Put your pie on a diet
Impossible Healthy Pumpkin Pie doesn't have a traditional high-fat crust.
A slice of Impossible Healthy Pumpkin Pie is about 140 calories, without the dousing of fat-free whipped topping.
Lite chocolate pie gets a flavor boost with a little cocoa powder and vanilla extract.
My pie philosophy could paraphrase a current hit song — it’s all about the base.
No matter what kind of filling — pumpkin, apple, pecan, cherry, cream — a crisp, flaky crust always makes a pie so much better.
But I’m trying to revise my idea of “pie” this year. In the past couple of months, I’ve worked hard to lose 12 pounds. While I want to enjoy the holidays, I don’t want to backslide.
And unfortunately, crisp, flaky pie crust is made almost solely of fat and flour. Calorie-counting guides say the bottom crust on a serving (1/8 of a 9-inch pie) is between 100-150 calories, depending on the amount of butter, shortening, lard, or oil used. When you add in the filling, you can end up with these approximate calorie counts:
– Pecan Pie: 500 calories, 60 grams of carbs and 25 grams of fat (Ouch!)
– Apple Pie: 280 calories, 40 grams of carbs and 15 grams of fat.
– Lemon Meringue Pie: 360 calories, 50 grams of carbs, 16 grams of fat.
– Banana Cream: 280 calories, 40 grams of carbohydrate and 15 grams of fat.
– Pumpkin Pie: 320 calories, 40 grams of carbohydrates and 15 grams of fat.
And folks, 1/8 of a 9-inch pie is a pretty small wedge. That’s not counting a top crust, whipped cream or ice cream you might add to it.
At a Weight Watchers class, I heard about a pumpkin pie recipe that’s low in fat and calories.
It’s a riff on the “impossible” Bisquick pies of popular in the late 1970s., where you mixed all the ingredients together, including Bisquick and eggs. During the baking, the ingredients settled to make a crust on the bottom and filling in the middle.
I found several different versions of this same pie on diet/health websites, and I mixed and matched a little to come up with my own version. Some of them call for a reduced-fat (Heart Smart) Bisquick, egg substitute and skim milk. But in looking at the Nutrition Facts, I found there’s a difference of only about 25 calories between a half-cup of the regular baking mix and the Heart Smart version. Spread out over 8 servings, that’s not a huge difference, and I didn’t want to make a special trip to the grocery store for the lower-fat version.
I also opted to make the pie a little richer in texture and flavor by using two regular eggs and a can of 2% evaporated milk. Although egg yolks have some fat and cholesterol, they also contain a wide variety of nutrients. And I prefer using real eggs instead of “egg substitute.” My grocery store doesn’t carry fat-free evaporated milk; but if you’re able to find it, you can shave off a few calories that way.
One of the big calorie savings was omitting the crust and the sugar. The estimated calorie count is about 150 calories per serving (1/8 of the pie). The pie itself tasted pretty good….for a pie without a real crust.
I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin, but once it’s doused in fat-free whipped cream, it feels almost decadent. One benefit of pumpkin pie is that a wedge (1/8 of a 9-inch pie) will give you 240 percent of your daily recommended allowance for vitamin A, plus smaller amounts of nutrients like calcium and iron.
I usually serve this Low-Fat Chocolate Pie along with several other Thanksgiving pies, and most people don’t seem to notice that it’s “diet.” But by my calculations, it has about 140 calories per slice (1/8 of a pie). The crunchy cookie crust is about 80 calories of that, but it gives the crunch that pie-lovers like me adore. The filling is fat-free, sugar-free chocolate pudding, doctored up with a little vanilla and cocoa powder to boost the flavor.
Since most people on Thanksgiving are going to have second helpings, I suggest having one slice of one of these “healthy” pies first, and then if you’re still craving a piece of your usual apple or banana cream pie, take a small slice and ENJOY it. After all, it’s Thanksgiving! At least, that’s my game plan.
IMPOSSIBLE HEALTHY PUMPKIN PIE
15-ounce can pureed pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix
3/4 cup Splenda sweetener
2 eggs
12-ounce can fat-free or 2% evaporated milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (or use 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice instead of the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg)
1/2 cup Bisquick baking mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Pour into a 10-inch pie tin or plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Serve with fat-free whipped topping.
Without the topping, each wedge (1/8 of the pie) is about 150 calories.
LITE CHOCOLATE FUDGE PIE
2 1.4-ounce packages Chocolate Fudge flavor fat-free, sugar-free instant pudding mix (such as Jell-O brand)
3 cups skim (fat-free) milk
1 to 2 teaspoons cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s cocoa)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 9-inch chocolate cookie-crumb pie crust (or graham cracker crumb crust)
Fat-free whipped topping
Mix the two packages of pudding mix, milk, cocoa powder and vanilla together until well-blended. (A hand-mixer helps to insure it’s well-blended and gives more of a whipped texture.)
Pour into the pie crust. Chill in the refrigerator for a half-hour, or longer, to allow the filling to set up. Serve with a dollop of fat-free whipped topping.
Without the topping, each wedge (1/8 of the pie) is approximately 140 calories.
Valerie Phillips can be reached at www.chewandchat.com.
