Cooking for Pleasure: Gluten-free coconut cream pie

A slice of coconut cream pie. (Photo by Patty Schied)

By Patty Schied

For the past couple of months, every time I open my cupboard door I’ve been confronted with a large bag of unopened almond flour, an impulse purchase from Amazon.

I’ve been looking at a lot of recipes to use it up and decided to make this pie, which has an almond flour crust. 

For those of you who have ‘pie crust baking trauma,’ this is the recipe for you. No nerve-wracking mixing or rolling pin needed. The crust ingredients are just mixed together and pressed into the pie pan with your fingers.  

The last time I made coconut cream pie, I discovered that using coconut milk really added depth to the flavor of the filling. I highly recommend it and no longer make it any other way. The almond crust really complements the filling. This pie makes a great company dessert and if you have guests on a gluten-free diet, you will make them very happy.  

Don’t tell them about the calories though. Too much information. I won’t tell you either.

The uncooked pie crust. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Pie Crust

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• 2 ½ cups of almond flour

• ¼ cup melted butter

• 1 whole egg

• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup

• ¼ teaspoon of salt

• Mix all ingredients together either by hand or in a food processor.  Carefully press the mixture into a pie plate with your fingers.  Smooth it out with the back of a large metal spoon. Prick it all over with a fork.

• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges have become light brown and the pastry is set.

• Remove from oven and let cool while you are making the pie filling.

Ingredients for gluten-free coconut cream pie. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Toasted Coconut

Place ½ cup (or more) of coconut flakes onto a cookie sheet. Bake until they are lightly toasted. (Watch carefully.)  Remove to a plate and let cool.

Coconut Cream Filling

Mix the following five ingredients together:

• 1 can of coconut milk (usually available in the Asian food section of your grocery store)

• 1/4 cup of cornstarch

• 1 ½ cups of half and half

• ¾ cup of sugar

• 4 egg yolks

Place mixture in a heavy duty saucepan at low heat. Using a wire whisk, stir constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. This can take up to 15 minutes so be very patient. It is important to keep whisking so that the mixture doesn’t get scorched on the bottom.  

Whisking the pie filling. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Once the mixture begins to boil, continue to whisk briskly for about a minute. It should be very thick. Remove from heat and add:

• 1 ½ cups sweetened coconut flakes

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 3 tablespoons of butter

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Stir briskly. Pour mixture over baked pie crust. Cover closely with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight.

Cooked coconut pie filling. (Photo by Patty Schied)

The next day beat 1 ½ cups of heavy cream with ¼ cup of powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.  Taste for sweetness, adding more powdered sugar if you like. Scoop onto top of pie. Sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes. Serve immediately. This fed seven people generously.

• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and has written a cookbook. Cooking For Pleasure appears every other week in the Juneau Independent's features. She welcomes questions about her column at patschied@yahoo.com.

The finished gluten-free coconut cream pie. (Photo by Patty Schied)