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Coconuts have always held a fascination for me. They’re like big, round, oversized Brazil nuts with hair and if you look at them square on, they look like little spider monkey faces! My father used to bring home coconuts for us to open, letting each of us 4 girls crunch on a chunk of the white meat as we watched him crack the next ones. Mom would deal with the rest, grating it and freezing it for use in baked products. It had to be baked because my father was dangerously allergic to fresh coconut and fresh coconut milk. But he liked coconut as long as it was cooked. Fresh coconut has a totally different taste from commercially shredded and bagged. It is crunchier, lighter tasting and not very sweet, hence sugar on the bagged stuff. I found some coconuts on sale at our local grocery for 50¢ each and so I grabbed three. Fresh coconut pie was calling my name. Mr. Fix-It loves coconut pie, so what better way to impress him than to make it straight from the tree?!  Mr. Fix-It assumed the responsibility of cracking open my grocery prizes and poked the “eyes” with a washed nail setter to open holes for the juice to escape. It’s a “He-Man” job after all.   As I counseled him to wrap each coconut in a towel before tapping with a hammer, (well, that’s the way WE did it when I was growing up) he gave me that “I dun’ need no stinkin’ towel” look. He proceeded to break the heavy hulls of the nuts in several places and proudly pointed out that he had not sent pieces flying. OK, so he’s good, but if you want to save a mess, wrap your whole coconut in a towel before breaking.  By sliding a table knife between the shell and the meat, the meat easily pops out with some of the shell membrane still attached.  Using a paring knife, peel off remaining shell – only don’t do it like Mr. Fix-It, who is cutting toward himself!!  Using a hand grater or the grating wheel on your food processor, grate coconut. 
 Bake a pie shell and set aside to cool  Put the sugar, cornstarch and salt into a saucepan that is not heating.  Pour coconut milk into a large measuring cup and finish to level 3 cups with cows milk.  Pour the milk mixture into the saucepan and stir until sugar and cornstarch are dissolved.  Beat egg yolks and add to the saucepan, stirring mixture to fully incorporate  Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly to keep from sticking and from getting lumpy. As mixture thickens, let boil one minute.  Remove from heat and stir in butter…  and flavorings  Add coconut  Stir coconut into filling mixture  Pour filling into pie shell  Cover with plastic wrap and tap with your hand so that wrap touches the filling. Place in the frig to cool for at least 2 hours.  Remove from frig and cover with whipped cream or cool whip and sprinkled with toasted coconut.  For an extra zing, add grated chocolate. It’s a Mounds Bar flavor! |
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