Favorite Coconut Cream Pie
This pie is one of our favorites mainly because it uses 3 cups of milk.
Servings 8
Cost 5
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 9 inch baked pie crust store bought or homemade
Filling:
- ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (162 grams)
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch (40 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 large egg yolks
- 3 cups whole milk (24 oz)
- 2 tablespoons butter (salted) (28 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- ½ teaspoon coconut extract
- 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut plus an extra ½ cup for toasting
Topping:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3T to ⅓ cup powdered sugar (to taste!)
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Have your baked pie crust ready.
- In a heavy nonstick 3 quart saucepan, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and salt.
- Whisk half the cold milk into the dry mixture, then add the yolks and whisk until smooth. Whisk in remaining cold milk until smooth.
- Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture begins to thicken and bubble. This should take about 5 or 6 minutes. Once it thickens and big bubbles start to break the surface, continue whisking over low heat for about 3 minutes. Don't skip this step or the filling may thin out.
- Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla and coconut. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with a piece of wax paper and let cool to about lukewarm. Note: If you want, you can put it through a sieve before adding the butter and vanilla. Let the pie filling cool for about half an hour, then add the coconut. Let cool to room temperature.
- Scrape the cooled pie filling into the baked crust.
- Place in refrigerator to chill for 3 hours or more. At some point, toast the extra coconut (see note at bottom)
- When the pie has chilled, prepare whipped cream topping. In a large bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar (start with 3 tablespoons and increase to taste) and vanilla beat until peaks are stiff. Spread over top of pie. Sprinkle with toasted, cooled coconut.
- To toast coconut, lay it on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes or until edges turn brown. Stir every 2 minutes or so.
Notes
For a homemade graham cracker crust, mix together 1 ⅔ cup graham cracker crumbs, ¼ cup sugar, 1 pinch of salt and ⅓ cup melted unsalted butter. Press into bottom and up sides of a shallow 9 inch pie tin. Bake at 350 for about 6 minutes.