Coconut Cream Tart

If you know me, you know I love coconut. My absolute favorite coconut thing is coconut cream pie. It's my pie of choice. Well, except when it tastes like lysol. Once I had it at Frontier Pies while I was in college and it tasted like lysol. Old coconut or something. Yuck. But anyway, I was craving it the other day and decided it would make a great FHE treat. A little elaborate for a FHE treat but my kids ate it (well some of it) and it's been great since. This recipe is actually for a coconut cream tart. I really loved the crust on this tart and luckily I had a tart pan on hand. I'm sure you could do it with a pie pan also though. This recipe is from Everyday Food and I've actually even seen this episode. The recipe says to first simmer the milk with the coconut and then strain the coconut out and throw it away. I was a little unsure about not putting the coconut in the actual pudding part and almost didn't throw it out but at the last moment I decided to follow the recipe and I'm glad I did. Simmering the coconut in the milk gave it a great coconut flavor and the toasted coconut gave it the actual texture.

Coconut Cream Tart

For the crust:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

For the filling:

1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut (4 ounces)

2 ½ cups milk

½ cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

pinch of salt

3 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream

1. Make crust: Preheat oven to 350°. In a food processor, pulse flour, butter, sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form; transfer to a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom.With floured fingers, press evenly into bottom and up sides of pan. Freeze until firm, 15 minutes.
2. Prick crust all over with a fork. Bake, until golden, 25 minutes, pressing down with a spoon if it puffs up; cool completely. Leave oven on.
3. Make filling: Spread ¾ cup coconut on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden, tossing occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes. Set toasted coconut aside.
4. In a medium saucepan, heat 2 cups of the milk and remaining ¾ cup coconut until milk just begins to simmer. Remove from heat, cover; let stand 10 minutes. Strain through a sieve, and return milk to saucepan; discard coconut.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks, and remaining ½ cup milk until blended. Gradually whisk into saucepan.
6. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, whisking constantly until mixture begins to thicken, about 3 minutes. Cook, whisking, 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl, add vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cool, 45 minutes.
7. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat cream on medium until soft peaks form.
8. To assemble the tart. Sprinkle ¼ cup of toasted coconut in crust. Spoon on cooled filling, mounding slightly in center. Sprinkle another ¼ cup coconut on filling; top with whipped cream, and garnish with remaining ¼ cup coconut. Refrigerate until ready to serve, at least 30 minutes. Remove sides of tart pan, and slice.