Coconut Cream Pie

My friend Christina brought to my attention yesterday that I've been neglecting my co-workers a little bit lately. I've been getting a fair amount of orders for sweets, all from people in the office. So my desk neighbors have been seeing a lot of cupcakes and cakes, but haven't gotten to sample any. For a long time they were my guinea pigs, before anyone knew if my baking was good. That's why I decided to make them a pie today, because who doesn't love pie on a Thursday morning?




I asked Christina what she wanted and she said coconut cream pie. I did some searching and found a recipe that I liked. I tweaked it a little bit by using a graham cracker crust instead of the traditional flaky pie crust. There is just something about a graham cracker crust that seems to make everything better. I also got to use my coconut emulsion for the first time which was pretty exciting. An emulsion is similar to an extract, but the flavor stays longer than an extract. I used LorAnn's and felt it gave just the right amount of coconut flavor without being overpowering.

Coconut Cream Pie (slightly adapted from The Galley Gourmet)

1 graham cracker crust, baked & cooled

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp powdered gelatin (unflavored)
1/2 salt
1 cup coconut milk
3 egg yolks
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp coconut emulsion
1 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

1 cup heavy cream + 4 tbsp sugar, whipped

1. In a large bowl combine the sugar, cornstarch, gelatin, and salt. Whisk until incorporated. And the coconut milk and egg yolks and whisk again.

2. In a large pan bring the whole milk up to a simmer, just until small bubbles start popping up on the edges of the milk. Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly.

3. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and cook until thickened, whisking constantly. *You don't want the mixture to get lumpy, so whisking in essential!

4. Once thickened, take off the heat, add the vanilla, emulsion, and coconut. Stir to combine and allow to cool to room temperature, stirring every once in a while.

5. Pour coconut cream into cooled pie crust and top with whipped cream and toasted coconut. Chill at least 6 hours before serving.