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Coconut Cream Pie With Macaroon Press-In Crust

Photo of a Coconut Cream Pie with Macaroon PressIn Crust.
Photo by Peter Frank Edwards

Ingredients

Makes one 9" pie

Crust:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 large egg white
1¾ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted, slightly cooled

Custard and assembly:

2 wide strips lime zest
1 pandan leaf (optional)
1¾ cups whole milk
¾ cup unsweetened coconut milk
¼ cup raw skin-on almonds, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted, slightly cooled
3 large egg yolks
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1½ cups heavy cream
  1. Crust:

    Step 1

    Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly coat a 9" pie pan with nonstick spray. Mix egg white, coconut, sugar, butter, and salt with a rubber spatula in a large bowl until evenly combined and the consistency of a stiff paste. Using your hands, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie pan. Bake until edges are golden brown and bottom is set and just barely golden, 15–20 minutes. Transfer pie pan to a wire rack (leave oven on to toast almonds and coconut) and let crust cool. Brush crust with melted chocolate.

  2. Custard and assembly:

    Step 2

    Bring lime zest, pandan leaf (if using), milk, and coconut milk to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Cover and let sit off heat 30 minutes.

    Step 3

    Meanwhile, toast almonds on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until slightly darkened and fragrant, 8–10 minutes. Let cool. Toast coconut on same baking sheet, tossing once, until edges are golden, about 4 minutes.

    Step 4

    Stir almonds into melted chocolate in a small bowl. Spread in an even layer on a sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle toasted coconut over chocolate almonds and chill until firm, 8–10 minutes. Coarsely chop, then cover and chill.

    Step 5

    Pluck out lime zest and pandan leaf from milk mixture; discard. Return milk mixture to a simmer. Whisk egg yolks, cornstarch, salt, and ½ cup sugar in a medium bowl to combine. Whisking constantly, gradually add ½ cup milk mixture to egg mixture. Whisking constantly, add egg mixture to milk mixture in saucepan and cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbling (it will look like thick pudding). Remove from heat and whisk in butter and lime juice.

    Step 6

    Scrape custard into crust and press a piece of plastic wrap against surface. Chill until set, about 2 hours.

    Step 7

    Just before serving, whip cream and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl to medium-stiff peaks. Spoon over custard, leaving about a 1" border, and swirl decoratively. Scatter chocolatealmond mixture around perimeter.

  3. Do ahead:

    Step 8

    Pie (without whipped cream) can be made 3 days ahead; keep chilled.

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Reviews (10)

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  • This is insanely delicious. I found the recipe perfect as is -- no need to increase anything. I did add a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract to the filling, since I didn't have a pandan leaf. And I used extremely dark chocolate -- half 71 percent and half 88 percent. The bitter richness of the chocolate with the toasted coconut and nuts in it was a perfect foil to the light sweetness of the dessert. So yummy!

    • Kate

    • Vermont

    • 1/28/2022

  • this is a wonderful pie. agree with other reviewers that you need to up the crust amounts - 2 1/2 C flaked coconut and 2 egg whites with sugar should do it. And custard needed a few drops of lime extract to up the flavor. I also added in about 2 tsp of lime zest to the custard. I flavored the whipped cream with rum - it also needed a flavor boost. The chocolate almond bark should be called out in the recipe because the instructions are a little confusing - but mix the warmed chocolate with the toasted almonds and cover with flaked coconut and chill until it is stiff. maybe more like 30 minutes. Lastly, I toasted a little extra coconut. I topped the pie with fresh raspberries (on top of the whipped cream and inside the ring of chocolate almond bark) and then sprinkled toasted coconut on top. It looked incredible and got completely devoured. Will make again!

    • mel367

    • Boston

    • 6/28/2021

  • Chubbybunny63, The "chopping" refers to the chocolate/almond chunks that decorate the perimeter of the pie in the picture above. After making the crust (part 1), you make 2 other components separately (well, 3 counting the final step of whipped cream on top) - the custard is component 1, and the chocolate almond mixture is component 2, which is prepared separately from everything else and only added as the final step, after the custard has already been poured into the crust AND chilled and set for at least 2 hours, and after the pie has already been topped with the whipped cream. The 2nd and 3rd paragraphs/steps under "Custard and assembly" explain how to do the chocolate almond component.

    • jooksing

    • MN

    • 6/6/2021

  • I'm confused by this in the directions - "Coarsely chop, then cover and chill." It follows "Sprinkle toasted coconut over chocolate almonds and chill until firm, 8–10 minutes." What are you supposed to chop after chilling the pie?

    • chubbybunny63

    • Thousand islands

    • 6/6/2021

  • I made this with my son and it was indeed a huge hit. We called it, "Everything you want in a pie... and More!" I heeded the advice of adding in vanilla and upping the lime (no pandan :( **THE only issues here are: The crust - you probably want to add at least 50% or more to it (we upped it but wish we did more because it just barely covered the pan) The whipped cream- ours turned out a bit more liquified... It's really impt to get a super creamy texture or it's a bit messy to eat. But... this could be one of our new fav desserts... and the chocolate crumble = wow factor.

    • SF Chef Hack

    • San Francisco, CA

    • 4/22/2020

  • Made it exactly as written except only used 1/2 the whipped cream the recipe called for. It was plenty to fill in the center of a 9" pie plate. The flavors were good, but the crust was very difficult to get up: it stuck to the bottom of the pyrex pie dish, despite having greased the dish liberally prior to putting in the crust. Therefore, while fine for the family, the slices did not come out nice enough for company.

    • jsbjk

    • Winnetka, IL

    • 3/30/2017

  • Heavenly! This pie was incredibly easy to make and tasted great. I would recommend increasing the proportions on the crust ingredients as I had a very difficult time filling my pie tin with the quantity in the recipe. A 1/3 increase to those ingredients would do the trick. Also, the whipped topping they had you make really benefited from 1 tsp vanilla extract.

    • aalendi

    • Denver, CO

    • 1/6/2016

  • This pie is excellent! I made it last week to take to a potluck BBQ and it was a huge hit. After reading the other two reviews, saying that the custard filling was a little bit bland, I decided to alter the recipe slightly. So, I added 1 tsp of vanilla extract to the filling and also bumped up the amount of lime zest. The flavor of the filling was perfect. The real star of this pie though, is the chocolate/almond/coconut brittle for the top - amazing!!!!

    • emockbee

    • Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

    • 8/22/2015

  • 让这个馅饼! !我第一次做这个as a pie. There was way too much whipped cream. The second time, I made individual tarts and cut back on the whipped cream. Either way, it is delicious. The crust is awesome and a nice change from the usual. The filling has a creamy texture that is nice against the chewy crust. Filling could use a bit more coconut flavor, maybe a bit of coconut flavoring to punch it up. You really want to make this!!!

    • ziad

    • Des Moines

    • 5/28/2015

  • Crust was very good but the filling was bland. Needed more coconut flavor.

    • Paddy94

    • Champaign

    • 5/27/2015

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