CHOCOLATE HAUPIA PIE
Even before quarantine began, I have always enjoyed cooking and experimenting with different meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have used Pinterest religiously for anything that I need inspiration for, whether it comes to organization ideas, furniture style, bedding sets or how to make broccoli delicious! I’ve been playing around with haupia, a coconut pudding, because I was craving something tropical, but not pineapple because of the heat lately!
For those of you that don’t know what Haupia is, it is a traditional Hawaiian dessert made from coconut milk and is a gelatin like consistency. A few weeks back I made Haupia for a Hawaiian inspired night we did with some friends. The recipe is simple and everyone loved it as it is not as sweet for people that don’t enjoy sweets as much. I topped the coconut jello with freshly toasted coconut flakes which gave a texture contrast with the crunch of the toasted coconut and softness of the haupia. Along with that the warmth from the toasted coconut mixed with the coolness of the haupia made it even better of a pairing! Then some friends had us over about a week later and I was in charge of dessert so I decided to take my Haupia game to the next level; Chocolate Haupia Pie and this actually does use a pie crust! I remember eating this at potlucks back home in Hawaii so I decided to make my own!
Since I was on a time constraint, I just bought a pie crust from Whole Foods and knocked out that portion of the recipe. I first made the chocolate pudding since it is the bottom layer of the pie, above the crust. I first mixed sugar, cocoa powder, salt and cornstarch in a small pot that I would later put on the stove to boil. Before heating, make sure to whisk well! If not, certain ingredients will begin to curdle! Once you begin heating up your mixture, make sure you continuously mix it so it doesn’t burn onto your pot! I usually add about a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a tablespoon of butter at the end once I have a nice thick consistency and I then pour it into my cooked pie crust and put it in the fridge.
Once the chocolate pudding is complete, I rinse out the same pot I used and make the haupia pudding. I combine the coconut milk, corn starch, sugar and water. Just like making the chocolate pudding, make sure to whisk everything before heating it up and consistently mix while it’s being heated up. Once I have a nice consistency, then I pour it over the chocolate pudding and let it sit in the fridge for a couple hours until it has cooled down and has more of a gelatin like consistency on top.
When it has reached the correct consistency, toast some coconut flakes. I turned my toaster oven ALL the way up, put a new foil on my tray and tossed about a quarter cup of coconut flakes on the tray. I let the coconut flakes toast until it was a nice crispy brown and then evenly spread it over my pie. From there just cut up pieces and serve on a plate, or just eat it straight from the pie like me sometimes. This dessert has a strong coconut pudding taste with a slight chocolate taste and great texture from the pie crust and coconut flakes. I hope you try it out and enjoy it as much as my friends and I did! Feel free to post your versions. I’d love to see them!
