Coconut Cream Pie

I think coconut is one of those ingredients that is either loved or hated. I, personally, love the stuff. To me, coconut is very versatile; you can incorporate it into a dessert or into something savory (think curry! yum). One of my all time favorite coconut desserts is Coconut Cream Pie. I like to kick it up a notch by adding a ton of coconut milk to the custard filling. This pie will knock your socks off!


Ingredients:
1 pie dough rolled to 9 1/2 inches, par baked

Filling:
2 1/8 cups milk
19 oz can of good quality coconut milk (I used Mae Ploy, my favorite)
-(these two ingredients should equal 4 1/2 cups. If you can't find a 19 oz can of coconut milk use what you have and complete with milk to make it 4 1/2 cups total)
9 egg yolks
2 1/2 oz corn starch
1 1/8 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 oz. (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Topping:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut - toasted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place rolled pie dough into pie plate, place foil over the top, pressing gently into the bottom, making sure the edges of the crust are covered. Bake for 10 minutes, take foil off and bake for about 5 more minutes, or until light golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Whisk milk, coconut milk, and egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Whisk corn starch, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Add cornstarch mixture to milk mixture, gradually whisking in. Place mixture over medium heat; bring to a boil then cook for 4 minutes, whisking the entire time making sure the custard doesn't stick to the pan. Remove from heat; add butter, vanilla, and coconut, mix well. Pour mixture into cooled pie shell, cover with plastic wrap, chill for about three hours.
To make topping: Whip heavy cream on medium until slightly thickened, gradually add powdered sugar, whip to stiff peak. Spread on pie and garnish with toasted coconut.

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