Pie, take 2

Here it is...or was. Even the gluten and dairy eaters seemed to enjoy it. I've noticed that the coconut milk plus ghee non-dairy version cracks no matter how delicately it's baked.

Ugly, but tasty

That ugly, ugly pie was absolutely fantastic, by the way.

Now to make another one. Sigh.

I forgot to mention that our Thanksgiving meal (and our leftovers for the next three days, of course) include a jar of my raw cultured cranberry sauce. I think the recipe is on last year's blog. I'll dig it out and will provide a link...

Here it is:

http://mommajenskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-keep-forgetting-cranberry-relish-raw.html

This year's changes. I'm watching the lemon juice for Rain and there's no nuts for me. In general I'm trying to vary our foods as much as possible - I included the meat of one hachiya persimmon instead of pear, substituted one peeled orange for lemon juice, left off the raisins and the nuts and used a few drops of stevia. I also thought there was enough cinnamon in our meal, so I left that off, as well and let the taste of the persimmon come through more.

The Pie

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving. The apple persimmon raisin bread is baked (and a small piece will not be missed). The duck is defrosting. The vegetable soup is made and awaits reheating for tomorrow's dinner. The pie...

The pie. 

The pie is overcooked. 

Before I say another thing, I have enough squash, eggs, ghee (oh, dear, and I have to make more of that tomorrow!), dates, etc for one more. But there's nothing more difficult for my late night ego to deal with than a final recipe botched. (Did I ever mention that although I appear to be a night owl, that I'm more functional in the mornings?)

Today I FINALLY bought an oven thermometer. I intend to check the temperature on that dear appliance tomorrow because it's almost certainly too hot. I've known this for a while, but after a busy day the pie didn't start until after supper and I was already tired. I waited 43 of the 45 minutes before suddenly remembering its overwarm tendencies. By then it was too late. Snackboy has proclaimed it a "breakfast pie." It doesn't smell burnt and the top, although too brown, peels away to reveal a lovely, golden orange interior. That coconut flour crust is the most temperamental I've ever baked. Now that's got to be peeled off the sides of the pan. That was something of an experiment and I should have known better. The last pie crust had to end at the top of the filling because it burns at the drop of a hat. There's no way it could survive the initial 425 degree baking temperature for this pie (that was no doubt more like 450 in our oven...).

It wouldn't be such a big deal except for the fact that this pie is our showcase donation to dessert at our friends' Thanksgiving gathering tomorrow. Thanks to our food limitations as well as this month's insanity we've decided to have our own Thanksgiving the way we like it. We'll have vegetable soup, roast duck and rice-bread stuffing, apple raisin persimmon bread (GAPS-friendly - only slightly sweet), steamed green beans, sweet potato rounds with cinnamon and ghee. Then we'll bring out the pie to our friends' place. I figured I'd get that done tonight. Oh well. One more thing to do tomorrow. 

After we have pie for breakfast, of course. 

Yay! Eggs are back! Coconut stovetop custard...

So we're back eating eggs again and Little Moo's rashes are looking much better. BioSet has made a huge difference. If you're wondering what that is, go here: http://kushnerhealth.com/bioset-nutritionist-allergist.html.

Meanwhile, we had an amazing coconut milk custard tonight. It was fine for my (now modified) GAPS limitations. The only sweetener was a handful of raisins and a few drops of stevia. The fat from the eggs and the coconut milk made it so delicious that no one missed the extra sweetness. The gelatin adds goodness and healing for the gut.

Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk
1 teaspoon Bernard Jensen's gelatin
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 handful of raisins
2 drops liquid stevia

Put the coconut milk, gelatin and vanilla in the top of a double boiler. As it heats, whisk well. Add the raisins. Cover until it's hot to the touch, but not boiling. The sweetness from the raisins should leak into the mixture.

While whisking, slowly add the egg yolks and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens slightly. (Be patient here. Coconut has a different chemistry than dairy. I've found that it takes a bit longer to thicken. On the other hand, it's much more forgiving, too.)

Remove from heat and beat the steam out for a moment or two. Add about 2 drops of stevia while beating. Then pour into cups and chill well for a few hours.

This is also a great way to make a sweet or unsweet coconut milk cream for tea, cake topping, filling, parfait layering, ice-cream making, etc. For a harder custard add more gelatin.