My sister-in-law, Gia, recently got engaged to her man, Mike.  A week later, she was planning to come visit and meet her newest nephew.  Because I love to shower people with calories, I asked what her favorite dessert was.  Without hesitation, “coconut cream pie.”  If my thoughts were audible, I think you may have heard a record scratch at that point.  Or maybe a car crash.  Or some other sound indicating panic.  See, Judy (Mawmaw) and my Memaw make incredible coconut cream pies.  And I have observed, but never participated.  I asked Judy for her recipe.  She sent me the recipe in the form of a narrative…the kind where you need to read the whole thing through a few times before you know where to start.  After several hours and two meringues, I made what the mother-in-law said was “the best coconut cream pie she’d ever had.”  Yahtzee!

I thought maybe you might need this recipe.  I’ll warn you, if you lack patience, this may either be the wrong recipe for you…or a good lesson.  Proceed being warned.

Crust:

I used Pillsbury roll-out dough.  You can get this in the cold section next to biscuits, cinnamon rolls.  It usually comes two in a package.  You’ll need to let it get to room temperature before you touch it.  Then follow the directions on the package.  One very important direction: make sure that you cut a few little slits in the bottom.  If you don’t, it will bubble.  It’s not a detrimental mistake, but one that you need not make.

Filling:

• Mix sugar and flour together. Add enough milk to make a thin paste (this doesn’t take much…I didn’t measure, but I would guess it’s about 1/4 cup).
• Add egg yolks and mix well.
• In a large saucepan, heat the milk and margarine and vanilla.  Now, for a secret ingredient…add some marshmallows or marshmallow cream.  If you use marshmallows, add about 5 big ones, or 15 little ones.  I used marshmallow cream, and just added what I thought would be the equivalent to 5 big marshmallows.
• Bring to a boil.
• Once boiling, add the sugar and flour paste mixture.
• Reduce heat.  Stir and cook until thick. This is your lesson in patience.  Stirring…you need to keep stirring or the milk will stick and burn the bottom of the pan and yuck!  This takes a long time, maybe 20 – 25 minutes.  I pulled a stool up to the stove and turned on something compelling and educational on the TV (I think it was an episode of The Marriage Ref).  This is where you can make or break your pie.  Just make sure it is thick enough, or you will have a runny mess.
• Once it is thick, you’ll add the coconut.  I bought a 7 oz bag, and used almost all of it.  If you like it super coconut-y, you’ll be just fine with the full bag.
• Ok, the filling is complete.  I cooled the filling in a glass bowl in the fridge for about an hour before I put it in the pie shell.   I am not sure that this is necessary.
• Spread filling in the pie crust and stand by for the meringue.

Meringue:

Note: I made two meringues because I browned the first one too much (burned).  The first time, I used a hand mixer.  The second time, I used my KitchenAid.  If you have a KitchenAid, I would highly recommend it.  It turned out SO much better.

3 egg whites (at room temperature)
1/4 t cream of tartar
1/4 c sugar
1 t vanilla

• In your mixing bowl, add the egg whites and cream of tartar.  Mix on HIGH until nice and fluffy.
• Once fluffy, gradually add sugar.  Keep mixing.
• Then add vanilla.  And give it just a minute more of a good mix.
• Not sure if it’s right?  Pepaw says a good meringue should look like cow slobber.  So, if you know what that looks like, go for it.
• Pile it on the pie.  Now, this is the part that I don’t think I have perfected.  Meringue should be nice and fluffy and tall.  I tend to spread it too much and it gets patted down.  So, if you can resist the spread temptation and still get the pie covered, I think you’ll be in good shape.
• A little extra touch, sprinkle just a little coconut on top.
• Turn the broiler on, stick the pie in and WATCH.  Don’t let that pie out of your sight.  Pull it out when the meringue and coconut topping is just browned.

Voila!  Let me know if you try it, if you like it, and if you made any modifications.

Do you have any recipes that have knocked your mother-in-law’s socks off?