Relish: Happy Pi Day!

It's March 14th and you know what that means...It's National Pi Day!! Being the foodie I am, I couldn't not celebrate. I had a really hard time trying to figure out what type of pie I wanted to make. While I have a weakness for blueberry and pumpkin pies, I decided to go with an ever-so delicious Coconut Cream Pie! And, with limited amounts of butter and sugar, this is a "healthier" option when it comes to pies.

Ingredients

One Traditional pre-made crust
One 13.5 Fl oz Can Coconut milk
1 1/2 cups of half and half
4 lightly beaten egg yolks
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon butter
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sweetened coconut
*Cool Whip Topping (optional...most coconut cream pies have this but I left it off of mine)

Directions:

1. reheat oven to 400 degrees and use a fork to poke small holes in the bottom of your pie shell. Bake pie shell until it is golden brown.

2. Combine the coconut milk and half and half.
3. Place the coconut/half and half mixture into a medium saucepan. Add in the egg yolks ,3/4 cup of sugar , salt and the 1/3 cup of corn starch into the pan and whisk to combine. heat pan on low heat and constantly whisk slowly. Whisk mixture until it thickens. This step could take 20 minutes...be very patient!
4. Once the pudding starts to boil, whisk it very fast for about a minute and take it off the heat. Immediately mix in the vanilla, butter and coconut.
5. Pour the hot mixture into the crust and refrigerate! Top with Cool Whip if desired!