Michelle’s Vanilla Cream Pie

mix in a medium saucepan:
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
5-6 Tbsp flour

whisk in:
3 cups milk

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour about 1/3 of the mixture into a heatproof bowl with 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten. (I use the Pyrex measuring cup that I used to measure the milk.) You must whisk the egg yolks the whole time you are pouring in the hot mixture.

Immediately pour the egg mixture back into the pan and return to a boil (this will be very fast). Cook for 1 additional minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 2 Tbsp butter and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Prepare an ice bath. I plug up one side of my sink and put in lots of ice cubes and about 3 inches of cold water. Place the hot pan in the ice bath. (This cools the custard down more quickly.) Stir every 5 minutes or so to prevent a skin from forming on the custard. When it has reached room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

**To make a delicious chocolate cream pie, increase the sugar to 1 1/2 c. and add 1 1/2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate when you add the milk, or pour the custard over sliced bananas or mix in shredded coconut**

To assemble the pie, pre-bake a pie crust, let cool, and pour in the chilled custard. Top with a generous amount of whipped cream. Sprinkle with toasted coconut for coconut cream pie, chocolate shavings for chocolate pie.