Colonel Custard

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Once you taste this pie you'll know why no other custard pie will do. This is literally custards last stand. This custard is sweet and creamy and bakes up perfectly. The crust is buttery flaky and delicious. The fried coconut paired with the custard is a taste explosion.

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Ingredients

  • For the Crust
  • 1-2 packs of store bought pie dough or enough shortbread pastry dough for desired thickness.
  • Buttery Shortbread Pastry Dough
  • 9 oz. (2 cups) bleached all purpose flour
  • 7 oz. (14 Tbs.) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 Tbs. granulated sugar
  • 1 Tbs. chilled heavy cream
  • 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. table salt
  • For Custard pie
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 cups half-and-half
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 vanilla pod split and scraped
  • Ground cinnamon for sprinkling
  • thin slices of salted butter
  • For Fried coconut topping
  • stick of butter
  • shredded coconut

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

For the crust

Prepare a batch of shortbread pastry or buy store bought pie crust. Thaw. Roll out to desired thickness and sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Lay thin slices of salted butter across the surface and fold in half. Repeat this as many times as you'd like. The more you repeat, the more the crust resembles a turnover. This is the method behind puff pastry. This crust will be baked until golden brown. You'll want to use baking beads or your variation thereof to prevent the pastry from puffing up.

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For the custard

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, 1 vanilla pod split and scraped and salt. Whisk in the half-and-half and cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbly, stirring occasionally.

Fry up the coconut in butter until golden brown and lay on paper towels to absorb the remaining oil.

Remove from heat, and pick out vanilla pod. Add butter, brown sugar,and stir until butter is melted. Pour into baked pie shell and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Cover top of pie with fried coconut. Bake 35 minutes; center of pie will not be set.

Cool pie 1 hour, then refrigerate 6 to 8 hours, or until ready to serve. Pie will set upon chilling. Cover for longer storage.

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