Cream Pies

Here is my first tip...never try to make cream pies when you have a cold and can't smell or taste anything...and never try to make them when you have a presidential candidate trying to sing America the beautiful...just too distracting!  You have to begin by bringing milk to an "almost" boiling point, while stirring so that it doesn't scald.  So, I was off to not such a great start.  Mitt Romney's singing made me stop everything to run into the living room, and when I did, I heard the milk sizzling on the stove...and it only took a second!  Anyway...

I am notorious for burning bread in the oven on a good day...but on a day like today when I have a cold and I can't smell anything, it might not be the best idea to try to cook a pie shell.  Its usually the smell that alerts me to check on the bread, but today, I didn't have that going for me, and I almost did it again...however, once again, it was a "save" just in the nick of time.  

So anyway, here is how you make a my mom's incredible cream pies, which can be made into either coconut, date nut, or banana cream.   (I'm doing coconut, but I think the date nut is actually my favorite).  

Start with 9 egg yolks, (yes 9) and only 1 cup of sugar.  Mix that together.  Add 9 Tablespoons (yes 9) of cornstarch into that mixture.  In the meantime you are carefully bringing 6 cups of milk to an (almost) boil.  Pour the egg and sugar mixture into the milk and stir until it gets thick.  Add 2 T. Vanilla and then stir in either a bag of coconut, some chopped dates and toasted pecans, or some bananas.  It's that easy. The hardest part is staying right with it.

Oh, and when you're done, chill them and don't forget to make some real, homemade whip cream for the top.