This Tropical Coconut Pie is made up of a crispy buttery pastry case, filled with delicious creamy coconut custard, and laced throughout with juicy pineapple chunks.

This recipe for my Tropical Coconut Pie came about from all the ideas and suggestions from our Lovefoodies Facebook group.

If you love cream pies, then you will enjoy this recipe! Some of you may have heard of the British Manchester Pie or Tart, it's an old Victorian recipe that used to be served at school meals. The Manchester Tart is similar to this recipe, but we've added pineapples and made a different pastry shell. This pienapple coconut pie is deeper than a traditional Manchester pie too.

Here I have made my own pastry case, using pecans for a wonderful added flavour, and the filling is creamy coconut with added pineapples. That was the majority of what everyone voted for so there you have it!

You can of course swap the pecans pastry base for another flavor, or use a shop-bought case. You can also omit the pineapples or add some other fruit. It's flexible enough for you to be able to do that.

The star of this Tropical Coconut Pie of course is the creamy coconut custard I have made. It is truly a delight!

You can of course skip the steps on how to make your own homemade pastry if you prefer a ready bought one. BUT, it is well worth the extra 30 minutes or so to make up some pastry of your own, so you can add the pecans, cashews or other nuts you like. It really is wonderful and crispy! So let's see how to make this delicious tropical coconut pie.

Instructions

1. Make the Pecan crumbs (to add to the pastry if making your own) :
In a blender, add all the pecans and blend until fine breadcrumbs.

Make The Pastry

1. If you are using a shop-bought pastry case, skip to the FILLING instructions.   Put the oven on to 190 C, 375 F, Gas 5

2. Make your shortcrust pastry. Add 2 Tablespoons of ground pecans & 2 Tablespoons of regular sugar. Add those when you add the flour.

3. Grease your flan dish & make sure you grease up the sides too.

4. Place your rolled out pastry in to your chosen dish. Make sure you gently push the sides around the dish

5. If you see any cracks or missing bits of pastry, use the excess from your trimming to patch these areas.

Trim any excess pastry.

6. 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 on how to bake blind.

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 it from the oven and allow it to cool in the pie dish.

8. Once you have baked blind your pastry, you need to get all your filling ingredients ready if you haven't done so already.

Make the filling

1. Make the custard first by taking 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 it 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.

2. In a small pan, toast your coconut, tossing until golden brown. Keep an eye as they burn very fast!

Then set aside to cool.

3. 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!

4. If you are adding pineapples, add them to the custard mix now, and mix them in well.

5. 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!
6. 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 of 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.

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our post. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

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