I am speaking now to the lazy bakers, the sweet-tooth havers who, despite their love and desire for dessert, would do close to anything to avoid rolling out a fussy round of pastry: I hear you, I am you, and I have a new favorite solution.
Press-in crusts have long been marketed to our kind. The preeminent pie- and tart-base work-around, they’re crumbly mixtures dumped unceremoniously into baking vessels—no delicate transferring of dough from floured surface to pan—and smushed into every corner using the pads of your fingers before baking. Some press-in crusts are cookie- or graham-cracker-crumb-based, some are made from ground nuts, and still others are technically shortbread. They are all easier to pull off than a classic pastry crust, but usually the time and effort you save catches up with you when you take your first bite. A press-in crust is fine, maybe even good, but always plays second fiddle to your tart filling of choice.
Unless we’re talking about this press-in crust, which is worth the price of tart admission all by itself. It doesn’t require a food processor or cutting butter into flour. It’s uniquely flavorful, texturally surprising, and gluten-free, if that’s your bag. You very well may have all of the ingredients ready and waiting in your pantry right this minute.
Please welcome to the stage: coconut macaroon crust.
Coconut macaroons are regulars in my rotation of very easy, limited-ingredient back-pocket baked goods mostly because I don’t need a recipe to make them. While they can flex to accommodate whatever you have in your baking cabinet, basic macaroons are just shredded coconut held together with sugar and egg whites, dropped in heaps on a sheet pan or packed into balls. With the addition of a little butter, the mixture can be pressed into a well-greased tart pan or pie plate the same way a graham cracker crust would, and baked to create the perfect home for a fruity, chocolaty, caramelly, or custardy filling.
I came across a coconut macaroon crust for the first time as part of this pie, the brainchild of Tandem Coffee and Bakery’s resident pastry genius Briana Holt. I’d planned to make a chocolate ganache tart for a party a few years ago, but the original recipe’s flaky pastry base wouldn’t work; some of the guests were keeping kosher for Passover, so I needed an alternative. Subbing in Holt’s crust meant no extra trip to the grocery store and dirtying just one bowl. After I pulled it from the oven, all golden brown and tropically fragrant, I knew it would become a fixture in my tart game. Ever since, it’s been my go-to press-in option, surprising me over and over with its versatility and ease. It has never let me down.
What should you use to fill your coconut macaroon crust? Absolutely anything that requires a blind bake—that is, a recipe that tells your to make your shell before you fill it. Unlike pastry, a coconut macaroon crust only needs 15 to 20 minutes in the oven, so it’s perfect for tart fillings that sit at room temperature, chill, or freeze to set rather than those that need additional bake time.
Try it with a basic ganache or one with fun extras; a lemon or berry curd or lemon meringue; a custard tart with fruit toppings; an ice cream, cream cheese–based, or frozen tart; or go the original cream pie route with coconut or banana. Depending on the route I’m taking, sometimes I add the layer of chocolate that Holt’s recipe calls for spreading over the baked crust before filling it, and sometimes I skip it. Either way, every bite is like eating a cookie and a tart at the same time, which in my opinion puts all other crumbly press-in crusts to shame.
