Mama’s Amazingly Easy Coconut Pie (That she makes for me)
Mama’s Amazingly Easy Coconut Pie is truly amazing. Delicious and Easy!
Today, I am bringing you a very special pie, for many reasons. For one, it is one of my mother’s favorite pies to make and one of my favorite pies for her to make for me! Another is the personal story behind this pie, which does get a bit depressing. So much so that I am actually putting it at the bottom of this post instead of at the top.
For now, lets just talk about the pie. This is one of the classic “impossible” pies which Bisquick came out with.
Want to know the really cool thing about this pie? You actually mix it up in your blender! With the baking mix working its magic to make the crust as it bakes, this is a great pie to let your little ones help with so they can call it their own. Just toss the ingredients in the blender and let little fingers push the buttons while you hold the lid on!
My mother did this tutorial and as you can see, she does use Bisquick! I need to buy her some more Pioneer today…
Ingredients
- 2 Cups milk
- 3/4 Cup sugar
- 1/2 Cup Baking mix
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 Cup butter or margarine
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 Cup shredded coconut
Instructions
- Put everything except for the coconut into the blender. Mix on low speed for three minutes. Pour into greased pie plate. Let rest for five minutes. Sprinkle coconut on top. Bake at 350 for forty minutes.
Nutrition
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And now the story behind this pie:
Y’all know how I am. If there is a story attached to a particular recipe, I have to share it. With that in mind, I do hope you’ll forgive the fact that this particular recipe has a rather depressing story which goes along with it.
You see, this is my favorite pie that Mama makes me. I have never actually made this pie myself, because Mama makes it for me. She doesn’t make it for my sister or my brother, or even my dad, she makes it for me.
This is exactly what she was doing when I was a month away from my daughter being born. I dropped my son off at preschool and then went to visit with Mama a bit. As I got there, she was making this pie for me as a little surprise. She had arranged to go to the Aquarium in Chattanooga later that day with my sister and nephew and wanted to make this before she left so I could take it home. We visited a bit, had a slice of pie, and then both got on with our day.
Later that afternoon I got a phone call from my grandmother.
“Christy, have you heard about Jan?”
“No, I haven’t heard anything about Mama, why?”
“She’s been in a real bad wreck, they don’t know if she’s gonna live or not, she’s trapped in the car.”
My grandmother’s voice sounded strange, as if she wasn’t fully aware of the magnitute of what she was saying.
“Alright Grandmama, I’ll find out what is going on and I’ll call you.”
I stayed calm and managed to get my father and then even my mother on her cell phone. They hadn’t started cutting her out of the car yet and she was already calling me to see if I could be at the hospital when they arrived to look after my nephew since she and my sister would be with the doctors.
It was a long ambulance drive from Scottsboro to Huntsville and I was there waiting when they arrived. My nephew had a few bruises and was pretty shook up, but fine. My sister was fine as well, both were released that day.
Mama was a different story. As a car had swerved, likely from a driver falling asleep, it had hit the front tire of my sister’s small SUV. Most cars would have been fine with such a minor impact, but this was your typical top heavy SUV. As she swerved, it began to tip…and eventually flipping an estimated five times, the length of a football field. My mother’s door came open during this and her legs had been outside of the vehicle during the flipping (I’m really not making you want to make this pie, am I?).
Her legs were broken in five different places. After a harrowing 24 hours in Huntsville Hospital in which they actually “forgot her”, I finally spoke up to the nurses and they realized that the doctor who had been scheduled to perform surgery on her legs a few short hours after she had arrived had actually clocked out and gone on vacation instead.
A wonderful doctor, Lebert, stepped in and worked alongside another surgeon to have Mama’s legs filled with the needed plates and screws in order to restore them. It had been over twenty four hours, but her surgery was done in about an hour thanks to these two surgeons who stepped in.
After two days spent almost entirely at the hospital, I came home to find this pie still in my refrigerator and ate a slice, grateful that the woman who made it was still alive.
On a sidenote: Huntsville Hospital is filled with wonderful people. They have doctors and nurses and many other staff members who are dedicated and truly care about everyone who walks through those doors. However, it’s a big hospital and patients get lost in the shuffle sometimes. IF you have to go there (or any other large hospital), do everything possible to have an advocate with you.
Long story short, after a few months of extensive physical therapy, Mama could walk again. There was a time when we weren’t sure that was going to happen. We have all been left with a new gratitude towards life and a realization of how quickly it can change – and one more reason that this pie is so special to me.
Hi, I was just reading about the coconut pie recipe and that, too, was one of my mothers wonderful pies that she use to make. My Mother passed away on Sept. 1, 2008, I was with her for months. She had endocarditis and it took her in a matter of seconds. She was my best friend and I miss her so much. I wish she could make that pie one more time.
