A Year of Pie. June: Creamy Coconut

Recently, my dear husband informed me that he had a request. Since he "hardly ever asked for anything" (anyone who has ever met him can take a break to laugh hysterically), he felt sure that it was a reasonable request and surely I couldn't refuse him. He simply wanted more pie. That's all. More pie. Well, who could deny anyone such a practical and reasonable request. Far be it from me to say no to that. What we came up with was a plan to make a different pie each month showcasing that season's most "pieable" flavor. For June I decided on Coconut Pie, or Creamy Pie as my neighbor's son calls it.

After a bit of scanning cookbooks, I turned to good old Allrecipes.com to scope out the best coconut pie recipe. When I found one that sounded good and adapted it, I knew I had a winner. It was creamy and luscious, definitely not vegan but it was for a potluck dinner so an exception was made. The crust was my usual recipe but made with all whole wheat flour. A few weeks ago I made another pie and doubled the crust recipe and put this one in the freezer. Whenever you make pie crust, try to make an extra one. It doesn't take any more time to make two but it sure saves time. The wheat crust was especially nice with the coconut filling. Whole wheat crust is sturdier so it's great with a substantial filling. Speaking of filling...

Creamy Coconut Pie

2 eggs

1 can of coconut milk (look in the asian section of the store)

1 1/2 cups half and half

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter

3/4 cup coconut

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup coconut, toasted (350 degree oven for 5ish minutes. Watch it closely!)

1 prebaked and cooled pie crust

Whisk the eggs really well. I pretty much beat the fool out of them because if you don't you'll get little bits of cooked egg white in your custard and that's yucky. Really yucky. Beat in the coconut milk and half and half. In a saucepan combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in the egg mixture and cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir constantly to keep it from scorching or getting lumpy. When it is nice and thick, take it off the heat and stir in the butter. After it is melted, stir in the coconut. Pour the custard into the pie shell and press a sheet of waxed paper onto the surface and set it to cool. Chill until ready to serve.

Just before serving, whip the cream and 1 tablespoon sugar. When you have stiff peaks, pile it onto the chilled pie and sprinkle with the toasted coconut.

Now step back and see what you have created. Good job!