Harry's Roadhouse Coconut Cream Pie
A coconut pie recipe that is supposed to be similar to the one served at Harry's Roadhouse
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 1 pre-baked pie shell blind-baked or a graham crust -- 9 inch
- 3 cups whole milk divided use
- 2 teaspoons gelatin
- 1 large egg
- 3 egg yolks
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter I used unsalted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla paste
- Pinch of salt (can use more if necessary **
- 2 cups shredded sweetened coconut plus an extra ¼ cup for toasting
- 1 cup heavy cream or if you prefer 1 ½ to 2 cups (extra whipped cream is for the top)
Instructions
- Put ½ cup of milk in a mixing bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin. Allow it to soften.
- Stir egg, egg yolks, cornstarch, and sugar into the milk mixture.
- Put remaining 2 ½ cups of milk in a non-reactive saucepan over high heat to scald the milk. When milk is scalded, gradually whisk it into the gelatin mixture.
- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return to the stove, whisking all the time. When the mixture begins to boil and thicken, remove from heat and add butter, vanilla, salt, and coconut.
- Whisk until all the butter is melted and incorporated. Place custard in a container to cool. Cover with plastic wrap against the custard to keep a skin from forming. Alternatively, place custard in an 8 inch square pan and put it in a larger pan with ice water coming up the sides. This will help it cool quicker.
- When the custard is cool, whip 1 cup of cream until peaks start to form, then fold into the chilled custard until smooth. Try not to overmix. Pour mixture into prebaked crust and chill for several hours or until very cold. Sprinkle top with coconut.
- If desired (and I always do this), whip another ½ to 1 cup of cream, sweetened to taste with powdered sugar, add a little vanilla and spread over the top of the pie. If you like frozen whipped topping you can thaw out some Cool Whip and use that instead. Sprinkle more toasted coconut over the pie.
Notes
** The original version calls for ½ teaspoon of salt, so feel free to add more if you think you need it. I think it's fine with just a pinch. Also, sweetened coconut works best, but if for some reason all you have is unsweetened you can use unsweetened and add an extra tablespoon of sugar to taste. I think sweetened works best, though.
The original recipe uses 1 cup heavy cream. After I whipped up the first 1 cup of cream, I whipped up a second ½ cup of cream, added a little powdered sugar and spread it over the top.