Coconut cream pie
A diner classic in which three layers must each be made well and separately. Two things matter most: a shell blind-baked all the way through and custard poured into it straight away, while hot — hot custard flows and sets into a smooth layer, while custard left to cool in the pan turns lumpy when spread. And the whipped cream goes on only before serving, because after a few hours in the fridge it slumps and weeps.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Pastry 15 min
- Chilling the pastry 75 min
- Pastry shell 35 min
- Coconut custard 30 min
- Chilling 240 min
- Whipped cream 15 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMake and chill the pastry
Rub the cold butter into the flour, sugar and salt to coarse crumbs, add the iced water and bring it together briefly. Wrap in film and chill an hour. Long working develops gluten and the shell turns tough instead of short.
Ingredients: 220 g plain flour · 130 g butter · 2 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp salt · 60 ml water
Blind bake the shell all the way
Heat the oven to 190°C. Roll the pastry about 3 mm thick and line a deep 24 cm tart tin (about 4 cm high), prick the base and chill 15 minutes — cold pastry shrinks less. Weigh down with paper and beans and bake 20 minutes at 190°C, then 12 minutes uncovered, until golden. It must be fully baked — under wet custard it will never bake further.
Ingredients: 220 g plain flour · 130 g butter · 2 tbsp sugar · ½ tsp salt · 60 ml water
Fully baked — under the custard it bakes no more.Infuse the milks with the coconut
Bring the coconut milk and milk to a boil, add the desiccated coconut and leave 10 minutes covered. The coconut gives its aroma to the liquid — stirred into finished custard it adds texture but no flavour.
Ingredients: 400 ml coconut milk · 300 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 140 g sugar · 45 g cornflour · 90 g desiccated coconut · 40 g butter · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Whisk the yolks with starch and temper
Whisk the yolks with the sugar, cornflour and salt, then pour in half the hot milk in a thin stream, whisking constantly. This is tempering: without it the yolks scramble on contact with hot liquid.
Ingredients: 400 ml coconut milk · 300 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 140 g sugar · 45 g cornflour · 90 g desiccated coconut · 40 g butter · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Cook the custard, plus a full minute
Pour everything back into the pan with the rest of the milk and cook, whisking, until it thickens and blips a few times — then cook one more minute. That minute deactivates an enzyme in the yolks that would otherwise thin the custard within hours.
Ingredients: 400 ml coconut milk · 300 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 140 g sugar · 45 g cornflour · 90 g desiccated coconut · 40 g butter · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Thick and blipping — then one full minute more.Stir in butter and fill the warm shell
Off the heat stir in the butter and vanilla and fill the still-warm shell straight away. Hot custard flows and levels itself; left to cool in the pan it starts to set and turns lumpy when spread.
Ingredients: 400 ml coconut milk · 300 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 140 g sugar · 45 g cornflour · 90 g desiccated coconut · 40 g butter · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Cover with film and chill 4 hours
Cover the custard with film touching the surface and chill at least 4 hours. The film prevents a skin that peels off in sheets when you cut and ruins the cross-section. The custard must be cold throughout before the cream goes on.
Ingredients: 400 ml coconut milk · 300 ml milk · 5 pcs egg yolks · 140 g sugar · 45 g cornflour · 90 g desiccated coconut · 40 g butter · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Whip the cream and add toasted coconut
Toast the coconut flakes in a dry pan, stirring, for 2–3 minutes until golden, and tip them onto a plate at once. Whip the cold cream with the icing sugar to soft peaks, not stiff, and spread it over the pie. Scatter with the toasted coconut. Do this no more than an hour before serving.
Ingredients: 400 ml whipping cream (30%) · 40 g icing sugar · 40 g coconut flakes
Dry-toasted flakes — without them the pie looks pale.
Before you start
The flakes must be toasted
Raw coconut on top looks pale and tastes of almost nothing. Two minutes in a dry pan with constant stirring turns it nutty and intense. Watch it — it goes from golden to burnt in seconds.
Full-fat coconut milk
Use tinned coconut milk, not coconut drink from a carton. The drink is flavoured water and custard made with it never thickens properly. Shake the tin before opening or stir the separated contents together.
Two days, but cream apart
The pie with custard alone keeps two days in the fridge under film. Whipped cream lasts a few hours — after that it slumps and weeps onto the custard. If making ahead, whip it just before serving.
