Conference turris::cooks

For those interested, there's a quick and rather tasty way to have
a low-calorie dessert that's useful for those with restricted diets.

Ingredients:

	1 Baked or Graham crumb pie shell
	2 Packages Jello Instant No-Sugar Pudding
	  Cool Whip
	  Bananas

	  Milk sufficient for puddings


	Preparation is easy:  Add milk to pudding powders, mix until thick.
	Pour into pie shell; let solidify in refrigerator.  Place banana
	slices on top, add Cool Whip (or equivalent) low-calorie whipped
	topping.  Keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.

This recipe is patticularly useful for those with a sugar-restricted diet,
and is quite tasty, so those without such restrictions enjoy it as well.
Since there are (currently) two flavors of puddings, one can have choco-
late or vanilla pies.  For variety, one can mix one package of vanilla pud-
ding, pour it into the pie shell, then leave it in the refrigerator until
set; then mix a package of chocolate pudding and pour it on top for a two-
layer pie.  A straight crust is a bit better than a Graham cracker crust;
both work well, though.

Apollonius

There is also now a Butterscotch flavor sugar-free pudding (for those of you
who like butterscotch). Personally I'm waiting for the banana flavor!

For those of you who, like me, are offended by the use of aspartame
(sweet MSG) as a sweetener in most current sugar-free puddings, I'll
give my personal recipe for sugarless pudding.  I prefer cyclamate
(available all over Canada, if you're a smuggler) but saccharin will
do if you remember the two rules:  Don't heat it much (it's okay in
hot coffee but don't cook it), and only use as little as you actually
need to taste right.  Saccharin only tastes bitter when you use
too much (like most diet sodas did before they switched to too much
aspartame).

Vanilla spice pudding and pie filling:

	1 pint milk
	3 tablespoons starch (arrowroot or corn), more or less
	1 teaspoon vanilla extract
	4 teaspoon-equivalences of sweetener (i.e., 2 packs Sweetnlow)
	1/4 tsp or so cinammon
	dash nutmeg
	1 tablespoon rum (optional)

	Heat milk in saucepan over low flame, stirring in starch
before it gets hot.  Continue stirring until it mixes in smoothly.
Add remaining ingredients and cook until it thickens.  Pour out in
cups or into shell and enjoy.  

	It's also cheaper than using mix.

Here is a recipe for banana cream pie that I got from my grandmother.
It is, quite simply, sliced bananas layered (in a cooked pie shell)
with sweetened vanilla-flavored whipped cream (I use heavy cream).
It is best to make this immediately before serving. This makes a very 
light, yet rich dessert which cannot (alas!) be kept well and therefore
must be finished at one sitting.

    I often make a similar pudding.
    
    Slice up a few bananas and soak in brown sugar and rum.  No
    real measures, just slosh them together and stir around!
    
    Whip a carton of double cream (or two cartons) 10 fl.oz. 
    English size and spread over the top.
    
    It is extremely rich.  Very easy to do and makes a big
    impression.
    
    Diana.

    For _rapid_ Banana Cream Pies, take a graham-cracker crust, mix
    Jello instant pudding (Banana [or Vanilla in a pinch]); as it thickens,
    put in banana slices; pour into shell; top with cool-whip or
    equivalent.
    
    Chill for about 10 minutes in refrigerator for coup de grace.
    
    Fast, but tasty.                                             
    
    Apollonius
    

                    ***MILLIONAIRE'S PIE***
    
    	This recipe makes two 8" or 9" pies. I usually keep one, then
    give the other one to my mother, seeing as how this is her recipe,
    and she never gets around to making it anymore. .
                                                   
    2 graham craker crusts
    1 large can of crushed pineapple, well drained
    1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
    1 9 oz tub of Cool-Whip
    1 cup finely crushed walnuts
    
    
    Mix all the ingredients together and pour into the pie crusts. Chill
    in the refridgerator until set. Usually 3-4 hours.

                                                      Kim
    

    Here's a similiar rendition....
    
