- Let me set the scene here because this is an amazing day.

So Yelapa, you go down for the day, eat pie, go home.

- That sounds perfect.

- I mean, the perfect vacation.

- Let's recreate it right now.

We're gonna mix this filling together.

It is so incredibly easy.

We're gonna do it right in a blender.

- So that does look perfect.

- Looks like a giant macaroon cookie.

- It's actually really tender, but it's strong.

- It is strong.

- Mm!

It's like chocolate pudding pie.

Doesn't that look gorgeous?

- Yeah.

- Man is that good.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - When I was first told about the pies of Yelapa, this is a small town, it's on the Pacific coast of Mexico, just south of Puerto Vallarta, I fell in love with the concept of standing in the water and eating pie out of hand.

So I went there, I met the baker, Augustina Garcia Lorenzo, and her son Gustavo Lorenzo Garcia, who actually sells the pies by the slice to tourists on the beach.

I was even more taken by their stories as well as their pies.

So this week, we travel to this really magical town, Yelapa, to taste Augustina's sweet corn pie, her chocolate pie, and finish with her coconut macaroon pie, all three recipes that you can make at home.

Please stay tuned.

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♪ ♪ (speaking Spanish) - Today on Milk Street, we're going to search for the pies of Yelapa.

First of all, we have to get to Yelapa, which is down the coast from Puerto Vallarta.

♪ ♪ You can't get here by car, at least most of the year.

You have to drive south and grab a small boat into town.

♪ ♪ When you first come into this little harbor, you see some fishing boats, but you see a lot of tourists.

♪ ♪ But this morning we walked about half an hour to Yelapa, and it's a very different world.

There's a wonderful elementary school and a kindergarten being built.

There's a river that runs through it.

It's a town that's famous for many things, but especially for its pies.

Coconut pies, corn pies, chocolate pies.

Its pies have been made here for over 40 years by Augustina and Gustavo, her son, who came back to town, now sells the pies on the beach slice by slice.

♪ ♪ (speaking Spanish) Sure.

Thank you very much.

My mom, they are very famous.

I explain to the people, So you know what, this is the same pie for my mama for almost 44 years.

Sorry, ladies, you want some pie?

Original pie lady.

These are good pies and it's never difficult to sell this pie because my mom is the original pie lady.

Thank you.

Thank you.

- (speaking Spanish) - This is corn pie, believe it or not.

I think it would be my favorite.

♪ ♪ It's custardy, it's creamy, it's smooth, the crust is really flaky.

Slightly warm.

You know, the beach, pies, and great cooks, what more could I want?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ So Yelapa, which is on the Pacific coast of Mexico, south of Puerto Vallarta, about 45 minutes by boat, it's really magical.

It's hard to describe.

Is it the light?

Is it the people?

It's just this amazing little place.

But Gustavo Lorenzo Garcia, I was so taken by this guy because he used to work in Puerto Vallarta.

He came back after a couple of years to sell his mother's pies.

And so I followed him down the beach, and what he would say is, "My name is Gustavo Lorenzo Garcia, the son of Augustina Garcia Lorenzo, and I'm proud to be selling her pies."

And he meant it.

You don't see that very often, you know.

So I'm in love with that place.

I'm in love with Gustavo, and Augustina, and these pies.

And the three that I really liked was the corn pie is amazing, the coconut pie is also amazing, and a chocolate pie.

But, you know, they're designed for eating out of hand, right?

- Yeah.

And in order to be able to do that, you need a really sturdy crust.

So what we're going to be making right now is called a hot water crust, and it's one of the simplest pie crusts I've ever made.

You're going to add quarter cup of water into that pot right there.

- I always feel like I'm one of your kids when this is like... - Yeah, I feel like that too, Chris.

That's a quarter cup of shortening.

And then four tablespoons, which is also a quarter cup, of salted butter.

- Okay.

- And then you're just going to heat that on medium high heat, and you want to bring it to a simmer, and you're going to stir it periodically because you want the fat in there to melt at the same time the water comes to a simmer.

