Dahlia Bakery Coconut Pastry Cream with Graham Cracker and Almond Crust

I had left over coconut milk from something or other that I needed to use up so I tried out the coconut pastry cream recipe from the Triple Coconut Cream Pie recipe in Tom Douglas’ Dahlia Bakery Cookbook. I cheated a bit…didn’t have any vanilla bean (didn’t feel like paying $7 for a single bean) so I used pure vanilla extract and I didn’t have any unsalted butter. Oh well, the result was still delicious albeit a bit sweet. Next time I think I’ll half the sugar because the sweetened coconut is pretty sweet already.

Then I had to figure out a crust because I didn’t feel like making pastry and I didn’t have enough coconut…what else is new. So, I made one up from leftover stuff I had on hand.

Graham Cracker and Almond Crust with a Hit of Coconut

1 c. graham crackers3/4 c. ground almonds
1/4 c. sweetened coconut flakes
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. melted butter

Mix all the ingredients together and press into a 9″ glass pie plate. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and cool completely.

Pipe in the cream filling…or just get it in there as best you can…don’t worry, any mess you make gets covered up with whipped cream. In case you hadn’t noticed this is not a low fat recipe.

If I make this again I would cut the sugar to 1/4 c. or leave it out entirely.