    8 ounces cream cheese, softened 
    1 cup whipping cream
    1 sm. can crushed pineapple
    1/4 cup sugar
    graham cracker crust
    
    Beat the cream cheese and sugar together. Add the drained pineapple.
    Set aside.
    Beat the whipping cream until stiff.
    Blend the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture slowly by
    hand so as not to turn the whipped cream into butter.
    Fill the pie shell with the mixture and chill a few hours.
    
    This is real quick and easy. You may want to add more sugar, depending
    upon your personal taste. I have never tried this with other fruits
    but I would imagine strawberries or raspberries would be nice.
    You can decorate the top with pineapple ring if you like,placing
    a cherry on each hole.
    Whip the whipping cream until stiff.

    There's also a peanut butter pie in here that is excellent. It's like a
    cross between a cream pie and a chiffon pie.  Delicious with chocolate
    chips!
    
    As for cream pies, the pudding box will most likely have directions for
    cream pie on it (most do).  Another good source is the cornstarch box. 
    Banana cream is always good, in my opinion! :-)
    
    Is your pudding instant?  If so, substitute whipping cream for 1/2 the
    milk, and fold in your walnuts and maybe raspberries or strawberries.
    
    For something different, try using 1/2 juice and 1/2 whipping cream.
    
    Actually, now that I think about it, you usually reduce the amount of
    liquid when making a cream pie from boxed pudding (so it will be
    firmer).  But as I said, the directions are usually on the box.
    
    Good luck,
    Susan

	INGREDIENTS:
	-----------

	1 9 inch, baked pie shell
	1 small (4 oz. pkg. weight) package REGULAR vanilla pudding
	  mix - I use JELLO brand- do not use instant pudding.  JELLO
	  also has a coconut flavor, but I don't like it.
	2 cups half-and-half
	2 cups HEAVY whipping cream (the label will say HEAVY)
	  superfine sugar (some call it bar sugar or castor sugar) to
	  taste
	1 pkg. whipped cream stabilizer (sold with vanilla flavoring -
	  keeps the cream whipped - check baking supply
	  store)
	1 teaspoon vanilla (if no flavored stabilizer)
	approx. 1 and 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes

FIRST:
------

bake a pie shell.  Or buy and pie shell and bake it.  Some people even
make pie crust, but I cannot, so I use the pie crusts that come flat
in a box...follow the instructions on the box and get the dough into
a 9 inch pie plate.  Place a piece of foil over the bottom of the
crust, covering it, and place two good-sized handfuls of uncooked,
dry beans over the foil, not allowing the beans to touch the uncooked
crust anywhere.
Bake until the crust is nicely browned.  Remove from oven, carefully
remove the foil and beans (note the crust is nice and flat - that's
why you put the beans in it).  Cool completely at room temperature.

SECOND:
-------

Toast your coconut flakes.  Spread them in a non-stick cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees F. (or equivalent in C.) until nicely browned.
WATCH carefully - you don't want burned coconut.  Remove from oven
and cool completely at room temperature.

THIRD:
------

cook vanilla pudding as per package directions, using half-and-half
instead of milk.  Cook over boiling water in a double boiler for best
results (no burning).  If you cook in a sauce pan over the stove, stir
constantly (no stopping ever) over MEDIUM (not high, not even a little
high) heat until the mixture comes to a full boil.  If cooking over
a double boiler, then just stir occasionally and keep doing it until
the pudding is nice and thick.  When nice and thick (approx. 15 - 20 mins of
stirring it occasionally), stir in 3/4 to 1 cup of toasted,
flaked coconut and cover the surface of the pudding with wax paper
or plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.  Chill in the refrigerator.

FINALLY:
--------

Pour chilled pudding/coconut mixture into pie shell.  Whip cream, adding
sugar to taste (adding stabilizer if you found it) or 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Spread cream over pudding/coconut mixture.  sprinkle the rest of the 
toasted coconut generously over the top.  
EAT.  If you didn't find stabilizer for the whipped cream, invite
friends over to help - the cream will go flat on you overnight and make
the pie soggy.

You can make your vanilla cream from scratch, but if you aren't experienced
in working with stirred custards, it is trickier than it's worth...
the pudding works wonderfully well.

