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Photo by Gwénaël Le Vot
With a graham-cracker crust and toasted coconut sprinkled on peaks of whipped cream, this pie is a winner from bottom to top.
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Photo by Belinda Smith-Sullivan
Flatten graham cracker crumbs to make your piecrust. See tip below.
SERVES 8–10
1¾ cups ground graham crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk
1 cup whole milk
1½ cups sweetened flake coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup sweetened flake coconut
1¼ cups chilled heavy whipping cream
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 F. In a medium bowl, combine ground graham crackers, 2 tablespoons sugar and melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch glass or ceramic pie-baking dish. Bake pie shell 10–12 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining sugar, egg yolks and flour. In a medium saucepan, bring coconut milk, whole milk and 1½ cups flake coconut to a simmer over medium heat. Very gradually, add hot milk to egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return mixture to the saucepan and cook until it thickens and boils, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and mix in vanilla. Allow mixture to cool, then cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight. When it has fully chilled, fill pie shell, cover filling, and place pie in refrigerator.
In a heavy skillet, toast the remaining coconut over low heat until lightly brown, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Allow toasted coconut to cool. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream, sugar and vanilla until peaks form. Spread whipped cream over the top of the chilled pie. Sprinkle with toasted coconut. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve cold.
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Recipe tips
Salted or unsalted butter? When a recipe calls for unsalted butter, but all you have on hand is salted butter, you can use the salted. Just remember to adjust the amount of salt elsewhere in the recipe.
How to press crumbs into a piecrust. The simplest and quickest way to form a piecrust from cookie or cracker crumbs is to press them into the bottom of your pie pan or springform pan using the flat bottom of a measuring cup.