Anniversary Pie

For our anniversary last Tuesday, I prepared Daniel an anniversary lunch (we later went out to dinner too- pics to be posted later). I made curry chicken salad sandwiches, carrot salad (his favorite), and for dessert, I made Papaya Pie (it's even fun to say!). I found the recipe while browsing online; I wanted to make an interesting pie, and since Papaya (called Lechosa here) is so inexpensive here, I thought I'd try it. Here is the recipe as found from Ichef.com:


4 lb Papaya fruit

1 tb Ground cinnamon

1 tb Ground nutmeg

1 tb Ground pumpkin pie spice

1/2 lb Brown sugar

1 c White sugar

3 Eggs, beaten

1 9" Pre-made pie shell -(Graham cracker shell)


Cut fruit meat from skin; cut fruit into chunks. Add sugars, let set 10-15 minutes. Place sugared fruit in a pot large enough to handle, cook over medium heat until fruit is tender and is easily broken into smaller pieces, about 30 minutes. Stir occassionally, to keep papaya from sticking. Add spices about halfway through the cooking process. When papaya is cooked, allow to cool about 15 minutes, add the beaten eggs, and place in the pie shell. Bake at 350 deg F for about 45 minutes.



Of course, I made some changes. My papaya was a little big, about 5lbs, but I used it all anyway. For the nutmeg, I only had whole, so I ground it myself (using the small side of a cheese shredder worked well). I didn't have any pumpkin pie spice, so I just made it myself (cinnamon, ginger, allspice or clove ,and nutmeg). I found the recipe somewhere online. I looked up online how much 1/2 lb of brown suger was, and found many different answers (ranged from 2-3+ cups for 1 lb. I decided to go on the small end and use the 2 cup (though I know it wouldn't be that exactly), and put in half of that (since it called for 1/2 lb). I only have brown (it's not American brown; it's somewhere between American brown and white sugar), so I used it for both (the total sugar was about 2 cups and a little more because I threw some more in later).

I made the crust, but couldn't find any graham crackers at the store, so I used some cookies (somewhere in between a graham cracker and vanilla waffer), as suggeted by Daniel. I made more than one recipe, because one never seems to be enough for a pie.

When the papaya was cooked, I poured it into the pie pan, but it didn't all fit- there was lots leftover! So, I grabbed two of the mini bread pans we bought over Christmas break, laid some of the cookies at the bottom, and poured in the rest of the papaya. I baked them in the oven (I'm not sure what the temp was, our oven doesn't work that way) and pulled them out when the filling had set. The crust was a little over done, but it still tasted fine. We ate the mini bread pan "pies" for lunch and saved the real pie for after dinner.

The most important part- Daniel loved it! He also got a kick out of eating the "leftovers" first.

Here are some pics of our Papaya "Pies." They look funny, but tasted great! (When they were warm they were a little too sweet and needed coffee (I forgot that Papayas here are riper and more sugary), but when we ate them cold from the fridge they were fine).

Our "leftovers"

The pie (with slightly burnt crust...)