Belizean Coconut Crust Recipe

Coconut crust is the Belizean folded hand pie: a fat, pliable dough wrapped around fresh grated coconut caramelized with sugar and spice, crimped shut with a fork and baked until the edges go golden. Sweet, fresh coconut in a coconut milk crust. You just can’t say no. Period. You can’t.

We had the pleasure of making Belizean Coconut Crust recently as a family in the freshest and most authentic way possible… with fallen coconuts from the yard! We took photos of the process so that you can help us re-live this coconut crust journey. These little desserts are a lot of work, but worth every second.

Coconut Crust Is Not Coconut Tart

Both are Belizean, both are coconut, and they get confused constantly. They are built differently.

A coconut crust is closed. The dough is rolled into a disk, filled, folded in half and sealed, then baked flat on a cookie sheet. The filling is fresh grated coconut cooked down with sugar until it caramelizes. No condensed milk goes anywhere near it.

A Belizean coconut tart is open. It is baked in a tart pan, which is a shallower, crinkle-edged version of a muffin tin, and the filling is bound with sweetened condensed milk. If what you have in mind is the little open tart sold at the gas station counter, that is the recipe you want.

Making Coconut Crust

There are two main components of coconut crust. First, the dough is very similar to flour tortillas just with more added fats. Second, the filling is created by feel, and varies based on the baker’s taste. The filling is essentially a caramelizing process of fresh grated coconut, sugar, and spices. Making coconut crust is often done in enormous batches, some to eat, and some to sell.

Coconut Crust Shortcut: For the cheaters out there

…and I have to admit that I am often one of them! The majority of the work of coconut crusts is: cracking and grating the coconut, AND the sheer volume of crusts most people will make at once. If you want to take it easy, cut the recipe in half! If you want to take it even easier, you can use shredded coconut from the store, just make sure you buy unsweetened coconut (to be sure the ingredients should read “coconut” and nothing else). Do be warned though, if you use shredded coconut, you will have to baby your filling to rehydrate the coconut… and it still won’t be quite as good.

There is a reason fresh coconut is worth the trouble and also a reason it got harder to come by. Coconut milk and oil are staples of the Belizean Kriol kitchen, but they have become increasingly rare and expensive since lethal yellowing killed most of the country’s coconut trees in the 1990s (source). The disease is a phytoplasma that has run through palm populations across the Caribbean and Central America, Belize included (source).

Belizean Coconut Crusts Recipe

This is the version perfected by a Mayan grandmother, and it is the one we make.

Coconut Crust Filling Ingredients

• 2 coconuts, grated, about 4 cups (400 g) fresh grated meat
• 2 cups (400 g) sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla
• Freshly grated ginger root to taste, about 1 tablespoon (6 g)
• 1/2 teaspoon (1 g) nutmeg (optional)
• 1 teaspoon (3 g) cinnamon (optional)

Coconut Crust Dough Ingredients

• 1 lb (454 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/8 cup (25 g) sugar (optional)
• 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
• 1/2 cup (113 g) butter or shortening
• Coconut water as needed, roughly 3/4 to 1 cup (180 to 240 ml). If you have taken the time to make coconut milk, use the coconut milk

Step 1: Preparing the Coconut Crust Filling

1. Crack your coconut and grate all the meat.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the filling over the stovetop, on medium heat.
3. Stir constantly so that sugar does not burn. Expect 20 to 30 minutes.
4. The mixture should start to caramelize and turn brown in color. You want the consistency of the filling to be a little firmer than jam. Let it cool before you fill anything, because hot filling tears the dough.

Step 2: Preparing the Coconut Crust Dough

1. Mix the dough ingredients together by hand. Mixture should be very pliable like playdough.
2. Mix until consistent, shape into one big ball, and then pull off ping-pong-sized portions of about 1 oz (25 g).
3. Oil or spray your counter with PAM and press each of these ping-pong-sized balls into disks using your fingertips, roughly 4 inches (10 cm) across.

