Print the recipe card!  pumpkin pie with chocolate crust

It’s November,  let’s kick it off with pie!  You’ll love this pumpkin pie with chocolate crust and to top it off a 100% shelf stable coconut whipped cream!  It’s true!  Made from canned coconut milk,  it’s a trick that was discovered by accident and (gratefully) shared on this blog with all the rest of us.  Sure enough it works, and is out of this world delicious!

makes 2 (10 inch) pies

Ingredients

Crust

1/2 c.  sugar

1/2 c.  cocoa powder

1 can canned butter (1/2 can or 2/3 cup butter needed for recipe)

2 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs (*see note)

Pie filling

2 (15 oz.) cans pumpkin

2 (12 oz.) cans evaporated milk

4 tsp. cornstarch

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. salt

Coconut Whipped Cream

1 (13 oz.) can Thai Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk (*see note)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

In a pot, melt the butter and combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and cocoa.  Stir well and press evenly into pans.  Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.  Cool.

While crust is cooling make the pie filling.  Pour a small amount of evaporated milk in a bowl.  Add cornstarch to this, whisk together and set aside.  In a medium bowl mix pumpkin, remaining evaporated milk, sugar, spices and salt.  Pour in cornstarch mixture and stir together.

Fill crusts with pie filling and bake for 60 minutes at 350 or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean.  If using tart pans like the ones I’ve used here, be sure to bake on a cookie sheet since it leaks through just a little.

Allow pies to cool and top with coconut whipped cream.  Garnish with sprinkled cinnamon if desired.

Making the crusts

Press mixture evenly into pans, bake crusts for 8 minutes and allow to cool.

Making the pie filling

Whisk together a small cup of milk and the cornstarch.

In a separate bowl add together the other pie filling ingredients and then add in the cornstarch mixture.

Fill cooled pie crusts with pie filling and bake.

Allow pies to cool completely.

Remove bottoms of tart pans like this and serve.

Making the Coconut Whipped Cream

Chill the can of coconut milk for some time or best overnight (*see note).  The coconut cream will separate from the water and will be thick and nearly solid at the top of the can when you open it.  Whisk with powdered sugar and vanilla and serve on cooled pie.

So good it couldn’t possibly be food storage … but it is!

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Notes:

• I use a food mill (specifically this one) to grind my graham crackers into crumbs.  Normally I would just use my Vitamix to do the job but this mill is my non-electric back up plan. I like it for making crumbs of any kind, including bread crumbs.  It requires about half of my canister of graham crackers to make the crumbs needed for this recipe.  If you missed my post on making homemade graham crackers you can find it here.

• I tested out three different brands of coconut milk just to see if there was a difference in how they performed in this recipe.  Thai Kitchen’s Organic Coconut Milk (found in most grocery stores that I’ve seen) was by far the best.  There are some good tips and comments found in the original post’s comments section as to what works and what doesn’t.  Here’s the link again.  Another thing, the author suggests that coconut cream concentrate also known as coconut butter (sold in Asian grocery stores) would also probably work.

• If I were to make this without a refrigerator to chill the coconut milk I would leave it outside to chill overnight.  In the morning I would put it into my wonder oven to keep cool until I needed it.  Wonder ovens’ insulation also keeps cold things cold.

• By using my two different sized tart pans and stacking them like I did in the “Pizza!” post, this pie could also be baked in a sun oven.

• I store Red Feather brand canned butter.  I’ve talked about it before but in case you missed it, I buy it here.   It’s expensive so I don’t use it very often — in my food storage plan this recipe would use up a remaining can of butter that had been used in a main meal and would be quite a special treat.