You don't want to just let it simmer away, because then your water's going to evaporate, and then your ratios will be off.

So while we're waiting for that to go ahead and melt, over here, we have a cup and a half of all-purpose flour.

Just going to add to that a quarter teaspoon of table salt.

I'm just going to whisk that together.

- So could you just describe what kind of pie dough this is versus the typical cut-the-butter-into-the-flour dough?

- Yeah.

It's still flaky and, you know, and sandy, but it's a little bit sturdier, which makes it really perfect for these custard-based fillings that we're going to be making.

So I'm just going to make a little well in the flour.

Okay, Chris, that looks great.

And we can go ahead and add that to our flour mixture.

Pour it right in the center.

That's great.

And then I'm just going to stir this together.

- Well, that beats cutting in cold butter.

in terms of technique.

- To the exact perfect, you know, amount and then, yeah, adding ice cold water.

So I'm just going to keep on stirring until you don't see any dry flour bits anymore.

It kind of is going to look like mashed potatoes, and that is pretty much it.

- So I have to say, it doesn't look, at this point, promising.

(Erika laughs) I mean... - You need to have faith.

This is going to actually bake up into a nice and flaky pie crust.

- All these years we've been baking together, I trust you.

- Do you trust me?

Finally.

- Now finally.

- Okay, 20 years later, my work here is done.

Okay, so now we're ready to roll out the crust.

Going to take a large piece of plastic wrap.

Just lay this down.

- Now you need plastic wrap because it's so sticky?

It is really sticky.

- Yeah.

- And this way we don't have to use any additional flour to roll it out.

I'm just going to pat it into a disc.

Just kind of helps me get a nice round shape, about six inches.

All right, I'm going to put another piece of plastic wrap right on top.

Great.

And then we're just going to roll this out into a 12-inch circle.

And it's really soft.

You want to be pretty gentle when you're rolling it or else it'll smush right down.

It's so nice about this plastic, you can just, you know, pick it up and move it around if you want to.

And I kind of work from the center and gently push out.

- Yeah.

A lot of people, when they start doing pie dough, they keep rolling over the center, which overworks the center.

- Right, and you end up with like really thin edges and a kind of fat center.

And I would say this is about a quarter-inch thick.

And then we're just going to peel off that top layer of plastic wrap.

Now we're just going to pick it up.

I like to pick it up by two corners.

- Mm-hmm.

- And then you're just going to gently lay it into the pie plate.

Still have the plastic wrap on top of it.

And I'm just going to use my fingers to gently ease it into the corners.

This is very forgiving, so you don't need to totally like stress if it falls apart a little bit.

When that's done, just peel this off.

And then these pieces, I'm just going to patch these back together.

And use up all those bits.

I don't want to waste any.

Okay, and then I'm just going to go around and just pinch the sides.

See, it's looking better already, Chris.

(Erika laughs) It's really interesting.

It's sticky, but it's also greasy, so it's not really sticking to my fingers.

- Okay.

- Great.

- Great.

And then when that's done, we are going to line it with some foil.

And again, because this is so soft, you do want to be sort of careful.

I try to get it right in the center.

I push down in the center and then I gently work the foil out to the edges so that you don't... - Crush the edges.

- Yeah, that beautiful thing that I just worked on.

♪ ♪ I kind of lift it up, ease it down into the edges because that's where you really want to make sure the dough doesn't slide down.

And then once it's in, then I put it back over the edges, keeps them from over-browning.

And then we're going to fill this with quite a lot of pie weights.

We're going to do at least two cups.

If you don't have these really great ceramic weights, you can use rice, you can use dried beans.

This really helps to keep the sides from sliding down because it is such a kind of a slippery dough.

- Yeah, A couple of years ago, I started using so many pie weights that actually come up all the way.

And that also is actually not a bad tip.

- It's not.

No, it's great.

Sometimes it really does help.

So this is going to go into a 375 degree oven.

We're going to bake it for 20 minutes.

I'm going to take out the weights and then I'm going to gently just poke the bottom with a fork and that just prevents any bubbles from forming while we finish baking it for about another 12 to 15 minutes, just until it's lightly browned.

