What Went Wrong With This Recipe?

Last night I was on the lookout for a good coconut cream pie recipe. Initially I was searching for the kind that involves a prebaked pie shell and a vanilla custard prepared on a stovetop, but when I saw this recipe, which looked like the delicious pie my mother-in-law makes at Thanksgiving, I had to try it.

But something went wonky in the mixing. The pie tasted fine (albeit too sweet- next time I would cut the sugar by half) but after mixing the ingredients together, the custard resembled curds and whey. The pie also did not properly set and was a goopy mess to cut. After going back and looking at the comments, I saw that someone else seemed to have the same problem, and recommended mixing the butter and sugar thoroughly before adding eggs etc - but I did that. Everything was added just as the recipe called for, but still - curds and whey.

Since the flavor was good and it was really quite easy, I'd like to make it again - but first, this mystery must be solved!

cold butter + cold eggs + cold milk can be more difficult to combine. I'd let them all come up to room temp and also add the milk a little at a time.

Suzy,
I have this recipe in my collection.
Because I use sweetened flake coconut, I cut back the sugar to one cup.
Make sure the butter and eggs are brought to room temp before mixing them and be
sure they are well mixed before the alternating addition of milk and flour.
I pour the whole gloopy mixture into a thawed, prepared pie crust, leaving it in the aluminum pan it comes with,
on a baking sheet (to catch any spills and for stability). I put the pan in the oven on the shelf that is one notch lower than the middle.
Mine takes a little longer than the recipie says, 50 -60 minutes to bake.

Can't speak to the first part of Bill's recommendation though it makes sense for reasons I can't articulate. However, I absolutely endorse the second part from experience. Take your time and make certain that each addition of milk is totally and completely and thoroughly incorporated before adding more. Good luck!

Gypsy Boy wrote:Can't speak to the first part of Bill's recommendation though it makes sense for reasons I can't articulate.

Two things going on here:

1) On an intuitive level, warmer things mix easier than colder things, such as sugar in hot coffee vs. cold coffee. At the molecular level, the energy applied to heat liquids results in more space between the molecules making for better combining.

2) More importantly for the case of this recipe, the butter, a solid at fridge temps, needs to be softened to be able to combine with anything else. When exposed to the cold milk, the butterfat is changing phase back to a solid and dropping out of solution to form globules giving it that "curds and whey" appearance.

Bill/SFNM wrote:

Gypsy Boy wrote:Can't speak to the first part of Bill's recommendation though it makes sense for reasons I can't articulate.

Two things going on here:

1) On an intuitive level, warmer things mix easier than colder things, such as sugar in hot coffee vs. cold coffee. At the molecular level, the energy applied to heat liquids results in more space between the molecules making for better combining.

2) More importantly for the case of this recipe, the butter, a solid at fridge temps, needs to be softened to be able to combine with anything else. When exposed to the cold milk, the butterfat is changing phase back to a solid and dropping out of solution to form globules giving it that "curds and whey" appearance.

EXACTLY what I meant to say. It was on the tip of my tongue.

(Thanks, Bill.)

The advice re: room temperature milk and eggs makes a lot of sense, and is actually rather self-evident now that I think about it Next time I will definitely halve the sugar, it was waaaaay too sweet (although that made it quite similar to my MIL's Texan-style coconut pie).

So I really needed to try out this recipe, which I did today. All ingredients were room temp - no separating problems. A few observations:

1. I creamed the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. I then added the eggs and beat until a light yellow color.
3. I ran out of milk so I used cream, which I drizzled in slowly.
4. I used unsweetened coconut flakes. Sweetened would have been too sweet.
5. Served with unsweetened whipped cream.

It could not have been more delicious! Thanks to Ms. Creamcheese!

I'll post a photo in a few minutes in the Random Food Photos thread

I've got a new one for the "What Went Wrong?" files:

This past weekend I was charged with making another dinner for the picky, bland-eating side of my family. I chose to do a big chicken pot pie in a 13"x9" baking dish. Pretty easy recipe, I've done it dozens of times in a variety of manners. This time, I was a bit pressed for time so I decided to make the filling the night before. The filling consisted of a basic béchamel plus chicken stock (is there a name for that sauce?), cooked chicken, and simple sautéed veggies. It tasted good and had a good consistency, so I put it in the fridge.

Then next day it went into a baking pan. I let it slowly come to room temperature and topped it with the crust. It looked fine going into the oven.

When it came out of the oven the sauce had broken. The dairy solids had separated away from the liquid and curdled. The result was a chicken soup with curds and a soggy crust. Disgusting.

I am no expert on sauces, and my only theory is that the temperature change was too drastic. Perhaps I should have heated the filling slowly on the stove top before putting it into a hot oven with a crust. I don't know. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Michael