocoa or 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3/4 teaspoon liquid stevia or 1/2 teaspoon pure stevia

1/4 cup cornstarch (or 7 tsp. arrowroot) 1/4 teaspoon salt

3 1/4 cups milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla whipped cream

Directions: 1. In a saucepan, mix together cocoa, stevia, cornstarch or arrowroot and salt. 2. Stir milk in gradually. 3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils; boil until it thickens. Remove from heat. 4. Blend in vanilla. 5. Cool 10 minutes. Pour into pie shell; refrigerate. 6. Top with whipped cream before serving.

Pumpkin Pie

People love this pie. People have told me it was the best they’ve even had, and they didn’t know it was low-carb or sugar-free (or gluten-free). You must make it with the pecan crust for full impact. That said, it’s great on its own as a baked pudding, even for breakfast.

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz can pumpkin – preferably organic or fresh pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup cream
• 1/3 -1/2 tsp powdered Stevia
• 1 teaspoon dark molasses (optional)
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 scant teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch cloves
• 1/4 t salt

Preparation:

1) Preheat oven to 425 F. (important) 2) Dump all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and whirl to blend. 3) Pour into the crust. 4) Put the pie in the oven and immediately turn the oven down to 375 F. In 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 300 F. (This cooks the crust, so it isn’t soggy, but then allows the custard to bake more slowly.) Bake until almost set in the middle, about 30 to 40 minutes more. If it starts to crack a bit around the edges, it’s probably done. 5) Cool and serve with whipped cream (the real stuff, made with vanilla and sweetener).

Pecan Nut Pie Crust

This is a great pie crust, particularly for pumpkin pie, but it can be used for other custard/pudding fillings. It really helps to start out with pecans from the freezer, because then the butter blends through but quickly sets up so the “mass” is pliable.

Prep Time: 8 minutes

Total Time: 8 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup pecan pieces (frozen)
• 3 T melted butter
• Stevia to taste

Preparation:

1. Take pecans out of the freezer and measure them into a food processor (you can use a blender, but be careful not to blend them down too small). Pulse the processor until the largest pieces are as big as lentils or split peas. 2. Add the butter and the sweetener Blend until it’s mixed evenly. 3. Dump it into a pie pan, and push with your fingers to cover the bottom and sides. It should be the right consistency to mold the crust to the pie pan evenly.