Vegan Dark Chocolate Coconut Pies
Vegan Dark Chocolate Coconut Pies- all you need is 5 ingredients to make these decadent mini chocolate pies! (gluten-free + grain-free)
One of my all time favorite desserts is chocolate pie, better known as French Silk pie. There’s just something about the way the decadent, creamy chocolate melts in your mouth that seems to make all of your worries wash away.
But of course, like most prepared foods that I take the time to investigate, the ingredient list is usually full of unrecognizable ingredients. In attempt to make a somewhat healthier version, I set out to bake my own chocolate pie at home. Then as I paged through all of the traditional recipes, I found that most recipes use raw eggs, loads of butter, sugar and heavy cream. I honestly can’t tell you the last time I bought butter or heavy cream and the thought of eating raw eggs makes me gag a little.
Recently I found myself perusing Marin Mama’s site and saw a recipe for a dark chocolate pie made with a coconut crust that stopped me in my tracks. As a lover of dark chocolate and coconut, I absolutely had to make this happen in my kitchen. Jackie’s recipe didn’t have any added sugar or raw eggs; just heavy cream and butter which I could easily replace with vegan margarine and coconut cream.
Somehow after moving through three different states, I managed to lose my pie dish but the recipe worked fine as mini pies made in my muffin tin.
The tricky part is that the coconut can burn pretty easily, so you have to get fancy and cover the parts on the edges with tin foil so that they don’t burn in the oven.
I cooked mine for ten minutes with the foil on and then five more without the foil but I’m sure you could cook it less or more depending on how crispy you like the coconut.
The crust comes out with slightly crunchy edges but the inside still has that delicious soft and chewy coconut texture.
And I think the chocolate filling speaks for itself. It’s not as light and airy as French silk pie but it’s still creamy and chocolately enough to satisfy the craving.
Vegan Dark Chocolate Coconut Pies
Yield: 10 mini pies
Prep Time: 30
Cook Time: 15
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
- 6 tablespoons dairy-free butter
- 2 tablespoon unrefined coconut oil
- 24 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
- 12 ounces dark chocolate
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can regular coconut milk
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F then grease or line a non-stick muffin tin. If your pan isn’t non-stick then you will need to use liners.
Place 1 cup of the coconut into a food processor along with the vegan butter and coconut oil. Pulse for thirty seconds until the butter appears blended with the coconut. Remove the mixture and place it into a large bowl with the remaining coconut. Combine everything with your fingers until it is mixed together well.
Taking a few tablespoons of the coconut mixture at a time, press it into the muffin tin, shaping it up the sides to form a crust. Continue until you have used all of the mixture which should make ten mini pies. Cover muffin tin with a sheet of tinfoil and then feel for the center of each one and poke a hole with a sharp knife. Pull the tinfoil back so that hole is about 2 inches in diameter.
Bake in the oven for ten minutes then remove foil and cook for another five minutes until light golden brown. The coconut can burn easily if you don’t keep an eye on it, so be sure to stay in the kitchen while you’re baking the crust.
Make the filling while the crust is cooking by warming a sauce pan over medium heat. Pour the coconut milk into the pot and heat until it starts to bubble. Chop your chocolate with a knife or break it apart with your fingers then add it to the saucepan. Turn the heat to low and whisk until chocolate and coconut cream are well-combined. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Pour about 1/4 cup of the chocolate mixture into each muffin tin then put it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours. When you are ready to remove them from the muffin tin, you will have to use a butter knife to release the edges. Serve with coconut whipped cream and/or chopped nuts and enjoy!
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or cool room temperature for up to one week. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Did you try this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out by leaving a comment below or sharing a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #makingthymeforhealth. I love hearing your feedback!
wow, these look incredible… and such a SHORT ingredient list… definitely surprised me.
so… why no real butter or cream? just curious :)
I’ll eat butter or cream when I’m out to eat but I don’t buy it at home mainly because of health reasons. I always try to find ways to substitute with healthier fats and I actually like the taste of Earth Balance better than real butter. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with real butter though. It’s definitely a healthier option than margarine with partially hydrogenated oils.
