Wednesday, June 27, 2012

My Great-Grandma's Coconut Creme Pie Recipe

toasted coconut from my very own coconuts!
as in....off MY tree!
now that's just cool.
Prince cut them down with his machete and chopped and chopped until he cracked them open.
We couldn't believe how hard they actually were.
I gave the girls each a turn trying to crack one open with a machete.  {gasp}
Little girls with a sharp giant knife???
Yep, don't mess with my girls.

They only put dents in the coconut though.
After you crack them, you drain out the milk.  It is very "good for you".
With a knife or grapefruit spoon we scoon and pry out the white part.
It's a lot prettier when it's rinsed off.
 I shredded it by hand til my arm practically fell off.  Prince finished it up and we had a whole large cookie sheet full of white shredded coconut.  I wanted it toasted so I stirred in a cup of powdered sugar and baked it in the oven at 325.  I stirred it every 5 minutes and it took for-e-ver to toast.  Maybe around 40 minutes, but all at once it started turning golden and I watched it closely and stirred it more regularly.

My Great-Grandma McNamar was famous back home for her Coconut Creme Pies.  Her pies were wonderful and always perfect.  Since this was my very first coconut creme pie I was happy with the turnout.

Great-Grandma's Coconut Creme Pie
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 cups milk
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup toasted coconut
Baked Pie Crust

Mix together sugar and cornstarch.  Slowly add milk.  Cook and whisk continually over medium-high heat.  I used a metal bowl sitting on a saucepan with boiling water.  Keep stirring until thickened and bubbly.  Should resemble pudding.  (my mom always uses extra cornstarch and I had to used more also)

Separate your egg yolks and whites.  Set aside whites for meringue.  Stir yolks together with a fork.  Add a cup of the filling to the yolk mixture.  Return all yolk mixture to filling bowl.  Cook 2 more minutes stirring constantly.  Stir in butter, vanilla, and coconut.  Pour hot filling into Baked Pie Crust.

To make Meringue use 4 egg whites, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar.  Beat with electric mixer at medium speed 1 minute until peaks form.  Carefully add 1/2 cup sugar a spoonful at a time.  Beating 5 minutes more until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks.  Immediately spread on hot filling mixture all the way to the edge.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Cool for 1 hour and chill for 3 to 6 hours.  Store in fridge.

count your blessings 
#222 memories of my Great-Grandma
#223 a sister who keeps all the old recipes
#224 memories of playing "where's the thimble" with grandma 

1 comment:

Alysia said...

Wow!!! I am so jealous that you have your own coconut tree! =D

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