Easy Coconut Cream Pie

December 9th, 2009

There’s a restaurant on 4th & Lenora in downtown Seattle called the Dahlia Lounge. It’s a local institution run by our very own celebrity chef, Tom Douglas (he beat Morimoto in Iron Chef!). When you come visit me, I’ll take you there to eat the Dungeness Crabcakes and “Bang in a Bag” a.k.a. beignets with vanilla marscapone. And if you’re really nice, I’ll get you a slice of his Triple Coconut Cream Pie. It’s world famous.

A while back ago my friend Nurit adapted Tom’s coconut cream pie recipe for her blog. Since then, I’ve made her version of the pie no less than 5 times … THIS MONTH. It’s surprisingly easy to make – just coconut and some pantry items. And if you forgo the coconut infused pie crust for a store bought one (she didn’t, I did), it makes whipping it up easy as … PIE! Har! Har! Har!

Coconut Cream Pie

Modified from the recipe on Nurit Asnash’s blog “1 Family Friendly Food” who in turn modified Tom Douglas’ original recipe for Triple Coconut Cream Pie.

Pie shell
Git ‘er done quick & easy with one pre-baked Marie Callendar’s Deep Dish Pie Crust. Just follow the manufacturer’s direction, which basically calls for popping the pie shell out of the freezer and baking it until it’s golden brown.

Coconut Pastry Cream
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract

Garnish
2 ounces unsweetened “chip” or large-shred coconut (about 1 1/2 cups) toasted in a 350°F for 7-8 minutes (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
Chunks of white chocolate (4 to 6 ounces, to make 2 ounces of curls)

Coconut Pastry Cream

Combine the vanilla, milk and coconut in a medium saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally until the mixture almost comes to a boil.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and flour until well combined. Temper the eggs (to keep them from scrambling) by pouring about 1/3 cup of the scalded milk into the egg mixture while whisking. Then add the warmed egg mixture to the saucepan of milk and coconut. Whisk over medium-high heat until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble. Keep whisking until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes more.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until it melts. Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and place it over a bowl of ice water (I actually did not do this – I put the custard in a tupperware container and popped it in the fridge). Stir occasionally until it is cool. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a crust from forming and refrigerate until completely cold. The pastry cream will thicken as it cools. When the pastry cream is cold, fill the prebaked pie shell with it, smoothing the surface.

Whipped Cream

In an electric mixer with the whisk, whip the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla on medium speed. Gradually increase the speed to high and whip to peaks that are firm enough to hold their shape. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a star tip with the whipped cream and pipe it all over the surface of the pie, or spoon it over.

Garnish

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the coconut chips on a baking sheet and toast in the oven, watching carefully and stirring once or twice, since coconut burns easily, until lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes.

Use a vegetable peeler to scrape about 2 ounces of the white chocolate into curls or follow the directions posted here on how to create the curls the old school way. Though, my curls really turn out looking like flakes.

Sprinkle the pie with coconut and chocolate.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Daily, Foodie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.