Toasty golden brown coconut is complemented by a brown sugar pastry cream in this new take on an old-fashioned offering. Plenty of rum-infused whipped cream tops off this pie.
Course:
Dessert
Author: The FarmGirl Cooks
Ingredients
1prebaked 9-inch pie crust or 10-inch tart crust
1cupsweetened shredded coconut
1/3cupbrown sugarpacked to measure
2Tflourcan also use gluten free Cup4Cup flour
2T+ 2t cornstarch
4egg yolks
1whole egg
1 1/2cupsmilk
1tvanilla extract
1Trum
1Tunsalted butter
1cupheavy cream
1Trum
1tvanilla extract
3Tpowdered sugar
Instructions
Set the coconut in a small saute pan and gently, VERY GENTLY, toast it over low heat, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to let it go too far - you want it GOLDEN brown. If you take it off the heat a bit sooner rather than later, the residual heat in the pan will continue to toast the coconut to perfection as it cools.
Combine brown sugar, flour, cornstarch, yolks and egg in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat with paddle attachment on medium speed for 30 seconds, scrape down sides of bowl, then resume beating for 1 1/2 minutes longer. Meanwhile, warm the milk to just below simmering in a saucepan over low heat. Bubbles will start to form around the edges of the pan. It should not boil.
Bring the saucepan to the mixer and, with the mixer on low, gradually add about half of the milk 1/4 cup at a time. You'll feel the mixture warming up in the mixer bowl. This is tempering the egg mixture so you don't end up with a curdled mess of scrambled eggs. Pour the now-warm egg mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat. Whisking constantly, heat the mixture until it starts to bubble, about three minutes, then continue stirring and cooking for another 45 seconds. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla, rum, and butter. Stir in 3/4 cup of the toasted coconut and reserve the rest for garnish. Scrape custard into a bowl, place plastic wrap, parchment or waxed paper directly on the surface, and refrigerate until completely cooled.
While the pastry cream is cooling, prepare your crust of choice, bake it, and set it aside. It needs to be completely cool before you assemble the pie.
Whip the cream, rum, vanilla and powdered sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form when you lift the beater out of the cream. Don't overbeat the cream or it will separate and you'll make butter. Yes, seriously.
Give the pastry cream a good stir with a rubber scraper, then fold one-fourth of the whipped cream into it. Scrape the lightened pastry cream into the shell and spread evenly. Put the remaining whipped cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe a pretty design. You'll have enough cream to cover the entire pie. I left some of the pie bare so you could see the filling in the photos. No pastry bag on hand? Just spread the whipped cream over the top with an offset spatula. Sprinkle the remaining toasted coconut over the top. Chill until serving.
The FarmGirl's Notes:
* This pastry cream can be made gluten free by using Cup4Cup flour. If you don't have a GF crust, feel free to make a parfait by alternating layers of the coconut pastry cream, whipped cream, and GF cookies in a pretty glass.
* I love the use of brown sugar in this pastry cream. It adds depth of flavor that you won't get with white sugar. I cut back a bit on the usual amount of sugar because of the use of sweetened coconut.
* Wanna make a Banana Cream Pie? Leave out the toasted coconut and stir 1 large or 2 small bananas, sliced and tossed with a bit of lemon juice, into the lightened pastry cream. Spread it in the pie shell and top with the whipped cream.