Well, I finally did it – I made a pie crust!  My Grandma would be so proud!

I had managed to avoid the dreaded pie crust until one day my good friend Jen asked if she could come over to learn how to make a coconut cream pie. Of course, I thought, no problem.  It is funny, when she made the suggestion, I had no hesitation. Then, during the planning phase of the pie-making experience, she asked if I had ever made one before. Nope. However, since the lemon meringue pie I baked with Andreana was such a success, I was confident Jen and I could make an equally delicious coconut cream pie.

That was when the panic set it.  Oh no, I was going to have to make a pie crust!  So, I started making pretty obvious suggestions:

• Did you want to make it with a chocolate cookie crust? I read that is really good with coconut cream.
• Did you want to make a graham cracker crust? That would also go great with coconut cream.

But, she saw right through my fear and stuck to a traditional pie crust.  Yep, this was really going to happen.

So we planned our day:  Jamie and Tom were going to get together and make burgers for our dinner, while Jen and I were tasked with making the burger buns and the coconut cream pie. Our friend Katie joined in for the pie and bun making fun, and her boyfriend, Triet, joined us for dinner.

Since the pie crust has to rest, I made up the dough before the girls came over. I wasn’t nervous about the buns (as I have made them before) or the filling, but I was really concerned that the pie crust dough would start to crack when we went to roll it out.  When it came time to take it out of the fridge, I was worried as it seemed hard. But, I let it rest on the counter for a few minutes and it turned out great! Not perfect, but I was pretty pleased for my first attempt (it cracked a bit, but once it was filled with coconut cream you couldn’t tell!).

We made some substitutions for the coconut cream (of course). Instead of milk, we used coconut milk. I think that will be the standard for us from now on as it was a delicious bite of coconutty goodness. I whipped the toasted coconut with the whipping cream instead of sprinkling it on top, but we think that was a happy accident that contributed to the flavour of the pie.

Jen and Katie did a fabulous job of making the perfect burger buns and the most scrumptious coconut cream pie (Jamie, Tom and Triet definitely thought so).

I hope that this day helped to demystify some of the unknowns of baking and that they will want to attempt some of these recipes on their own.

Baking + Friends = Awesome! 🙂

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Adapted from:
Epicurious – Coconut Cream Pie

Ingredients:

Pie Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 tbsp chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces
• 4 tbsp ice water

Coconut Cream Filling:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp coconut extract

Topping:

• 2/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut, toasted
• 2 cups chilled whipping cream
• 1/4 tsp coconut extract

Directions:

Crust:

1. Blend flour, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Add butter and shortening and cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle four tablespoons ice water over mixture. Process just until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic. Chill in fridge one hour.
2. Roll out dough between two sheets of plastic wrap to 14-inch round. Transfer dough to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold overhang under. Crimp edges decoratively. Pierce bottom of crust all over with fork. Freeze crust fifteen minutes. (Can be made one day ahead. Keep frozen.)
3. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line crust with aluminum foil. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake twenty minutes. Remove weights and foil. Bake until golden and set, about ten minutes. Cool. (Crust can be made one day ahead. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature.)