Gluten-free pumpkin pie with a pumpkin face for Halloween

INSTRUCTIONS

Gluten-free shortcrust pastry

1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and salt until frothy (using a whisk or whisk attachment on your food processor)
2. Add the softened butter and switch to the paddle attachment of your food processor.
3. Then sieve the dry ingredients onto baking paper and add together. Stir again until everything is mixed and no more flour is visible.
4. Place the finished dough on cling film, shape into a flat rectangle and wrap airtight. You can store it in the fridge (or in the freezer for a longer period of time).
5. If you have kept the dough in the fridge for a long time, take it out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you want to use it. It should be hard and firm, but not so hard that you can't press it in. However, if you want to continue working immediately after mixing, you should at least put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes or longer to give it the right consistency. Gluten-free shortcrust pastry can quickly become crumbly or soggy if it is too warm.
6. Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper until you have reached a thickness of approx. 3-4 mm. Then place your tin on top and cut with a generous border around the tin. Put the dough back in the fridge for a few minutes.
7. During this time, grease the tin and then place the pastry on the tin and carefully push the pastry into the corners so that there are no creases and the pastry sits nicely in the tin. Then use a knife to cut off the excess dough at an angle of approx. 45°. Finally, prick the base with a fork and then place the mould in the freezer.

Pumpkin filling

1. Cut the pumpkin in half and bake in the oven at 180 °C fan oven, cut side down, for approx. 30 minutes. When the pumpkin flesh is soft and the skin looks slightly charred, remove the pumpkin from the oven and first remove the seeds with a spoon (you don't need them). Then remove the soft pumpkin flesh with a spoon and scrape it from the skin.
2. I then weigh the soft pumpkin flesh into a container where I can use a hand mixer without splashing all over the kitchen (so rather narrow and high). Then I add the remaining ingredients, except for the eggs and coconut milk, and blend everything until the pumpkin flesh is creamy like a puree. Then I add the eggs and coconut milk and blend everything again.
3. Preheat the oven to approx. 200 °C fan oven. When the oven is ready, take the frozen tart tin out of the freezer and pour the filling directly into the tin. Spread the filling as smoothly as possible and then put it straight into the oven. Then immediately turn the oven down to 180 °C.
4. The fact that the gluten-free shortcrust pastry is frozen prevents the filling from softening the pastry and extends the baking time so that both the filling and the shortcrust pastry achieve the same baking time.

Pumpkin face for Halloween

1. Roll out the dough to a thickness of approx. 3-4 mm between two sheets of baking paper. Then cut out a circle the diameter of your baking tin. Then carefully cut the face out of the dough freehand with a knife. Chill the pumpkin face in the fridge again so that it hardens.
2. Take a paintbrush and paint the pumpkin face with edible and gluten-free food colouring. Chill the finished face again and then bake it in the oven for approx. 20 minutes together with the gluten-free pumpkin tart (on a separate baking tray).
3. Leave the pumpkin face to cool afterwards. Be careful, the dough will still harden, so you should take it out before it is firm. When the pumpkin pie is ready, the pumpkin face should have reached room temperature and be like a firm biscuit so that you can carefully place it on the tart or cake.
4. When the pumpkin cake has also reached room temperature, I put it back in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Only then do I carefully remove the cake from the tin and cut it.