Reviewed on Nov. 27, 2011 by kristinscotth
This pie was the shocker for our Thanksgiving. Usually, my husband and I are aren't huge fans of A) pumpkin/sweet potato pies or B) meringue pies. BUT, with the addition of the coconut (because we adore it so much), I was intrigued, and decided to give it a try. It was SO good!! We absolutely loved it, and have decided to make it as a Thanksgiving tradition. The only issue I had was following the tip that was to the side of the recipe. It said to brush the unbaked pastry with a lightly beaten egg to ensure that the crust doesn't get soggy. My gut told me that if I brushed the whole crust with the egg wash, and then put the foil and pie weights on top, the crust would stick to the foil, and that's exactly what happened. I should've gone with my gut. Perhaps, the tip didn't mean the entire crust, but I was unsure, because it said "brush UNBAKED pastry..." Anyway, I just remade the crust over again, no worries. I really liked this pie crust recipe. I usually go with my standard, but I liked this one better, because there was a little more dough to work with, so I didn't have to roll out the crust as thinly, so it was nicer to roll out and to flute compared to my standard, so this crust will now become my standard. I'll just leave out the ground ginger with certain pies. With the sweet potato layer... when the coconut milk, cream cheese, and brown sugar were in a pan on the stove, I never could get rid of those last tiny bits of cream cheese that didn't want to melt and incorporate with the rest of the mixture. They were soft to the touch, and I was tired of waiting, so my mixture did have little specks of cream cheese in it. However, this did not affect the texture of the pie. I could see them after it was baked, but you couldn't feel them with your tongue. Maybe I should start warming up the coconut milk first, and then add the cream cheese to help it melt better? I also thought the sweet potato layer and the meringue layer complemented each other really well. I loved the contrast in texture--the firmer sweet potato layer, and the light, airy meringue with the shredded coconut that was sprinkled on top. I really loved the addition of the shredded coconut. One-fourth cup isn't much coconut, but it was enough that it made a big difference in texture, which I liked. I've never had success making meringue pies before. They usually shrink and weep on me, but it didn't happen with this pie. I don't know if I finally did something right or if the addition of the marshmallow creme helped, but finally, I did not get a weeping meringue!! I highly recommend this recipe. It was delish!