Week Pie: Coconut, Peaches & Cream Pie

I messed around with this pie a little, which was supposed to be just a Peaches & Cream pie, but I was walking around an Asian market and kept seeing coconut, coconut, coconut (and I love coconut), so I coconuted it up.

I kind of messed up by adding about 1/2 cup coconut milk (not light) to the filling and it made the pie way too soupy when it was still warm, but after sitting overnight in the fridge it solidified perfectly and it tasted way better cold anyway. I also should have listened when they said "ripe" peaches. Mine were not and never got soft soft. USE RIPE PEACHES.

Ingredients:

* 6 medium ripe peaches, peeled and sliced
* 1 unbaked deep-dish pastry shell (I used mom's recipe again)
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
* Small can of coconut milk
* Flaked coconut

Directions:
Arrange peaches in the pastry shell. In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and salt; stir in cream until smooth. Pour over peaches. Sprinkle flaked coconut on top.
Cover with foil and bake at 400° for 40-45 minutes or until filling is almost set. Serve warm or cold. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Week Pie: Makes Its Own Crust Coconut Pie

I didn't get a chance to write about last Sunday's pie, so I'll add it now. I made mom's famous Makes-Its-Own-Crust Coconut Pie. I had a paper due and this is a super easy pie so it worked out perfectly.


Ingredients:
4eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup coconut
1 tsp vanilla

Mix in order given into large bowl. Pour into a 9" buttered pie pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Put a pan under the pie as it tends to run over;
my suggestion would be to pour a small amount into a small (1/2 cup) container and cook as well.
The flour floats to the bottom to makes the crust and coconut float to the top.

Week Pie: Popover Apple-Cranberry Pie

So trying to do metric conversions in a country that doesn't like to stock as much sugar free products as I'm used is more than a little annoying. Had some issues with the pie this week but instead of completely ruining everything I got two wonderful pies out of my six Golden Delicious apples.

I started out attempting to make a Popover Apple Pie, which is made by baking a one big popover (or Manka's Babies) in a skillet or pie pan. And making the filling in the microwave. The problem was that the apples and stuff are supposed to be mixed with sugar free cook-and-serve vanilla pudding, and they don't have sugar free pudding at my grocery store, so I got regular cook-and-serve, and then the measurements were off because of grams and ounces, ugh. So! I added 7 tablespoons of the dry pudding mix to the filling instead of a .8 oz package and used the rest to make pudding on the stove. The popover turned out to be way smaller than I expected, so I put the pudding on the base of the popover and poured a much as I could of the apple filling on top of that, and then sprinkled with toasted walnuts and powdered sugar. It was delicious! Try it. Then because the popover was so small I had so much extra filling, so I made mom's pie crust again (note 1) and put it in there.

So here's the original recipe for Popover Apple Pie:

TIME: Prep: 20 min. Bake: 30 min.
Ingredients:

* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 2 egg whites
* 3/4 cup 1% milk
* 1 cup cold orange juice
* 1 package (.8 ounce) sugar-free cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
* 3/4 teaspoon apple pie spice
* 6 large peeled tart apples, sliced
* 1/2 cup dried cranberries
* 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
* 1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar

Directions:
In a bowl, combine flour and salt. Combine the eggs, egg whites and milk; whisk into the dry ingredients just until blended. Pour into a 10-in. ovenproof skillet coated with butter-flavored cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° (do not open oven door). Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until deep golden brown (do not underbake).

In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk the orange juice, pudding mix and apple pie spice. Stir in apple and cranberries. Cover and microwave on high for 5 minutes, stirring once. Cover and cook 3-4 minutes longer or until apples are tender, stirring once. Spoon hot apple mixture into crust. Sprinkle with walnuts. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately. Yield: 8 servings.