Mark it with a B

As bittersweet as it is that M is growing up so fast; I can't help but think about all the things we will be able to do together when she's just a little bit older. I was actually telling Ryan last night that when she's just a little older and on the nights when he is out late with his band, M and I will have a slumber party in my bed with snacks and movies and he will come home to find his two girls passed out in the bed with the latest Disney movie on and a half eaten bowl of popcorn spilling over on us. One of the things I absolutely can not wait to do with M is bake with her. You all know how much I love to bake! When I was a little girl, up until the age of 7, I was primarily raised by my Great-grandmother "Mamaw". Living with Mamaw was one of the happiest times in my life, I haven't been happier until now. Mamaw was so much more than just a grandmother to me. She was my mother. She took care of me when no one else could/would. I am so lucky that I had her in my life, I learned everything about being a mother from her and I also learned how to bake! I have always had a sweet tooth, I think it runs in the family. Before Mamaw's husband "Papaw" passed away when I was 4, Papaw would make something called "Soppy" and we would sit outside and eat it under the giant tree in their yard. Papaw would also sneak me a few ginger snaps in the mornings and let me dip them in his coffee after breakfast. I have several memories of me carrying a Sesame Street cookbook over to Mamaw and asking her if we could bake something. We always ended up making this delicious Cookie Monster cake. I remember it being this yellow cake that was yummy enough to eat without frosting. Mamaw always seemed to have the ingredients on hand, but when she didn't, she taught me how to substitute vanilla extract with any flavor extract you had on hand in order to change the flavor of the cake. Mamaw passed away a few months before I found out I was pregnant with Mattie. I was still dealing with the loss of Mamaw and also celebrating my pregnancy and I couldn't stop thinking about this cookbook. I knew I had to find it so I started looking on Ebay and Amazon and ended up getting a good deal through Amazon on a gently used version. The day it arrived in the mail, I couldn't wait to find the cake recipe that I had all these fond memories (and cravings) of. After carefully inspecting the book several times, I realized that the recipe was not in the book. I knew it was the correct book because I remembered it so well. I realized that because I was so young at the time and not able to read well enough to know the difference, Mamaw had been pretending to read the recipe out of the book but had actually been baking the cake from memory or maybe a hidden recipe card. I was a little disappointed at first because I had been craving that cake for months or maybe even years! Disappointment quickly faded when I realized that she must not have had the ingredients for making the recipe in the book or maybe she knew I would like her cake better than the recipe on the page I remember so well. After reading the recipe on the cookie monster page, I wouldn't be surprised, it's a recipe for "Un-cookies" which are cookies made with Mincemeat..... no thanks. Mamaw was the kindest and most loving woman I've ever known. She knew I wanted to bake and that I wanted to bake the recipe on that page in the cookbook because it had cookie monster (my favorite character, I know you aren't surprised) on it. Instead of telling me I wouldn't like it, she let me think we were baking what I wanted to bake but she baked something she knew I would actually like. It makes the memory so much more special now.

Even though Mamaw is no longer with us, I wanted to do something (and by do, I mean bake) to celebrate her birthday on September 13th. When I was 7, my mom and dad took my little sister and I on the only family vacation we ever took together. We actually came to Georgia to visit my Mom's great-grandparent's, Granny (or Nana) and Pawpaw. While we were visiting, Granny made a Millionaire's Pie. My dad loved it so much that he asked her for the recipe which he brought back to Arkansas and had Mamaw make it and she loved it just as much as he did! So, for Mamaw's birthday I decided to bake a no-bake Millionaire's pie. M is still too young to really help but she did eat a few bites of my slice and she liked it too! I used a recipe from Texas Cooking's website.

Millionaire Pie

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8-ounce can of crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 cup grated coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 8-ounce carton of whipped topping, thawed (or 2 cups whipping cream, whipped and sweetened with 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 prepared 9-inch pastry shell

Cream together the softened cream cheese and the sugar with an electric mixer, letting the mixer run for 3 or 4 minutes on high speed. Stir into the cream cheese mixture the crushed pineapple, coconut and pecans, and mix well.
Carefully fold in half of the whipped topping until filling is blended well. Reserve remaining half for top (see below).
Pile the filling into a baked pie shell, and chill for several hours.
Millionaire Pie can be garnished with a dollop of the reserved whipped topping when served, or you can spread the remaining half of the topping over the whole pie and finish with a sprinkling of chopped pecans. A third alternative is to fold both cups of whipped topping into the filling; this works quite well and makes for an even lighter texture, but allow more chilling time before serving if you go this route.
It's up to you but, whatever you do, I think you'll enjoy this pie in every sense of the word.

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