Oh wow these look amazing! And I love how few ingredients they have. Love all your substitutions, although I have to say I much prefer regular butter to Earth Balance – I tried to switch to Earth Balance for a while, but ended up throwing it all out. Your scrappiness is amazing with the muffin tins :) These look dangerously easy to make!
Love the combination chocolate/coconut too. And above all, I love the idea of the coconut/pastry!!! Cooking with the foil… great tips.
Ok seriously… I’m trying to stop eating soo much coconut!! Haha kidddding.. I’ll never stop, and these look so delicious!! Chocolate and coconut will always be my fav duo. Have a great Halloween and goodluck at the dentist ;)!
What?? A coconut crust! That sounds soooo good! I was expected to see a lot of ingredients when I got to the recipe … but that’s definitely not so! Love this!
So I’m not a huge pie person, but I’m all for a chocolate filling….and the reason why I don’t usually like pies is because of the crust, so the fact that you made this with a coconut crust is amazing! I basically just want to dive in headfirst.
Wow, these are seriously amazing!!! I really, really want a few of these right now! ;-)
I love that these are bite size deserts. I prefer them over making huge pies and such. Great post!
Oh this looks so delicious! Yum yum yum! I am dressing up at work with my team!
These do look dangerously delicious. Coconut and chocolate is one of my favorite combination in a dessert. My entire team at work is dressed up and I’m taking my daughter trick or treating tonight.
These are amazing … like French Silk Pie meets Almond Joys (two guilty pleasures I totally adore)! :D Brilliant! I also love your technique using foil to protect the coconut – excellent tip! Happy, happy Halloween … and good luck at the dentist (egads)!
OMG are these even real?! I’ll take twelve please!
I love the crispy crust, the flavor combo and the short ingredient list!! These are too perfect to be true! And your pictures are all mouth-watering. The last one, I’m drooling!
I’m not dressing for Halloween because it is no big deal where I live, but happy Halloween to you anyway! x
Everyone is making such delicious goodies this week and I’m over here excited about Kiwi and Lara Bars, hehe!! Yum!
I’m a huge fan of short ingredient lists. These look amazing! I’m not dressing up for Halloween or really doing anything except passing out candy tonight. Coco the black cat is more than ready to play her part tonight and scare the little kids!
Amazing photos and recipe. and only 5 ingredients? WOW. I’m afraid to check out Marin Mama’s site because you have officially made 3 of her recipes which means I won’t be able to leave there without having bookmarked at last 6 and my pinterest is already overflowing and I still need to make your pumpkin muffins and quinoa chilli. So many recipes! So little time grrr
Wow these look amazing! I love the small list of ingredients too! Incredible :)
These look fan-flippin-tastic! I love a good chocolate pie…butter…cream…and all! I’m always willing to try a healthy version of the real stuff, though. :)
We have no plans tonight; just handing out I hope SOME candy. This is the first year we are actually home on Halloween. I’m looking forward to eating some butterfingers and airheads and watching scary movies. :)
Chocolate and coconut are my newest pairing obsession. Seriously amazing. I love these cute little pies too – I can only imagine how easy they are to eat ;)
Oh my gosh. You have outdone yourself with this one!! I can’t believe how short the ingredient list is…definitely looks like it wouldn’t be too difficult! I am going to make these for our work Thanksgiving lunch :-)
Girl! These look amazing! I always thought about putting them in muffin tins, as they would be great to take to a party. I’m so going to do that for Thanksgiving and bring them down to my friends. We made this pie last year instead of the traditional thanksgiving pie and it was a hit! People are ready for a break from the traditional apple and pumpkin pies. I’m so going to link to you on my post for this vegan version! xoxo, Jackie
Thanks Jackie! It was a great recipe so thank you for sharing it! Have a great weekend! :)
I just linked my recipe over to yours. BTW, my hubby saw your image and he was begging me to make this pie up in muffin form. So, I guess I know what I’ll be doing next week ;) Also, your photos are amazing and I’m totally pinning this recipe! xoxo, Jackie
Thanks for the link love, girl! They’re a little more tedious to make in muffin form but they look cute, haha. And they freeze well too!
