A shortbread crust filled with a smooth, delectable coconut filling and topped with sweetened whipped cream. This Creamy Coconut Tart is the perfect dessert for Easter or really for any time.
This Creamy Coconut Tart♡ . . . wow! I made this for the first time years ago and fell deeply in love with it! Like so many things I’ve made, I kind of forgot about it until I was thumbing through a few of my cookbooks the other day and saw it again.
Coconut cream pie is probably one of my favorite cream pies. It’s the perfect pie for any holiday or any occasion. Unless of course you hate coconut. If that’s the case, then feel free to ignore this post and come back on Wednesday.
This Creamy Coconut Tart is going to be the perfect dessert to add to your Easter dinner menu.
It starts with a simple homemade shortbread crust and then filled with a smooth, velvety coconut custard and topped with sweetened whipped cream. Also, in between the layers is a sprinkling of toasted coconut. . . .YUM!
This tart is amazing! It’s insanely scrumptious and really simple to make. Toss your crust ingredients into a food processor and pulse it for just a bit. You will end up with a “floury” mixture.
Press the mixture press into the bottom of your tart pan.
Bake it until golden brown and then let it cool.
Fill the cooled tart shell with the toasted coconut and cooled coconut custard (forgot to take step by step photos of the custard 🤦♀️). Top it with sweetened whipped cream and let it hang in the fridge for just a bit until it’s nice and chilled.
The hardest part is waiting for this to chill enough to eat. It’s velvety smooth and absolutely divine!
How long will this keep in the fridge?
This will be good in the fridge for up to three or four days. The crust will begin to get a little soft after a day or two, but it will still be delicious.
A few helpful reminders:
- The crust needs 15 minutes in the freezer before you bake it so plan ahead. It also needs to be cooled completely before adding the filling to it.
- The filling needs time to cool before adding it to the baked crust. It also needs at least two to three hours of chill time in the fridge so plan ahead.
- If you love coconut flavor, but not the texture of it, you can leave off the layers of toasted coconut.
If you love coconut like I do, then you’re doing to love this tart. It really is the perfect dessert to end any meal.
This is a good one!
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Creamy Coconut Tart
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 to 10 servings 1x
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Filling:
- 2 1/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut, divided
- 3 1/2 cups milk (whole or 2 %)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract (optional)
Whipped cream:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a food processor, pulse flour, butter, sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form; transfer to a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Press evenly into bottom and up sides of pan. Freeze until firm
- Bake, until golden about 25 minutes, pressing down with a spoon if it puffs up; cool completely.
Filling:
- Toasting the coconut: Spread 1 cup of the coconut on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden, tossing occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes. Alternatively, you can toast the coconut in a skillet on your stovetop. Place the coconut in a large skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the flakes are mostly golden brown. Set toasted coconut aside.
- In a medium saucepan, heat the 3 1/2 cups of the milk and remaining 1 1/4 cups coconut until the milk just begins to simmer. Remove from heat, let stand 10 minutes. Strain through a sieve, and return milk to saucepan and discard the coconut.
- Whisk in the sugar, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks. Whisking constantly, cook mixture over medium-low heat just until custard thickens (should take about 3 to 4 minutes). Remove pan from heat and whisk in the vanilla and coconut extract (if using). Set custard aside to cool.
- In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat cream, sugar and vanilla on medium until soft peaks form.
Assembling the tart:
- Sprinkle 1/3 cup of toasted coconut on the bottom of the cooled crust. Top with the cooled custard and spread evenly. Sprinkle another 1/3 cup of the toasted coconut on top of the custard filling; top with whipped cream, and garnish with remaining 1/3 cup coconut.
- Refrigerate tart at least 2-3 hours. Remove sides of tart pan, and slice and serve.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
Recipe Source: Adapted slightly from Keeping Up Cookbook.
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