Triple Coconut Cream Pie #51

I've been forwarded several pie recipes through this past year, which I love, although I haven't had a chance to make all of them (sorry if you've sent me one and I haven't done it yet. Thank you for sending. Just hold on...). This one was forwarded to me this summer by my mother-in-law who told me that people in Seattle were raving about this pie. Even people who don't like coconut! 

Which, in all honesty, has put me in a quandary for a few months. I don't know anyone that dislikes coconut more than my husband and since, technically, I'm making all of these pies for him, I didn't wanted to make something that is his favorite thing to eat and fill it with his least favorite ingredient. It just seemed kind of cruel. However, there was always that hope that even those who don't like coconut like this pie. 

Eventually my curiosity overcame everything else (sorry Ryan) and I decided to try out this pie before the end of the year--luckily I have a forgiving husband.

The instance the milk, coconut, and vanilla bean begin to scold, he became a little more excited about this pie and by the time it was all together it smelled good enough that he was willing to try it.

Personally, I love the flavor of coconut, but I'm not the biggest fan of its woody texture. As far as the taste goes, I thought it was great. I loved the coconut in the crust. I loved the flavor of the filling. Also, for the white chocolate curls, I used a Lindt chocolate white chocolate coconut bar, which added an extra coconut taste which I loved. I still don't love the texture of coconut, but I really only noticed it on my first bite but didn't let it hold me back from the taste and the crust.

And it was good enough that it wasn't too hard for Ryan to forgive me.

Triple Coconut Cream Pie

(Adapted from Tom Douglas at Dahliah's Bakery in Seattle)

Coconut pie crust


1 cup plus

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour


1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut


1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces


2 teaspoons sugar


1/4 teaspoon kosher salt


3 to 5 tablespoons ice water



Coconut Cream

2 cups milk

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

2 large eggs

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Cream Topping

2 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Garnish

2 ounces unsweetened "chip" or large-shred coconut (about 1 1/2 cups) or sweetened shredded coconut

Chunks of white chocolate (4 to 6 ounces, to make 2 ounces of curls)

DIRECTIONS

For Crust: Pulse first 5 ingredients in a food processor 6 to 10 times or until mixture is crumbly. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing once after each addition, until dough holds together when pressed between fingers. (Dough will not form a ball or even clump together in processor-it will be loose.)



Turn dough out onto a large sheet of plastic wrap; press into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill 1 hour.


Roll dough to a 12- to 13-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate, trimming excess to a 1- to 11/2-inch overhang. Turn dough under along rim of pie pan, and flute edges. Chill at least 1 hour before baking.



Preheat oven to 400°. Place a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper in pie crust, extending over edges, and fill with dried beans, rice, or pie weights. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Remove from oven; discard foil and beans, and return pie crust to oven. Bake for 14 to 17 more minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven, and cool completely on a wire rack.

Coconut Cream: (make the coconut cream while the crust is chilling in the fridge) To make the coconut cream, combine the milk and coconut in a medium saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add both the seeds and pod to the milk mixture. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally until the mixture almost comes to a boil.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and flour until well combined. Temper the eggs (to keep them from scrambling) by pouring a small amount (about 1/3 Cup) of the scalded milk into the egg mixture while whisking. Then add the warmed egg mixture to the saucepan of milk and coconut. Whisk over medium-high heat until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble. Keep whisking until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes more. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until it melts. Remove and discard the vanilla pod. Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and place it over a bowl of ice water. Stir occasionally until it is cool. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a crust from forming and refrigerate until completely cold. The coconut cream will thicken as it cools.


When the coconut cream is cold, fill the prebaked pie shell with it, smoothing the surface. In an electric mixer with the whisk, whip the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla on medium speed. Gradually increase the speed to high and whip to peaks that are firm enough to hold their shape. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a star tip with the whipped cream and pipe it all over the surface of the pie, or spoon it over.

For the garnish: preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the coconut chips on a baking sheet and toast in the oven, watching carefully and stirring once or twice, since coconut burns easily, until lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Use a vegetable peeler to scrape about 2 ounces of the white chocolate into curls.

Banoffee Pie #13

Allow me to introduce you to the Banoffee pie, the British treat (or so I hear).

I keep coming across Banoffee recipes and all I ever read is how the Brits love this pie and they are crazy, yes crazy about it. Any Brits out there to confirm this??

Well, any way, the soft toffee (or whatever you want to call the caramelized sweetened condensed milk) is wrapped around a bunch (no pun intended) of bananas. Those two main ingredients explain the name, but I personally have to recommend you don't try and substitute the Digestive crust (that's right, Digestives, an other favored British treat). It's kind of the perfect package: a little caramel, a cookie crumb, some fruit, chocolate flakes, and whipped cream...something about that combination is pretty heavenly to me.

Oh, and did I mention that it is by far the easiest recipe that I have yet posted? That is, as long as you correctly cook the sweetened condensed milk (which I didn't have any problems with personally, but I was so nervous to try after the hundreds of warnings I read on the internet).

There are about 100 variations of the pie but they are all about the same combination of flavors. Below is what I made (in my deep dish pan...so just note that you might have a little too much filling and crust if you use a 9-inch pie pan instead of the 9.5 inch pan that I used). Also, you should know that many recipes call for coffee to be sprinkled over the top (which I understand to be part of a "true" banoffee), but because I don't drink coffee I opted out of that.

So...readers, meet Banoffee. Banoffee, meet readers.

I think you guys will be great friends.

