Chai Coconut Cream Pie

posted: Tuesday, January 15th, 2013
Photo by Emilie Hitch

We created this recipe for a feast at Verdant Tea’s new tea house in Minneapolis. They make an incredible chai that’s featured in this pie, with a prominent cardamom flavor and layers of spice [and you can take home their concentrate to use yourself]. This pie is creamy, flavorful, and totally addictive.

To make 1 pie…

Pie Crusts

Ingredients (makes 2.5 crusts)

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cup butter
  • 8 Tablespoons ice water

Instructions

  1. Cut your butter into small pieces and add to your measured flour and salt. Cut the butter in quickly and then cut in the shortening. Your mixture should resemble coarse meal. Bigger lumps of fat are just fine; aim for pea-sized at biggest.
  2. Slowly add the water and watch closely as you work it in with the edge of a spatula or continue pulsing. It should still look dry. Grab some with your hand and squeeze. Did it hold together? Than you have enough water. If it didn’t, or you’re not sure, add a little more and mix quickly. Test again.
  3. Divide the dough in half to make single crust amounts. Wrap up the dough up by placing a portion of it on a piece of plastic wrap. Using the wrap, instead of your hands, push the dough into a flat disk. Refrigerate this for an hour or more.
  4. Roll out and preheat at 350 degrees. Line the pie crust with aluminum foil or parchment paper filled with beans, rice, or other weight. Bake about 15 minutes, and then remove the weights and bake for another 10 minutes, until the whole crust is golden. Cool.

Filling

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup whole milk
  • 3/4 cup chai concentrate from Verdant Tea [or other chai concentrate you have available]
  • 2 cup heavy whipping cream [1 c. for the filling, 1 c. for the topping]
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

  1. Halve and scrape vanilla bean and add to milk and 1 c. of cream in a heavy-bottomed pot. Bring to a near boil, then remove from the heat.
  2. Meanwhile, beat together eggs, egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar, and salt with paddle. Temper the egg mixture with some of the hot milk, beating constantly until smooth. Place the rest of the hot milk mixture in a double boiler and whisk in the tempered egg mixture. Cook over low heat until thickened, whisking often to avoid lumps forming.
  3. It will continue to thicken as it cools, so it will not be as thick at this stage as the final product. Strain out the vanilla bean pods and place in a shallow hotel pan over an ice bath. Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap so that a film does not form, and cool for a couple hours, at least.
  4. Meanwhile, toast coconut at 350 for up to 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Add 1/2 c. – 3/4 c. toasted, sweetened coconut into the cooled pastry cream, saving a little to sprinkle on the top of the pie.
  5. Before serving, whip the remaining cup of cream with a sprinkling of sugar [you don’t need muhc] until thick. Into the cooled crust, spread the filling, then top with whipped cream and toasted coconut. Refrigerate until serving.

 

 

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