Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Learning to Breathe

Ah... the wonderful serenity and calm that follows the storm. Thank you to everyone who sent me their good wishes and kind comments on my last couple posts... I really appreciate it!

Of course, you were all right... things are getting better! I'm still being hung out to dry on the whole college registry front (ah, the joys of higher education!) but on the other hand, I did fix the "fail crust"! Actually, I didn't so much fix the crust as I beat it into submission with my food processor and some cocoa powder. When in doubt... add chocolate! The resulting mash was very close to what I know as a Nanaimo bar base - which worked beautifully for the filling I had envisioned for the pie and would probably have been darn good on it's own too!

I'm still waiting on the verdict from Andrew on the pie, as well as the two ramekins of leftover filling "mousse" that I froze into mini ice cream cups. I was pleased at how they looked, at any rate, and even if I had tasted them my verdict would be skewed... I hate coconut!! I do, however, adore making people happy, and I'm so glad that I was able to in whatever small ways I could over the last four years of our relationship. Through all of the hurdles the past years threw at us, and the good times with the bad, the joy I still get at the end of the day from knowing I'm loved by Andrew makes it all worth it!

Have the best day of your lives, everyone, and hug the ones you love!

"Squared" Coconut Pie
Serves 10
1 3/4 cups shredded sweetened coconut
1/4 cup salted butter, softened
2 tbsp flour (use rice or tapioca flour to keep this GF)
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 (4-serving size) package instant coconut cream pudding mix
1 1/2 cups whole milk, cold
1/2 tsp rum extract (optional)
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1 package Dream Whip topping mix (unprepared)
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Using a food processor, combine coconut, butter, flour and cocoa to make a "mouldable", slightly sticky dough.
  3. Press into a greased pie plate.
  4. Bake 10 minutes, then place in freezer to chill completely.
  5. Meanwhile, beat together pudding mix and milk, and add extract if using.
  6. In another bowl, whip cold water, coconut extract and Dream Whip powder for 2 minutes until "stiff peaks" form.
  7. Fold Dream Whip into the pudding mixture gently but thoroughly.
  8. Spread pudding mixture in chilled crust, refrigerate a minimum of 3 hours to set before serving.
**Note: you will have about 1 1/3 cups of the filling left over if you made a traditional 9" pie. Either make another pie, eat it right out of the bowl, or (my favourite) put the filling into ramekins and freeze them for chilly coconut mousses!**

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 194.7
Total Fat: 11.2 g
Cholesterol: 15.9 mg
Sodium: 188.9 mg
Total Carbs: 22.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.1 g
Protein: 2.1 g

2 comments :

  1. Mmmm looks great! And glad you managed to beat it into submission (and you're right, chocolate fixes pretty much everything!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. i agree, adding chocolate fixes everything! :) i wish i had a food processor to submitt crust into submission. but i'm glad that yours turned out so well!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!