Maple Cream Pie

I made this on Friday for home fellowship. At about 4 pm (home fellowship being at 6) while I was getting to the end of the recipe, I noticed this line: refrigerate overnight. Oops. So Emma and I prayed that the pie would not be soupy by the time we were going to eat it. Also we prayed that Miss Becky would have enough room in her fridge, which can sometimes be an issue because they have a big family and buy in bulk. Both prayers were answered with "yes." Phew. Emma did a lot of this recipe with me, which was fun. Usually she will start strong and get bored or distracted, but this one she helped me with from beginning to end. This is from the fall section of the Taste of Home seasons cookbook.

Maple Cream Pie
Pastry for single-crust pie (9 inches) (when I went to the store they didn't have any Pillsbury pie crust, or the store brand. At Walmart or Hannaford. I was very concerned I was actually going to have to make pie crust, which I hate doing. But thankfully, I checked one last time before making this pie and they had gotten restocked!! Phew, again)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup milk, divided
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp maple syrup, divided (probably I should have used the real stuff, but I didn't)
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tbsp butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
sliced almonds, toasted

Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry; trim and flute edges. Line unpricked shell with double thickness of heavy duty foil; bake at 450 for 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer. Cool on wire rack.

For filling, combine cornstarch and salt in a large saucepan. Stir in 1/2 cup milk until smooth. Gradually stir in the remaining milk and 3/4 cup maple syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Stir in a small amount of hot filling into egg yolks; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Gently stir in butter. Cool to room temperature without stirring.

In a chilled small bowl (or your Tuppeware Quick Chef Pro), beat cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold 1 cup cream into cooled filling; spoon into crust. Fold remaining 1 tbsp syrup into remaining cream; frost top of pie. REFRIGERATE OVERNIGHT (hee hee). Garnish with toasted almonds. Refrigerate leftovers. 8 servings.

So I guess this was okay, but it wasn't very maple-y. I bet it would have been more flavorful if it had been real syrup. I don't think many of the kids liked it, but that's okay, I'm used to that. If I always made what kids would like, I would only make cookies. And that would be boring. I love making my home fellowship peeps be my dessert guinea pigs =o)