Pie #1 Coconut Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Pie

When this whole pie thing started, I was drilling over fruit pies at work. We do cherry, blueberry, apple, and peach. While I will hit up on those very soon, I have been dying to try a buttermilk pie. I think my favorite kinda pies have always been custard base ones over fruit. As a child growing up, I was so lucky to have my great-grandma, Piche, looking after me. She loved to spoil and feed me! Something I always remember were all the breakfast creams she would cook for me. Cream of rice, cornmeal porridge, oatmeal, cream of wheat, and lemony maizena. All with a light sprinkle of cinnamon. I had this vision of pie with a milk base and had to choose one to make immediately to see how it would taste.

I decided on a recipe called Three Sisters Coconut Buttermilk Pie out of Joyce White’s book “Brown Sugar” where she describes this pie to be a composite of three recipes sent to her from close friends during her search for a good buttermilk pie. This pie was her integration of the best parts of each of her friends’ recipes. I decided to make some small changes like using vanilla bean from one pod, upping the cream of coconut amount, and processing my shredded coconut to make it more fine. My daughter loves coconut but not a fan of coconut bits. The results were great. The vanilla bean just gives the custard a lovely speckled base and it was especially yummy to enjoy at room temperature. The buttermilk tones down the over sweetness from the cream of coconut and leaves this silky creamy mellow coconut taste. I decided next time I make this I wanna try toasting the coconut before pulsing it and adding a bit of cinnamon. A wonderful start on my journey and feeling so inspired. Is it ok if I eat pie everyday?



Coconut Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Pie

Pate Brisee recipe for single crust
Filling
3 large eggs (room temp)
2/3 c sugar
3 T all purpose flour
1/3 c canned cream of coconut (I used Goya)
2 cups buttermilk
Beans from one vanilla bean pod
Pinch of salt
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut ( pulsing in processor optional)
¼ to ½ tsp ground nutmeg, to your taste

1. Prepare your pastry and refrigerate till firm enough to roll out. At least an hour.
2. Roll out your pastry on a lightly floured surface and gently place into a 9 ½ in deep dish pie plate. Tuck in the edges and crimp. Place in freezer for 15 min. When dough is cold and set, line the tin with aluminum foil and fill with beans or pie weights to prevent crust from puffing up. Then partially pre-bake in a pre-heated oven at 400° for 15 min. Remove foil with beans and fork the bottom of crust a few times. Lower the temperature to 375° and bake for 12 more min or until just slightly starting to brown. Check on your pastry at least twice during this time in case pastry starts to puff. If so just poke a few more holes in it and it will go down. To seal up these holes, you can brush the base with egg whites and bake 2 more min. Remove from oven and cool. Reduce your oven temperature to 350°
3. Whisk eggs, sugar, and flour together in a large bowl. Follow with cream of coconut, buttermilk, vanilla bean, and salt. Stir in your coconut and nutmeg until all combined and slowly pour into cooled pie shell.
4. Place the pie in the center of your oven and bake for 20 min. Rotate and continue baking for another 20 min. or until custard is set. You will know this when you tap the tin and filling doesn’t jiggle much. Over baking may cause your top to crack so always keep a check on it.
5. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool completely. I then covered my pie and let her sit in the fridge overnight. I thought all this time that it would be more delicious cold but it’s actually better when served at room temperature so all the flavors really come out.

I used Martha Stewart’s Pate Brisee recipe for this one and you can find it here. Something about an all butter crust I just can’t resist! So tasty!

Welcome

I have always been a pie-eatin lover but never really took the time to master the art of making pie. For the past 11 years, my career has been based on cake mainly. I started off in the famous Magnolia Bakery, back when it was owned by Alyssa Torey, trained as a cake decorator. While working there I met my future employer Lauren Reece, the mastermind behind Billy’s Bakery, where I continued cake decorating and baking everything from cupcakes to cheesecake. Somewhere in the midst of it all, I did 5 years in total working for the amazing Alice’s Teacup as one of their head cake decorators in charge of custom orders from birthdays, showers, and whimsical weddings.
There was just never time where pie fit into my career until recently. My current company, Billy’s Bakery, where I am production manager to two kitchens, had decided they needed to revamp their pies as well as introduce mini pies to the menu. I finally had reason to dive into the world of pie and perfect our products. I began to really enjoy this whole job. I was always intimidated by pie, more specifically pie crust, but with practice and lots of reading, I finally got it. When your dough is made right, it’s wonderful to work with. And honestly, once I got the dough right, I became obsessed with how to fill it. So here is my blog to pie and my ventures into as many recipes as I can gather.