coconut meringue pie

I have a bit of a sad story.
 I made two pies for Sunday dessert. A coconut meringue and a lemon meringue. It was a toss up on which pie I would take photos of for the blog, since I hadn't put either one here yet.

I decided to use the coconut pie this time and diligently snapped photos of every step. When the pies were cool enough, I cleared a shelf in the fridge for them. They wouldn't fit side by side, so I set the coconut pie on the shelf and used a plastic container as a pedestal to set the lemon pie on beside it.

Well, the next time I opened the refrigerator door...there was the lemon pie sitting smack in the middle of the coconut pie. It had just slid right off the makeshift pedestal!

Of course when I lifted off the top pie it pulled most of the meringue off the bottom pie. Both were still edible, not contaminated or anything, but the coconut pie could not be made pretty enough to get a final photo of a sliced piece of pie.

Oh well, these things happen.


Coconut Meringue Pie
1 cup shredded coconut
3 eggs
1 can coconut milk
1 1/2 cups half and half
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a non-stick skillet, over medium high heat, stir coconut around until lightly toasted (takes about 4 minutes).

Set aside to cool.

Separate the eggs. Put the whites in the fridge for now.

In a non-stick skillet, combine coconut milk and half & half.  Mix flour, sugar,and salt together and whisk in to milks. Lightly beat egg yolks and mix in with a whisk. 

Over medium high heat, bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until thickened.

Remove from heat, cool to lukewarm, then stir in toasted coconut and vanilla extract.

Pour into a baked and cooled pie crust. 

At this point you can top the pie with whipped cream or cool whip and refrigerate, and use those egg whites for an omelet tomorrow morning.  Or you can make meringue.

Meringue is not a specialty of mine, but I give it a try from time to time.

Beat egg whites with 1/4 tsp salt in a mixer bowl at a high speed until frothy.

Mix 1 tsp.cream of tartar with 1/3 cup sugar and slowly sprinkle into eggs with mixer running.

Continue beating until whites are stiff enough to hold a soft peak.

Spread over pie filling and bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Cool and refrigerate.

This is how mine looked before going in the fridge and becoming part of  The Great Pie Disaster.

So that's my sad pie story.

I tried a recipe for Swedish Meatballs for Sunday dinner, along with mashed skin-on red potatoes, buttered egg noodles, fried cabbage, peas, carrot salad, and canned cranberry sauce.

We liked the meatballs. They were very mild tasting, partly because I didn't use allspice like the recipe calls for.  I used nutmeg and ginger instead, but just a little.

Next time I will buy some allspice and stay true to the recipe.