Photo: trekkyandy

My friend Paul, who cooks professionally at a local hotel, is always on the hunt for recipes that put a tasty twist on the traditional.

Last year, at Thanksgiving, he made an amazing pumpkin pie — we’ve been having a lot of fun trying to figure out how to make it even better, ever since.

What’s the result when two food-obsessed minds are put to work on one recipe?

A rich and delicious pumpkin pie for a special holiday dinner, that’s what!

Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie

Make (or buy) a single pie shell. Cook it as usual, and set it aside to cool while you prepare the pumpkin pie filling, as below:

Ingredients

1 ½ cups sour cream (sorry, but no — the low-fat kind won’t do!)
1 ½ cups cooked pumpkin (solid-pack canned, or homemade with liquid drained off)
3 eggs, separated into yolks and whites
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg (best if fresh-grated from a whole nutmeg)
¼ ground ginger (or a pinch more, if you like ginger as much as I do!)
¼ salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Gently heat 1 cup of the sour cream in the top of a double boiler, stirring occasionally.

Whisk together the pumpkin, egg yolks, brown sugar, spices, salt, and the remaining ½ cup of sour cream until it’s combined — then whisk it into the hot sour cream in your double boiler. Continue to cook over simmering water, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens and reached 170°F. (Paul actually uses a thermometer for this step; but I just “ballpark it” at about 6 or 7 minutes of cooking time.)

Remove from heat and cool quickly — take the top of the double boiler (the pot with your pumpkin mixture in it) off the bottom pot of hot water and put it into a bowl of ice water for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Beat the egg whites in a clean glass bowl with an electric mixer, just until the point where they will hold soft peaks — don’t over do it!

Fold the beaten egg whites gently but thoroughly into the cooled pumpkin mixture. Pour the filling into the cooled pie shell, levelling out the top with a knife or spatula. Bake at 375°F about 40 or 50 minutes (this will depend on how much moisture was in your pumpkin, as that can vary) — until the filling is set, and just a bit puffed up around the edge of the pie.

You can serve this pie at room temperature — cool it on a rack for about 2 hours — or make it a day ahead and serve it chilled. If you’re going to keep it in the fridge overnight, do let it come to room temperature first, then cover the cooled pie with a piece of plastic wrap for storage.

In the midst of our home renovation this summer, the carpenter’s wife came by with this awesome coconut cream pie… so you know I mugged her for the recipe.

(The original recipe called for the cream filling to be cooked on the stove, the traditional way — but I’ll give you instructions for doing it in a microwave oven, too.)

Now, I’m not even going to try to pretend that this pie is anything but deliciously decadent. Taste it once, though, and you won’t care about the calories!

Coconut Cream Pie

Ingredients:

3 cups milk
1 cup medium or fine unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond flavouring
1 baked pie shell (9″ or 10″)
whipped cream

Directions: Stove-top method:

Scald the milk in a saucpan and stir in the coconut. In another saucepan, combine the white sugar, flour, and salt. Gradually add the scalded milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Cover and cook 2 minutes longer, stirring a few times.

Stir a small amount of hot mixture into the 2 slightly beaten eggs. Blend the eggs back into the rest of the hot mixture in the saucepan using a whisk. Cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Blend in the butter, vanilla and almond flavouring. Let stand 5 minutes, stirring a few times, then pour into baked 9″ or 10″ pie shell. When the pie has cooled completely, serve it with whipped cream on top.

Directions: Microwave Oven method:

Scald the milk in large microwave-safe bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the coconut, white sugar, flour, and salt. Stir these dry ingredients into the scalded milk. Cook on ‘High’ in 2 minutes intervals, stirring each time, until it thickens.

Stir a small amount of hot mixture into the 2 slightly beaten eggs. Blend the eggs back into the rest of the hot mixture with a whisk. Cook for 2 minutes more.

Whisk in the butter, vanilla and almond flavouring. Let stand 5 minutes, stirring a few times, then pour into baked 9″ or 10″ pie shell. When the pie has cooled completely, serve it with whipped cream on top.