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Cocoanut Pie Crust

A coconut and apple pie with a coconut-flour crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Dates and apple work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 119 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Cocoanut Pie Crust

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the dough

  1. Mix grated coconut with Graham flour and enough cold water to form a stiff dough.

  2. Knead the dough for five minutes, then add boiled rice and mix thoroughly.

Assemble the pie

  1. Spread the bottom crust in a pie plate.

  2. On the crust, layer a few pieces of dates and sift a little meal over them.

  3. Add the sliced or stewed apples, ensuring they are close to the edges of the crust.

  4. If the fruit is very juicy, sift on more meal.

  5. Cover with the top crust, wetting the edges to help them adhere.

  6. Roll the edges under with a knife to smooth them.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake immediately at 400°F (200°C), avoiding browning the top crust.

  2. Once baked, cover the pie with a deep dish to let it steam until cold for a tender crust.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Dates + appletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together119 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Rice + appletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Flour + ricetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + datestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Rice + datestop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together44 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Grated coconut
Provides bulk and a distinct flavour and texture to the crust.
Graham flour
Forms the gluten-based structure that holds the stiff dough together.
Boiled rice
Adds moisture and a tender, soft texture to the crust.
Apples
Supply the main fruit filling, adding moisture and tartness as they cook.
Dates
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy pieces to the filling.

The step that matters

Baking immediately at 400°F without browning the top crust. Baking the dough right after assembly keeps the crust from softening, while watching the top prevents it from over-browning before the filling is cooked through.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, rice, apple):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Pearfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, rice, apple. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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