Summer coconut custard pie

No doubt summer has arrived as the Bay area was smothered in heat this weekend. Last week I wrote about an end-of-winter dessert, it makes sense that I made a REAL summer dessert this week. It's the Lost Coconut Custard Pie, from another of my favorite vegan blogger Isa Chandra's bestseller cookbooks, Veganomicon. I love sweet treats made with coconut - coconut macaroon, Hong Kong-style coconut bun (better known as cocktail bun), coconut cake/cupcake/ice cream/sorbet, everything - and this stunning custard pie has easily become my favorite. I'd say it's the best dessert I have had in weeks.

The best thing about this coconut custard pie is that it is easy to make. It doesn't involve any messy separation of eggs into egg white and yolk, which I don't even want to try. Instead, the recipe calls for agar powder as a binding agent. Thanks to the large Asian population in the Bay area, I could find agar powder easily (and just 50 cents apiece!). All you have to do to make the custard is stirring together coconut milk, shredded coconut, agar powder, cornstarch, sugar, and a couple of other ingredients over heat. Then pour the mixture into a prepared pie crust, pop it into the fridge, and chill for a couple of hours to let it set. Again, there's no messy butter cutting or dough rolling to make the crust. Simply crush some matzo meal or vegan graham crackers in melted margarine and press the crumbs into a pie pan to form a vegan crust. I didn't go strictly vegan and used Annie's Homegrown honey bunny grahams.

The custard was in a dreamy, snowy white - elegant and unadulterated. It tasted light and silky, with the shredded coconut providing some chewiness. As you can probably tell by now, I am not a big fan of intensely sweet desserts, and this pie fits the bill. The pie can be served as is, with no whipped cream or sauce needed. It'd be an ideal dessert to round up a summer dinner party and you could pretend you took hours to make it! When served chilled, it's also a great ice cream alternative to give you a refreshing break from the summer heat.

Veganomicon's Lost Coconut Custard Pie

Note: I didn't include the recipe for the pie here not only because of copyright issues; I'd highly recommend you to buy Veganomicon if you're interested in vegan cooking. It contains so many innovative (obviously delicious) recipes that are more than worth the price!