Healthy AF Vegan Buko Pie

Desserts | Healthy Filipino | Recipes by Rezel Kealoha - October 10th, 2018 Last modified on October 11th, 2018

This Vegan Buko Pie is made with pure young coconut meat and coconut juice.  It’s a great alternative to the traditional pies this holiday season.

vegan buko pie

Virtual Merienda

Hello!  My friends and I are hosting a Virtual Merienda session.  Merienda translates to light snack.  When I was living in the Philippines this was our schedule:  Wake Up, eat breakfast and clear the table and prep for our morning merienda.  Clear the table and cook lunch, have lunch.  Clear the table for lunch and find food to eat for afternoon merienda.  Clear the table and cook dinner.  My Grandmother would shop and cook for everything that day along with her assistant.

At any given time there would be 10 or more of us at the table and depending on who you are within the family, you would either eat during the second or first shift.  Sounds so crazy right.  Usually our Merienda would just be some bread called Pandesal dipped in coffee.  Or spread with this thing called Sandwich Spread.  I don’t really know what was in it, but it was good.

Sometimes it would be a special snack that someone would of brought from their travels, either locally or from another country.

I wanted to bring my fellow Filipino American Food Bloggers together to help celebrate Filipino American History Month by having a Virtual Merienda together.  There are some lovely recipes by Kitchen ConfidanteThe Little Epicurean, Six Snippets, Lemons and Anchovies and Madeline Hall.

To our Virtual Merienda table I share with you all this Vegan Buko Pie.

Vegan Buko Pie

The key word in this pie is Buko.  It translates to young coconut in Tagalog.  The filling is simply made by creating a thick custard with the Buko juice and meat.

Buko Pie is super famous where my Dad grew up in the Philippines.  When we were living in the Philippines we would drive up to where his family is and at the end of the trip we would always stop by this particular mom and pop shop that just sold these pies.

They were super flaky and creamy and sweet.  Sometimes too sweet where you can’t even taste the coconut.

vegan buko pie

In this recipe I just let the young coconut do it’s thing and only add some vanilla to help enhance it’s flavor.

vegan buko pie

Buko Filling

To make the buko filling find the best young and fresh coconut you can find.  The hard part is breaking apart the young coconut without spilling all the juice.  I would watch this video first prior to trying to break apart a coconut.  You can also buy some young coconut meat frozen with coconut juice at some Asian Grocery Stores.  If you can hunt down a Seafood City.  They sell all the Filipino ingredients.

You need the scoop out the meat of 2 young coconuts and set that aside and place all the juice into a sauce pan.  Add in a tablespoon of vanilla paste and mix will then add in 4 Tablespoons of arrowroot powder. Cook over low to medium heat until it’s nice and thick.  It will take about 10-15 minutes.  Set aside to cool down fully.  Once cool mix in the coconut meat.

vegan buko pie

Vegan Pie Crust

I used this vegan pie crust for this recipe.  You only need half as we are just making a small 4 inch Buko Pie.

vegan buko pie

To line your tin with the dough roll out the dough so that it is one centimeter thick then turn over the pie tin and using a sharp knife trace around it to get a circle.  Repeat again to get two circles.  One to line the bottom and one to top off the pie.

Spray the cake tin with coconut oil and line with one of the circles.  Fill the pie with the filling.  Brush the sides with cold water and top with the other dough.  Using a fork crimp down to seal the pie.

vegan buko pie

Let’s Bake!

To make the pie nice and brown combine 2 tablespoons of almond milk and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup.  Brush this all over the vegan buko pie.

vegan buko pie

You can place the pie in the freezer for a hour to rest or even overnight.  To bake pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and take the pie right from the freezer to the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until the crust is nice and golden and the filling is bubbling.

Let’s Eat Vegan Buko Pie!

So that your pie does not fall apart when you cut it, you must practice restraint and let the pie cool down completely.  This helps the filling to solidify and for the crust to finish baking.

vegan buko pie

vegan buko pie

To serve I just like eating it on it’s own.  It’s a very clean fresh coconut pie as opposed to those filled with cream.

vegan buko pie

If you do like a little bit of cream on it you can top it off with some vegan coconut ice cream or some coco whip.

vegan buko pie

vegan buko pie

Don’t forget to check out what my other friends brought to the table:

Kitchen Confidante

The Little Epicurean

Six Snippets

Lemons and Anchovies

Madeline Hall

vegan buko pie

Vegan Buko Pie

This Vegan Buko Pie is made with pure young coconut meat and coconut juice. It's a great alternative to the traditional pies this holiday season.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Filipino, Vegan
Servings: 6 Slices

Ingredients

  • 1 Vegan Pie Dough Crust
  • 2 Whole Young Coconut
  • 4 Tablespoons Arrowroot Powder
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Paste
  • 2 Tablespoons Almond Milk
  • 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

Instructions

  • Make the Vegan Pie Crust using this recipe.
  • Make the filling by reserving the coconut juice and scooping out the young coconut meat. 
  • Place the coconut juice, arrowroot powder and vanilla paste in a sauce pan and bring to a slight simmer.  Cook until the coconut juice is nice and thick.  About 15-20 minutes.  Take off the heat and add in the coconut meat.  Leave to cool completely.
  • To line your tin with the dough roll out the dough so that it is one centimeter thick then turn over the pie tin and using a sharp knife trace around it to get a circle. Repeat again to get two circles. One to line the bottom and one to top off the pie.
    Spray the cake tin with coconut oil and line with one of the circles. Fill the pie with the filling. Brush the sides with cold water and top with the other dough. Using a fork crimp down to seal the pie.
  • To make the pie nice and brown combine 2 tablespoons of almond milk and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. Brush this all over the vegan buko pie.
  • You can place the pie in the freezer for a hour to rest or even overnight.
  • To bake pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and take the pie right from the freezer to the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until the crust is nice and golden and the filling is bubbling.
  • Cool completely before cutting a slice. 
Did you enjoy making it? I would love to see it! Tag me on Instagram @rezelkealoha with the #rezelkealoha!
Share This Post:
You Might Also Like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • @rezelkealoha