Coconut Cream Pie
With a smooth, creamy filling, and a generous crown of whipped cream, topped with lightly toasted coconut, Coconut Cream Pie is one of the classic American pies. The recipe below, with a few modifications, is from the excellent book Pie and Tarts by Kristina Petersen Migoya.
The procedure for the filling is exactly the same as in Lemon Meringue Pie where the ingredients start out in two distinct groups, then are brought together in a heavy bottomed saucepan and cooked until thickened. The filling is poured into a pre-baked P¢te Bris©e shell, allowed to cool and set before the finishing touches are applied.
My first experience with cream pies came during my high school years at a unique bakery and restaurant concept called Four n’ 20 Pie Shop, which I visited several times with my mother. All pies were available by the slice, and I was drawn to the cream pies, especially the Banana Cream and the Coconut Cream. Making and tasting this recipe brought back nice memories of that time and place.
Coconut Cream Pie may be made in a basic nine-inch pie dish, an eight-inch by one and a quarter inch deep tart shell, or individual tart shells. During the testing phase, I made it in all the above forms, and the tasters loved them all.
By the way, the difference between a cream pie and a custard pie – a cream pie’s filling is cooked on the stove and a custard pie’s filling is baked in a pastry crust in the oven.
Coconut Cream Pie
| Yield: 1 9†pie | # of Servings: 10 |
Ingredients
Crust:
1 recipe P¢te Bris©e
Filling:
1 ¼ cup (10 fl oz) milk
¼ can of coconut milk (â…“ cup)
½ cup (3.5 oz / 99 g) sugar
½ cup (.80 oz / 23 g) flaked unsweetened coconut
¼ cup (1.75 oz / 50 g) sugar
¼ cup (1.25 oz / 35 g) cornstarch
¾ can coconut milk (1 ¼ cup)
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
¼ tsp kosher salt
2 tbl (1 oz / 28 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
Finishing:
1 ½ cups (12 fl oz) heavy cream
3 tbl (or more, to taste) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
½ cup (.80 oz / 23 g) flaked unsweetened coconut, lightly toasted
Special tools and equipment needed:
- 9 “ by 1 ¼ pie dish
- Dried beans or pie weights
- Heavy bottomed 2-qt saucepan
- Heat-proof spatula
- 21†plastic pastry bag and medium star tip, optional
Pre-recipe preparations:
- Preheat oven to 325 °F. Place the final ½ cup of flaked coconut on a cookie sheet or half-sheet pan and toast just to a light golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Be careful, coconut can burn easily.
Directions
P¢te Bris©e pie shell:
- Roll out the P¢te Bris©e into a 12†to 13†circle. Roll dough around the rolling pin and drape onto pie dish. Form a decorative edge and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. This may be well-wrapped in plastic and frozen after the 2-hour rest.
- Pre-heat oven to 375 °F.
- Place a parchment paper circle or aluminum foil sprayed with pan release against the pastry and fill with dried beans.
- Bake at 375 °F for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the dough is just set. The bottom will still be slightly raw.
- Remove the beans and the parchment circle and continue baking until the bottom dough is cooked and just begins to color a light brown, about 10 minutes.
- Remove to a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.
Coconut Filling:
- Combine the milk, coconut milk, sugar, and flaked coconut in a heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan over low flame. Stir occasionally to help dissolve the sugar. While this is coming to the simmer proceed to next step.
- Whisk together the sugar and cornstarch in a medium mixing bowl. Add coconut milk, eggs, egg yolks, salt and whisk together.
- Temper the egg mixture with about a third of the hot milk. Pour warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan and stirring continuously with a heat-proof spatula or wooden spoon.
- Keep stirring along the bottom until the mixture starts to thicken, which can take between two to three minutes. Once the spatula shows thickening on the bottom of the pan, switch to a whisk and keep whisking as the mixtures comes to a full boil for 30 seconds.
- Remove from the heat, place on a heat-proof surface, and whisk in the butter and vanilla.
- Pour the filling into the baked pie shell, and level with an offset spatula. Place a piece of plastic film against the filling to prevent a skin from forming.
- Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Finishing the pie:
- Whip the cream and sugar just until firm peaks.
- Pipe or spread the whipped cream over the filling.
- Sprinkle generously with the toasted coconut.
Baking Terminology:
Tempering: when a portion of a hot liquid (usually milk or cream) is a slowly whisked into eggs or egg yolks to warm them prior to combining with the hot liquid and cooking to completion. This warming prevents the eggs or egg yolks from becoming cooked solids (scrambled eggs) when poured into the hot liquid.
