Five Cool Spring thru Summer Desserts

Key Lime or Millionaire Pie Slices

Growing up, I remember having “ice box” pies and other “cold salad” desserts for holidays like Easter, Mother’s Day, and Fathers’ Day when the family got together at Grandma’s for these occasions.  Thinking of the desserts that were the most popular, I decided to try to find them and post or link to them here.  Since most contain Cool Whip as an ingredient, I thought this would be easy.   First and foremost would be my Aunt Doris’ Millionaire Pie which was chock full of pineapple and coconut.  Since there are so many variations of this traditional dessert, I thought that should be easiest to find.  The one I found has typo of “cup” of cool whip instead of whole “tub.”  Also, my aunt recommends refrigerating overnight so it is better set for cutting.


Then, there was my Aunt Dot’s “Pink Stuff” which is the title her friend who gave her the recipe used.  So even though I had the ingredient list, I could not find anything that came close enough. Technically this is not a pie or but it is kind of like a fruit salad.  Anyway it is still a cool dessert!  Below is the recipe Aunt Dot gave me.

POST & RECIPES SHORT URL = https://tinyurl.com/mrxaahxb

Pink Stuff (circa 1984?)

Ingredients:

1 16-oz tub of Cool Whip
1 21-oz can of Cherry Pie Filling
1 14-oz can of Eagle Brand Milk
1 20-oz can of Pineapple Tidbits (well drained)

Steps: 

1.    Mix all ingredients together well in serving bowl.
2.    Keep chilled - the longer it sets the better the flavor!

Speaking of fruit salad, there was also my Aunt Jo’s quick and easy Ambrosia Salad, for which she said she sometimes substituted bananas or peaches instead of oranges depending on what she had on hand when she was tossing it together.

Ok, that is only three passed-down southern recipes – right?  Well how about two more!  I will share what have been most requested by my siblings and nephews at family gathering for over a decade now.  These two might also fall under the category of refrigerator pies.  They are “Quick Key Lime Pie” (makes 2 small pies) and a dozen Mini Cheesecakes made with vanilla wafer cookies in a muffin tin.  I up that traditional recipe by buying cherry pie filling and dropping a spoonful on top of each of the little cheesecakes. When searching for the lime pie, all recipes I found with this title actually were more work or required additional ingredients, so my recipe is below.

Quick Key Lime Pie (circa 1995?)

Ingredients:

1 small can Frozen Limeade
1 14-oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 8-oz tub Cool Whip
1 large (or two small) Graham Cracker Crust(s)

Steps:

1.    Stir together limeade and milk.
2.    Wisk and fold in Cool Whip.  Optional: Add green food coloring to make a prettier pie.
3.    Pour mixture into pie crust(s). 
4.    Freeze until firm.  Optional: Before serving, garnish with lime wedges or Cool Whip.