-PASTRY-
1 1/4 c Flour
1/4 c Shortening; solid
3 tb Cold butter in small pieces
3 tb Cold water or a little more
-LIME FILLING-
1 c Sugar
1/4 c Cornstarch
4 lg Egg yolks
1 tb Grated fresh lime peel
1/2 c Lime juice; fresh
1 1/3 c Water
2 tb Butter
COCONUT CREAM TOPPING
3 tb Water; cold
2 ts Unflavored gelatin
8 1/2 oz Cream of coconut*
1/2 ts Vanilla extract
1 c Whipping cream
Lime peel (garnish)**
*not coconut milk
**removed with vegetable peeler, cut in sticks
To make pastry in food processor: process flour, shortening, and
butter with short pulses until coarse crumbs form. Add water; process
with short pulses just until water is blended. Remove blade, then
dough. By hand: cut shortening and butter into flour in medium bowl
with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle on
water, 1 tb at a time, tossing mixture with fork until dough clumps
together. Gather dough into ball, then press into disk. Wrap and
refrigerate about 1 hour, until firm enough to roll.
Preheat oven to 425 F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface with
lightly floured rolling pin to 13″ circle. Line 9″ pie plate with
dough. Fold edge under to form rim. Crimp or flute rim. Prick bottom
and sides of shell with fork at 1″ intervals. Chill in freezer about
10 minutes, until dough is very firm.
Line chilled pastry with foil and weight with about 2 c dried beans
or pie weights. Bake 15 minutes, until pastry is just set. Carefully
lift foil with beans and remove. Bake pastry 8-12 minutes longer,
until crust is golden brown. Remove to a wire rack. Pour beans into
container, cover tightly, and save for future pies. (Do not cook.)
Prepare Lime filling: Whisk sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan.
Whisk in egg yolks and lime juice until smooth. Stir in water and
continue stirring over medium heat until mixture comes to a full
boil, 5-8 minutes. Boil about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until
filling is translucent and thick. Remove from heat. Add lime peel and
butter; stir until butter melts. Pour hot filling into pie shell.
Refrigerate 45-60 minutes, until cooled.
Prepare Coconut cream topping: sprinkle gelatin on water in 2-quart
saucepan and let stand 2 minutes to soften. Stir over medium heat with
rubber spatula 1-2 minutes, until gelatin dissolves, liquid is clear,
and no granules are visible. Stir in cream of coconut and vanilla.
Beat whipping cream in medium bowl with electric mixer until stiff
peaks form when beaters are lifted. Set pan of topping mixture in
larger bowl of ice. Stir with spatula, reaching in corners and
scraping bottom of pan. Mixture will gel as it cools, about 3
minutes. When thick enough to mound when dropped from spatula, remove
from ice. Whisk 1/2 c beaten cream into topping mixture until smooth.
With rubber spatula, fold in remaining whipped cream. (If necessary,
return bowl to ice bath and continue gently folding until mixture is
spreadable, but not firm.) Spoon topping on cooled filling, then
spread to cover, swirling topping decoratively. Refrigerate at least
2 hours, until firm enough to cut. Keeps up to 3 days, refrigerated.
To serve, garnish with lime peel.
Woman’s Day, 3/12/1996
Yields
8 Servings