Coconut Cream Pie

For the crust:
In a large bowl, sift the flour and salt.

Cream butter and powdered sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.

Reduce the speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Gather dough and form a disk. Wrap dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to chill.

Grease a 9-inch pie pan.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch thickness. Line the prepared pan with the dough. Use a small kitchen knife to trim the excess that hangs over the pan and to score the bottom of the crust a few times.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place crust in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes before baking for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and let the pie shell cool completely.

For the filling:
To prepare custard, cook coconut milk, vanilla and salt in a saucepan over medium heat to bring the mixture just to a boil. Stir occasionally.

While the milk is cooking, in a bowl whisk together egg and sugar until the mixture becomes pale. Add cornstarch and flour and mix until smooth.

Slowly add 1/3 of the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Then pour the milk-egg mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat and whisk continuously until the custard is thickened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

Pour the custard through a sieve and into a bowl to make it super smooth. Let it cool completely.

When ready to fill the pie shell, whip the whipping cream and powdered sugar until it holds firm peaks.

Mix half of the toasted coconut into the custard mixture. Spread the custard into the shell and smooth the top with a spatula. Gently spread a thick layer of whipped cream on top of the coconut custard. Sprinkle with the remaining toasted coconut.

Refrigerate the pie until set, about 3 hours, or preferably overnight.