Thanks for listening, Cathy from Charleston, Mississippi
Hey – I am an al.com follower – This recipe sounds wonderful, I will definitely try it and use my Longaberger pie plate also!
Yup – I bet this was good. I love bisquick – it’s actually how I make my cornbread – lol. It gives it that nice “cake-like” texture that us Chicagoans love so much.
Great flavors going on here – really!
-DTW
http://www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com
PS: We dont’ have Pioneer here – I’ve never heard of that before.
Christy the bisquick coconut pie is actually one of my favorites. I love the taste and the simplicity of the whole pie. That is so neat that your mama makes that just for you. What a sad story but i am so glad it all turned out wonderfully. ((hugs))
Christie Thank you for taking the time to ready! I appreciate all of your kindness, thank you.
BillGent It really is quick and easy. Makes it’s own crust, what more could ya want?
Thank you so much for sending me that story about your niece. You are right, the parallels are amazing. I’m glad we’re all okay and left with a new appreciation of moments in life that many people take for granted.
Thank you, Bill. I’m honored to have folks like you in my little community.
Stephanie LOL! I knew I couldn’t put that story at the front ! I felt bad even putting it at the ending but I honestly couldn’t see telling about this pie without telling why it meant so much to me.
Carol Thank you so very much, and thank you for reading. I truly appreciate it.
Treva I’m doing great. Had time to send you a quick email today and now I am officially caught up on emails on one of my addresses! I hope to be caught up on the other by bedtime. Thank you so much, Treva!
Kathy Wow, great to hear from you! Hehe, I appreciate the cookbook endorsement, too! Hope you’ll be a regular reader from now on! If you subscribe by email you get printable versions of every recipe sent by lil ole me at the end of each week!
Thank you so much for the compliments! Wooohoo!! I got more family on the site now!
David You are exactly right about her making the pie that day. Mama has always “known” things from time to time and I know it wasn’t a coincidence that we had such a special morning together. I’m so sorry to hear about you and Huntsville Hospital, but I’m glad you got the best of the best as your doc in the end! It’s awful that HH has such a history to it. I sincerely hope you never have to go through something like that again. Thank you so much for sharing your story, I’m glad it had a happy ending and wish you many more.
Joan Thank you so much, Joan.
About the oatmeal, have you tried adding additional water to it? Do you cook it in a water bath or straight in the crock pot itself? One option is to place your oatmeal into an oven safe bowl (like a pyrex) and sit that in your crock pot, filling water up to the sides of it, then cooking. Email me and we’ll make sure you have perfect oatmeal next time, promise!
April thank you so much, April. We really are fortunate and now we realize just how much. Everything is so fleeting.
Oh do let me know how your Mama’s visit goes. I hope she enjoys the nice cool weather up there! Have you made hoe cake before, by any chance? That recipe just speaks to the southerner’s heart!
Even if you’ve never had it before, it still somehow takes you home!
Bayou Belle Hey! You know, I am the only one who really likes coconut in my house as well. I just stick this in the fridge and work on it for about a week all by myself! it’s a tough job…but I’m dedicated !
Heather Hello! Thank you so much for reading and letting me know you like the recipes! I do have the recipes you need, if you’ll shoot me an email at christy@southernplate.com, I’ll be happy to email them to you!
Donna Hey! It happened four years ago, I’m sorry you thought it was this past weekend!! She is fine now, today is actually the four year anniversary of the accident.
Thank you so much though. I hope you are enjoying the apron!! I’m so glad you’re here, Donna!!!
Bill LOL, Bill it’s a wonder you don’t have them lined up at your door, already! I can only imagine you must live in a difficult to find area and that’s why!
Teeny thank you so very much. I really appreciate you reading and this comment is just wonderful. Thank you so much for the huge grin you gave me! I do hope you continue to enjoy Southern Plate. Let me know if you have any questions or special requests! Its great to have you here!
Tomato Lady Hey Gal! Hope you’re doing well! Pie is AWESOME!! I am about to go look in my pantry and see if I can’t throw one together for dinner tonight! I haven’t planned the main course yet, but no harm in working on the dessert first!!!
I’m so grateful for every one of you.
Sincerely,
Christy
Wow! So glad everything turned out okay.
Another great-looking recipe. Isn’t pie grand?
I just wanted to tell you how much I love your site! I recently moved up to Washington DC after having lived in Florida my whole life and I miss my Mama’s cooking something fierce. I knew I would miss the tea, but I didn’t know I would miss things like knowing other people who had heard of a punch bowl cake! Reading your site gives me a little piece of home everyday and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it!