Haupia Pie

Hawaii is a beautiful state with countless picturesque beaches, beautiful hikes, jaw-dropping views, and extremely hearty, delicious food! After spending a day exploring the North Shore on Oahu Island; it was an absolute treat to be able to try out the famous haupia pie from Ted’s Bakery!

Haupia is a Hawaiian gelatinous custardy coconut milk dessert that is often served up in luaus and restaurants. Coconut cream and whole milk are stirred together with corn starch in order to achieve the signature jello-like consistency of haupia, in which half the haupia is mixed in with semisweet chocolate chips. Both the coconut haupia and chocolate haupia layers are then stacked on top of each other on top of a pie crust (I used graham cracker crust for this version) and topped with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

Haupia pie could be pretty difficult to find outside of the Aloha State. Fortunately, making this unique and special dessert at home is really easy to do, so you can fill all your cravings in the meantime before your next trip to Hawaii! I hope–ia you can give this recipe a shot! This recipe was adapted from Favorite Family Recipe’s Haupia Pie.

Ingredients
-1 Nine-inch graham cracker pie crust (this version is store bought)
-1 and 2/3rds cup whole milk
-5 Tbsp corn starch
-1 fourteen oz can coconut cream
-3/4th cup cane sugar
-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips + more to shave on top
-Whipped cream (for topping)

Useful Tools
-Cheese grater or zester to shave chocolate chips

Procedure
1) In a mixing bowl, add 2/3rds cup of cold whole milk and 5 tbsp corn starch. Mix until all cornstarch has dissolved.
2) In a separate saucepan, add the coconut cream, whole milk, and sugar. Bring the saucepan to a simmer while whisking constantly.
3) While whisking, add the milk/cornstarch mixture from Step 1 slowly to the coconut cream mixture, while whisking constantly.
4) Continue whisking until mixture begins to thicken into haupia. After thickening, remove from heat and divide the haupia into two separate bowls.
5) While still hot, add the semi-sweet chocolate chips to one of the haupia bowls and mix well until chocolate is melted and homogenized with haupia.
6) Gently pour the chocolate haupia on top of the graham cracker crust. Use a rubber spatula to gently shape chocolate into an even layer
7) Gently pour the coconut haupia on top of the chocolate haupia layer. Use a rubber spatula to gently shape the haupia into an even layer without mixing into the chocolate layer.
8) Cover the pie and refrigerate for at least six hours, preferably overnight
9) When ready to serve, remove from fridge and add whipped cream and shaved chocolate on top as desired.

Observations
1) If you want to go for a marble cake look, then feel free to mix up the layers. You may have better success filling the chocolate layer first, then the coconut layer, and then using a utensil to gently mix the two layers into the “marbly look”. Don’t go and mix it all up completely as you’ll probably just end up with a large batch of chocolate haupia.
2) This recipe can be interchanged with regular pie crust as well. Or if you want to go really crazy, you can go for an Oreo crust as well. More hau-power to you!
3) Corn starch is a great thickening agent and the secret to gelatinizing our coconut and milk to form the haupia. At a molecular scale, corn starch is made of tons of starch granules that absorb water until it bursts, releasing tons of starch molecules into your liquid and ultimately thickening it. It is important to make your corn starch slurry with cold milk prior to adding to the hot coconut cream/milk mixture to avoid lumps!

References
Favorite Family Recipe’s Haupia Pie
Ted’s Bakery
Fine Cooking’s Thickeners Article