Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Coconut Tarts

When I moved to the USA the first thing I look for was freshly grated coconut. Since growing up in Malaysia coconut play an important part in our cuisine. We use freshly grated coconut or coconut milk in our dessert and curries. Lucky I am able to get the frozen kind from the Vietnamese and Indian grocery store here.



I have some leftover short crust pastry from my savory quiche, I decided to finish it up by making some coconut tarts. You can find this type of tart at every Chinese Bakery but making them is not difficult. The pastry of the tarts is soft and flaky while the coconut filling is moist and buttery with a slightly caramelized flavor. They are the best for afternoon tea.

Pastry:

280 gram flour
50 gram sugar
1 egg
150 gram butter, chilled and cut into cubes
2 tbsp cornstarch
½ tsp salt


Filling:

200 gram fresh grated coconut
80 gram melted butter
90 gram sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp condensed milk
1 tbsp custard powder or cornstarch


1. Sift flour and cornstarch together into a mixing bowl. Add in the sugar and salt. Mix well. Rub in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Add in egg. Mix until the pastry begins to form large dough. Press together gently with your fingers to form the pastry into a ball.
3. Chill pastry dough for about 30 minutes.
4. In a bowl, mix all ingredients of filling. Set aside.
5. Press pastry evenly into tart mould. Trim the edges to remove excessive dough. Fill tarts with coconut filling.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degree F oven for 30-35 minutes until lightly brown.
7. Leave the tarts in moulds for 5 minutes before turning it out onto wire rack to cool.

Note : For the pandan coconut filling just add a few drop of pandan paste to it.

34 comments:

tinyskillet said...

I love these little tarts. I am going to make them for sure. Doesn't pandan and coconut go so well together? I was able to find some pandan paste in my local Asian store! I love how you used it here.

Honey Bee Sweets said...

This is such classic desert back when I was young! It would always be such a treat to eat it. Thanks for the recipe & the good memories. :)

My Little Space said...

Homemade coconut tarts! How lovely and delicious! Remember, when you're back home then you can see all these tarts & other kuih-muih in our local coffee shops. I wonder you're craving for that too! haha.... Enjoy your day.
Cheers, Kristy

Jeannie said...

Looks good! I love to eat these when I was young and working near the Chinatown, I was able to buy the freshly baked tarts from the bakery there. Simply delicious!

ReeseKitchen said...

These are my dad's favaurite. I tried to make with gula melaka instead of condensed milk and its also good. But yours will be more milky in texture...nice!

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

This is also one of my favourite snack. I love anything with coconut and I am glad you can still get fresh grated coconut in the US.

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Nice new blog template! this remind me I have so long did not make tart for my kids. This look simple and yummy.

busygran said...

Indeed a lovely snack for tea. Used to eat them a lot as a child.

Bakericious said...

Nice new template for your blog! You ve reminded me of these tarts that I consumed during childhood. Although these can get from neighbourhood bakery shops but the look doesnt appealing. Your coconut tarts look so fresh and delicious.

WendyinKK said...

Oh.... simply yummy.
I love coconut tarts, but, the thin type. So far I've only seen them in Kampar, it's a free form coconut tart that is only 1 cm tall.

Anh said...

Coconut tart is a favourite of mine! Thanks for the recipe :)

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

am gonna make these. love your presentation and the new template. very refreshing.

Mrs Ergül said...

Oh my god! I can't believe there is a recipe for this snack in the blogging world! I use to buy these for breakfast until I get fed up of getting stale ones! So looking forward to making this!

Is there anything I can substitute the condensed milk with because I hate to waste the rest of a can!

Cheah said...

Nice new look, very sweet and cooling. And your tarts, can smell them from here!

Shereen said...

Your tarts look so beautiful.You know I am not a fan of coconut but looking at your tarts,I simply must bake them...too cantik to resist..lol!...mata jahat!I dah bake the rainbow chiffon...all of us love it so much,nice to look at but a bit confusing at the taste...too many taste at one go.S say it's like eating neopolitan icecream...lol!

ann low said...

Ooh..beautiful tarts. Sound so yummy with coconut, I would love to try this.

Angie's Recipes said...

Love these coconuty tarts...esp. the one with pandan!

Unknown said...

So beautiful and adorable

Pei-Lin said...

Gert, I'm glad you can find at least, grated coconut in a small Pennsylvanian town, albeit frozen one. Me!? When I was in that obscure Minnesotan town, I compromised by using desiccated coconut! *Sigh* Before I discovered that, I was using the (stupid) sweetened flaked coconut I got from Wal-Mart. Yuck! I don't quite like that.

Your coconut tarts look yummy. I wish I could have tried some ... Let's cross our fingers we can see each other again when you're back for a visit in KL. K?

Little Corner of Mine said...

The green ones are so pretty!

Anonymous said...

Being from Honolulu, Hawaii I always enjoyed coconut tarts but had to buy it from San Francisco Chinatown reason no bakeries in Honolulu make it. I will try your recipe and enjoy it at home. Your peach tart in last entry I use mangos since lot in back yard for mango tarts instead.

Lani

Katie said...

They look fantastic

Ann Jebaratnam said...

This looks really yum. I remember growing up with these. A man on a motorcycle used to go around our neighbourhood in the evenings and mum would stop and buy them from him. I have to try these. Will let you know how they turn out.

MaryMoh said...

Beautiful coconut tarts...my favourite. I love the beautiful colour of yellow and green. Would love to try one day. Thanks very much for sharing.

Jo said...

I love coconut tarts and these are absolutely scrumptious looking.

ICook4Fun said...

Lyndsey, yes they go really well together.

Bee bee, you are welcome.

Kristy, yes I always crave food from home :(

Jeannie, they were good :)

Reese, great idea. I will try using gula melaka the next time.

Shirley, yes we basically able to get most of our asian ingredients here.

Sonia, thank you. I willl keep this template for a while and see if I am able to get use to it :)

Busygran, yea used to eat this a lot when I was young.

Jess, thank you.

ICook4Fun said...

Wendy, that sound interesting. I don't think I ever try that before.

Anh, you are welcome.

Sayantani, thank you.

Pei Lin, you can just omit the condensed milk.

Cheah, ha ha thank you.

Shereen, budak kat rumah tak suka coconut ke? yea now you mentioned about the chiffon cake it does taste like neopolitan ice-cream :)

Anncoo, Angie, Jennifurla, thank you.

ICook4Fun said...

Pei-lin, oh we can get it from the Indian store. Hopefully I am able to go back next year.

LCOM, thanks.

Lani, now you can try to make it yourself. It is not that difficult. How lucky you are able to plant tropical fruits in Hawaii. I really envy you :)

Katie, thanks.

Ann, welcome to my blog.

MaryMoh, thank you.

Jo, thanks.

Kitchen Corner said...

The tarts look very pretty! Nicely mold pastry. I've bookmarked this recipe. Thanks for sharing!

Dori said...

I love coconut desserts! That really sounds delicious!

Christelle said...

Oh these look gorgeous!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! your coconut tarts look so amazing & yummy too.! Love your blog & pics . Thank you for sharing your recipes.Made these tonight without the shell for a friend who is on gluten free diet. In place of cornstarch, I use almond meal. I also added 2 tablespoons of water as per Angie's recipe.http://schneiderchen.de/20Coconut-Tarts.html

Annie

Anonymous said...

which rack in the oven do you put these in?

Unknown said...

I would really love to try this recipe but the measurements are confusing. Can you pls provide actual measurements in US format? I tried a conversion table but the numbers look way off. e.g. 280 grams flour = 9.87 ozs & 50 grams of sugar = 1.76 ozs etc etc...much thx