Nana is Cooking Coconut Cream Pie

My mother was an awesome cook. If you don’t believe me, ask my friends. They all loved “Shirley Bell’s homemade desserts.”  When it came to baking she didn’t believe in taking short cuts. Momma loved sweets and so do I. One of my favorite things she made was coconut cream pie.

I decided last week I would give it a shot and see if I could make one even half as good as the ones she made.

Of course at my house one pie doesn’t go very far….

The good news is that they were delicious. The bad news is I liked it so much that I nearly made myself sick. Guess I’d better wait awhile before I make some more!

Just in case you want the recipe….

Pie Filling:

in a heavy saucepan

  • 1 baked pie crust (bake the crust at 425 until beginning to brown)
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 TBSP cornstarch
  • 1 small can flaked coconut
  • 3 TBSP butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups milk, evaporated milk, half n half or any combination of these
  • 3 egg yolks (the egg whites can be used for your meringue)

Mix sugar and cornstarch until completely blended. Add milk slowly and mix completely with a wire whisk. Cook, stirring continuously, over low heat until it begins to thicken. Take out a little warm filling and add to your egg yolks and mix WELL. Pour this back into your saucepan. When filling gets thick add butter and whip with your whisk until it is melted. When your filling is sufficently thick, add vanilla and coconut (reserving 1 TBSP coconut to sprinkle on meringue). Top hot filling with meringue (recipe below), sprinkle with remaining coconut. Bake at 425 until coconut is toasted and peaks of meringue are browning.

7 Comments

  1. Martha
    November 22, 2011 / 1:36 pm

    I would love to be cooking with you! You cook and I’ll cleanup after you!

  2. Lisa W
    November 16, 2011 / 1:30 pm

    This sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing.

    Hello. I’m stopping by from the Monster Hop. I’m following you by GFC. I’d love if you stopped by my blog.

    Lisa
    http://frugalmommieof2.blogspot.com/

  3. teresak
    Author
    November 15, 2011 / 4:50 pm

    Ha, ha, cool. When I was pregnant with baby number one I dreamed I was eating a pepperoni pizza with maple syrup on it and it was soooo good!

  4. teresak
    Author
    November 15, 2011 / 4:49 pm

    I used all milk, but don’t know about the coconut milk. Can’t imagine no dairy products…my twins drink a gallon of milk a day (each). Hugs to you and yours!

  5. November 15, 2011 / 10:50 am

    Hmm… really, you can use all milk, you don’t have to use half-and-half or condensed milk to have it set and be totally yummy? I wonder, in that case, if I could make one with coconut milk? We can’t do the dairy here, and I’ve struggled with finding really yummy desserts that don’t leave my family wishing for the “old stuff.”

  6. November 15, 2011 / 12:43 am

    I love coconut cream pie. I’ll give your mom’s recipe a try.
    My mom was/is an amazing cook as well and I’ll never live up even though she taught me a lot. She favored heavily buttered German and French cooking. A couple of nights ago I had a dream about a cookbook she owned called “Wonderful meat and gravy toppings for salads”. The book was imaginary, the sentiment isn’t so far off the mark.

  7. Rachel
    November 14, 2011 / 9:56 pm

    They were SO good!!!

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