Banoffee Pie
Ingredients:
Digestive Crust
1 14-oz. package digestive biscuits

8 tablespoons butter, softened

1 oz chocolate, chopped

Banana/toffee filling
2 14-oz. cans sweetened condensed milk

5 large bananas

Topping
1 1/2 cups heaving whipping cream
3 tablespoons sugar
Chocolate flakes for decoration

Directions

To caramelize the toffee, place UNOPENED condensed milk cans in a stock pot and cover with water (completely cover and add more water to prevent over evaporation). Bring water to a boil, cover with a lid, and turn down temperature so that the water is softly boiling for 3 hours.
Here's the warning part:

Make sure that water is ALWAYS covering the cans. If the water goes below the level of the cans THEY WILL EXPLODE!!!

Not only is it very dangerous, but you will also have a huge mess on your hands.

Do NOT leave it unattended.

Okay. I said it. Are you nervous now? You should be. DON'T LET THE WATER BOIL OUT.

Once it's cooked for at least 3 hours (and if you want it to be a little firmer, you can go to about 4 hours), let the cans cool in the water. When they are cool to the touch, remove and continue to let them cool on the counter or in the fridge.

I did this step the day before so that it had enough time to cool.

The Crust
Process the digestive biscuits in a food processor until crumb-like. Mix crumbs with chopped chocolate and pour the melted butter over the top. Press mixture into a pie pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Once the crust is cooled, pour the first toffee filling inside and spread evenly. Slice the bananas and layer half of the bananas on the toffee. Cover the banana layer with another layer of toffee (half of the second can). It will be hard to spread, but just make sure that the bananas have a little layer of toffee surrounding it. Layer the rest of the bananas on top and cover with the remaining toffee.

Chill in the fridge. Before serving, top the filling with whipped cream and sprinkle chocolate curls over the top.

Chocolate Cream Pie #7

I've been wanting to make this pie for two weeks, but because of some unforeseeable busyness and a bout of sickness, I didn't actually get a chance to make this pie until this week. I am, however, glad I waited. After all those busy days and sick nights, I needed a serious dessert, and this hit the spot.
I've had a few people recommend pies or give me tips since starting this blog and since I haven't written back to some of you (so sorry!) let me just take this moment to say thanks. I've got quiet a list of pies to work through this year, but I am always open to "Piedeas" (as one reader called them).

On that note, I should tell you that this recipe came from my good friend, KT, who lives all the way across the country. KT and I were in a band together (KT was her "band name," which sounded tougher than Karren Louise). She was on the keyboard and I was on drums. We rocked. And by rocked, I mean we took ourselves really seriously until KT broke up the band and decided that business school was more important to her life than "The Orange Tommies."

As it turns out, she was right. I must say, she's always right (at least I can't think of when she's been wrong). So when she told me that this pie was THE. BEST. CHOCOLATE. CREAM. PIE. SHE'S. EVER. HAD. PERIOD.

I had to try it.

And you know what? She was right again.

The chocolate pudding is decadent (I had to monitor the fridge so it didn't all get eaten before I put it in the crust). It will make your head spin, so proceed with caution unless you've had a rough week need a good chocolate wallop to make you feel better. Oh, and did I mention that the pudding is even easier than opening up a box of Jell-o? Well, it is. And it tastes about 100 times better too.

I fudged (no pun intended) on the crust a little bit. Again, I just wanted to make it from scratch, so I've included the chocolate wafer recipe that I used and the way I made the crust, but follow the link to the original recipe if you want to do it that way.

I must say, however, that I was really happy with how my crust turned out. It held together very well for a crumb crust and it had just the right crunch to chewiness ratio for me.

We shared it with a few friends and all described it thus:
1-Rich
2-Creamy
3-Good crust
4-Delicious!

So there you have it. KT is always right, but try it yourself, the proof is in the pudding...literally.

Chocolate Wafers:

(adapted from Bubby's Homemade Pies)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa

11/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. On low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing well after each addition. Shape the dough into a 2-inch-diameter log. Wrap it well and chill completely—at least two hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Slice the dough into 1/8-inch slices and place them 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake them for 8 to 10 minutes, until they smell good and remain firm when lifted with a spatula.

Cool the cookies on a wire rack, uncovered, overnight or until they are completely dry and wafer-like.

Us a food processor to crumb the cookies or put the cookies in a resealable plastic bag and press the air out before sealing. Roll over the bag of cookies with a rolling pin until they form fine crumbs.

Chocolate Cream Pie

(Adapted from Gourmet Magazine 2004)

Crust:

2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
3 cups whole milk
5 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
1 pint chilled heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together crumbs, chocolate, and sugar. Pour hot melted butter over the top and combine (The butter will melt the chocolate). Firmly press onto the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes and before cooling on rack, use the back of a spoon to press the hot crust back up the sides of the pan. Cool completely.

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and yolks in a 3-quart heavy saucepan until combined well, then add milk in a stream, whisking. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking, then reduce heat and simmer, whisking, 1 minute (filling will be thick).

Force filling through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, then whisk in chocolates, butter, and vanilla. The pudding should still be warm hot enough to melt the chocolate. Cover surface of filling with plastic wrap (make sure there are no air bubbles between the pudding and the plastic wrap) and cool completely, about 2 hours.

Spoon filling into crust and chill pie, loosely covered, at least 6 hours.
Just before serving, beat cream in a bowl using an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks add vanilla and sugar and spoon on top of pie.

Sprinkle chocolate flakes on top of pie (optional).