- So I have a question.

- Yes.

- So 20 minutes, because everyone's oven's different, how do you know the 20 minutes is fine?

- What I go by is I kind of... it doesn't really start to brown very much at that point, but it will look sort of matte.

It won't look like raw dough anymore.

- But if it's soft, you need to keep the foil on for another couple of minutes.

- Yeah.

- Right.

Okay.

- Mm-hmm.

Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and put this in the oven and then we're going to get started on our corn filling.

♪ ♪ - So let me set the scene here because this was an amazing day.

So there's this little cove, Yelapa, and their house is right above the rocks, and they had all their pies laid out.

And I had to eat... well, "had."

- You had to eat all of them.

- I had to eat all of them.

But the corn pie was clearly my favorite.

It had the, I think, the best texture.

the corn flavor was interesting, but it wasn't overpowering.

- Mm-hmm.

- It was really good.

You know, what a great day.

You go down for the day, eat pie, go home.

- That sounds perfect.

- I mean, the perfect vacation.

- Let's recreate it right now.

- So this is the corn pie.

- Yeah.

And here we have our beautiful baked crust.

As you can see, turned out pretty nice, right?

- Looks good.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

And so we're going to mix this filling together.

It is so incredibly easy.

We're going to do it right in a blender.

So we're going to go ahead and start.

Here I have two-and-a-half cups of fresh corn.

You're going to need about three ears of corn to get this.

Fresh is really much, much better.

And I'm sure that's what they used in Mexico.

If you can't get fresh, you can also use frozen.

You just want to thaw it first and then pat it dry to get rid of some of that extra moisture.

Okay, and to the corn I'm going to add a cup of milk.

This is whole milk.

Add half a cup of white sugar.

And add two tablespoons of cornstarch.

This is going to help set the pie up so it'll be thick enough for us to pick up.

- You know, I love blenders because in Mexican cooking, even in baking, so many things start in the blender.

- Mm-hmm.

- Which is really easy.

- It is easy.

Yeah, it's great.

It's a great tool.

And then I'm going to add last four eggs.

Okay and that's it.

I'm going to go ahead and blend this until everything's really well combined.

It's going to take about one minute.

(blender whirring) (whirring stops) Okay, this looks great.

Now I'm going to pour this over the strainer, and I'm going to have you press really, really hard.

Get all of the liquid out as much as possible.

With that spatula, yeah, just go ahead and press really hard.

Thank you for doing all of the hard work for me.

- What Erika is thinking, but not saying out loud is you got to keep going.

(Erika laughing) This isn't enough.

Yeah, I know, I can just tell you.

You get that intense, you know, quiet.

- Yeah.

- Okay, I think we're good.

There you go.

Now we're just going to add the last few ingredients.

I've got a quarter teaspoon table salt here.

And a teaspoon each of lemon juice-- just adds some nice brightness-- and vanilla extract.

Just going to stir that in.

- Now, if you didn't have a sturdy crust, this is very liquid.

- Yes.

- And it would sog out.

- Yeah.

Or seep through.

- That's a professional term.

Yeah, it would be a big mess.

But this crust looks great.

I'm just going to pour this in.

Thank you.

♪ ♪ - So you needed that height on the side.

- Yeah, I think you're right, yeah.

So this is it, and now this is going to go into a 325-degree oven, and it's going to bake for about 55 to 60 minutes.

And what you want to look for is that it's just going to jiggle a little bit, and that's when you know that it's set and pretty done.

- Just in the center jiggle or the whole pie?

- The whole pie.

Because we have the cornstarch in there and that helps set it all up, so.

I'm going to carefully take this to the oven.

- I was going to say you better tread softly right now.

♪ ♪ So that does look perfect.

Doesn't that look gorgeous?

- Yeah.

- And I love the color.

So this had baked for almost an hour and then let it cool to room temperature, and then I actually chilled it for at least two hours in the refrigerator, so it's nice and set.

You ready to try it?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

♪ ♪ You can already see, though, how nicely set up this filling is.

