Coconut Banana Cream Pie

My husband LOVES coconut.

coconut banana cream pie

His birthday cake, my Coconut Macaroon Tunnel Cake is one of my most read posts on my blog.

I have always wanted to make him a coconut cream pie, and I thought while I was baking up pies for Thanksgiving this year, I would try it out!

I hopped on pinterest and found lots of coconut cream recipes.

(if you want to follow me on Pinterest, there is a link up there on the left!)

Then I happened upon this recipe here.  I found it on a blog called Jan Can Cook, this one, not only had coconut, it had bananas, too! I decided to give it a whirl!

I hate to try a recipe out by giving it to someone, so I made it the Sunday before Thanksgiving as a trial run.

Of course my husband didn't object.

When I was little, my Grandma, my Dad's Mom, was a pie baker.

We all had our favorite, and she would make it for us on our birthdays, and my Grandma tried and tried to teach me to make crust.

But she didn't measure ANYTHING, and it was just like flour was flying and poof! It was done!

Did you have a "hope chest" when you were a girl?

I did.  It was a cedar chest made by my Grandpa, and it had all kinds of things I collected through the years, growing up.

My grandma gave me this pie plate you see here, when I was in about 7th grade.

It was her Mom's pie plate.

It's an enamel covered one, and I am sure most people would think it's seen better days, 

but it's a treasure to me.

I decided, for good luck, I would make my trial run in her pie plate.

pie in my great-grandmother's pie plate!

It turned out FANTASTIC!!

Yes, I made THREE of these.

I am here to tell you, I don't even LIKE coconut, and I ate it, and loved it!

Without further ado, here is the recipe.  The recipe calls it "Lawry's Coconut Banana Pie."

Coconut Banana Pie

coconut crust:

1 stick butter, plus more for pie plate.

3 cups sweetened coconut flakes

pie filling:

4 egg yolks

3/4 cups sugar, divided

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup flour

3 cups half and half, divided

yellow food coloring, optional

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 bananas

whipped topping:

1 cup whipping cream

1 Tablespoon powdered sugar

(I doubled this, because I LOVE whipped cream!)

To make the crust, butter your pie plate generously. Melt the stick of butter in a frying pan, when melted, add coconut, and toast over medium heat.  Stir constantly browning evenly on all sides.

toasting the coconut

Press the coconut into the buttered pie plate to make a crust.  I reserved a little for the topping.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

the prepared crust

Combine the egg yolks, 1/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, salt and flour in a small bowl.  Gradually add 1 cup of half and half, and combine.

In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine the 2 remaining cups of half and half and 1/2 cup sugar, bring to a boil, stirring so it doesn't scald.  When it comes to a boil, add egg mixture and stir with a whisk, cook until pudding thickens, will only take about a minute.

Remove from heat, stir in 2 drops of food coloring (optional) and vanilla.

Cover with plastic wrap, laying the wrap over the top of the pudding so skin doesn't develop as it cools.

Cool in the fridge.

Combine whipping cream and powdered sugar and whip with electric mixer until fluffy and dense.  I added a splash of vanilla to mine, too.  Keep in the fridge until you're ready to assemble the pie.

When crust and pudding are cool, slice bananas into pie crust.

Pour pudding over the bananas and spread out.

Top with dollops of whipped cream, spread to cover.

Top with reserved toasted coconut.

Refrigerate for 2 hours before eating.

My husband thought it was even better the next day!!