More Treats! Fudge and Coconut Cream Pie

I finished off the baking extravaganza with enough deliciousness to leave me on a sugar high for all of next week.  First up, coconut walnut fudge!

Recipe here, and I just added chopped walnuts (maybe 1 c. or so chopped) and coconut (maybe 3/4 to 1 c) after everything was mixed together and melted but before I put it in the pan. Then after it set for a few minutes in the fridge I added some coconut on top to make it pretty, and pressed down gently to help it stick. It was pretty much ideal; I got a few pieces for myself, and I took the rest to work for a Christmas bake sale.

Now on to the coconut cream pie: possibly one of the easiest pies to make.

Same crust recipe as before (1 c flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/3 c + 1 T Crisco, cold water); once you get it in the pie plate and make it pretty, poke it with a fork all over to keep it from puffing up. Bake it at 450 F until it begins to brown. (This takes about 12 min in a Pyrex glass pie plate in my oven.) Then let it cool to room temperature. While that's cooling, make the filling:

- 1 box instant coconut cream pudding
- 1 3/4 c milk
- 1/2 to 1 pint whipping cream
- 1 c coconut, give or take

Follow directions on box for a pie: add milk to pudding mix and whisk for 2 min. Then let set in the fridge for 5 min.

While it sets, whip 1/2 - 1 pint whipping cream until it has stiffish peaks (it's okay if they flop over a little but you want it to have a little stiffness, just not butter yet). Then mix it with the now set pudding and the coconut. (Whether you use half a pint or a whole pint of whipping cream just depends on how full you want your pie; in the photo above I used 1 pint.)

Once the pie crust is cool, dump the filling into the pie crust and voila! Pie done. If you want, you can toast some coconut on the stove and sprinkle it on top for presentation, but I'm usually too lazy.