Cream Pies -- One Recipe, Five Options

Note from Cheri: This is a wonderful recipe to have in your repetoire because you can vary it to make many classic cream pies, including chocolate, banana, butterscotch, eggnog or coconut. Of course, you can always get un-traditional and start coming up with new variations. How about tropical flavors like fresh pineapple and mango, or perhaps a Peaches and Cream Pie, or maybe a Chocolate Banana Cream? Once you read the basic instructions, you'll get endless ideas of how to vary them.

The Basic Recipe 3/4 C sugar 1/3 C flour 1/4 tsp. salt 2 C whole milk 2 eggs or 3 egg yolks 1 T. butter 1 tsp. vanilla 1 baked and cooled 9 in. pie shell whipped cream to top pie

The Basic Instructions In a medium saucepan, mix sugar, flour and salt. Stir in 1 cup of milk, mix until smooth, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until smooth and thickened, about 2 minutes, then remove from heat. Beat the eggs or egg yolks with the remaining cup of milk. Temper the egg mixture with a small amount of the slightly cooled milk mixture then blend this into the larger saucepan with the cooling milk mixture. Return saucepan to the heat and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly, lower heat and simmer until mixture thickens a bit more, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Cool slightly and pour into the baked pie shell. Cool completely then cover top of pie with sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping. Cream Pie Variations Chocolate Cream Pie Make basic filling and add 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips to hot filling in pan. Stir until chocolate melts completely. Banana Cream Pie Make basic filling, cool. Slice 2 or 3 bananas into bottom of pie shell. Pour cooled basic filling (or chocolate filling) on top. Coconut Cream Pie Stir 1 cup flaked coconut into basic filling just before pouring into pie shell. Sprinkled toasted coconut on top of the whipped cream for a beautiful and tasty presentation. Butterscotch Cream Pie Substitute 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar instead of white sugar in basic filling recipe, and increase the butter to 3 tablespoons. Cook in the same manner as the basic filling. Eggnog Cream Pie Stir in 1/4 tsp. nutmeg into the basic mixture. Sprinkle a small amount of nutmeg on the whipped cream.