Coconut Spiced Pumpkin Pie

It is the holiday season, and for some reason my son has been asking for pumpkin pie (even though he has never had it before). I suspect it has something to do with an episode of Bob the Builder he watched (for the millionth time) recently. I do like pumpkin pie, but I’ll admit that it has never been a show stopper for me. I don’t eagerly anticipate it when Thanksgiving rolls around, but its good, and I’ll usually have a slice. So, when I agreed to make a pie for the boy (so he’d shut the heck up about it already), I didn’t want to go too traditional. I found this lovely recipe on Tastespotting, and they had me at “coconut milk”. I don’t know what it is about the coconut, but it really made all the difference. Also, I did not put the hazelnut paste in mine, because, well, I couldn’t find any hazelnuts in this po-dunk town. (it’s a conspiracy, I tell ya!) I took this pie to work for the boss’ birthday food table and it went over like hot cakes. Ironically, Ty discovered that Pumpkin Pie isn’t his favorite thing, either, but the poor kid is going to be seeing more of it in our house from now on!

I put the original recipe in here, with my notes in red.

Coconut Spiced Kissed Pumpkin Pie
1 graham crust (I just used the recipe on the side of the box of graham cracker crumbs)
1 1/2 C. hazelnuts – toasted
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 T. pumpkin pie spice blend
1 t. salt
1 T. arrowroot or cornstarch
1 1/2 C. roasted pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin (if you use canned pumpkin, its one 15 ounce can)
1 t. vanilla extract
3 extra large eggs – lightly beaten (really? Who uses extra large eggs? I converted to 4 large eggs)
1 C. coconut milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the middle.
Puree 1 1/2 cups of the toasted hazelnuts in a food processor until they turn into a hazelnut paste, past the ‘crumble’ stage. Set aside. Chop the remaining 1/2 cup of hazelnuts and set aside separately, these will be sprinkled on top after the pie is baked.
To make the pumpkin pie filling, whisk together the brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice blend, salt, and cornstarch. Stir in the pumpkin puree, and vanilla. Now stir in the eggs and coconut milk until just combined. Set aside.
Before filling the pie crust, crumble the hazelnut paste on top of the pie dough into the pie plate, quickly and gently press it into a thin layer across the bottom creating a layer of hazlenuts that will sit between the dough and the filling. Using the last egg gently brush the decorative edges of the pie dough. (Ok, I missed the part in the ingredient list where it said to save an egg for the crust. Because it didn’t say that….I was confused. All of mine went into the batter, and I used a graham crust anyway, so I didn’t need the extra egg. It turned out fine.) Use a fork to prick the pie dough a few times to prevent air bubbles. Fill the pie crust with the filling and bake for about 50 minutes – the center of the pie should just barely jiggle when you move the pie – the edges should be set. (I ended up cooking mine quite a bit longer, maybe by 20 extra minutes or more.)
Let the pie cool a bit, this makes slicing less messy. Serve straight or with a dollop of sweetenend whipped cream or ice cream.
Makes one 9 or 10-inch pie.