Hello everyone, I’m back. And hopefully, I am going to be back for a while. I didn’t intend to take an almost 2-month hiatus with blogging. Anyone probably wondering… has she actually stopped eating? Umm.. no! Cooking and baking? Yes – to my family’s dismay. But I do have a reason that sort of explains my food aversions… I’m expecting our second child due the end of May 2013. So with that said, I haven’t had any energy to do anything. My mantra for the past couple of months have been to take it one day at a time – one meal or snack at a time and make it through the day. Menu planning has gone completely out of the window; because I constantly change my mind about what sounds good. Although I am slowly trying to plan for a day or two ahead since we can only get take outs for so long. I remember my grocery bag full of fresh kale, with every intention to make this Spaghetti Braised Kale, only to find my hubby sheepishly asked me (about three weeks later) if he could throw them away since they got bad sitting in my refrigerator. Enough about my pregnancy stories, here comes this dreamy cream pie that I had been wanting to share with you.

I didn’t really love coconut cream pie until I made this one at home. My mom absolutely loves coconut cream pie – and when she came to visit me a couple of years ago,  I decided to whip up this pie in the last minute to surprise her.  We all loved it so much that I decided not to take a picture for the blog with only a couple of pieces left (everyone had an immediate second slice following the first one).  The pudding filling is on the side of lightly sweet but it is dreamy combined with those sweetened shredded coconut along with freshly whipped cream. I added toasted coconuts on top to add even crunchiness to the tall creamy slices to make it even a more perfect slice. Kim, from Just Baked, is hosting our November’s bake-along group with “Pie” as the theme. If you need to see more inspirations for pie, head on over to her website next week to see the round up!

Ingredients
For The Crust
30 chocolate wafer cookies, broken into pieces
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
For The Topping And Filling
1 3/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 3/4 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions
Make crust: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, combine cookies and salt; process until fine crumbs form. With machine running, slowly pour butter through feed tube and process until mixture resembles wet sand. Stir in coconut. Press crumbs in bottom and up side of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Bake until crust is set, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely in pie plate on a wire rack.

Make topping: Increase heat to 350. Spread 1/2 cup coconut on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes, tossing occasionally.
Make filling: In a small saucepan, whisk together milk, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and salt. Cook over medium-high, whisking constantly, until bubbles form at the edge and mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl and stir in 1 1/4 cups coconut.

Pour filling into cooled crust and smooth top. Refrigerate until filling is chilled and completely set, about 2 hours (or wrap tightly with plastic and refrigerate, up to 2 days).

To serve, whip cream until soft peaks form. Top pie with whipped cream and toasted coconut. You can toast coconut by putting them in a 350-degree oven for about 5-10 minutes (depending on how much coconut you have).

Yield: 1-9-inch pie

Source: Martha Stewart’s Pies and Tarts