Coconut Pumpkin Pie

I never would have imagined these two ingredients together. But the marriage of coconut and pumpkin in this pie is nothing short of sublime. I stumbled onto the recipe looking for a way to use up some extra lite coconut milk and was so intrigued I simply HAD TO TRY IT! I’m so glad I did. The beauty of this dessert isn’t simply in its pretty look or its terrific taste. The lite coconut milk is so much lower in sodium than canned or fresh cow’s milk, it renders this pie a virtually guilt free pleasure. Recipe adapted from the Thai Kitchen website.

Serves 12.

SODIUM CONTENT: 27 mg per serving

INGREDIENTS:

Crust:
1 1/4 c. flour
4 T. unsalted butter
1/4 c. water (approx.)

Filling:
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 T. no salt added pumpkin pie spice
1- 15-oz. can pumpkin puree
1- 14-oz. can Lite Coconut Milk

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Get out a deep dish pie plate and baking sheet and set aside.

To make the crust, measure the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the butter to the bowl and cut into the flour using a pastry blender or your (freshly washed) fingertips. Once the butter has been broken down into tiny pieces, add cool water, one tablespoon at a time, gathering the dough up with each addition. Keep adding water until the dough has reached a fairly solid mass, but there is still a little flour left. You don’t want the dough to be gushy. Continue gathering the dough into a ball, and once it’s solid, place on a lightly floured surface. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough out into a circle large enough to fit the pie pan. Very carefully transfer the crust to the plate, pressing down, then trimming or crimping edges as desired. Place the pie pan onto the baking sheet and set aside.

To make the filling, mix the beaten eggs, sugar and pumpkin pie spice in large bowl until smooth. Stir in pumpkin. Gradually add the coconut milk, mixing well. Pour into the prepared pie crust. Place on the middle rack in oven and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F, then bake 55 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.

Serve warm or refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with ice cream or whipped cream and sprinkle with additional pumpkin pie spice, if desired. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.