The Farmer’s Coconut Cream pie…by way of Mimi

*Cook’s note: This is your base for cream pies…chocolate, fruit, etc…it’s basically custard and not a far cry from Crème Brule! For two pies, just double…ps…I cheat and use the Nilla Wafer pie crust.



Ingredients

* 2 cups of milk (use 2% to whole for cooking)
* ¾ Cup of Sugar
* 1/3 cup of Flour
* ¼ Teaspoon of salt
* 3 Slightly beaten egg yolks…save the whites for the meringue
* 1 teaspoon of vanilla…use good vanilla…the flavor is so much better than imitation.
* 2 Tablespoons of butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit…bake the Nilla wafer pie crust for five minutes to get it a bit crunchy.

Combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Pour dry ingredient combo into a sauce pan or small pot and gradually stir in the milk. Medium low heat is good.

This is one of those recipes that you need to stir and stir and stir…the flour will burn quickly on the bottom if you leave it still too long. **note…if by chance the mixture does stick to the bottom, strain it and use the liquid in another pot.

Stir the milk, flour, sugar, and salt until its bubbly and then keep stirring for another two minutes…remove from heat.

Lightly beat the three egg yolks in a small bowl and add some of the warm custard mixture to the eggs to temper them…if you add the eggs right into the warm custard you’ll have scrambled eggs – not the most desirable accoutrement to custard and cream pies! Ha!

Add the tempered egg yolks to the cream mixture and stir constantly back on the heat for about 1-2 minutes…just to make sure the egg is cooked.

Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla…stir these two in well. Your kitchen should be smelling yummy once these two hit the mix!

Stir in one cup of coconut…frozen or bagged is fine. If you like really sweet desserts, then use sweetened coconut. If not, plain shredded coconut is just fine. **this is the stage where you would add chocolate for Chocolate cream pie or fruit for fruit cream pies instead of the coconut.

Pour the mixture into the baked pie shell and top with the meringue…see below for the recipe. Sprinkle with coconut (use shaved chocolate or fruit for the other pies…I like to get a visual of what I’m about to eat and the topping is a good starting point.) broil on low for just a few minutes…browning the meringue and coconut to your liking. Garnish with mint, pansies, or even almonds.

Good warm and chilled…just good period!!! Master this one and you’ll be the hit of the table!