Coconut Meringue Pie

One of my dad's favorite desserts is Coconut Meringue Pie and over the years my sister has been perfecting a recipe.

She had a busy Easter weekend, so I stepped in, and tried a new recipe. It was a winner except it was too sweet, so this recipe has half the sugar.

The coconut custard is derived from a Martha Stewart recipe (thank you!)


Pie Crust

- make your own pie crust or use a pre made one
- roll out pie crust (yes I would even roll the pre made one out a little more) then transfer to 9" pie dish
- fold over edges and crimp to form an edge
- bake according to recipe/package directions and let cool completely

Coconut Custard Filling

Ingredients 
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk (original recipe calls for whole, I used what I had on hand 1.5% and it was fine)
- 1 can (14oz) coconut milk
- 4 large egg yolks (SAVE THE WHITES! cover and refrigerate while the pie cools)
- 1/2-3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes

1. (optional) toast coconut at 350 deg for 5-10 minutes on a rimmed baking sheet and cool
2. Increase oven temp and bake pie crust (let cool completely)
3. In a medium to large saucepan (off heat), whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt
4. Gradually whisk in the milk, making sure to dissolve the cornstarch
5. Whisk in coconut milk and egg yolks
6. Place pan on medium heat and whisk continuously
7. Cook and whisk on medium until the liquid thickens and becomes custard like, 5-10 minuets (time is not important, consistency is)
8. When liquid starts to thicken, turn heat to low and cook and whisk for another minuet or so
9. Remove pan from heat, and pour custard into a bowl, scrape with spatula to get it all  (I like to use my largest pyrex liquid measuring cup to make pouring into the pie that much easier)
10. Stir in cooled coconut flakes
11. Pour custard into cooled pie crust, smoothing top with a spatula
12. Cover and chill, at least 4 hours or up to 1 day (great to make in advance!)

Meringue

Ingredients 
- 4-6 egg whites
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
-  1/2-1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4-1/2 cup sugar

1. Bring egg whites to room temperature. Make sure there is NO YOLK in them at all. Take the pie out of the refrigerator too and let it warm up while you prepare the meringue.
2. Add cream of tartar and vanilla to egg whites in mixing bowl. Use a stand mixer or hand mixer with tall, wide bowl. Remember the egg whites will grow quite a bit in size
3. Beat egg whites at a high temperature until you reach soft peaks
4. Lower speed and gradually add sugar
5. Beat egg whites and sugar until you have formed stiff peaks
6. Spoon meringue onto pie, making sure to go all the way out to the edge of the crust as it will shrink during baking
7. (optional) sprinkle sweetened coconut flakes on top of meringue
8. Bake at 350deg fr 10-15 min until meringue is set and coconut flakes are lightly browned
9. Let pie cool and firm up before serving

Hope this is a winner!