Keto Pumpkin Marscapone Cheesecake Pie

During a recent dinner party I felt bad serving Tiramasu to our guests and leaving out my Keto crazy husband. So in an act of solidarity I got busy looking for a dessert he could have on the Keto diet. He had already bought a sugar substitute in the form of Erythritol so I was ready to create something delicious for him.

As I scoured the internet and Pinterest for Keto desserts it became evident that most Keto desserts are simply whipped cream or they used strange thickeners or flours or protein powders that I don’t have on hand here in Italy. I wanted something with eggs, cream, sweetener and cream cheese or marscapone. I knew I couldn’t thicken it with flour or cornstarch so I thought I would use gelatin like I did on the Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Mousse that I had made on a previous post.

I discovered that this type of Keto dessert doesn’t exist on the web (or at least I couldn’t find it) so I came up with my own thing. It came out so good that I kept eating Jeffs precious dessert and I wanted to serve it to our guests, but Jeff wouldn’t have it. He claimed it as his own and wouldn’t share. I felt crazy using so much cream in the recipe so I decided to dilute the cream with water, thats why there is 3/4 cup cream and 1/2 cup of water. You can use all cream if you want to have extra fat in your Keto diet.

If you are not familiar with the Keto diet it means no carbohydrates from wheat, corn, rice, potatoes or other starchy foods. Its a high vegetable diet and high fat, the fats should come from healthy sources like olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocados, butter, cheese and cream. Beef, Pork, Chicken and Fish are also part of the diet. So this recipe hits all of the positive Keto ingredients down to the gelatin that is actually used on the Keto diet as a suppliment. Even the egg white in the crust is ticking all of the right boxes. (you know I have been in Europe too long when I say “ticking the right boxes”, come on Katrina, Americans say “checking the right boxes”, sorry fellow Americans!)

Pumpkin is not exactly “Keto Perfect” it has 20 grams of Carbohydrates per cup. But if you cut this pie into 8 slices, each serving will only have 2.5 grams per slice. That is way below the allowed 35 grams allowed for the day, so cut a slice and enjoy the creamy decadence!

In Italy they don’t really believe in canned goods and pumpkin pie isn’t a “thing” so needless to say, I have no canned pumpkin here. But its easy in Italy to buy a section of pumpkin from the Farmers Market, bring it home, peel and dice it up and put it in the freezer. This way I can pull out a frozen bag of pumpkin and cook it up for all of my favorite pumpkin things like Pumpkin Risotto and Pumpkin Ravioli!

Keto Pumpkin Marscapone Cheesecake

Ingredients:

2 sheets of gelatin (or one scant (that means a little less than) 1 tablespoon gelatin powder)

1/2 cup of cream (to temper the gelatin) (118 ml)

Custard:

3/4 cup of cream (177 ml)

1/2 cup of water (118 ml)

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup of Erythritol (sugar substitute) 50 grams

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup (250 grams) of Marscapone cheese or Cream Cheese

1 cup canned pumpkin (see instructions below if you are cooking your own pumpkin like I have to do here in Italy)

Nut Crust:

1 cup walnuts chopped finely (250 grams)

1/4 cup ground flax seed (50 grams)

1 Tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon Erythritol

pinch of salt

1 1/2 egg whites

Instructions:

My suggestion is to make this dessert the day before you want to serve it to make sure the gelatin completely firms up.

Prepare your nut crust (see recipe in the link) Allow to cool.

Here in Europe gelatin sheets are more common that gelatin powder. Soak the gelatin sheets in water for 10 minutes to soften them. Meanwhile, heat your 1/2 cup cream up over medium low heat but do not allow it to bubble. Remove the cream from the heat and when the gelatin sheets have softened you can place them in the warm cream, stir to make sure the sheets are completely dissolved.

If you are in America, you can use gelatin powder, skip the step of soaking the gelatin leafs in water. Instead, sprinkle the gelatin powder directly on the cold 1/2 cup of cream and whisk with a fork. Allow it to rest 10 minutes then heat it up on the stove but do not allow it to bubble.

In a sauce pan combine 3/4 cup of cream, water, three egg yolks and sugar together. Whisk while it is still cold to make sure the egg yolks are completely combined. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and gently bring to a low boil. Try not to let it break (where is looks chunky). Mine did break but I put it in the blender and it smoothed right out. Let it cool slightly before trying to blend it. Add the marscapone cheese and the pumpkin to the blender and blend that up too. Add the cream with the dissolved gelatin sheets and stir (don’t blend it)

Nut Crust Instruction:

Chop walnuts or other Keto friendly nuts up finely or use a food processor. Place walnuts in 1 tablespoon of butter on a skillet over medium heat. Toast the nuts until lightly golden. Add ground flax seed, cinnamon, Erythritol and salt. Stir together and pour into a pie dish. Reserve 1/4 cup of toasted nuts for the topping on the pie.

Add the egg whites. I know its hard to use 1 and a half egg white because they kinda come together but beat them a little with a fork and do your best. I actually think I got more than 1 and a half but 2 is definitely too much. Mix with your fingers (that is the fun part) and then form the crust to the pie pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool

Pour the Pumpkin filling into the Nut Crust Pie Crust and refrigerate overnight. Top with nut crumble from the Nut Crust Recipe.

I love this principle of gelatin for custard desserts with the Keto diet. I am going to try other flavors with the same principals like Chocolate!!! I also love the crust recipe, so versatile!

Custard for Keto Pumpkin Cheese Cake Pie (by the way, you can see how mine broke, so if yours does, don’t worry! Just keep calm and carry on with blending in the blender!) You can also see my pumpkin cooking away on the back burner…

whirl up the pumpkin mixture in the blender with the pumpkin to smooth it out.

Blend pumpkin, custard and Marscapone together in a blender (but not the cream with gelatin, add the separately. See! I told you the separated cream would be ok!

Get ready to prepare your Nut Crust!

Chop walnuts for Flax seed walnut pie crust

Press the toasted nuts, spices and egg whites in a pie pan to make Flax seed walnut crust!

pour the custard into the pie crust and allow to refrigerate overnight. I made this little pie because I had too much custard to fit in my pie plate and I wanted to taste it before I served it to guests. I used a little nut crumble for the crust (I didn't mix in the egg white for this one) and put a little nut crumble on top. — pour the custard into the pie crust and allow to refrigerate overnight. I made this little pie because I had too much custard to fit in my pie plate and I wanted to taste it before I served it to guests. I used a little nut crumble for the crust (I didn’t mix in the egg white for this one) and put a little nut crumble on top.

How to Prepare Fresh Pumpkin:

Peel and cube up fresh pumpkin. Place in a saucepan with 3 tablespoons of water, bring to a boil and cook until pumpkin is soft, about 30 minutes depending on the size of the pumpkin cubes. Reduce until there is no liquid left in the pan and the pumpkin is thick but be careful not to burn it.