Creamy coconut custard in a flaky gluten-free almond flour pastry crust. All topped off with coconut whipped cream. A wonderful low carb dessert for any occasion.

I have three young kids.  You probably already know this by now, because I have a tendency to repeat this fact quite frequently.  It’s my cover, my excuse, for everything.  If I am late, it’s because of the kids.  If I am tired, it’s because of the kids.  If I am frantic and crazed and feeling like I can never complete what I started, it’s because of the kids.  I love them, but it’s a challenge to keep up with them and the chaos they bring.  Dinner time can be particularly maddening.  Although my children are not particularly picky eaters, they all have their likes and dislikes and have no problems vocalizing these.  Every meal gets completely dissected, one child complaining about the veggies while another rolls his eyes at the way I’ve prepared the fish.  They usually agree on dessert, but as I am always experimenting with new ingredients and flavours, even that’s not always met with enthusiasm.  It can be a little disheartening at times, to say the least.

But I recently read an interesting little tidbit from Shaina of Food For My Family.  She stated that it takes upwards of 15 tries to get kids to accept a new food.  I found this bit of information quite cheering.  Sure, 15 tries can still be absolutely agonizing when your child throws a fit for the first 14.  Okay, I exaggerate, my kids don’t throw fits over their food, and if they did, they’d be sent to their room to work it out on their own.  Still, having them turn up their noses 14 times before they finally like it can be painful.  But worth it in the end.  So we keep trying, because when they do finally accept that food, victory is sweet.

This little drama recently played out in perfectly in my house.  For quite some time, my kids have not liked anything with strong coconut flavour.  I love coconut, and considering its comeback on the health scene, it plays a large role in my baking and cooking.  But no matter how delicious I found the final product, they resisted.  And resisted.  And resisted.  And then suddenly the tide turned.  I made that delicious Low Carb Three Layer Coconut Cake and I guess it was too pretty for them to not try it.  Lo and behold, they all gobbled it up.  And then, the biggest shock of all, they started requesting that I make Coconut Cream Pie.  You could have bowled me over with a feather.

So once I worked out my almond flour pastry crust and made the low carb Strawberry Hand Pies, I figured it was time to put it to the test and make one large pie crust out of it.  It was definitely tricky.  The crust is very fragile and it’s hard to pick it up and get it into the pie pan.  I found that the best thing to do was to freeze the crust for about 10 minutes AFTER it had been rolled out.  That way, I could flip the whole piece of parchment upside down into the plate.  It still needs a gentle hand, and you may get some tearing and cracking.  But it does patch together well so you can fix any little tears.  Let it warm a bit if you want to crimp the edges of the crust.  Then it blind bakes beautifully and holds together so well when filled with coconut custard and topped with coconut whipped cream.  Delicious.  And absolutely worth the first 14 attempts to get my kids to like coconut! For a super easy pie crust, check out my low carb Easy Press In Pie Crust.

Update: While this crust is delicious, I also highly recommend my Easy Low Carb Press In Pie Crust.

Also be sure to check out my low carb Coconut Cream Poke Cake!

5 from 7 votes

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Coconut Cream Pie – Low Carb and Gluten-Free

Prep Time

45 mins

Cook Time

25 mins

Chill Time

4 hrs

Total Time

5 hrs 10 mins

 

Creamy coconut custard in a flaky gluten-free almond flour pastry crust, all topped off with coconut whipped cream. A wonderful low carb dessert for any occasion.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Dessert

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 383 kcal

Ingredients

Crust (also check out my Easy Press In Pie Crust:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
• 2 tbsp Swerve Sweetener or granulated erythritol
• 1 tsp xanthan gum or guar gum
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup butter well-chilled and cut into small chunks
• 2 - 4 tbsp ice water

Filling:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/3 cup Swerve Sweetener
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp liquid Stevia Extract
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Topping:

• 1 can coconut milk chilled overnight
• 3 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener or other powdered erythritol
• 1/2 cup shredded or flaked unsweetened coconut lightly toasted

Instructions

Crust:

1. Combine almond flour, all purpose, Swerve, guar gum and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine.

2. Sprinkle butter over and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. With processor running on low, add ice water 1 tbsp at a time until dough begins to clump together.
4. Cover work surface with a large sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with almond flour. Turn out dough and form into a disk. Sprinkle with additional almond flour and top with another piece of parchment, then carefully roll out in all directions to form a 11 inch circle.
5. Place on a baking sheet and freeze 10 minutes.
6. Remove rolled crust from freezer and remove top layer of parchment. Place a 9-inch pie pan upside down on crust and then carefully flip both over so crust is lying in the pie pan. Remove parchment.
7. You may get some cracking and some tears. Let crust warm up a bit and then use overhanging bits from the edges to patch up any tears or cracks. Crimp edges of crust after it warms up and prick bottom several times with a fork.
8. Freeze shaped pie crust for 1 hour.

9. Preheat oven to 350F.

10. Remove crust from freezer and place a large piece of foil inside the crust and fill with pie weights or dried beans (I use dried black-eyed peas and I use them over and over again for pies. Much cheaper than pie weights!).
11. Bake 18 minutes, the remove foil and pie weights and bake 5 more minutes. Let cool.

Filling:

1. Bring cream to just a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, egg yolk and Swerve. Slowly stir in about 2/3 cup of hot cream, whisking continuously, to temper. Then slowly whisk tempered egg mixture back into cream.

3. Cook another 4 to 5 minutes, whisking continuously, until mixture begins to thicken.
4. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, coconut extract, vanilla extract, and stevia. Sprinkle surface with xanthan gum and whisk briskly to combine. Stir in shredded coconut.
5. Let mixture cool 20 to 30 minutes, then spread in baked pie crust. Chill in fridge at least 2 to 3 hours.

Topping:

1. Chill a mixing bowl and beaters in freezer for 5 minutes.
2. Remove can of coconut milk from refrigerator and turn upside down to open. Pour off all of the coconut water, then scoop out the thick coconut cream that has collected at the bottom and add to chilled mixing bowl.

3. Add powdered Swerve and beat until thick and creamy, about 4 minutes. Spread over chilled filling and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Let set at least 30 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes

Serves 12. Each serving has 9 g of carbs and 3 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 6 g.

Other Nutritional Facts: 383 Calories; 38g Fat (85.9% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 9g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber

Nutrition Facts

Coconut Cream Pie – Low Carb and Gluten-Free

Amount Per Serving (1 slice)

Calories 383 Calories from Fat 342

% Daily Value*

Fat 38g58%

Carbohydrates 9g3%

Fiber 3g12%

Protein 6g12%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.