Coconut Banana Cream Pie

This past year I have really taken a more active interest in coconut and this one makes me glad I have!  Normally for anything in a pie plate or tin I just buy a graham cracker crust, I don't always have the patience of the desire to do much more than take the plastic top off my crust!  For anyone else that feels the same way about crusts, after trying this one you will be glad you put in the extra time!  What is nice, is that it really wasn't that difficult!
I was being a bit of a slacker, taking all of these pictures sure extends my baking time, so no ingredient picture today, sorry!  To start for this one, melt your butter in a frying pan and then add your coconut.  Stir to coat in butter and keep cooking and stirring until your coconut is nicely toasted.  Make sure you don't burn any of it.  Next, put that nice warm coconut in a pie plate.  I used the back of a spoon to press into the plate and up the sides so it looks like this:

Put that in the fridge so it can completely cool and harden up a bit.  Next you make the vanilla pudding, from scratch!  I haven't done this in years and years and years, but it isn't that hard.  If you were in a crunch for time, you could just use the instant kind.  Here is where I am going to admit that before starting I hadn't really read through the entire recipe or realized what was going on so I made it from scratch.  Had I actually realized that I was just making vanilla pudding, I think I would have gone the easy way out!  I'm glad I didn't as I thought it tasted great.  One of my flaws when cooking is that I don't always actually read through an entire recipe before I start, has created problems on more than one occasion! 
Anyway, back to the pudding.  You separate your eggs, keeping the yolks, combine those with some sugar, cornstartch and flour.  Once that is mixed up, gradually add some of the half and half.  Set that aside for a bit.
In a 3 qt sauce pan combine the rest of the half and half and sugar.  Once that is boiling, add in the egg mixture and cook, while stirring until it returns to a boil and thickens.  This took 3-5 minutes for me.  Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and the optional food coloring. 

At this point, the recipe I was following said to cover the mixture with plastic wrap to keep a skin from forming on your pudding.  I didn't know how I was supposed to do that and keep the plastic from melting, so as it cooled I would stir it up.  Seemed to work out just fine.  Once that is cooled, slice your bananas onto your crust.

Next pour your pudding on top.

Go ahead and put that in the fridge.  It will need to set up for at least 2 hours.  Now, if time were an issue, you could top this with cool whip or each slice with a dollop of whipped cream from the can.  If you have the time, I do recommend whipping up your whip cream fresh.  Put in a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar to give it a slight sweet flavor.  You could do the whip cream right before needing it or when you finish with the pie.  I prefer to wait so my whip cream is still fluffy and fresh. 

In a previous post I had mentioned a little trick to help the whip cream stay stable.  Before you start whipping, put 2 tablespoons of cold water in a small dish, add 1/2 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin, let it sit.  When the whipping cream has reached the soft peaks stage, add in the water/gelatin mixture.  I haven't tested it out over more than a day, but it will keep your whipped cream stable for at least that day.

This was so good, light and such a nice change to all the chocolate desserts I tend to make!  If you love coconut this is a must try.  This crust could be used in a variety of ways!

Lawry's Coconut Banana Cream Pie

Shell:
1/2 C. (1 stick) butter
3 C. sweetened flake coconut

1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, stir in coconut flakes until coated and lightly browned.  Press into pie plate.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Filling:
4 egg yolks
3/4 C. sugar, divided
3 Tbl cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C. flour
3 C. half and half, divided
2 tsp vanilla
Yellow food coloring (optional)
2 banana's
1 C. whipping cream
2 Tbl powdered sugar

1. Combine yolks, 1/4 cup of sugar, cornstarch, salt and flour in a small bowl.  Gradually add 1 cup of the half and half.
2. Combine the remaining 2 cups of half and half and 1/2 cup of sugar in a 3 quart saucepan and bring just to a boil over medium heat.  Add the egg mixture and cook and stir until the mixture returns to a boil and thickens, about 3 minutes.
3. Removed from the heat.  Stir in vanilla and 2 drops of food coloring.  Cover with plastic, or just stir ever 5 minutes of so while it cools down.
4. Slice the bananas into the pie shell.  Pour the filling into the shell.  Refrigerate
5. Before serving, whip up whipping cream and the powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.  Spoon or dollop onto pie.