Coconut Custard Pie with Sweetened Whipped Cream

While I didn’t inherit my sweet tooth from my Dad, I did inherit my love of coconut from him. I’m pretty much a sucker for anything with coconut in it. My favorite confection at the bakery is the coconut snowball. Deep dark chocolate cake, covered in light and fluffy, not too sweet frosting, which is rolled in coconut. That’s pretty much the perfect dessert for me. And don’t even compare my beloved snowball to those horrible pink marshmallow Hostess balls of goo that you can buy at the convenience stores. Yuck. Give me the real thing. Note to self: I must try and find a recipe for that bakery-like snowball.

Ok back to coconut. I made this coconut custard pie for Easter last weekend, knowing that my Dad wouldn't touch most of the sweets I made. I threw this pie together for him so he wouldn’t be the only one without something sweet to end his Easter Sunday. This recipe was a snap to put together, and that sweet whipped cream....I could eat it by the bucketfuls.

Coconut Custard Pie
Printable recipe
½ cup all purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups of half & half
1 ½ cups coconut milk
1 ¼ cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pie crust, baked and cooled

In a large saucepan whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Whisk in the eggs, half & half and coconut milk. Whisk until smooth. Heat the mixture over medium heat, whisking frequently until the custard thickens and comes to a boil. Let it cook for about another minute then stir in the vanilla extract and the coconut. Pour into the pie shell and refrigerate until chilled – at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Sweetened Whipped Cream
1 ¼ cups chilled heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon vanilla

In a medium bowl, beat all the ingredients until stiff peaks form (approximately 6 minutes). Spread over custard filling and top with toasted coconut. Keep chilled until ready to serve.