NOTE:

some people cover this pie with meringue, but, personally, I am suspicious
of them.....they may be aliens from another planet.

    Does regular white, granulated sugar work in place of the "superfine"
    or "castor" sugar?  
    
    Can you use container cool whip or some other brand in place of the
    whipped cream to avoid having to use stabilizer, etc?
    
    (Just trying to make my life easier...)
    
    Jennifer

>    Does regular white, granulated sugar work in place of the "superfine"
>    or "castor" sugar?  
    
yes, but I prefer the superfine sugar...it isn't as grainy.  You can usually
find good old superfine in 1 or 2 lb. boxes (green and white, rather than
pink and white) in the supermarket under the "pure cane sugar from Hawaii"
brand (can't remember the name) - in most markets here in the USA.

>    Can you use container cool whip or some other brand in place of the
>    whipped cream to avoid having to use stabilizer, etc?
    
I quite honestly don't know if it would be better at staying "whipped"
or not....might be an answer.

				Happy eating!

    WHY BUY THE BOXED STUFF?
    
    
    			COCONUT CUSTARD PIE
    
    1 Unbaked Pastry Crust
    
    2-1/2 Cups Milk		1/2 Cup White Sugar
    3 Eggs			1-1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
    1/2 Teaspoon Salt		1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
    1 Cup Shredded Coconut
    
    In a mixing bowl, using beaters or whisk, beat together milk, sugar,
    eggs, vanilla, salt and nutmeg.  Sprinkle coconut into pastry shell. 
    Pour egg mixture over coconut.  Bake at 375o for 20-25 minutes or until
    knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool and serve with
    whipped cream, whipped topping or covered with a meringue and baked an
    additional 5 - 7 minutes.
    
    Enjoy!
     

    My late Aunt Helen made the *best* cream pies I ever tasted!  (BTW,
    Boston Cream Pie is actually a yellow cake filled with custard and iced
    on top only with semi-sweet chocolate glaze).  Aunt Helen's banana
    cream pie and chocolate cream pie recipes came from the Cream Corn
    Starch box.  Maybe Cream Corn Starch still puts the recipes on the
    side.  Aunt Helen's pie crust recipe, however, went to her grave with
    her.
    
    
    Susan

    
This recipe has been a standard in my family for many years.  My father
would do almost anything for the chocolate version. 8-) My mother always
made one of each for the holidays...and we rarely had leftovers.

CREAM PIE

1 1/2 cups milk			1 Tblsp. butter or margarine
1/4 cup sugar			1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 t. salt			3 Tblsp. flour
1 egg yolk

Mix sugar, milk, salt and flour.  Cook slowly in a double boiler
(over hot water) until thickened, stirring constantly.  Cover and 
cook for 5 minutes.  Add mixture slowly to beaten egg yolk.  Cook
1 minute longer.  Add butter and vanilla.  Cool.  See below for 
different flavorings.  Pour into baked pie shell.  Finish with meringue
topping--bake just until meringue peaks turn golden.


Banana -- Use 4 ripe bananas.  Fill pie shell with alternate layers
          of sliced banana and cream filling.

Chocolate -- Add 1 oz. baker's chocolate, melted, and 2 Tbsp. sugar

Coconut -- Stir in 1 1/2 cups coconut

    I had the best Coconut Cream Pie in one of those little out of the way
    small town restaurants, where everything was home-made.
    
    She made your basic vanilla pudding, and I notice that there are some
    already entered.  The big difference is..... as a portion of the cream
    called for you use FRESH coconut milk, then run the coconut thru the
    food processor for just a few seconds, enough to have very small
    chunks, rather than grated dried coconut that you purchase in the
    stores.

The "cream" in these pies is either a "stirred custard" or a "cornstarch-based
pudding".  Recipes for either are available in any cookbook.  One hint:
do not attempt to make either without a double boiler.  You will end up with
scorched ick if you do.  The most reliable recipe is the cornstarch one,
it will always thicken - and it has less chance to curdle than the stirred
custard.