A winning Southern dish...... Vera's Crustless Coconut Pie

Through my many years of marriage and raising five children, I've cooked a lot of meals and a lot of desserts. I've packed a lot of school lunches and swim-day picnics. But times change and kids grow up, we age, our health changes, our diets must undergo transformation that makes frequent cooking of goodies a thing of the past.

However.......

Sometimes we just get a hankering for one of our old favorites. And I  was thinking of perhaps a Southern favorite - coconut pie. We like both the Coconut Chess Pie and Coconut Pie. The chess pie is a bit denser and has little or no milk having the main ingredients as butter, sugar, eggs, and coconut. But the regular Coconut Pie is more of a custard pie.

One I discovered early in my marriage was the "crustless" pie or the pie that "makes its own crust" as it bakes. This is one of those Southern Easy-Peasy desserts we are so fond of. You see, all the ingredients are simply stirred together and baked. No making a crust (and hoping it will turn out flaky and tender), rolling it out, and then making the pie to go in the crust. No. This gem of a dessert is really simple and quick.

So let's take a look at ..................

Vera's Crustless Coconut Pie (makes its own crust as it bakes)

4 eggs
8 tablespoons butter (real butter, 1 stick)
1⁄2 cup flour
2 cups milk (I used 2% but skim, whole, or 2% may be used)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut (I used the small 7 oz. package)
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
pinch of baking powder 

Oven: 350 degrees
10 inch pie plate
Whisk dry ingredients together. Break eggs one at a time in separate bowl and then place into the whisked dry ingredients. Whisk to thoroughly blend. Blend in the slightly cooled, melted butter. Mix until it is blended. Add vanilla. Blend well. Add milk and thoroughly blend with whisk. Add the coconut and blend for a few seconds or until it is all mixed.

Pour it into the pie plate and bake for 50-60 minutes.This is a large pie. May cook in two smaller pans, but I like the larger pie. (Note: some like to grease and flour pie pan but I don't.)