It’s official. I’m a kitchen wizard. I made pumpkin pie from scratch! It was dairy-free and my Thanksgiving friends actually ate it. What more does one want from a woman?

Here’s the recipe. But rather than buy the pumpkin puree in a can, try the healthy, inconvenient approach and buy, cook, strain and mix real pumpkin (in my case, Jamaican, of course)!

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar, firmly packed
1/4 Cup White Sugar
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg or Allspice
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Large Eggs
1 15-ounce Can Pumpkin Puree
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Canned Coconut Milk
1 Unbaked Pie Shell

Preheat your oven to 425ºF.
Combine the sugars, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg or allspice, cloves and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Beat in the sugar mixture, pumpkin, and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the coconut milk.
Pour the filling into the unbaked pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350ºF and continue to bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.  It may be a bit wobbly still, but it will firm-up as it cools.
Allow the pie to cool on a wire rack for 2 hours.  Serve or refrigerate until ready to serve. (Source: AlisaCooks.com)

Everything I am wearing is vintage, except for the shopping bag (SaveTheChimps.org – Is that Sinbad?), the red ‘Status’ sunglasses by Grey Ant and the skinny blue belt by Club Monaco. The ice cream earrings are from some cheesy accessories store in Midtown, the pompom towels from Tel Aviv, the yellow wooden bowl from Sluiz in Ibiza and the polka dot tray by French Bull. Blue ‘Where is my Chauffeur’ nail polish by Essie. The apron is my mom’s from the 70s! And meet Mohammed, my black panther!

Thank you Julia Restoin Roitfeld (& my new big love, Romy) for putting up with me four Thanksgivings in a row, and Tom Van Dorpe, Louis, Arman Nafeei, Vladimir Roitfeld and Giovanna Battaglia for eating my pie.

Photos by Meredith Jenks.