Coconut Cream Pie?

I decided to be daring the other day and make a lemon meringue pie for a bbq. (My first try at meringue, I might add.) I learned a while ago that the key is following the directions and tasting as you go. Plus, much like working on a car, not being afraid to do what you have to do. That pie was such a success that I decided to make a coconut cream pie today and... wait for it... document it!

First, you need to lay out the kids:

2/3 c sugar
1/4 c cornstarch
1/4 t salt
2 c milk
4 egg yolks
1 c chopped coconut
2 T butter
1/2 t vanilla
4 egg whites
1/2 t cream of tartar
6 T sugar

Oh, and I'm making my own crust, so about 1/2 a bag of Nilla wafers and about 3/4 stick of butter.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Get to baking. Get out your food processor (I use a NINJA and I LOVE IT!) and make some fine Nilla wafer crumbs, then mix them with your melted butter.

Pat them into your pie pan and bake. Eh, about 10 minutes. You'll know.

Now we gotta get serious. The key to these next parts is to keep stirring. Don't answer the phone or the door or attend to the baby-- just keep stirring!

Mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in the pan.

Add the milk and heat over medium high. Let it get thick and bubbly, then turn the heat down and let it simmer for 2 minutes. NEVER STOP STIRRING.

Remove it from the heat. Put a little of the mixture into the egg yolks to bring their temp up, then  add the whole shebang (the eggs I mean) back to the pan and put it over medium heat. Bring it to a slow boil and leave it there for 2 minutes. KEEP STIRRING.

Take it off the heat, throw in the coconut and butter and vanilla and stir 'til everything is melted. Then pour it into your crust.

Now for a meringue. Mix your egg whites and cream of tartar in a bowl (use an electric mixer). This recipe called for me to mix to soft peaks before adding sugar, but the last one called for frothy, and since that worked so well, I decided not to mess with it. 

Frothy it was. And in went the sugar.

Now turn that baby up (8 on my mixer), and let her go til you get stiff, glossy peaks.

Spread your meringue and make little whirls with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle with coconut.

Bake 12-15 minutes.

Cool, then refrigerate.

Ta-Da!

Mixed Signals

Living life can be tricky-- trying to recognize all of the little pieces, yet find ways to make them all fit together, work together in one seamless, fluid motion. I find myself torn by my desires to cook, teach, craft, relax, connect, and create, never quite sure that I'm doing any of them as well as I could because I'm doing all of them at once. Because of this, I've decided to differentiate. We talk about it in the classroom-- differentiation as a means of meeting each child's needs while simultaneously recognizing their differences: how they learn, what they know, what they need. Starting today, this blog will become the brainchild of my imagination, a place for my crafting and cooking and creating and connecting. I will be keeping an educational blog (hopefully with more regularity) at http://crayonsnapples.blogspot.com/. I hope you'll join me for both, but if you don't want to, you can now choose your own adventure...