Step 3: Filling the Dough with Coconut Crust Filling

1. Place a spoonful of filling in the center, about 1 tablespoon (20 g), and fold the dough over it in half.
2. Press down the edges with a fork.
3. Line all your crusts up on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 400°F (200°C) oven for 12 minutes, or until the outside is golden brown.

Storage and Make-Ahead

Baked crusts keep two days in an airtight container at room temperature and about five days refrigerated. Fresh coconut is high in oil and it will eventually go rancid, so the fridge is the safer option past day two even though it firms the pastry.

They freeze well for three months, baked or unbaked. Freeze unbaked crusts flat on the tray first, then bag them, and bake from frozen with about 4 extra minutes. Baked ones come back with 8 to 10 minutes at 325°F (165°C).

The filling is the part worth making ahead. It keeps a week refrigerated in a sealed jar and it is easier to work with cold, so cook it the day before and the assembly stops feeling like a whole afternoon.

Equipment

A box grater or a food processor handles the coconut. In Belize the tool is a coconut grater, a low stool with a serrated head you straddle and scrape the half-shell against, and it is faster than either.

Use a heavy pot for the filling. Two cups of sugar over medium heat will scorch in a thin pan the moment you stop stirring, and scorched filling is not recoverable.

Two cookie sheets, and a fork you do not mind using as a crimping tool. No tart pan here. That is the other recipe.

Tips and Variations

When selecting coconuts, look for ones that are heavy and have a good amount of water inside. Save that water. It is what goes into the dough.

For a vegan version, replace the butter or shortening with coconut oil. For gluten free, replace the flour with a gluten-free flour blend. The dough is forgiving because it is pressed by hand rather than rolled.

Nutmeg and cinnamon are both optional and both common. The ginger is the one that makes it taste Belizean rather than generic, so do not skip that.

Serve them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or with a hot cup of Belizean coffee. Nutrition is estimated from standard ingredient labels, per crust, about 30 crusts to the batch.

Related Recipes

The open-shell cousin is the Belizean coconut tart, bound with sweetened condensed milk and baked in a tart pan.

For the other things Belizeans do with a grated coconut: coconut tableta, cutubrute, and coconut cream pie.

The dough here is a richer relative of our flour tortillas, and the same pressed-by-hand technique applies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Belizean coconut crust?

A folded, sealed hand pie. A soft dough disk is filled with fresh grated coconut that has been caramelized with sugar and spice, folded in half, crimped with a fork, and baked on a sheet until golden.

What is the difference between coconut crust and coconut tart?

The crust is closed and the tart is open. Coconut crust is folded and sealed and its filling is grated coconut caramelized with sugar. A coconut tart is baked in a shallow crinkle-edged tart pan and its filling uses sweetened condensed milk.

Can I use packaged shredded coconut?

Yes, but buy unsweetened, and check that the ingredient list reads coconut and nothing else. You will have to work the filling longer to rehydrate it, and it still will not be quite as good as fresh.

How do I know when the filling is done?

It turns brown as the sugar caramelizes and it stiffens. Aim for a texture a little firmer than jam, so a spoonful holds its shape on the dough instead of running to the edges. Around 20 to 30 minutes of constant stirring on medium heat.

Why did my crusts burst open in the oven?

Too much filling, filling that was still hot, or edges that were not crimped hard enough. A tablespoon is plenty, let the filling cool first, and press the fork right through to the tray.

How many does this make, and how do I scale it down?

About 30 crusts from ping-pong-sized dough balls, which is why people make it for a crowd or to sell. Everything halves cleanly. Pull smaller balls and you get more, smaller crusts.

Can I make coconut crust ahead of time?

Yes. The filling keeps a week refrigerated, and assembled unbaked crusts freeze for three months. Bake those from frozen with about 4 extra minutes.

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