10ozor 300 g Digestive biscuits or Graham crackerscrushed very fine.
½cupor 100 g melted butter
inchYou can also use a ready baked 8 pie crustinstead of a cookie base.
The filling
4oz/ 125 g Cream Cheese
7ozfl / 200 ml Whipping Cream half of this amount is also for the topping & 3 Teaspoons powdered sugar.
1cupor 150 g Pureed strawberries. fresh or frozen.hold back a few for decoration if you wish
Some toasted or untoasted coconut for the topping
You need a total of 550 ml ( 2 ½ cups) of custard / Jell - O pudding.
To make up the custard / Jelloadd
225mlor 1 ¼ cups or 225 ml of milk
225mlor 1 ¼ cups or 225 ml of coconut milk
Instructions
The Base
Crush the digestives / cookies by placing in a blender or a bag and use a rolling pin to bash them until they are really fine.
In a plastic bowl (large enough to hold the crushed cookies) microwave the butter at 15 second intervals until melted.
Place the crushed cookies in the butter and combine really well.
Line the bottom of your springform pan with parchment and grease the base & sides, then place the cookie mix into the pan, and push down as much as possible, covering the base and the sides as in the photo. Be a little patient here and make sure you can compact the mix as firm as possible otherwise it will fall apart later.
Place in the freezer whilst you make the filling.
The filling
First, make the coconut custard up in the saucepan, and keep stirring until it thickens up. It should be really thick and not fall off your mixing spoon. Once thick, transfer to a mixing bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap like the photo. This stops a skin from forming whilst it is cooling down. Allow to completely cool.
Puree the strawberries and set aside. Save a couple of whole ones for decoration if you wish.3. In a small pan, toast your coconut, tossing until golden brown. Keep an eye as they burn very fast! Then set aside to cool. I chose not to toast the coconut for my pie.
When the coconut custard has cooled, add the cream cheese and use a spatula to mix it all in really well. The custard will be a little stiff at first but it will loosen so don't worry!
Add the pureed strawberries 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 loose 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 of minimum 4 hours, overnight is better!