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WOW. You have no idea how excited I am for this recipe…it’s everything I’ve ever wanted :) I love chocolate pies and this just looks perfect!
Coconut cream pie is my favorite, so I LOVE this light chocolate and coconut version of creamy pie!!
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This looks ridiculously good.. I’m bookmarking this recipe. So delicious… I love coconut and chocolate, total Almond Joy moment.
They look so decadent! I can’t believe they are vegan!
How ’bout you ship some of these over to me?
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OMG these look insanely good! I just recently found your blog and I’m loving all the vegan recipes. I think I have all the ingredients for these at home. This is going on my list of recipes to make…woo!
Thanks Emily! Just a heads up, you will have to use a butter knife to get them out of your muffin tin so it can be tedious. If you prefer a little less work, you can just make one large pie instead. I hope you like them if you try them!
Hi! These look amazing! How long do they last? Stored in the fridge? What is the best way to store them?
Hi Jessica! Sorry I didn’t specify that. They can be stored at room temperature (if you live in a cool environment) or the refrigerator in an air tight conatiner. I actually froze some of them and then defrosted them later and they tasted great.
They should last for up to a week but if you freeze them then I would say three months. Hope that helps! :)
This recipe looks delicious. I’ll be trying it this weekend, but I’m wondering what I could use in place of Earth Balance. I’m in a rural area and local stores don’t carry it. Could I use coconut oil in place?
I think it would work if you kept a close eye on the crust because it might cook faster/slower. Also, I’m not sure the crust would hold together as well but you could half the recipe and give it a trial run. Worst case scenario, you have to eat them falling apart. I’m sure they’d still taste good! :)
I tried it with coconut oil and it worked very well. Next time I think I’ll use half of the chocolate to line the coconut cups and then use the rest to dip berries in and fill the cups with the chocolate covered berries. Thanks again!
I’m happy to hear it worked out! I bet they will be delicious with the berries. Great idea!
Is 32 oz. correct on the coconut? It made enough for two muffin pans. Their baking now so we’ll see if it’s a problem. I also used unsweetened coconut. Will that be a problem, you think?
Hi Kerri, that is the correct amount of sweetened coconut but I’m not sure it would be the same for unsweetened because I haven’t tried it. I might have added a little maple syrup or brown rice syrup for sweetness and to help it stick together but I think it should still work out okay. Hopefully it does!
these look lovely!
question: why does the coconut milk need to be chilled when you’re cooking it?
Thanks Andie! It’s so that you can separate the cream. But you could always use a can of coconut cream instead of coconut milk and skip that step. :)
Hi! I would love to make these, but I’m a bit confused about the measures. Being a European, I use the metric system (grams and kilograms) or cups. 32 ounces converts to almost 1 kilogram of shredded coconut.. that seems like a lot! Is this correct? And/or can you give me a volume measure (cups of shredded coconut)? Thanks in advance!
Hi Kawire! Sorry for the confusion. It should come out to 4 cups of shredded coconut. I know it sounds like a lot but it doesn’t go very far when you’re using it as a crust. I hope you enjoy them! :)
You judge Earth Balance as a healthier fat than butter-what evidence are you basing that judgement on?
Hi Samantha! It wasn’t my intention to make the claim that Earth Balance is a healthier fat than butter. I’m sorry if it came off that way. I never buy butter because my husband refuses to eat it and he prefers the flavor or Earth Balance. However, I do think coconut milk is better option than heavy cream which is why I said that these are slightly healthier.
There is research out there that goes both ways regarding animal fats vs. plant-based so at the end of the day, I think it’s just a matter of personal preference and opinion. :)
Well these are just beautiful and perfect and I must make them right away!
Thanks Deryn! :)
I just made these and they turned out great! The amount of shredded coconut confused me though. I used a regular muffin tin with 3-4 tablespoons of the crust mixture in each cup. But I had so much of it left over. Am I missing something with the measurements?
Hi Aimee! I’m happy to hear they turned out good for you! I’m not sure why there was so much coconut left over…I guess it could depend on the brand or style you used (sweetened vs. unsweetened). Sorry for the confusion!
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