A Dessert For My Soul....Tastes Like A Million Bucks!

Before I can tell you about this pie, let me tell you why it is so near and dear to my heart.

The oldest lady in that picture? That's my MawMaw Berry. In this picture we were celebrating her 90th birthday. Due to Alzheimer's, she barely knew who most of us were unless we "introduced" ourselves. It was hard to see her like this as she was always the one to cook for the family, talk, laugh with everyone, fret to the extreme over Y2K and dote like crazy on her grandbabies. This woman was blessed with these beautiful, old, wrinkly hands that cooked us the best food in the whole world. This picture was taken February 2012.

In June 2012, just three short weeks before Jeremy and I got married, MawMaw Berry was reunited with her husband Woodrow Berry in Heaven. She lived a long and blessed life and she blessed many others. At her funeral, my mother, stepfathers, aunt, uncle, MawMaw, PawPaw, brother, sister, and cousins did our best to eat the food provided by the church, but all it did was stir up memories of when MawMaw Berry could still stand to cook.

We remembered dumplins and fried chicken and fresh butterbeans and boiled shrimp and cornbread muffins and greens and gravy... but we mostly remembered her Millionaire Pie. She didn't write down the recipe, she didn't tell anyone exactly how it was made. We had already lost our grandmother, great grandmother, mother... and now losing her recipes just added to the heartache.

Being the cookly wife that I am and using my MawMaw Berry as inspiration, I made a bold statement at that funeral dinner. "I'm gonna make that Millionaire Pie. It may not be as good, but I'm gonna make it."

This month, MawMaw Berry would have been 91 years old. Therefore, I celebrated her memory by making her pie. It's incredible how simple it was. I found this recipe off Pinterest, but it is incredibly similar to what I had from MawMaw Berry.

You'll need:
1 carton (8oz) of cool whip from the freezer section
1 (10oz) can of crushed pineapple
1 can (14oz) of Eagle Brand condensed milk
3 Tbs. of lemon juice
3/4 cup of crushed pecans (or as many pecans as you like.)
2 Graham Cracker pie crusts.

Combine cool whip, condensed milk, crushed pineapple, lemon juice, and crushed pecans in the mixer (or bowl) and mix well. It should look like the picture above. 

Pour the pie mixture into the two pie crusts..

 And refrigerate for two hours. 

When you finally cut into this heavenly piece of Millionaire Pie, it'll look like this. The longer it sits, the firmer it gets but you really cannot wait longer than two hours to taste this!

It holds together nicely, so long as you keep it refrigerated. 

It was an honor and a blessing to be able to make this pie for you. I feel like I got to spend a little time with my MawMaw Berry today. I can only hope that I'll be half the wife, homemaker, and mother that she was. Enjoy this pie my friends.

Oh, and take a moment to read up on Alzheimer's. Be aware of the dangers, the symptoms, the signs, and the treatments for Alzheimer's. I lost someone to it, but I pray you don't have to. 

Love always, 

Courtney