Coconut Cream Pie

Another lovely evening in the Valley with Shiri, Mark and dogs. I love bringing dessert to dinner and I think everyone knows it. So when I ask, what should we bring? I'm really saying, I'll bring dessert. I have been determined to make a coconut cream pie. I tried it a couple of months ago and I must have done something very wrong, because the cream did not thicken. It has been haunting me ever since. Last night --- victory! I produced a yummy - can I have thirds? cream pie. I did learn a very important lesson during the baking process. I do not make crusts. I took a class at William Sonoma on how to make pie crusts. You think that would have helped - no! Brian said my crust tasted like poop. It looked just as bad too (had cocoa powder in it). For $3 I got two frozen pie crusts that were good. Obviously not as good as homemade, but way way better than my homemade.

I can't remember which blog/Internet I found this recipe. My apologies for not giving credit where credit is due.

Coconut Filling: Adapted from the Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen cookbook

For the coconut pastry cream:
2 cups milk (I used 2%)
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Whip Cream
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup sweetened coconut toasted for topping (400 degree oven, put coconut on cookie sheet and watch! Should only take a few minutes to toast up).


*The pie crust can be made a day ahead of time and stored at room temperate.

For the coconut pastry cream:
Combine the milk and coconut in a medium saucepan. Add the vanilla extract to the milk mixture. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally until the mixture almost comes to a boil.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and flour until well combined. Temper the eggs (to keep them from scrambling) by pouring about 1/3 cup of the scalded milk into the egg mixture while whisking. Then add the warmed egg mixture to the saucepan of milk and coconut. Whisk over medium-high heat until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble. Keep whisking until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes more.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until it melts. Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and place it over a bowl of ice water. Stir occasionally until it is cool. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a crust from forming and refrigerate until completely cold. The pastry cream will thicken as it cools. When the pastry cream is cold, fill the prebaked pie shell with it, smoothing the surface.

Top with whip cream and sprinkle toasted coconut.