Coconut Cream Pie

This Coconut Cream Pie starts with a cookie crust, is filled with the perfect coconut cream, and topped with fresh whipped cream and toasted coconut. It’s any coconut lover’s dream come true!

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If you know me – you know that pie is my favorite dessert! This Coconut Cream Pie stands among my favorites, alongside my Sour Cream Apple Pie and a slice of Lemon Meringue Pie.

The life of a food blogger is a funny one.

Where else would you find multiple pies in the spare refrigerator, along with leftover cheesecake, dinner from last night, plus 4 quarts of cream and 3 dozen eggs? All I can say is that we can never complain that there is nothing to eat!

I love it though – it gives me the perfect excuse to make all of my favorite things – like this Coconut Cream Pie!

Coconut Cream Pie

This is a pretty traditional recipe, but instead of a regular crust, I decided that since I love the Lemon Cheesecake recipe on the blog, I’d steal the idea of the animal cracker crust, but pair it with my pie.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I love coconut cream pie, but I think the crust was my favorite part of this pie. Sweet and buttery and with lots of animal cracker flavor. The pie wasn’t so shabby, either. 🙂

How to Make It

There are 3 major steps to making this pie:

1. The Crust:
   Like I mentioned above, I did an animal cracker crust for this pie. You could definitely do a traditional pie crust, but I think the crust is what sets this coconut cream pie above the others. You could also use some kind of shortbread cookie for the crust, as well.
   

   To make the crust, you’ll simply crush the crackers in a food processor, then add in sugar, salt and melted butter. Press this into a pie plate, and bake it. (Check below for more tips for this crust!)

2. The Filling:
   Many coconut cream pie recipes have you simply using a coconut pudding mix. For this pie, we’re making it from scratch, but it’s really not much harder!
   

   You’ll need toasted coconut, so you’ll get that toasting in the oven.Then you’ll combine the rest of the filling ingredients, except for the vanilla, and whisk them together in a pot. Heat this on the stove and cook it until it comes to a boil. Let it boil for a couple of minutes, remove from the heat and add the vanilla, and then stir in 3/4 cup of the coconut.Now you’ll add this to your pie crust and let it refrigerate until it sets up. This will take about 4 hours, so make sure you plan ahead.

3. The Topping:
   Just before you are ready to serve the pie, you’ll make the whipped cream. This is as easy as beating the cream until it starts to thicken, then add in the sugar slowly while still beating the cream. Once you have stiff peaks, you can spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie that has set up in the refrigerator. Top this with the rest of the toasted coconut, and you are ready to serve!

Tips and Tricks

• The trickiest part of this pie (for me at least) is brushing the egg wash on the crust. You want to do this so that your filling stays on top of the crust and stays crispy longer. The crust may start to crumble as you try to brush the egg on. If this happens to you, just dab it on instead of brushing it on. Don’t feel like you need to use the whole egg – just enough to give a thin layer of egg.
• The coconut milk you use is the canned kind, not the kind in a carton.
• When you are toasting your coconut, keep an eye on it. It will go from toasted to burnt in no time at all. If you want, you can also do this on the stove top – I sometimes prefer to do it that way so that I can see it better.
• Once your coconut is toasted, remove it from the baking sheet, or the heat on the baking sheet will continue to cook the coconut.
• You can make this a day in advance and top it with the whipped cream before serving. You could probably even get away with making it up to 3 days in advance, but the crust will get soggier the longer it sits in the refrigerator.
• Store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator. And then eat a slice for breakfast – because pie for breakfast is really, really good. 🙂

More Holiday Worthy Pies

Chocolate Cream Pie
Sweet Potato Pie with Marshmallow Coconut Meringue
Classic Pecan Pie
Key Lime Pie
Caribbean Truffle Pie

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Coconut Cream Pie

5 from 2 votes

Author: Deborah Harroun

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Refrigeration Time: 4 hours hours

Total Time: 4 hours hours 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 servings

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

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This Coconut Cream Pie starts with a cookie crust, is filled with the perfect coconut cream, and topped with fresh whipped cream and toasted coconut. It’s any coconut lover’s dream come true!

1x2x3x

Ingredients

Crust:

• ▢ 4 cups animal crackers
• ▢ 2 tablespoons sugar
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/2 cup melted butter
• ▢ 1 egg

Coconut Filling:

• ▢ 1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
• ▢ 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• ▢ 1 (13.66 oz) can coconut milk
• ▢ 2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk lightly beaten
• ▢ 3/4 cup sugar
• ▢ 1/4 cup flour
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped Topping:

• ▢ 2 cups heavy cream
• ▢ 1/4 cup sugar

Instructions

Make the Crust:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Place the animal crackers in a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs are formed. Add in the sugar and salt and pulse a few more times to combine. In a steady stream, pour in the butter while the food processor is running. Continue to pulse until combined.
• Pour the crumbs into a deep dish pie dish, and press the crumbs against the bottom and up the sides of the dish. Press the crumbs in firmly, using a cup if necessary.
• Bake the crust until it starts to get golden, 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. In a small bowl, beat the egg with a splash of water. Very gently brush the egg on the bottom and sides of the crust. (You may need to dab it on if you find that the crust is crumbling when you try to brush the egg on.) Return the crust to the oven and bake an additional 3 minutes. Remove and let the crust cool completely.

Make the Pie:

• Place the coconut on a baking sheet and bake in the oven, stirring every 1-2 minutes, until toasted, 6-8 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool.
• In a large saucepan, combine the cream, coconut milk, eggs, sugar, flour and salt. Whisk until smooth. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until it comes to a boil. Let it cook at a boil for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Stir in 3/4 cup of the toasted coconut, then pour into the crust. Refrigerate until set up, about 4 hours.

Make the Whipped Topping:

• Beat the cream until it starts to thicken, then slowly add the sugar. Continue to beat until you have stiff peaks. Spread the cream over the top of the pie, and top with the remaining 1/4 cup of toasted coconut.

Recipe Notes:

Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should only be used as a general guideline.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1slice, Calories: 850kcal (43%), Carbohydrates: 65g (22%), Protein: 6g (12%), Fat: 67g (103%), Saturated Fat: 41g (256%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 253mg (84%), Sodium: 322mg (14%), Fiber: 2g (8%), Sugar: 41g (46%)

Keywords: coconut cream pie, coconut cream pie recipe