Coconut Cream Pie

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Coconut Cream Pie.jpg

There are many ways to make coconut cream pie, so we imagined what we would like: lots of coconut-flavoured filling, a sweet crust and whipped cream and coconut for decoration. To get a more intense coconut taste we used coconut milk with a little grated coconut and flaked unsweetened coconut on top. To toast coconut, place in 300 F oven for 5 to 6 minutes.

Serves 8

Ingredients

Sweet Pastry Crust:

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup icing sugar
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 tbsp cold water 

Filling:

  • ⅔ cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 1/2 cups coconut milk
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1/2 cup desiccated unsweetened coconut
  • 1 cup coconut flakes, toasted
  • 1 cup whipping cream 

Method

Combine flour, icing sugar and salt in a bowl. Stir to combine. Add butter to flour mixture and cut it with your fingers or a pastry blender until butter is the size of small peas. 

Beat egg yolks and water together and add enough into flour mixture to bring dough together. Gather dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes or until firm.

Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to fit a 9 x 1-inch-tall (23 x 2.5-cm) tart pan with a removable bottom. Place tart shell in freezer and freeze for 30 minutes or until firm. 

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). 

Line tart shell with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes or until pastry edge is set. Remove foil and weights. Prick base of pastry with a fork and bake for 8 to 10 minutes longer or until pastry is cooked through. Set aside to cool. 

Whisk together sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt in a medium-size heavy pot. Whisk in coconut milk and eggs until uniform. 

Place pot over medium heat and cook stirring constantly for 5 to 8 minutes or until mixture comes to the boil. Boil 1 minute and remove from heat. If mixture looks like it has lumps just keep cooking and the lumps will release. 

Whisk in butter and pass custard mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Stir in desiccated coconut. Press plastic wrap down onto the top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming and let cool to room temperature. 

Add half of toasted coconut to pie base. Spoon filling into prepared crust. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pie and refrigerate for at least 3hours or until filling is firm. Remove plastic wrap. Whip cream until it forms firm peaks, and pipe lines of cream over pie. Pipe rosettes, if desired. Garnish with remaining toasted coconut.