Thanksgiving is full of browns and oranges, with the occasional pop of red. But if you’re looking for a shock of color to wake up the dessert table, these tropical pie bars with bright purple filling and creamy coconut topping may be just the thing.

It’s certainly not the traditional option; I’m pretty sure the pilgrims didn’t have Okinawan sweet potatoes and coconut pudding on the menu. However, it does seem to be a traditional Hawaiian dessert, and since it’s going to snow like crazy in a large swath of the United States this week, we could probably all use a little taste of the islands.

 

I was totally confused by this recipe at first, because it is labeled as a pie in the cookbook it came from, but the instructions say to press the crust (one of the many bonuses here: no rolling out of crust is required) into a 9×13-inch baking dish or cake pan.

 

The good thing about that? You can serve more people than a regular pie. And you can still cut it into triangles if you really want to.

Purple sweet potatoes come from Okinawa and Hawaii, and I’ve seen them at Trader Joe’s and natural foods store here (they should be labelled, since they’re difficult to identify just from the skins). They seem to taste pretty similar to orange sweet potatoes, but they are drier, so if you’re planning to use orange instead of purple, I’d bake or roast the potatoes instead of boiling them and cut back on the evaporated milk a bit.

 

I was continuously amazed at how purple these potatoes are. I know that’s kind of weird, but seriously: So gorgeous. And while they’re quite good — Toby asked for seconds — they’re also really, really sweet. I would recommend having a glass of milk or (Kona?) coffee ready.

Okinawan sweet potato pie bars with coconut (haupia) topping (Adapted from Best of the Best from Hawaii Cookbook, serves 9-16)
Crust
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1  1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped, salted macademia nuts (or 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut plus 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt)
3/4 cup (1  1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare the potatoes (instructions below).

Place the sugar, flour, nuts or coconut and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Cut the butter into tablespoon-sized pieces and add to the bowl, then pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Press into a 9×13-inch cake pan or baking dish.
(If you don’t have a food processor, mix the dry ingredients together with a fork, then use a pastry blender to incorporate the butter pieces until the mixture looks like wet sand. Then press into the pan as normal)

Pie filling
2 cups peeled, cooked and mashed Okinawan sweet potatoes
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, set out on the counter for 30 minutes to an hour
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For the potatoes: Peel and cut into pieces. Place the pieces in a medium or large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and continue boiling until you can easily stick a fork into the center of one of the pieces, about 15-20 minutes. Drain and mash.

Turn the oven to 350F.

Beat the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a medium mixing bowl with a hand-held electric mixer. Once the butter and sugar are well mixed and fluffy, beat in the eggs one at a time.

Gradually add the mashed sweet potatoes, mixing well, then the evaporated milk, vanilla and salt. Once mixture is well combined, pour onto the crust. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the purple filling is no longer jiggly in the center. Allow the bars to cool.

Coconut topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1  1/2 cups water
24 ounces (about 1 3/4 cans) well-shaken coconut milk (not light or reduced fat)

Stir the sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl. Pour the water into a medium saucepan and stir in the sugar mixture. Once that is well combined, stir in the coconut milk.

Place the pan over low-medium heat and keep stirring until the mixture is about to boil, then turn down the heat and continue stirring until the mixture seems thick (the consistency of pudding). If the mixture doesn’t start thickening after about 5 minutes, turn the heat up a bit (but keep stirring).

Allow the coconut pudding to cool for a minute or so, then stir well and pour over the cooled pie filling. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least an hour, until the topping has set.