Act 9: Make a Pie from Scratch

I love to cook and bake.  (I can't grill to save my life, but that's another story.)  There's not much I won't try in the kitchen, but I had always avoided making pie crust.  This is partially because I've heard horror stories about how difficult getting pastry crust dough can be and partially due to the fact that there are so many easily available pre-made options.  Still, since my 40 Acts of Courage are about challenging myself and getting out of my comfort zone, I put baking a pie on my list.

Originally, I tasked myself with making a lemon meringue pie, but I changed my mind.  First of all, I've made one of those already with my friend Pete when we were in high school.  Secondly, I don't really like meringues.  Finally, my mom let it slip recently that her favorite pie was coconut cream, and her birthday was coming up.  Soooo... I decided to make a coconut cream pie - crust and all - from scratch.  What better way to tackle this act that to show my mom how much I love her?

Pie Crust

3 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 1/4 c. Butter flavor shortening

1 egg, beaten

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

4 Tbsp. water

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour and salt.  Cut in shortening until it is in pea-sized chunks.
3. In a separate bowl, mix egg, vinegar, and water.  Drizzle wet mixture into the dry, cutting it in until is just barely forms a ball.  Chill dough.  (I forgot to do this!!)
4. Roll out dough between two pieces of waxed paper.  (My friend Heidi suggests using the inside of an empty potato chip bag.  I think she's crazy.)  Fit crust into two 9 inch pie pans.
   
5. Bake for about 12 minutes.  If I had some beans or a pie weight, I would have used it, because my crust bubbled up a bit while it was baking.

After the crust was done, I moved on to the filling.  This was a bit dicey there for a minute, but I went with the flow, and it turned out just yummy.

Coconut Cream Pie Filling

1 c. sweetened coconut

1 1/2 c. coconut milk 

1/2 c. half and half 

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 c. white sugar

1/3 c. corn starch

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Toast coconut 5 minutes, until golden.
2. Make a slurry by dissolving the corn starch in a bit of the half and half.
3. In medium sauce pan, combine coconut milk, cream, eggs, sugar, corn starch, and salt.  Mix well.  Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly.  This step was a disaster!  Somehow, I ended up not beating the eggs enough.  They settled in the bottom of the pan and cooked.  I had lumpy eggs in my custard.  Yuck.  I kept my cool, and thought fast.  After straining out the eggy bits, I tempered two new eggs by adding a bit of the warm custard to them and then got right back to business.
4. Remove custard from heat and stir in 3/4 of coconut and vanilla.  Pour filling into pie shell and chill until firm, about 4 hours.
5. Top with whipped cream and remaining toasted coconut.

Whipped Cream

1 carton whipping cream

2 Tbsp. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1. Chill whisk attachment and mixer bowl in refrigerator for a few hours.
2. Combine ingredients in chilled mixer bowl and beat on high until soft peaks form.

Since I was making this for my momsy, I used my fancy decorator to make it look pretty.

Since I had an extra pie shell and a ton of whipped cream, I went ahead and made a lemon cream pie as well.  I am happy to report that both were DELICIOUS!

And most importantly, it made my mom happy.  Everything is better when it's made with love.

Grammy gets some help from The Boy and The Girl
to blow out the traditional Darth Vader Candle, a
Chez Kaye birthday tradition since 2008.

Happy Birthday, Mom!