Today we woke up in Barra de Navidad which is a lovely town in the state of Jalisco. My husband did some research online and found a studio apartment for us to rent which would enable me to make pies while we are on vacation. Until I find an oven that is available these pies will not be baked but rather “cooked.”
For my first pie in Mexico I chose to make a simple custard pie with shredded coconut. To begin, we headed to a little store (tienda) and purchased butter, eggs, cream, flour, and vanilla (mantequilla, juevos, crema, harina, y vanilla). I had brought with me crushed graham cracker crumbs for the crust and shredded coconut for the filling.
We were in a hurry to catch a bus so I asked my husband to assemble the crust. He did this by using a small saute pan to melt the butter and then he added the graham cracker crumbs and toasted them lightly. Once that was done, he pressed the crumbs into a pie tin and put it in the fridge to set.
Meanwhile I made coconut custard on the two burner stove that we are lucky to have available. In mere moments it was thickened and smelled heavenly. I poured the warm custard into the crust and covered it with plastic (to prevent a skin from forming) and then put it into the fridge. But before I did that, we snapped a few photos.
Coconut Custard Pie and ingredients
Pie with a View
The View
The finished Pie topped with Toasted Coconut
After a day trip to La Manzanilla (where we saw crocodiles!) and a bus ride home that included a man serenading the passengers with songs like “Besa Me Mucho” we came back to our apartment to find the pie had set up nicely. I toasted some coconut to decorate the top and brought the pie to Cynthia, the woman who oversees this apartment for the owner. I tried to explain the pie project to her family in my best Spanish and I think they understood the message – it’s all about showing gratitude.
Jose, Cynthia, and Patty
Hasta manana….
