Claremont Diner Coconut Cream Pie
One of my favorite coconut cream pie recipes
Servings 8 slices
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch baked pie shell
- 3 cups whole milk
- 2 ½ teaspoons unflavored gelatin (I use less, about 2)
- ½ cup sugar (100 grams)
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 large egg
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons butter (28 grams)
- 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Sweetened Whipped Cream
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream well chilled
- 4 tablespoons powdered sugar (30 grams)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
Instructions
- Have ready a large, clean, mixing bowl to strain the custard into.
- Place ½ cup cold milk in a second mixing bowl and sprinkle with the gelatin to soften.
- Bring the remaining 2 ½ cups milk to nearly a boil in a heavy non-reactive saucepan over medium heat.
- Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, egg and egg yolks into the bowl with the softened gelatin. Gradually whisk about half of the hot milk into the gelatin mixture to temper, then pour the gelatin mixture into the saucepan with whatever milk is still in there.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens a bit. This should only take about 2 minutes. It may take longer, but you want to whisk until it's thick and big bubbles break the surface.
- Strain mixture into the clean bowl; whisk in the butter and vanilla until smooth. Place a sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream and refrigerate, whisking often, just until cool and thick enough to fold.
- Whip the 1 ½ cups cream until nearly stiff. Stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Gently fold a little over half of it into the pastry cream. Save the rest of the sweetened whipped cream for the top.
- Sprinkle a big handful of the coconut in the bottom of the baked pie shell. Pour the filling into the pie shell, mounding the filling in the center. Chill for about 30 minutes. Spread reserved whipped cream over Bavarian cream and sprinkle top with remaining toasted coconut. Chill for four or five hours or until set.
Notes
** To toast coconut, spread coconut on a foil or parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently to keep it from burning.