Do you enjoy the nutty, tropical flavor of coconut? You might want to give this creamy, dreamy dessert recipe a shot. The coconut cream pie needs just a few pantry staples to put together, and while it might be a tad bit time consuming to make, the end result is one rich and heavenly dessert you’re bound to fall in love with.
But before you jump right into the process, here’s a bit more that you need to know about it.
Jump to:
Ingredients For the Recipe
You’ll need just a few simple ingredients to put the coconut cream pie together.
For the pie crust
- All purpose flour: 2.5 cup
- Granulated sugar: ¼ cup
- Salt: A pinch
- Unsalted butter: 1 cup
- Lemon juice: 2 tbsps
- Water: 5 tbsp
For the coconut cream filling
- Coconut (shredded): 1 cup
- Cream: 1 cup
- High-fat milk: 1.5 cups
- Sugar: ½ cup
- Eggs: 2
- Salt: A pinch
- Vanilla extract: ½ tsp
How to Make the Coconut Cream Pie
Once you have all your ingredients ready, here’s the process you’ll need to follow to make the pie from scratch.
To start with the pie crust, add the all purpose flour, granulated sugar, and salt to a mixing bowl and start whisking to combine.
Break the unsalted butter into smaller pieces and add it to the mixing bowl.
Add in the lemon juice and water.
Use your hands to knead the dough. Keep kneading until the dough starts coming together and binds to itself.
Next, make a flat disc shape of the dough and wrap it in a plastic wrap.
Place the wrapped dough in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes to 1 hr.
Preheat the oven at 425F for 30 minutes.
Once the dough has chilled enough, take it out of the refrigerator and let it come back to room temperature.
Roll the dough evenly until it becomes ¼ of an inch. You can use flour while rolling it out.
Transfer the rolled out dough into a pie pan and adjust it properly. Do not push it into the pan. Let it rest gently. Just take a fork and make marks.
Beat an egg in a small bowl and keep it in the fridge for future use.
Next, make aluminium foil into a circular shape and put it on top of the pie. This is to support the empty pie crust while baking. You can use pie weights or just dry beans to put weight on the pie so that the crust doesn’t puff up while baking.
Now bake the pie at 425F for 15 minutes.
Take the pie out of the oven and remove the weights. Brush the crust with egg wash and put it back in the oven to bake for another 30 minutes. Keep checking the crust to ensure that it doesn’t burn. Bake until the crust is cooked. Once done, take it out of the oven and let it rest.
Meanwhile, take the shredded coconut and dry roast them on a pan. Keep aside.
For the coconut cream filling, take a deep vessel and pour in the milk.
Next, add in the cream and sugar and whisk them together.
Add in the eggs next and continue whisking. Make sure there are no lumps in the mixture.
Heat the mixture and slowly bring it to a simmer. Continue whisking so that no lumps are formed. Simmer it until you get a thick consistency.
Remove the mixture from heat and add in the vanilla extract and salt.
Transfer the mixture onto the pie crust and use a spatula to evenly spread it out.
Top it with a layer of the toasted coconut.
Transfer the pie to a refrigerator and let it chill for 3-4 hours.
To serve, cut a slice of the pie. Garnish with whipped cream and some toasted coconut shards.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can! Packaged pie crust is a great alternative if you don’t really want to go through the entire process of making the crust from scratch, blind baking it and then adding in the filling. It doesn’t just help you cut down the cooking time, but is also great if you’re not too proud of your baking skills, and aren’t sure that the pie crust will turn out perfect. 
This recipe calls for a simple coconut cream filling, but you can also bring in a bit of variation if you want to. Fruits like mango and pineapple have flavors that complement the dominant coconut flavor of the pie, so you can prepare a separate batch of cream filling of any of these fruits as well.
Then, you can create alternate layers of coconut filling and the fruit filling and enjoy a layered dessert.
The best way to store any leftovers of the coconut cream pie that you might have is to transfer them to an airtight container and refrigerate them. They should stay fresh there for upto 5 days, if not more. 