♪ ♪ I mean, look at that, it's set up beautifully.

It's nice and creamy, but it's still sturdy enough.

And the crust is actually quite tender.

- Yeah, that's the thing, you know, I thought the crust was going to be tough because the way the butter and shortening went into it.

- Mm-hmm.

- It's actually really tender.

But it's strong.

- It is.

It is strong.

- Man, is that good.

- So, Chris, I'm going to go, and I'm going to make those other two pies that you mentioned.

I'm going to go make the chocolate pie, and I'm going to make the coconut pie.

Because clearly you need some more pie.

- And the coconut-- I clearly need more pie.

I mean, and the coconut's unusual because it's almost like a coconut macaroon.

It's a little thicker.

It's very different.

- Yeah, it's very different than like, a coconut cream pie.

- And everybody loves chocolate pie.

- Yes.

- So I'll be back when you're done.

- Okay, great.

I'll see you then.

- Because I want two more pieces of pie.

(Erika laughs) ♪ ♪ Okay, so as promised, I'm now going to show you how to make the Yelapa-style chocolate pie.

This is a super easy pie to put together.

We're going to go ahead and get started.

Here I have a cup and a half of white sugar.

I'm going to add to this a half a cup of Dutch processed cocoa powder.

You can use natural cocoa powder, but we really, really like the deep, dark color that the Dutch processed cocoa adds.

And then to that I'm going to add three tablespoons of cornstarch.

Make sure I get it all.

And we're also going to add a quarter cup of all-purpose flour.

And the reason we're adding both of these starches is because it's really important for this pie to set up nice and thick, because, remember, we're supposed to be able to pick up these pieces of pie and eat them out of hand.

And then last we're going to add three quarters of a teaspoon of table salt.

And I'm going to go ahead and whisk this together just to make sure we break up any lumps of either the cocoa powder or the cornstarch.

Okay, and now we're going to add eight egg yolks.

So, remember, this is a custard pie.

And then two-and-a-half cups of whole milk.

Go ahead and whisk this together.

Sort of poke down on the yolks to break them up a little bit.

Okay, and so once that's all incorporated, I'm going to transfer this over to my pot that I have on the stove.

And this is a twice-cooked filling.

So we're going to get it started on the stovetop, and then it's going to bake again in the oven because we want it to be really set.

And I'm going to cook this over medium heat.

You want to make sure that you're whisking this constantly.

You don't want any parts of it to overcook.

And you want to make sure you get the whisk all the way deep into the corners of the pot.

I can tell it's getting close when it starts to steam a little bit, and you can feel the mixture thickening.

You want it to thicken into about the texture of, like, sour cream or like a Greek-style yogurt.

All right.

it's just starting to bubble along the edges, and it's definitely getting thicker.

So I'm going to go ahead and turn off the heat.

(stovetop beeps) Now I want to quickly strain this mixture.

And you don't want to wait because it's going to thicken and set up.

Okay.

And we're going to strain it.

So I'm just pressing down to get it through the strainer.

We want to make sure we don't have any lumps from the flour or the cornstarch or any, like, little cooked eggy bits.

We want the texture to be velvety smooth.

And then I just want to make sure that I scrape off the part of the filling that's stuck on the bottom of the strainer.

We don't want to lose that bit.

Okay.

Great.

And last, I'm just going to add one tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Just gonna stir that in.

Oh, my gosh, this smells so good already.

Okay, and that's it.

Now it's ready to go into our crust.

Again, this is the same hot water crust that we are using for all the pies.

It is nice and sturdy.

♪ ♪ Just gonna scrape that into the center.

♪ ♪ Okay.

Now I'm just going to spread this into an even layer.

Now, if you're filling is a little bit thinner than this, you won't have to use a spatula.

You can just tilt the pie.

It'll even out into a nice, smooth layer.

Okay, that looks great.

So now I'm ready to go ahead and put this in the oven.

I'm going to bake it at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes until it's set.

♪ ♪ Okay, so while our chocolate pie is in the oven baking, I'm going to go ahead and get started on our coconut macaroon pie, which is one of my favorites.

