Ingredients
The Base
6 oz or 170 g Shortcrust pastry or a 9 inch cooked pie crust
The filling
4 oz / 125 g Cream Cheese
7 oz fl / 200 ml Whipping Cream half of this amount is also for the topping & 3 Teaspoons powdered sugar.
1 cup or 200 g chopped pineapple
Some toasted or untoasted coconut for the topping
For the custard:
1/3 Cup or 65 g Sugar**
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
Pinch of salt
2 Cups or 470 ml Coconut Milk
2 Egg Yolks
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Make the Pecan crumbs & butter
In a blender, add all the pecans and blend until fine breadcrumbs and add to your pastry mix.
The Pastry
Put the oven on to 180C, 375F, Gas 5 (please note I have lowered the cooking time to get this pastry case as crisp as a cookie without burning it)
Make your shortcrust pastry. Click here for instructions Grease your flan dish & make sure you grease up the sides too.
Roll out the pastry into the shape of your flan dish. Make sure there is enough to reach up to the sides of your dish. I just place the dish over the pastry to see if I’ve rolled enough.
Use your rolling pin to transfer the pastry to the dish. Gently push the pastry around the sides of the dish. It’s easier to lift the pastry a little and then push it into the sides. Use a sharp knife and trim the edges to make it tidy. If you spot any holes or bits of pastry missing, use some of your cutoffs to patch up.
Now you will need to prepare the flan case to take the wet filling. You need to first ‘Bake blind’ the pastry. See here for more information. You need to bake blind for 20 minutes in the oven. **** After 10 minutes in the oven, remove the weights and return the pastry to the oven ‘naked’ so it cooks through and crisps up. When the pastry has cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pie dish.
Once you have baked blind your pastry, you need to get all your filling ingredients ready if you haven’t done so already.
The filling
In a saucepan, add the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and coconut milk. Stir so there are no lumps and bring to a gentle boil, stirring all the time. As soon as it boils, remove from heat. In a bowl, add the egg yolks and lightly beat. Then slowly pour in half of the milk mixture, stirring as you pour. Return the bowl mixture to the saucepan and bring to a gentle boil, stirring all the time until it starts to boil. At this point, have a little taste to see if you have the amount of sweetness to your liking. If you need more, simply add a tablespoon of sugar at a time and taste as you go along. Remove from heat, stir, then transfer to a bowl to cool.
In a small pan, toast your coconut, tossing until golden brown. Keep an eye as they burn very fast! Then set aside to cool.
When the coconut custard has cooled, add the cream cheese and use a hand whisk to mix it all in really well. The custard will be a little stiff at first but it will loosen so don’t worry!
If you are adding pineapples, add them to the custard mix now, and mix them in well.
Use an electric whisk and whip up the cream until stiff peaks, adding 3 teaspoons of powdered sugar to the cream. When whipped, gently fold HALF of the whipped cream into the custard mix using a spatula. Try not to beat it or be rough as you will lose all that lovely air you just whisked in!
Now for the fun part!
Add the lovely creamy filling to the pie case, then add the other HALF of the whipped cream. Sprinkle all over with your toasted coconut and refrigerate for 3 -4 hours.
Some options:
You can add 2 teaspoons of Malibu to the custard,
Swap Pecans for any other nuts you like in the pastry, add bananas instead of pineapples, really, you can go as tropical as you wish, or keep it as a perfect creamy coconut pie