Tips & Tricks to Make the Coconut Cream Pie
Think you’ve got the process all covered? Wait up! You might want to keep these additional tips and hacks handy to make sure you nail the recipe, even if you’re trying it for the first time.
- If you don’t want to prepare the coconut cream filling from scratch, you can also make do with packaged coconut custard instead.
- The toasted coconut flakes do make a nice topping for the pie, but if you still want to bring in some additional flavor and texture, you can also throw on some chopped nuts of your choice.
- Make sure the eggs and cream are at room temperature before you start using them for the recipe.
- You can also top each slice of the pie with some whipped cream before you garnish with toasted coconut flakes.
- The pie crust can be prepped days in advance and refrigerated until it is ready to be used.
- To get an even more intense flavor of coconut, you can replace the milk that the recipe calls for with coconut milk instead.
- The eggs will naturally thicken the coconut cream filling, but if you’re still not getting the consistency you’re looking for, you can create a simple slurry of cornflour and water and mix it well into the filling.
Serving Ideas & Suggestions
Your slice of coconut cream pie tastes perfect all on its own. If you really want to go the extra mile, you can pair it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or drizzle some salted caramel sauce to bring in a little boost of flavor.
Loved making this coconut cream pie? Looking for some more such fun dessert recipes to try out? Here are a few good ones you might want to look at.
📖 Recipe
Coconut Cream Pie
Ingredients
Ingredients For the pie crust
- 2.5 cup All purpose flour
- ¼ cup Granulated sugar
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoon Lemon juice
- 5 tablespoon Water
Ingredients For the coconut cream filling
- 1 cup Coconut , (shredded)
- 1 cup Cream
- 1.5 cup High-fat milk
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 pcs Eggs
- 1 pinch Salt
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
Instructions
- To start with the pie crust, add the all purpose flour, granulated sugar, and salt to a mixing bowl and start whisking to combine.
- Break the unsalted butter into smaller pieces and add it to the mixing bowl.
- Add in the lemon juice and water.
- Use your hands to knead the dough. Keep kneading until the dough starts coming together and binds to itself.
- Next, make a flat disc shape of the dough and wrap it in a plastic wrap.
- Place the wrapped dough in there frigerator to chill for 30 minutes to 1 hr.
- Pre-heat the oven at 425F for 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has chilled enough, take it out of the refrigerator and let it come back to room temperature.
- Roll the dough evenly until it becomes ¼ of an inch. You can use flour while rolling it out.
- Transfer the rolled out dough into a pie pan and adjust it properly. Do not push it into the pan. Let it rest gently. Just take a fork and make marks.
- Beat an egg in a small bowl and keep it in the fridge for future use.
- Next, make aluminum foil into a circular shape and put it on top of the pie. This is to support the empty pie crust while baking. You can use pie weights or just dry beans to put weight on the pie so that the crust doesn’t puff up while baking.
- Now bake the pie at 425F for 15 minutes.
- Take the pie out of the oven and remove the weights. Brush the crust with egg wash and put it back in the oven to bake for another 30 minutes. Keep checking the crust to ensure that it doesn’t burn. Bake until the crust is cooked. Once done, take it out of the oven and let it rest.
- Meanwhile, take the shredded coconut and dry roast them on a pan. Keep aside.
- For the coconut cream filling, take a deep vessel and pour in the milk.
- Next, add in the cream and sugar and whisk them together.
- Add in the eggs next and continue whisking. Make sure there are no lumps in the mixture.
- Heat the mixture and slowly bring it to a simmer. Continue whisking so that no lumps are formed. Simmer it until you get a thick consistency.
- Remove the mixture from heat and add in the vanilla extract and salt.
- Transfer the mixture onto the pie crust and use a spatula to evenly spread it out.
- Top it with a layer of the toasted coconut.
- Transfer the pie to a refrigerator and let it chill for 3-4 hours.
- To serve, cut a slice of the pie. Garnish with whipped cream and some toasted coconut shards.
Leave a Reply