Our friend John from Louisville, Kentucky was visiting last weekend and he only has a few requests while here, lots of shrimp, a good home cooked German dinner and pie.  I’ve known John and his wife Karen for almost 20 years and way back when we lived in the same town, we often had dinner parties at their place or mine.  Pie was always on the dessert menu. Always.  I wanted to make something a little different this time and have been drooling over this recipe lately.  Our other dinner party guests that night, Jeff and Norma, adore coconut so I figured I couldn’t really go wrong with this pie.  The overwhelming consensus on that wine and beer soaked Saturday night was to declare this pie as simply amazing.

pastry for 9-inch single crust pie (homemade or store bought)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple in 100% juice, drained
1 cup flaked sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9-inch pie plate with the crust and crimp the edges decoratively.  Refrigerate while preparing the pie filling.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour and salt.  In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs and butter.  Add the sugar mixture and stir well until the sugar is mostly dissolved.  Add the pineapple and coconut, stir with a wooden spoon to combine everything into a thick filling.  Pour into the chilled pie crust.

Bake in the center of the oven until the filling is puffed and both the filling and crust are golden brown, 35-45 minutes.  Place the pie on a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.

Serves 6-8.

adapted from Southern Pies by Nancie McDermott