An unusual Valentine

I know that today is Valentine's Day and it's not that I am NOT in the mood to celebrate but it is such a busy work day for me. It's the final two days of working on our March/April Issue of the magazine--always a bunch of work but it is hard for me to get excited about anything else when I am this busy.

I usually make my husband chocolate truffles and put them in a pretty package but somehow, this year I just didn't think about doing making them early enough to buy the ingredients and frankly I'm just a bit worn out. I told my husband (who incidentally has a prior commitment and is out of town and busy in the pm) that I would rather postpone Valentine's Day until another day when I feel more like celebrating and less like finishing a project at work.

I did make this coconut pie earlier in the week and I think it will just have to do as my contribution to the day.

This year I want to make some really good pies and I think I have two good recipes, one for pecan pie and one for baked chocolate pie.

The coconut pie was good, and the meringue is very good.

Here's the recipe:

Coconut Pie

1 baked pie shell
 2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
4 egg yolks (reserve whites for optional meringue)
3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon shredded coconut
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring

Bake pie shell according to directions and set aside to cool.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, corn starch and salt. Add milk and egg yolks and mix well with wire whisk. Cook on medium high heat until mixture boils, whisking continually. Allow to boil for one minute while stirring. Mix in coconut, butter and vanilla. Remove from heat and pour into baked pie shell.

For meringue:
4 egg whites
5 tablespoons sugar

With a mixer in a medium bowl, add egg whites and beat on high until they become foamy. Mix in sugar a tablespoon at a time while beating. Beat until stiff peaks form. Pour mixture over warm pie in shell. Put pie in a 400 degree oven for five minutes or until meringue is browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before serving.

Whipped cream can be used rather than meringue.

That's about it. I hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day. Maybe you can make these truffles!