The coconut filling

• The texture of the buko is very important in the success of this recipe. Choose young coconuts that have a generous amount of meat yet but are still very tender.
• Carefully remove the meat using a spoon instead of a shredder for whole and chunky pieces instead of thin strips.

The pie crust

• The pie pastry uses lard, but you can substitute unsalted butter or vegetable shortening (Crisco) if you prefer a healthier fat.
• If substituting butter, use unsalted. Butter has less fat than lard so you might have to add more to achieve the same results. For every 1/2 cup of lard, you can replace with 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon butter.
• If substituting vegetable shortening, use 1:1 as shortening and lard have almost the same amount of fat.