Coconut Cream Pie Recipe
- 1 prepared pie crust (see my Buttery Flakey Pie Crust, it is so easy and it makes enough for five cream pies so you can freeze it in balls and pop one out of the freezer when you need a quick dessert!)
- 3 cups milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup of corn starch
- 1 Tablespoon flour
- pinch of salt (1/4 teaspoon)
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/2 cup of coconut
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 4 egg whites
- 4 tablespoons sugar
Directions:
Pie Crust: First roll out the pie crust and place in a pie dish, pinching the edges and poke all over the surface with a fork. This will keep the pie crust from forming large pockets of air. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until a light golden color. Allow the pie crust to cool while you make the custard.
Basic Pastry Cream or Custard or Vanilla Pudding Filling: Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks in separate bowls. The bowl for the egg whites should be large enough to quadruple in size when you beat the egg whites.
- Add the 4 tablespoons of sugar to the egg whites.
- Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, that means very stiffly beaten and when you lift the beaters the egg whites will make a stiff peak that will stay and not collapse. Set aside
- Mix the egg yolks with a fork and set aside
- Mix the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar together in a separate bowl, set aside.
- Pour the three cups of milk into a sauce pan and add the beaten egg yolks only, stir until incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt) and coconut
- Cook the mixture, stirring regularly until bubbly, remove from heat. Add vanilla and butter. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally to let the steam escape.
- Pour into the cooled pie crust, top with the beaten egg whites and bake in a 325 degree oven until the merengue is golden, about 10 minutes, remove from oven to cool
- Toast a few tablespoons of coconut in a pan until lightly golden
- Sprinkle the toasted coconut on top of the pie
- Refridgerate until cool.
