There’s nothing quite so elegant as a delicious coconut cream tart. For this recipe, we took a traditional French pâté sucrée recipe and added graham cracker crumbs to the dough for added texture and taste. We filled the crust with a luxurious and silky coconut milk filling and topped it with a vanilla Chantilly cream (a fancy name for whipped cream!). We adorned the tart with toasted coconut flakes and sweet little baked meringues that brought an extra measure of charm. For an added pretty finish, we decorated the tart with halved blueberries and a few edible blooms. Serve these tarts on delicate plating for a special and fun dessert!

We created this flavourful and light recipe with the help of the French Tart Baking Set from Cooking Gift Set Co. It really allowed us to bring refined style to our baking as we stepped into the role of pâtissière for this classic recipe. We found ourselves using every piece in the set as we baked, including step-by-step illustrated instructions, ceramic pie weights, and reusable silicone piping bags. The perforated tart rings ensured the crust cooked evenly, making a perfect tart every time. The baking set also came beautifully packaged with everything you need to create French tarts, and it makes a lovely gift for the home baker in your life.

Coconut Cream Tart
Prep Time 1-2 hours total
Inactive time: 2 hours
Bake/Cook time 25-30 minutes
Makes 6 individual tarts 

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Ingredients 

Graham Cracker Pâté Sucrée
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into 1-inch cubes
1 egg yolk
3 Tbsp whipping cream 

1. 1. To make the crust, add the flour, icing sugar, graham cracker crumbs, salt and butter to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles sand. 

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the cream and egg yolk. Add to the bowl of the food processor and pulse until the dough just comes together. 

3. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and shape it into a disc. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes. 

4. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Additionally cut 6 small squares of parchment paper larger than the size of the tart rings. You will use these to line the prepared tarts. 

5. Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper (or a lightly floured surface) until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Cut the dough into 6 equal portions. 

6. Working one at a time gently lay in the dough into the tart mold forming it around the tart mold, gently push in around the bottom corners and sides to ensure an even tart. Repeat till all 6 are complete and place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes until firm. 

7. Using a very sharp knife (I like to use a pairing knife) trim the excess dough off to create a clean edge. 

8. Crumple the piece of parchment paper ( the ones previously cut) and line the tart with it, fill with the pie weights and repeat with the remaining 5. 

9. Bake in the oven for around 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the parchment/pie weight from the tart shells. 

Cool completely before assembling. 

Coconut Cream Filling
1 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk 

1. 1. In a medium heavy-bottomed pot combine coconut milk, half the whole milk and vanilla extract. Bring to a gentle boil then remove from the heat. 

2. In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the remaining whole milk, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in egg yolks until mixture is pale yellow, smooth, and fluffy, about 1 minute.

3. While whisking continuously, slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture in a thin stream, until all of it has been added.

4. Return the mixture to the same pot and place over medium heat, whisking constantly until pastry cream begins to thicken, about 3-4 minutes. Once it thickens and starts to gently bubble continue to whisk for another 1 minute to ensure the cornstarch is fully dissolved. 

5. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until combined. Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl and immediately place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator and chill until cold, around 2 hours.

Meringues
2 egg whites (at room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of lemon juice or cream of tartar

1. 1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 

2. Place the egg white in the (very!) clean bowl of your mixer, fit with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium-low until the egg whites begin to be frothy. At this point, up the speed to high and slowly start adding in your sugar around 1 tbsp at a time. Beat until the mixture is thick, glossy and doubled in volume and can hold a stiff peak. 

3. Transfer the meringue to the silicone piping bag fitted with the start attachment. 

4. On the prepared baking sheet pipe small cookies. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for around 1 hour, turn off the oven and don’t remove for around another hour so they completely dry out. 

Chantilly Cream
1 cup whipping cream
3 tbsp sugar
Pinch of vanilla extract 

1. 1. Place everthing in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk on medium-high until medium-soft peaks form. 

2. Transfer the chantilly cream into the silicon piping bag fitted with the round attachment, place in the fridge until ready to decorate. 

To Garnish
Toasted shredded coconut
Fresh Fruit
Edible flowers
Freeze-dried berries 

Assembly 

1. 1. Sprinkle the bottom of each tart with the toasted coconut. 

2. Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and whisk until smooth. Fill each tart shell to the top and smooth out with an offset spatula. 

Pipe the chantilly cream on the top of each tart, adorn with meringues, fresh fruit and edible blooms.  This tart can of course be made with any seasonal fruits. 

    

Thank you to Cooking Gift Set Co for sponsoring this post! Make sure to purchase your set to make the perfect tarts every time! Lastly, we have a special promo code monikahibbs15 that you can use from now until Mother’s Day! You will receive 15% off any of our products, including the French Tart Kit.

• *Limit to one use per customer*