For this pie, want to make sure that you use unsweetened coconut, or else it'll be far too sweet.

We really like this nice, finely desiccated unsweetened coconut.

If you could only find the kind that has larger shreds, just make sure you break those down a little bit.

Either you could do that in a blender, you could do it in a food processor, or else the whole thing is going to be too stringy and mealy.

Okay, so we're going to start by blending a portion of the unsweetened coconut.

And the reason we're doing this just gives the pie a much smoother texture.

So this is a cup and a half of coconut.

I'm going to add to that one cup of white sugar.

Add a tablespoon of cornstarch.

Again, we want to make sure we add our thickening agent.

I'm going to add three quarters of a teaspoon of table salt.

We have a teaspoon of vanilla.

And a tablespoon of lime juice, which just helps brighten up the filling.

And then last, I'm going to add, this is one 14-ounce can of regular coconut milk.

You want to make sure that you don't buy the light coconut milk.

You also definitely don't want to get the cream of coconut.

That's a totally different product that'll be way too sweet and cloying.

Okay, so now we're going to blend this really well for, like, one to two minutes.

(blender whirring) (whirring stops) You may have to stop halfway through and just scrape down the sides of the blender.

Make sure you get any dry pockets of coconut, which I do have.

(blender whirring) (whirring stops) Okay, so it's been about two minutes.

This looks great.

Now I'm just going to add four whole eggs.

And we're just going to blend this till they're incorporated.

It's about ten seconds.

(blender whirring) (whirring stops) Okay, that's it.

Going to go ahead and pour this in our mixing bowl.

And scrape out the blender.

Want to get all the good bits.

Okay, now we're going to add the rest of the coconut.

This is another cup of coconut, because, again, this is a coconut macaroon pie.

Just going to mix this together.

Once that's all mixed, we're just going to transfer this, again, to our hot water pie crust.

♪ ♪ Just made it.

Okay, so this is ready to go in the oven.

We're going to bake this at 350 degrees.

It's going to bake for 55 to 60 minutes.

You want to look for it to start browning on the edges, and it's going to be nice and domed in the center.

And as soon as our pie is done baking, Chris is going to come back, and we're going to get to taste both of them.

♪ ♪ - You've been busy.

- I know, right?

- Evidently.

- These look great.

I'm super excited to try these.

Look at this.

Looks like a giant macaroon cookie.

- Mm.

In a crust.

- Mm-hmm.

In a crust.

And the chocolate one, I mean, you can't get past that color.

It just looks absolutely divine.

You ready to try them?

- Yeah.

- Okay, great.

If you wouldn't mind, I'm going to have you go ahead and slice up the coconut pie, and I will work on the chocolate pie.

- That means this is a hard one, right?

(Erika laughs) - I know you.

- I would never.

Crust is so sturdy.

Oh, that looks amazing.

All right.

Look at this chocolate.

Would you like some whipped cream with your chocolate?

- I would.

- There you go.

- Thank you so much.

This one's perfect.

- All right, I'm going to go coconut first.

- Mm!

- Mm.

- It's like chocolate pudding pie.

- It's rich, but it's not overwhelming.

This has, like, really nice, deep chocolate flavor, but the texture is light.

It's so good.

- Those are really good.

And the crust is crisp, strong, but it's also tender.

- Mm-hmm.

- At the same time.

- Yup.

It's perfect for these pies.

- Mm.

So three great pies from Yelapa-- corn pie, which is unusual, but actually is terrific.

A really tender, chocolatey, but not overly chocolatey chocolate pie.

And a coconut pie that is very much like a coconut macaroon except very light as well.

- Yeah.

- And a crust that's really easy to make and is tough enough to stand up but is also tender.

So if you'd like to get these recipes, all the recipes from this season of Milk Street Television, go to MilkStreetTV.com.

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- Funding for this series was provided by the following: - That meal.

You sautéed, you seared, and you served, cooking with All-Clad, bonded cookware designed, engineered, and assembled in the U.S.A. for over 50 years.

All-Clad, for all your kitchen adventures.

♪ ♪