If you are looking for an easy alternative holiday dessert recipe, I’ve got one for you. This fool-proof coconut pandan cream pie is super easy to make.

Light, creamy, & delicious! The pastry cream is made in a pot, no straining or double boiling required.

I made the pie in the photo with premade pie crust. However, I’ve included my graham-coconut base recipe for you as well.

Let’s get baking!

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Coconut Pandan Pastry Cream:

Ingredients:

• 1 can of coconut cream (13.5 fl.oz.)
• 1/2 cup of whole milk
• 5 tbsp of corn starch
• 1/2 cup of white or brown sugar
• 2 tbsp of pandan juice
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt

Preparation:

• In a mixing bowl, combine yolk, sugar, salt. Mix with a hand whisk until the mixture is fully combine and sugar is dissolve. Then, add corn starch until the mixture become smooth and pale.
• In a pot, combine coconut cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Gently bring to simmer over medium-low heat and careful not to let it come to a boil. You will see small bubbles starts to form on the edges. Then, remove the pot from heat.
• To temper the egg yolk mixture and prevent curdling, slowly ladle in the warm milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Whisk to fully combine. Then add one more ladle and stir again. Repeat until the milk is fully mixed in.
• Add the combined mixture back into a pot and turn heat on medium.
• It’s important to keep stirring constantly from now as the pastry cream will thicken quickly once warmed. The cream should starts thickening in 3-5 minutes.
• When we reach custard like mixture and large bubble starts to rise on top, turn off the heat.
• Pour the custard cream into pie crust or use as pastry cream in your recipe

Tip: to prevent a custard skin from forming, cover the pastry cream directly with plastic wrap.

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Brown Butter Coconut Pie Base

Ingredients:

• 2 small packs of Graham crackers
• 1/4 cup of toasted coconut flakes
• 5 tbsp of butter
• a pinch of salt

Preparation:

• Combine Graham crackers and toasted coconut flakes into a food processor to combine.
• To make brown butter, cut butter into small cubes and add to a pot. Cook over medium heat and swirl/ stir every 1-2 minutes with a spatula. Scrape the bottom one in a while. The goal is to toast milk solids and create a brown butter liquid that smells toasty without burning the butter. Remove from heat when the butter turns brown.
• Add brown butter and salt into food processor with crackers and toasted coconut. The texture should resemble wet sand. Now the pie base is ready to be used.

To make the pie, pack the mixture tightly in a pie pan. I typically use a spoon or bottom of a cup to press down on the mixture. Once packed, let cool in refrigerator.