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A coconut cream pie with a meringue top and sprinkled with toasted shredded coconut.
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4.79 / 19 votes

Coconut Cream Pie

This coconut cream pie is an old-fashioned recipe for bliss. A luscious coconut custard is topped with billows of meringue and sprinkled with shredded coconut. A buttery, flaky crust instead of a graham cracker crust adds just the right savoriness.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 434

Ingredients

For the crust

For the coconut custard filling

  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 2 1/4 cups milk, preferably whole milk
  • 1 1/4 cups shredded or flaked coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
  • 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 oz) unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the meringue

  • 3 large egg whites
  • 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
US - Metric

Instructions

Make the coconut custard filling

  • In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks.
    A man's hand whisking egg yolks in a bowl.
  • In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Use a fork or a whisk to mix them well.
    A man's hand stirring flour, salt, and sugar in a saucepan.
  • Pour the milk into the pan and stir well with a whisk or a spatula until everything is very well combined and the dry ingredients seem to have dissolved.
    A man's hand mixing flour, salt, sugar, and milk in a saucepan.
  • Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, still stirring with the whisk or spatula, until the mixture heats up and almost reaches a boil and steams and thickens into a smooth, velvety sauce, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
  • Scoop out about 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture with a measuring cup. Begin stirring the beaten egg yolks with a whisk or a large spoon and slowly, slowly start to add the 1/2 cup of the steaming hot milk mixture, stirring constantly as you pour. (This warms up the eggs and discourages them from curdling.)
    A man's hand whisking hot milk into egg yolks.
  • Slowly pour the egg yolk and milk mixture back into the mixture in the pan, stirring until completely incorporated.
    A man's hands pouring eggs into coconut custard.
  • Place the pan back over medium heat and continue to cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan often, for 2 to 3 minutes. Continue to cook, still stirring and scraping but a little more occasionally, until the mixture thickens considerably and begins retaining its shape when a blob is dropped from the spoon.
  • Let it come to a gentle but noisy boil, with large, blobby bubbles surfacing, popping, plopping, and steaming like lava in a cartoon volcano. Let it boil gently for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat.
  • Add 1 cup of the coconut, the butter, and the vanilla to the custard in the pan and stir to combine. When the butter is melted and incorporated into the custard, place a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard and set it aside to cool to room temperature.
    A saucepan filled with coconut custard.
  • When the custard has cooled to room temperature, remove the plastic wrap and scoop the custard filling into the pie crust.
    A man's hand spreading coconut custard into a baked pie shell.

Make the meringue

  • Heat the oven to 350° F (176°C)
  • Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy.
    A handheld mixer beating egg whites.
  • Increase the speed to high and gradually add the sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time. Beat the egg whites until they swell up into plump, shiny, soft clouds that hold firm, curly peaks.
    A closeup of a beater with whipped egg whites on it.

Assemble and bake the pie

  • Scoop the meringue on top of the cooled custard filling, spreading it all the way to the crust and mounding the meringue slightly in the center of the pie.
    A coconut cream pie with meringue being slathered on it.
  • Create swoops and swirls in the meringue for decorative effect and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of the coconut over the top of the meringue.
    A coconut cream pie being sprinkled with shredded coconut.
  • Place the coconut cream pie on the middle rack of the oven and bake until the meringue is a beautiful golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Place the pie on a cooling rack or a folded kitchen towel and let cool to room temperature. Serve at room temperature or, if desired, refrigerate and serve chilled.

Notes

  1. Cool it completely--Let your custard cool completely before adding it to the crust and topping with the meringue. Warm custard can cause the meringue to deflate and become wet.
  2. Cutting the pie--To cut picture-perfect slices of pie without deflating the meringue, dip your knife in a glass of hot water before making each cut. The knife will glide right through.
  3. Storage--Store leftover pie, loosely tented with plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 434kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 191mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 31g