Experimental Homemade Pumpkin Pie, with Coconut Milk! By Jared Harding Wilson

By Jared Harding Wilson

This is Jared Harding Wilson out of Provo, Utah, (originally North Carolina), writing again. I was craving pumpkin pie 🥧 but I did not have a crucial ingredient; one 12 oz. can of evaporated milk!

Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I try not to purchase on the Sabbath day; Sunday. My wife and I were craving pumpkin pie and yet in our shopping the day before, Saturday, I failed to get a can of evaporated milk! We have the pumpkin I had already carved and baked. It was from Halloween and surprisingly lasted a good while before carving.

That’s when we decided to Google creative pumpkin pie recipes with alternative options. We came across a recipe called, “Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie,” from https://joyfoodsunshine.com/dairy-free-pumpkin-pie/. It called for coconut milk as a substitution! Also, it recommended vegan butter but we just used regular butter. Our variation we actually made was not dairy-free but I have tried a brand of vegan butter before and I like it. I just didn’t have any on hand, and being Sunday I could not go to the store to purchase it.

But we had a can of coconut milk! We decided to give it a go! I had already carved the fresh pumpkin and baked it the recommended time. Sarah puréed it and added the pie filling ingredients whilst I worked on the homemade pie crust. The secret was to keep it cold to get that flaky crust, before rolling and baking, and we used a food processor. Just easier.

Once done, we baked it for longer than we thought it would take and pulled it out to rest. Having company coming over to study the scriptures with us in a Come, Follow Me study group, we wanted to share the pie if it was reasonably edible. Neither of us had ever made a homemade pumpkin pie from scratch before. We were a little nervous. To speed things up I put it in the fridge. Part way through the class in our home, I tried a slice…and wow!!! It was amazing and was a big hit with our friends! With a can of Reddi Wip from the fridge and a dash of cinnamon on top, it was perfect! Who knew coconut milk could do the trick even better than with evaporated milk?!

Photos by Jared Harding Wilson. All rights reserved.