If you need a little slice of summer right now, make Pineapple Cream of Coconut Pie! It's a cross between a cheesecake and a cream pie that tastes a lot like Millionaire Pie. It's also similar to a dessert my grandmother made called Banana Split Cake, but without the bananas.
Pineapple Cream of Coconut Pie Layers
The pie starts with a graham cracker crust topped topped with a layer of cooked pineapple. Next comes a layer of coconut flavored baked cheesecake, topped with a layer of whipped cream and toasted coconut. The recipe doesn't call for any nuts, but I think a sprinkling of toasted pecans would make it even better. The only drawback here is you have to make this pie ahead of time. Since the middle layer is baked, you'll need to allow for an hour of cooling time and at least four hours of chill time.
Coco Lopez or Cocoa Real
Another interesting thing about this recipe is that it calls for cream of coconut, the mixer commonly used in a pina colada. The most popular brand is probably Coco Lopez, but I used a product called Coco Real which worked perfectly. Either way, you are now set for National Pie Day on Thursday. I have a feeling I will have already baked another pie by then, but we are really going to enjoy this one.
Recipe
Pineapple Cream of Coconut Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs or 1 sleeve crushed
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
Filling
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 8 oz can of crushed pineapple in juice, do not drain
- ⅛ teaspoon of vanilla
- 8 oz package of cream cheese softened
- 1 ½ cups Cream of Coconut Cocoa Lopez or Coco Real -- divided use
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Sweetened flaked coconut for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the crumbs, sugar and butter and press into a 9 inch deep dish pie plate. Bake for about 7 minutes and let cool completely.
- Combine the sugar, cornstarch and undrained pineapple in a small saucepan. Turn heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and goes from cloudy to translucent. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let cool, then pour over the pie crust.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until soft and creamy. Gradually add 1 cup of the cream of coconut and beat until blended, then add eggs one at a time and beat until blended. Pour over pineapple mixture.
- Set the pie dish on a baking sheet and bake for 38 minutes at 350 degrees F. Let cool for one hour, then chill for at least four hours.
- Beat the whipped cream until soft peaks form, then gradually fold in the reserved ½ cup of cream of coconut Note: You want to add the coconut cream gradually -- before the cream is too stiff, but not while it's still super soft. Continue whipping until cream holds its shape and is thick enough to spread. It should not be runny.
- Spread across top of pie.
- Toast the coconut in a skillet. Let cool slightly and sprinkle across the top.
Anna says
Hi Wendy,
I have two that might interest you. There's this old one that calls for Coco Lopez, but you can use the same amount of Coco Real in its place. It's a very light textured pie. It's not one I make regularly (I actually forgot about it!), but we loved it and now that you've brought it to mind I'm going to make it again soon.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/2011/07/06/easy-cream-of-coconut-cream-pie/
The other one is a Key Lime Pie, but it has cream of coconut in it.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/2014/10/26/cream-of-coconut-key-lime/
Wendy says
do you have a recipe for regular coconut cream pie using CocoReal withoutthepineapple?
Anna says
It's not supposed to be *super* stiff, but it should hold up and not run all over the place. Another thought is that maybe you just didn't whip it enough after adding the cream of coconut, so maybe I should specify to continue whipping if cream doesn't seem stiff enough.
Karen Schmidt-Dill says
Coco Real. I was trying to decide if I just didn't whip the whipped cream stiff enough in the first place.
Anna says
Karen, thanks for the good review! I was thinking about you today and hoping that the pie was a success. I didn't have any problem with the cream of coconut damaging the peaks. Did you use Coco Lopez or Coco Real?
Karen Schmidt-Dill says
I did it! The pie without the whipped topping looked exactly like Anna's photo. And it froze very well. Finished product VERY tasty. RICH. I would suggest trying to cut 12 or even 16 pieces.
Fluky thing... I had to freeze the pie, just before going to work, then because of a blizzard ended up working an extra shift. Had an hour to thaw the pie and get whipped cream on top. Groan.
Soft peaks of the whipped cream and then adding the cream of coconut to fold in turned the whipped cream into sloppy! Plus pie was still partially frozen as I served it at potluck. We ended up using a spoon. LOL Rave reviews never-the-less.
Karen Schmidt-Dill says
For the kolache, what do you think about mixing the pineapple mixture WITH the cream cheese mixture?
Well, I hope the filling tolerates being frozen before it was completely cooled. I ran out of time and had to leave for work. One blessing of MN winters is that there is extra chilling and freezing space right outside the kitchen door. Ha.
This pie was easy to make. I measured the amount of crackers in 1 sleeve, got about 1 1/3 c. so I did 2 more rectangles of crackers. Seems like I NEVER have enough crust to fit the pie pan. The filling baked nicely, but took about 5 min. longer to bake. At 38 min. the center was still very wobbly. Looking forward to the finished product.
Anna says
I added a new photo -- one with pecans. I also discovered the pie freezes well, which is good since I cut my pies into triangles and wrap them individually. Karen, let me know what you think! Sorry about the snow. It's 70 here.
TxPepper, I think the filling might also work in kolache.
Karen Schmidt-Dill says
Cream cheese is softening, graham crackers are crushed. Now I need to go outside and snow blow out the driveway so I can get to the store. Sigh, I have to work tonight so the driveway needs to be done anyway.
I was thinking the whipped cream would go on shortly before serving or at least taking to the potluck.
TxPepper says
Oh. My. Yummmm!
Call me crazy, but one of my fav items from the pre-gourmet wedding cake era was the pineapple filling between the vanilla layers. Adding the pecans would hit all my buttons. 🙂
Anna says
Karen, I hope you try it! I just posted this, so if you have any questions or need additional information, send me an email. The pineapple should be crushed. Also, the cream mixture is poured directly over the cooked pineapple mixture and then baked. Once that is chilled, you make the topping using the whipped cream and the remaining cream of coconut.
About the cream, I felt like 1 cup was just the right amount and wouldn't use less. If you can get to the store for more cream, you can make the pineapple and baked layer today, then put the final layer on tomorrow. In fact, that would be ideal because the cream will spend less time sitting.
Karen Schmidt-Dill says
Anna, you are just what the doctor ordered! Church potluck supper tomorrow night. Bottle of CocoReal cream of coconut sitting in my cupboard. I think all I need is the heavy whipping cream, don't think there is a full cup left.
I have had that bottle of cream of coconut quite a while, found it on sale, just haven't been able to figure out what to make with it. 🙂
PS Now I just need to make room in the refrigerator for a pie.