Oh, to think of heaven without Christ! It is the same thing as thinking of hell. Heaven without Christ! It is day without the sun, existing without life, feasting without food, seeing without light. It involves a contradiction in terms. Heaven without Christ! Absurd. It is the sea without water, the earth without its fields, the heavens without their stars. There cannot be a heaven without Christ. He is the sum total of bliss, the fountain from which heaven flows, the element of which heaven is composed. Christ is heaven and heaven is Christ.

C.H. Spurgeon

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Eggs, Dairy, Grains		Pies*	6	Servings

INGREDIENTS

1/2	c	Sugar; plus 2 tablespoons
1/4	c	Cornstarch
1/8	ts	Salt
5	lg	Egg yolks; lightly beaten
2	c	Whole milk
1/2	c	Evaporated milk
1/2		Vanilla bean; about 3", split lengthwise
2	tb	Butter
1	ts	Brandy
1		Graham Cracker-Coated Pie Shell, baked & cooled
1	c	Heavy whipping cream
2	tb	Confectioner's sugar
1/2	ts	Vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in medium saucepan. Add yolks, then
immediately but gradually whisk in both milks. Drop in vanilla bean. Cook
over medium heat, stirring frequently at first, then constantly as mixture
starts to thicken and begins to simmer, 8 - 10 mins. Once mixture simmers,
continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute longer. Remove pan from
heat; whisk in butter and brandy. Remove vanilla bean, scrape out seeds and
whisk them back into filling.
Pour filling into shallow pan (another pie pan works well). Put plastic
wrap directly over filling surface to prevent skin from forming; cool until
warm, about 30 mins. Pour warm filling into pie shell and, once again,
place sheet of plastic wrap directly over filling surface. Refrigerate pie
until completely chilled, at least 3 hours.
Whip cream to soft peaks. Add sugar and vanilla, continue to whip to barely
stiff peaks. Spread over filling and refrigerate until ready to serve.
CHOCOLATE CREAM: Follow above recipe, adding 2 T. unsweetened cocoa to
cornstarch mixture and stirring in 4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet
chocolate with butter. Substitute 1 t. vanilla extract for vanilla bean.
COCONUT CREAM: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to
300°. Scatter 1-1/4 C. sweetened flake coconut in 9" square pan. Bake,
stirring occasionally, until evenly golden brown, 20 - 25 mins. Cool to
room temperature. Follow recipe above, stirring 1 C. of the coconut into
filling once butter has melted. Continue with recipe, sprinkling remaining
coconut over whipped cream topping.
BANANA CREAM: The safest and best place for the banana slices is sandwiched
between two layers of filling. If sliced over the pie shell, the bananas
moisten the crust; if sliced over the filling top or mashed and folded into
the filling, then turn brown faster. Follow recipe above, spooning half the
warm filling into baked shell. Peel 2 medium bananas and slice them over
filling. Top with remaining filling. Continue with recipe.
ORIGINATOR Cook's Illustrated SUBMITTER Grace Wagner <wgmm@citynet.net>
DATE 9/2/97
Recipe by: Cook's Illustated, 2/97, p. 24 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1
#769 by "Grace M. Wagner" <wgmm@citynet.net> on Sep 02, 1997

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