Chocolate Coconut Pecan Tart

By Melissa Clark

Chocolate Coconut Pecan Tart
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
90 minutes plus chilling
Rating
4(283)
Comments
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This dessert adds coconut and pecans to a buttery chocolate shortbread crust, which is baked it until the whole thing is glossy and crisp on top. It tastes a little like pecan pie and a little like a candy bar — which is to say perfect.

Featured in: Stalwart Thanksgiving Flavors, Make Room for a Little Chocolate

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Ingredients

Yield:8 servings
  • 1cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature
  • 60grams confectioner's sugar (about ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon)
  • 1large egg yolk
  • ¾teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 150grams all-purpose flour (about 1¼ cups)
  • 20grams Dutch-processed cocoa powder (about ¼ cup)
  • ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ⅓cup honey
  • 2tablespoons heavy cream
  • 55grams dark brown sugar (about ⅓ cup)
  • 1large egg
  • 2tablespoons bourbon
  • 30grams coconut flakes (about ½ cup)
  • 175grams whole pecans (about 1¾ cups)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

602 calories; 45 grams fat; 20 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 17 grams monounsaturated fat; 6 grams polyunsaturated fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 27 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 92 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together 8 tablespoons butter and the confectioner's sugar. Beat in the yolk until combined, then beat in the vanilla. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and ⅛ teaspoon salt. With the mixer running on low, beat in the dry ingredients until just combined. Scrape the dough into a ball and flatten into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

  2. Step 2

    On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into an 11-inch round. Transfer to a 10-inch fluted tart pan. Chill 30 minutes.

  3. Step 3

    Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line the crust with foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake 15 minutes; remove weights and foil and return crust to the oven to bake until dry to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes more. Cool.

  4. Step 4

    Melt the remaining stick of butter. In a bowl, combine butter, honey, cream, brown sugar, egg, bourbon and ⅛ teaspoon salt. Stir in the coconut and pecans. Pour filling into the crust. Bake until the top is golden brown and the filling is gently set, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Ratings

4 out of 5
283 user ratings
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Comments

Susan

I made this for a Valentine's Day dinner party and everyone LOVED it. Wonderful flavors and textures and not too sweet. I used some fresh Texan pecans that I lightly roasted before adding to recipe. Note: in the ingredients list, one stick of butter is for the crust, and one for the filling. (I started the crust recipe with both sticks of butter... when I realized my mistake, I just doubled the recipe and put the extra crust in the freezer.)

agnes

The coconut and nuts come out buttery and crunchy and delicious, and the chocolate shortbread crust makes it all just perfect.

These substitutions turned out well when I was missing some ingredients:

2 Tbsp. greek yogurt + 1 Tbsp. milk in place of heavy cream;
1/4 cup corn syrup + 2 Tbsp. molasses in place of honey and brown sugar
(I do usually prefer desserts that are slightly less sweet.)

The second time I made this I reduced the butter for the filling in half and liked it even better.

Erika

My crust came out so crumbly that even refrigerating it didn't help me roll out a cohesive disk. So, I added 2 more tbsps of butter and it became quite sticky, so I made it into a pie crust instead. Everyone loved the result, anyway.

I did cut back the amount of honey and brown sugar to just 1/4 cup, and used Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum because I didn't have bourbon. I also added some bittersweet chocolate shavings on top because my finished pie wasn't quite as pretty as the one in the NYT!

Ellen

I wonder if it would work better in a 9” pan. Even rolled thin between sheets of plastic (which I always do with tart crusts) it barely made 11 inches. I used unsweetened coconut and the tart wasn’t very sweet but with some local vanilla ice cream it was perfect and loved by all. I tried it again today and thought it was even better.

Chip Morton

Great recipe. A tweak…the coconut flakes I could buy were kind of big and chewy so ended up playing a larger role than desired. So…toasted and then chopped the coconut flakes and world order was restored.

Barbara

I have both sweetened and unsweetened coconut. I'm unclear which this recipe calls for.

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