Coconut Cream Pie With Meringue

It was a pie-baking kind of afternoon so we thought we’d share our recipes here on the blog. We’ll start with the coconut cream pie and share the apple pie recipe in our next post.

For this recipe, you will need to go ahead and prepare your pie crust and bake it so that it can be cooling. We use our Aunt Naomi’s recipe for our crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup & 1 Tbsp. cold water

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Mix with a pastry cutter until crumbly, like cornmeal.

Add cold water and mix well with fork.

Form dough into a ball and roll out on floured surface.

Place in 9 inch pie plate.

Trim excess crust and, if desired, flute the edge with thumb and pointer finger of one hand and knuckle of the other hand.

Pierce the pie crust with a fork and, since this is a cream pie recipe, bake the crust for 20 minutes @ 400 degrees.

Allow crust to cool completely.

Coconut Cream Pie filling (taken from The All-American Cowboy Cookbook):

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut, moist

Meringue:

• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 6 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• coconut

Mix sugar, salt, cornstarch, and flour in a saucepan.

Gradually stir in milk

Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Slowly blend in beaten egg yolks.

Cook for 1 more minute. Remove from heat. Blend in butter, vanilla, and coconut.

Pour into pastry crust. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For meringue, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until frothy. Add vanilla. Gradually beat in sugar, a little at a time.

Continue beating until stiff and glossy (about 5 minutes). Pile onto pie filling, making sure it is touching crust. Sprinkle with extra coconut.

Bake for about 8 minutes or until golden brown.

Be sure to refrigerate leftover pie.

Enjoy!

~ Bethany & Anna