I Cook...So You Don't Have To

I'm hoping this doesn't become the first post in an ongoing series!

A few weeks ago, a member mentioned that "back in the day" there was a recipe in a Weight Watchers cookbook for a mock coconut cream pie that used jicama. Intrigued, I set out to find the recipe. Several internet searches turned up nothing, though I finally stumbled on what I think is the recipe. The secret ingredient is not jicama, but spaghetti squash. This recipe originally appeared in the Weight Watchers Favorite Recipes cookbook published in 1986.

MOCK COCONUT CREAM PIE
Serves 8
3 Points

2 cups cooked spaghetti squash
1 cup skim milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup evaporated skimmed milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp reduced calorie margarine(tub)
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9" pie plate with nonstick cooking spray; using the back of a spoon, spread squash over bottom and up sides of plate.

In blender combine remaining ingredients and process until smooth; pour over squash and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour (until a knife, inserted in center, comes out clean). Transfer pie plate to wire rack and let stand for 1 hour. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.


The thought of making a coconut cream pie with squash as the crust alternately horrified and intrigued me, so I set to work to see what would happen. I went into this quite frankly not expecting the end product to be edible. I figured if it turned out to be tasty, so much the better, but I had visions of taking one bite, and throwing the rest in the garbage.

First, if you've never worked with spaghetti squash, here's the deal. The squash is yellow and oval, probably about the size of a football. I cooked the squash by microwaving it, remembering first to pierce the flesh several times with a knife. After about 10 minutes in the microwave, the skin is soft enough to cut through. You'll want to scoop out the stuff that looks like pumpkin innards (the seeds and slimy stuff). The remaining flesh will be stringy and bears a resemblance to spaghetti. You can dislodge the threads with a fork. The squash I used netted about 3 cups of cooked threads.


The pie plate I used is a pretty standard shallow nine inch dish. By the time I poured the remainder of the filling in, it was full to the top. If you have a deep dish pie plate, that's probably better. Otherwise, you might want to watch how fast you pour. The trip from the countertop to the oven was pretty dicey.


The directions call for a baking time of 50 minutes to an hour, but it still looked a little jiggly to me. I ended up baking the pie for an hour and 5 minutes total. It came out of the oven puffed up a bit, but settled down a bit within a few minutes of letting it cool.


Having successfully made the mock coconut pie, I can't help but feel a little apprehension. Is this going to be good? The pie slices easily, and it has a very custardy consistency. After about 4 hours in the refrigerator, it's settled to a bit less than an inch tall. (Sadly the photos I took at this point were lost in the ether.)

I'd like to tell you that this recipe works, I really would. But in reality, what this recipe yields is an eggy monstrosity with threads of squash in it. I'm not sure I even tasted the coconut extract over the decidedly strong egg base. I'm not really a fan of custards to begin with, so if you're in to that sort of thing, you might not be as put off as I was. The biggest problem, though, was the threads of squash. It really destroyed the smoothness of the pie, and when breaking off a bite, the threads poke out. Maybe chopping the squash threads into smaller pieces would help, but I'm not convinced.

In short, if you're craving coconut cream pie, go for the real thing. Cut a smaller piece of you must. But a custardy pie with squash? Sheesh, at least the WW test kitchen could have suggested toasting some coconut and sprinkling it over the top, right? Sometimes there's just no substitute for the real thing.