Coconut Cream Flop

I love coconut cream pie.  I like making pie crust a lot less.  However, I have achieved a mild degree of success over the holidays with my sister’s help and a food processor. I am of the opinion that the altitude in Calgary causes problems with the crust.

Onto the filling. I’ve made it successfully a few times before, but I made two major mistakes in this case.  The recipe called for 3/4 C of whipped cream to be folded into the filling and 1 C for the topping. I used my ginormous (is that even a word?) 5 quart KA Professional, but found the bowl too big for 3/4 of a cup.  So I decided to save time and make both batches together. Mistake. My custard did not set. I should have hauled out the old Westinghouse mixer with the smaller bowl that takes twice as long to whip. Oh… and looking back at the recipe, since I was too lazy to get more butter I substituted 2 tbs of ghee.  Maybe that is what did it.  Oh well, it still tastes great but I will be going to Plan B.  More details to follow if I manage to execute it correctly.

Update. I went with a coconut cream parfait instead.  Put a layer of graham cracker crust on the bottom of a wine glass. Poured the filling over, topped with a dollop of whipped cream and sprinkled with toasted coconut.  It was really popular at my New Year’s Eve party!

By the way, the recipe is from Wanda’s Pie in The Sky.  Fabulous cookbook.

Sigh... didn't make it past the filling
Sigh… didn’t make it past the filling
Crust needs some work
Crust needs some work
This is what it should have looked like...
This is what it should have looked like…