Shhh! I'm Sharing a Family Recipe: White Christmas Pie

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  Here in North Carolina, we had our first White Christmas since 1969!  It started snowing about 11am yesterday (Christmas Day) and was still snowing this morning!  That is very, very rare for this part of the country.  We'll usually get an hour or so (maybe an afternoon) of snow, and it's all melted by the next day.  This snow is up to the knees of my two-year-old, and my six-year-old was able to make her first snow angel! 

I'm doing Ashley's Scavenger Hunt Sunday today...  I really enjoy doing them, but these last couple of weeks have been hard!  Preparing for the holidays has taken it's toll on me, but I really wanted to share my "Family" photo... it was too cute to keep to myself!

Family

My two-and-a-half year old insisted on feeding her cousin lunch "all by herself".  We were celebrating cousin's First Birthday that day!

Motion Blur

This one is obviously from my archives (the shorts are a good hint)!  Really, the only motion blur picture that I have.

Pretty Package

Santa has just made his stop...

Glow and Sparkle

This is the beginning of an old family recipe, White Christmas Pie.  The ingredients just seemed all, um, glow-y and sparkle-y?  You see sugar, flour, unflavored gelatin, and salt.  Maybe one day I'll share the recipe.
(If you can keep a secret!)

And now I feel like a complete dork... looking around the other participants, I realize that Glow and Sparkle were supposed to be two different words.  Silly me, and I wondered why we only had four words this week.  Oh well, this is all for fun anyway, right?  Speaking of other participants, be sure to click the "Addicted to Ramblings and Photos" button above to see everyone else's interpretations.

While I was searching in my archives for the motion blur, I found this cool shadow shot that I took this summer.  That means I'm participating in Shadow Shot Sunday today!

A very grainy photo, indeed.  I caught the duck as he was making his landing at Country Park, beside Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. 

Okay, okay... I feel like I cheated on the Glow and Sparkle. Sooo... I'm going to share the old family recipe for White Christmas Pie right here, right now!  If you like coconut, you are going to love this!
White Christmas Piefrom the kitchen of Grandma Overton
Makes a 9" Pie
1/2 cup sugar1/4 cup flour1 envelope unflavored gelatin1/2 tsp. salt1 3/4 cup milk3/4 tsp.vanilla1/4 tsp almond flavoring1/2 cup whipped cream

1 cup moist shredded coconut

 For Meringue3 egg whites1/4 tsp. cream of tartar1/2 cup sugar (Grandma says that Splenda won't work, but this year I tried it and it was fine.  Shhh...)

Blend sugar, flour, gelatin, and salt thoroughly in saucepan.  (That would be the photo you see above for Glow and Sparkle).  Gradually stir in milk.  Cook over medium heat until mixture boils, stirring constantly. Boil one minute.

Place pan in cold water. (I fill a bowl with cold water and set the pan in that.) Cool until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon. Blend in flavorings.

While the mixture is cooling, make the meringue.  (Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar with a mixer on high until the mixture is stiff and peaks.)

Gently fold in whipped cream.  Fold in coconut.  Pile into cooled baked pie shell.  Sprinkle with moist shredded coconut.  Chill several hours until set.  Serve cold.

This year, I tried something a little different.  I wanted to share the White Christmas Pie without making whole pies, so I tried bite size.  I did a graham cracker crust in mini cupcakes papers.  It tasted good, but was a little messy, because the crust doesn't hold it's shape.  Mom and I agree that a Nilla Wafer at the bottom would be perfect for Mini White Christmas pies.

Yum!  Enjoy!