Coconut Creammmm Pie

I was craving coconut. I was craving pie. Conveniently, I just received a Taste of Home magazine in the mail and voila (I'm having issues with various creative spellings of that word. Lately, on other blogs I've seen wa la, wha la, and walaa. Oh my garden of roses! Okay, thanks for letting me vent). So along came this baby!


I'd never made a cream pie from scratch before, always opting for Jell-O to rescue me with their pudding mix (usually instant).

I did take the easy way out on the crust though. I had 3 pre-made crusts in the pantry, so I picked the shortbread crust (the other 2 were Oreo chocolate) and got started.

Did it satisfy the craving? The pie craving, yes. The coconut craving, almost.

I have adapted the original Coconut Cream Angel Pie by Ginny Werkmeister, Tilden NE, published by Taste of Home recipe to the following:

FILLING:
1/2 cup Domino® or C&H® Granulated Pure Cane Sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
1 pastry shell (9 inches), baked (or a graham cracker crust)

4 oz Cool Whip or sweetened whipped cream
1/4 cup flaked coconut, toasted
Directions: In a small heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add milk; stir until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir for 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of hot filling into egg yolks; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat; stir in the coconut, butter and vanilla. Pour into prepared shell.

Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Just before serving, spread Cool Whip or whipping cream over pie and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Yield: 8 servings.