This pie, inspired by a Joy of Cooking recipe, was entered in the office bake-off by copy chief Kate Norris.
Ingredients
| Crust | |
| 1 ½ c. or 1 sleeve of chocolate graham crackers | ¼ c. sugar |
| 6 tsp. butter (melted) | |
| Filling | |
| ⅔ c. sugar | 5 large egg yolks |
| ¼ c. cornstarch | 2-3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces |
| ¼ tsp. salt | 1 Tbsp. vanilla |
| 1½ c. whole milk | 1⅓ c.shredded, sweetened dried coconut (toast in oven at 300°, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until golden brown) |
| 1 c. light coconut milk | |
Preparation
Crust
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Crush graham crackers and mix with melted butter and sugar.
3. Pour into pie plate and use the flat bottom of a glass to press crumbs into bottom of plate and up the sides.
4. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until firm to the touch. Let cool completely before filling.
Filling
1. Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt together in medium saucepan, gradually whisking in milk.
2. Vigorously mix in egg yolks until color is uniform.
3. Stirring constantly with wooden spoon or heatproof rubber spatula, bring mixture to a bare simmer over medium heat. Lumps will begin to form.
4. Remove from heat, scrape corners of pan and whisk until smooth. Return to heat and, whisking constantly, bring to a simmer again and cook for one minute.
5. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, vanilla and coconut (if desired, reserve 2 to 3 tablespoons of coconut to sprinkle on top).
6. Spoon the filling into prepared crust and press a sheet of plastic wrap directly on surface.
7. Refrigerate at least three hours to firm the filling. Top with reserved coconut before serving.
Serves 8.
Nutritional Information: Calories: 300; Fat: 17g; Cholesterol: 140mg; Sodium: 160mg; Total Carbohydrates: 34g; Dietary Fiber: 2g; Sugars: 26g; Protein: 4g.
