My wife begged me to make something good this week. She’d smelled too much meat cake and seen too much cottage cheese orangeade this past month. I don’t often seek out the best-tasting recipes because that’s not what I do here — I seek out the unbelievable, the indescribable, the olive & jello combinations. But I did her a solid and sought out deliciousness. If you’re going to recreate a potentially-good-tasting recipe, it should at least come from a famous chef. Everyone knows this chef. It’s President Barack Obama’s Crustless Coconut Pie.

Chef Barack Obama

Democratic President from Illinois

As always, I followed the recipe word for word from the leader whose vice president made one of my favorite dishes, no alterations:

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup margarine or butter

1.5 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup self-rising flour

3.5 oz flaked coconut

1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated

1 tsp vanilla

Whipped cream, thin slices of lime or lemon, or sprig of mint, for garnish (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream margarine (or butter) and sugar with mixer, then add eggs one at a time.

2) Add milk and flour until blended.

Even with the other ingredients, this seems like it’ll be pretty…eggy. I used those (supposedly) good eggs with orange yolks, and the mixture began to look deeply yellow.

3) Stir in coconut, nutmeg, and vanilla.

Don’t skip the fresh-grated nutmeg. Huge difference between that and pre-ground. It’s like fancy coffee vs. Folgers, plus the grating made me feel very professional.

4) Pour mixture into a pie pan and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and barely jiggling when moved.

Went 48 minutes until it was perfectly browned and not a lick of jiggle.

5) Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Garnish as desired. Makes 8 servings.

The waiting is always the hardest part.

Voila! If you want to actually watch me attempt to eat it, go to the CwC Instagram or TikTok. This recipe left my home smelling incredible, redolent of a tropical bakery — toasted coconut all through the downstairs. You can see why — the perfectly browned surface is the visual hero, and also the flavor hero as well. The top layer of toasty coconut gives way to a second layer of spiced, softer coconut blended with a spongey mixture. Then finally, on the bottom, an eggy custard-like “filling” that looked like starfish skin if you flipped it over. The dessert is almost like a crust on top of a cake on top of a custard, with gentle difference between layers instead of strict striation. I enjoyed the top layer the most, but a bite with all three is also a delight — not cloying, not mild — just enough of everything to make me want more.

Verdict:

I’m into it. It’s custardy on the bottom, toasty on the top. There are definitely distinct layers of flavor and texture, and I can’t blame someone for disliking the final one if you’re not into eggs, but I found it delicious. The fresh-grated nutmeg tied it all together.