Tropical Toasted Coconut Banana Cream Pie

I love coconut and I love bananas so I thought I'd try combining the two when making a custard pie. It worked and it worked like a charm. The crunch of the coconut and the delicate taste of the bananas blend beautifully giving a tropical taste and feel combining two old standards into a pie that you will make again - I promise! If you really want to cut down on the work you can use a cooked vanilla pudding for the filling but it's worth the effort to make the custard filling from scratch.

Ingredients

• 1 large or 2 small bananas
  
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons cream of coconut
• 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups Cool Whip, thawed
• 1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut, toasted
• one deep dish refrigerated pie crust
  

Place pie crust in 9" pie plate folding edges of pie crust under, and flute. Prick crust with a fork and line the dough with a piece of foil, and arrange pie weights or dried beans on foil. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes or until the edge is lightly browned. Cool crust on a wire rack.

To prepare filling, slice banana(s) and arrange on the bottom of the baked and cooled pie crust.

Combine 3/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a saucepan, and stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook for 1 minute, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add about 1/3 cup hot custard to beaten eggs; stir constantly with a whisk. Return egg mixture to pan. Cook for 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove mixture from heat; stir in cream of coconut and extracts. Spoon mixture into the prepared crust that has been lined with the banana(s). Cover surface of filling with plastic wrap; chill until set (about 2 hours).

Remove plastic wrap, and spread whipped topping evenly over filling. Sprinkle with coconut.

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