Coconut Cream Pie

Every now and then I earn the title "the good child" from my mama. That's always a nice feeling. I earned it recently with this addition to my Thanksgiving dessert menu, which was requested by you guessed it... my mama. It was touch and go there at first - mama had asked for the pie with meringue, but I earned my way off the hook after everyone had tried this version. This has never been a pie that I requested or sought out - I'm much more fond of chocolate, french silk, or chess - but it did have a really good flavor and my stepdad and grandfather finished off this pie. I found more than a dozen recipe variations on Pinterest, but this is the one I decided to try: Coconut Cream Pie. I used my Pie Crust recipe again for this one.

1 baked pie crust

For the Toasted Coconut Topping
½ cup flaked, sweetened coconut

For the Coconut Custard
1½ cups coconut milk
1½ cups half-and-half
5 egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
4 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp butter
¼ tsp salt
1½ cups flaked, sweetened coconut
1½ tsp vanilla

For the Whipped Topping
2 cups heavy whipping cream
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Spread coconut evenly on a rimmed baking sheet. Place into 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes until coconut has just begun to turn brown. Be careful!  Coconut goes from toasting to toasted very quickly!  Watch it carefully, and go with the lesser time and add what you need. Set aside to cool.

Pour coconut milk and half-and-half into a liquid measuring cup. Add egg yolks and whisk together. Set aside.

***coconut milk is not the same thing as coconut cream. Ensure you have coconut milk!***

Add sugar and cornstarch to a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk egg and milk mixture together once more and then slowly begin to add to the sugar and cornstarch, whisking together constantly.

Bring custard mixture to a boil. Switch to a rubber spatula or wooden spoon and continue to stir constantly. Boil one minute.

Remove from heat and add butter, coconut, vanilla and salt.

Spread custard into pie crust. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until set, about 30-45 minutes.

For whipped topping:

Add sugar and heavy whipping cream to large bowl. Whisk with an electric mixer just until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla and whisk just until combined. Spread whipped cream on top of coconut custard. Refrigerate until ready to serve. When ready to serve, top with toasted coconut.

Chocolate Meringue Pie

I think that, next to apple pie, there is nothing more American than Chocolate Meringue Pie. And nothing quite so tasty. They are somewhat temperamental to make though... I learned that many, many years ago when I tried to make my first one. To put it nicely... it was a disaster. Runny, flat meringue, just blecht. Put a few years on me, add a little more patience, and this attempt was an amazing success. I found this recipe on Pinterest - Aunt Julia's Chocolate Pie. I just made one tiny tweak - I added a teaspoon of ground espresso, which helps intensify the chocolate flavor. I also used my own Pie Crust recipe, but you can use whichever you like.

1 baked pie crust

1 cup sugar
2 cups milk (calls for whole, but I used 2 percent)
3 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp ground espresso
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
2 Tbsp confectioners' sugar

Separate eggs. I placed the whites in a large bowl and put those in the refrigerator to chill for the meringue. I left the yolks in half the egg shell until ready to add to the mixture. I also put the whisk attachment into the freezer to chill before making the meringue. In a bowl, combine 1 cup of milk, flour, and cocoa powder and whisk thoroughly to combine. In a saucepan, add remaining 1 cup of milk and sugar, and heat over medium-high heat until simmering. Slowly add the milk-flour-cocoa mixture and stir until combined.

Bring to a boil. Add egg yolks one at a time, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil.

Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the vanilla and then remove from heat. Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust and set aside.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. To make the meringue, add the cream of tartar and a pinch of salt to the egg whites. Using a hand-held mixer, whisk on high speed until foamy. 

Sift the confectioners' sugar a little at a time and whisk until the whites are glossy and hold stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted.

Spoon the meringue onto the chocolate filling being sure to spread all the way up the the edge of the crust.

Bake until meringue is golden brown, about 3-5 minutes.

Chess Pie

I can't think of a simpler, more delicious pie than Chess Pie. I can't really say that I know WHAT a chess pie is exactly. It's some type of custard base, and from the research I've done, it seems to be a fairly old tradition. No one knows exactly how it got its name. It just sort of IS. I had never heard of it until I started working at a BBQ restaurant in Athens, Ala., the summer I turned 19 years old. A lady came in to bake pies for the day - chess, chocolate, and coconut were her specialties, I think. It looked pretty good, and so one day I bit the bullet and bought a piece. Oh. My. Gosh. It just melted in my mouth. I had never had anything like it. So several years ago, I decided to search for a recipe. And I found one that just screamed "this is how your grandmother and your grandmother's grandmother made this pie!" I printed it out, and baked my first chess pie. I've always had good reviews over it, and frankly, I'm pretty fond of it myself. I use my Pie Crust recipe for the crust, and it is so flaky and yummy.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1/2 Tbsp vanilla (1 1/2 tsp)

1 Tbsp cornmeal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large saucepan, heat the butter and sugars over medium heat just until melted.

Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. If you don't, the eggs will cook a little when you add them - you don't really want chunks of "scrambled egg" in your pie! Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Add the eggs - you can add them one at a time and stir after each addition, or if your mixture is cool enough then you can add them all at once. Either way, just ensure the eggs are thoroughly incorporated. Add the vinegar and cornmeal and mix. 

***Do not beat the mixture.***

Pour in unbaked pie crust. Bake for 1 hour. If you have trouble with your crust edges cooking too quickly, then cover them with aluminum foil for most of the cooking, remove 15 minutes or so before cook time is complete. Turn off the oven and let pie rest in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely and set before cutting.

Pie Crust

It really isn't that hard to make a pie crust from scratch. It takes longer than grabbing one out of the freezer, of course, but it is fairly simple and definitely tastes a whole lot better! I use the recipe out of my Better Homes and Garden cookbook my mom gave me years ago. This recipe creates enough dough for an 8- or 9-inch pie. This is the same crust recipe I used for the Coconut Cream Pie, Chocolate Meringue Pie, Chess Pie, Quiche Lorraine and Spinach Pie. The crust is flaky and light and quite delicious!

1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp shortening

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 to 3 Tbsps cold water

Place the shortening, flour and salt in your bowl.

Using a pastry cutter, cut the shortening into the flour until it is a crumbly texture and you don't see any white left. You can test the dough by pinching some between your thumb and forefinger. It should hold together.

Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of cold water, and using a fork, toss the dough with the water until it begins to clump and form most of a ball. The dough will clean the sides of the bowl. Gather pastry into a ball. 

Roll on a lightly floured surface 2 inches larger than your pie plate. Fold dough in half, then in half again and gently place in pie dish and open back up. Follow directions for what you are making. If you need a baked pie crust, bake at 475 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until golden.

Orange Salad

My family has been making this Orange Salad for special events such as Thanksgiving and Christmas since I was in school. I've had several people ask me about the recipe, so I've decided to blog it so that you can make it with your family and maybe start a new tradition! I'm now passing this one to my teenage daughter. She's made it the past year or two every time we've needed it. The new expert actually made this one in the photos as well. I wish I could give a credit for the recipe, but it was passed down from my grandmother and I have no idea where she got it from - but I've altered nearly every quantity in it since I first made it, so not sure it would matter much. lol

1 large container of Cool Whip
3 ounce box of orange Jello
8 ounce container cottage cheese
2 medium cans of mandarins
1 large can of crushed pineapple
1/2-1 cup of chopped nuts to taste

Pour Cool Whip into large bowl, and add orange jello powder and mix completely.

Add cottage cheese and mix until blended. Drain mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple completely (any juice left with make the salad runny). Mix until blended.

Add nuts and mix until combined. We used pecans in this making of the Orange Salad, courtesy of my mom, but I usually use diced walnuts.

Chill for at least an hour or two before serving.

Gingersnaps

For many, many years, I never even thought about gingersnap cookies as something other than what you get in those brown bags at the store. While searching online for recipes several years ago, I came across a recipe for gingersnaps, and when I read it, I knew that this was a very traditional and very good recipe. My copy is now covered in butter, flour, and molasses splashes. Lovingly used you might say. But I don't make these often throughout the year. These are winter and Christmas cookies. And they are always a hit! Pure perfection in a cookie.

NOTE: the ingredients are for a batch of cookies. The photos I took was when I was making a double batch!

3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon in small bowl.

Cream shortening and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg and mix completely.

Gradually add flour mixture to ingredients and mix well.

I chill my dough for about an hour before shaping them into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar.

 

Place balls on cookie sheet. Recipe calls for 2-inches apart, but I've never put mine that far. They don't spread too much. I lightly flatten mine with my forefinger and middle finger before baking. I think it helps form the perfect shape that I get with mine. Bake for about 12 minutes.  I actually bake mine for about 8.5 to 9 minutes, but my oven is crazy old and temperamental. With a normal oven, I think they baked about 9.5 to 10 minutes. Just watch them. They should not look fully cooked, but should be fairly flat and look like a cookie and not a doughy mass. They will finish cooking after you remove them from the oven. I let mine sit for a couple of minutes before I try to move them or they will fall apart. Enjoy a few of these warm and you will never buy another bag of gingersnap cookies again!