Being a baker means friends know to expect dessert from me at gatherings. Normally, I'm only too willing. On a hot day, even I am loath to keep my oven on for very long. So vintage icebox recipes like million dollar pie are what serve up this situation.
A million dollar pie is a classic, icebox pie made with pecans, coconut, and pineapple in a whipped cream filling over a crumbly graham cracker crust. It's rich and creamy, tangy and nutty put it all together. Make ahead and a smart dessert for a hot and lazy summer day.
What Is Million Dollar Pie?
By the 1930s and 40s, refrigerators were being increasingly common in households, so icebox pies were the rage. They say that million dollar pie was invented in South Carolina but have been unable to confirm or deny its origins. This much is true: it's actually a Southern recipe, it's from the 1930s or the 40s.
You've always got pecans, shredded coconut and canned pineapple in your traditional million dollar pie. I use store bought whipped topping, sweetened condensed milk, combine, fold and use as a filling. Sweetened condensed milk is helpful to mix with lemon juice and get a thick filling that doesn't only beat the sweetness, but also balances it. Graham cracker crust or shortbread crust is very common on it.
My Take on the Classic
I created an updated version of this vintage recipe with a few easy flavor boosters: Homemade whipped cream, a baked graham cracker crust, and toasted pecans and coconut is something so simple. It takes an oven to be sure, but only for a little time. The toasty flavor, the crunch of the pecans and coconut all deserve it; and you can bake the crust and toast the nuts together.
What I discovered in my research was the usually debated ingredient, cream cheese. It's a little bit of cream cheese that is my preferred way to stabilize homemade whipped cream so I decided to include it. I like that the tanginess balances the sweet filling and it works better as a replacement for store bought frozen whipped topping.
Why should this pie be worth a million bucks?
It has a lot to live up to, because of the name million dollar pie. It's worthy of its name here's why.
- Almost no bake million dollar pie is one. The process takes only 10 short minutes, and you only require your oven. A big difference on a hot day – a traditional fruit pie might take an hour to bake.
- You can make it ahead. This is a great candidate for any event you want to prep some ahead of time and this needs to sit in the refrigerator a few hours.
- It's sweet and tart, creamy and crunchy, and rich and nutty, in other words, it has everything.
- It's a total crowd-pleaser.
Shortcuts and Upgrades
An upgraded million dollar pie only takes a few more steps than that. From the original, you can take a handful of shortcuts, or, if you're a billionaire pie, upgrade it.
Completely no-bake pie:
Skip the baking of the crust and go right to toasting the pecans and coconut. The crust can be chilled for at least 1 hour and then fill up with.
Shortcut pie:
Frozen whipped topping (thawed) is used in place of whipped cream in the original million dollar pie. In five minutes you can assemble the pie, substitue a store bought crust and a container of whipping topping for the homemade versions.
Billionaire pie:
Million dollar pie gets its name from a can of cherry pie filling. I would add one-half to one cup of chopped maraschino cherries to keep the filling from becoming too liquid rich.
