The Best Coconut Cream Pie
I’m very excited about this post- get ready coconut cream pie lovers! You will not find a better Homemade Coconut Cream Pie than this. It’s creamy, delicious and has a wonderful coconut flavor. It’s absolutely the BEST Coconut Cream Pie you will ever taste.
I love showing you how to make something you can buy at the store, homemade. At the end of this post you will be familiar with how to make a homemade pudding. A pie filling is just a homemade pudding. And it’s so helpful to know how to make one. This coconut cream pie recipe (oops, I mean the BEST coconut cream pie recipe!) will show you how.
I’ve taken quite a few pictures starting with the homemade pie crust and working my way down to how to make the delicious pie filling that will go into the crust. I think visuals are important for beginner bakers. Being able to see each stage as it happens helps you know what to expect when you make the coconut cream pie.
To you veteran bakers this will be old hat, bare with me: we have to think about the next generation of bakers. After all, I don’t want to be eating sub-standard baked goods when it’s my turn to go to the old folks home! Here we go Kids, we’re making The Best Coconut Cream Pie and you’re going to love it!
The first thing you’re going to need is a pie crust. Make your own, or use a pre-made crust. If making a homemade pie crust… Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Roll the pie dough out, place it in a 9 inch pie pan, crimp the edges, put it in the freezer for half an hour to help firm the dough and cause less shrinkage when you bake it.
Remove the pie crust from the freezer, with a fork, prick the sides and bottom of the dough.
Place foil or parchment paper on the bottom of the dough. Pour either 1/4 cup dried rice , dried beans or pie weights on the paper or foil and bake about 20 minutes or until nicely golden brown. If using a premade pie crust, bake according to package directions.
Remove the parchment paper and rice from the pie crust, cool on a wire rack.
You’re going to need one 13.5 oz can of Coconut milk for this recipe. You can find coconut milk in the Asian or Latin aisles of your grocery store. Or, if you are preparing for advance, you can even order coconut milk off of Amazon so you don’t have to adventure around the store trying to find it. I’m sure there are different brands, I just happened to have this one so I used it. Open the can and stir the coconut milk with a spoon.
Place the whole can of coconut milk into a large measuring cup. It will measure a little over 1 1/2 cups. Pour the Half and Half into the same measuring cup on top of the coconut milk until you reach the 3 cup measurement.
Stir to combine the half and half and coconut milk. Place the coconut/half and half mixture into a medium size heavy metal saucepan.
Place the 4 beaten egg yolks ,3/4 cup of sugar , salt and the 1/3 cup of corn starch into the pan as well. Whisk to combine. Turn your burner on low. Place the pan on low heat and slowly whisk . (I have a gas stove, I cooked this on low heat, all stoves are different. Use low to medium heat if that works best for you.)
Keep whisking, this is the part that needs just a little patience. It can take up to 15 minutes for the ingredients to thicken. DO NOT turn the heat up to speed up the process.
It needs to come up to a boil SLOWLY to thicken and set right. As you continue to whisk you will start to feel a slight resistance to the whisk as you make your way around the pot. The pudding is starting to thicken. Don’t walk away from the pot, when it starts to thicken it will happen all at once.
Keep whisking until the pudding starts to boil, it will release thick bubbles that will come to the top like a little volcano. It has to reach this stage for it to set up properly.
Once it starts to boil, whisk a little faster for a minute. Take the pudding off the heat and add the vanilla, butter and coconut. Mix to combine.
You just made a gorgeous homemade pudding/coconut cream pie filling.
Pour the pudding into the pie crust while it’s hot. It’s going to fill that pie crust to the brim! Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the pudding, pressing down on the surface of the pudding slightly so the plastic wrap sticks to it to prevent a film from forming on the pudding when it cools.
Refrigerate pie for about 4 hours. Top with homemade whipping cream or Cool Whip. I’m hoping you use whipping cream, it so deserves it.
Cooking or baking from scratch isn’t hard, it just takes a little patience. And the reward for your patience… a homemade pie filling, a taste of the rich goodness your mother and grandmother grew up on. Enjoy!
The Best Coconut Cream Pie
Ingredients
- One nine inch homemade pie crust or pre-made crust.
- One 13.5 Fl Oz Can Coconut milk
- High and Half - enough to make 3 cups combined with the coconut milk. about 1 1/2 cups
- 4 egg yolks beaten slightly
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
Instructions
- 1. Place the whole can of coconut milk into a large measuring cup. It will measure a little over 1 1/2 cups. Pour the Half and Half into the same measuring cup on top of the coconut milk until you reach the 3 cup measurement. Stir to combine the half and half and coconut milk.
- 2. Place the coconut/half and half mixture into a medium size heavy metal saucepan. Place the 4 beaten egg yolks ,3/4 cup of sugar , salt and the 1/3 cup of corn starch into the pan as well. Whisk to combine. Turn your burner on low. Place the pan on low heat and slowly whisk . Keep whisking, this is the part that needs just a little patience. It can take up to 15 minutes for the ingredients to thicken. DO NOT turn the heat up to speed up the process. As you whisk you will start to feel a slight resistance to the whisk as you make your way around the pot. The pudding is starting to thicken. Don't walk away from the pot, when it starts to thicken it will happen all at once.
- 3. Keep whisking until the pudding starts to boil, it will release thick bubbles that will come to the top like a little volcano. It has to reach this stage for it to set up properly. Once it starts to boil, whisk a little faster for a minute. Take the pudding off the heat and add the vanilla, butter and coconut. Mix to combine.
- 4. Pour the pudding into the pie crust while it's hot. It's going to fill that pie crust to the brim! Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the pudding, pressing down on the surface of the pudding slightly so the plastic wrap sticks to it to prevent a film from forming on the pudding when it cools. Refrigerate pie for about 4 hours. Top with homemade whipping cream or Cool Whip.
Video
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