My millionaire pie recipe is easy and delicious. This no bake icebox pie is based on sweetened condensed milk and Cool Whip. Crushed pineapple and maraschino cherries, along with coconut and pecans, are added to the rich yet light filling. With the combination of red, pink, yellow, white, and brown, this pie is a show-stopper both in terms of taste and appearance. If you want to learn how to make this southern icebox pie, keep reading!
Millionaire Pie History
Although millionaire pie, sometimes known as million dollar pie, is not an extremely well-known dessert, a bit of research shows that it is clearly a southern dessert. If you go to Google Trends, a website that tracks patterns in Internet activity, and search “millionaire pie” and “million dollar pie,” you will see that most of the Google searches for those terms are concentrated in the southern United States. Interestingly, “millionaire pie” seems to be very popular in Texas, while “million dollar pie” seems to be a bit more popular farther east.
Google Trends shows that “million dollar pie” is a common search query in the Southeastern United States, especially around Christmas and New Year’s.
You will also see that the majority of the searches are during the holidays: most searches are around Christmas, but there is another surge in interest around the New Year. I am not surprised since this pie is not only a great dessert but also very symbolic: hopefully eating this pie after a New Year’s Day meal of “Hoppin’ John,” black eyed peas and rice, will bring you wealth in the coming year!
In regards to the name, there are a lot of theories. Some people say that the dessert is called “millionaire pie” because, ironically, it is actually cheap to make. Others say that the pie is so good, it “tastes like a million bucks.” Although the origin of the name is uncertain, there is no doubt that, whatever you call it, the pie is delicious, beautiful, and easy to make.
How to Make Millionaire Pie
My millionaire pie recipe, as with all the others, starts with a graham cracker crust. Although there is nothing wrong with storebought, I used my recipe for graham cracker crust to make my own: in my opinion, homemade is always better. If you make your own crust, you could definitely do a no bake version; however, I wanted this crust to hold together nicely, so I decided to bake my graham cracker crust. In addition to generally being more flavorful, using a homemade crust was an excellent choice since the bit of cinnamon added a nice touch to the pie.
Even though all versions use a graham cracker crust, recipes differ when it comes to the filling. Even though every millionaire pie recipe I saw calls for sweetened condensed milk, some add cream cheese while others include Cool Whip. According to the Wikipedia article, the Cool Whip version is likely more traditional, so that is the one I decided to make. However, at some point I would like to make a cream cheese version: I think it would be very similar to the no bake cheesecake I topped with cherry pie filling, so I know it would be delicious.
Like I said at the beginning of the article, crushed pineapple is one of the main ingredients in any millionaire pie recipe. Honestly, I am not sure if fresh would work because I think that the sugar in the sweetened condensed milk would likely draw out the moisture in fresh fruit, making the filling watery and the crust soggy. So, I would recommending sticking with canned pineapple. Not all recipes include cherries, but many do, so I decided to add maraschino cherries. Other versions call for mandarin oranges, some fruit cocktail. This pie is very versatile, so you can get creative: just be sure to use canned fruit so that the filling does not get watery.
Even though it may seem like an afterthought, a bit of lemon juice is very important in any no bake icebox pie. When an acidic liquid is added to dairy, the dairy thickens: that is why my no bake cherry cream cheese pie held its shape when cut. You may be able to get away with 2 Tablespoons, I followed the other recipes I saw and added 1/3 cup of lemon juice. In addition to thickening the filling so that I could later cut the pie, the lemon juice added some tartness that helped to balance out the sweetness so that the pie was not too sweet in spite of the sugary ingredients.
Any million dollar pie recipe includes coconut and pecans. Although you could definitely just open a bag of each and add some to the filling, I decide to go beyond most recipes and toast the coconut and pecans. Toasting coconut and pecans really brings out the flavor, so even though none of the recipes I saw on Google or YouTube said to toast anything, I think that adding an extra step is worth the time and effort to make a truly delicious dessert.
Once you have your ingredients, learning how to make a millionaire pie is easy: simply pour everything into a bowl, mix thoroughly, and then pour the filling into a prepared graham cracker crust. However, when it is time to add the Cool Whip, I recommend folding it in rather than stirring normally: use your spatula to dig down to the bottom of the bowl and flip what is on the bottom up to the top. Folding instead of stirring will help prevent the Cool Whip from deflating. It takes a bit for the lemon juice to thicken the sweetened condensed milk, so chill the pie for 2-3 hours before serving.
Million Dollar Pie Recipe Review
After chilling for a few hours and decorating with extra whipped cream and cherries, I tasted the pie. Honestly, it was very delicious. In spite of the sweetened condensed milk, canned fruit, and Cool Whip, this million dollar pie was not overly sweet: I think that the lemon juice helps to tone down the sweetness, as well as thicken the filling. The bite from the pineapple helped to tone down the sweetness as well, the subtle sweetness of the pineapple balancing the strong sweetness of the maraschino cherries very nicely. The coconut added not only sweetness but also flavor and texture, as did the pecans. Even though coconut and pecans appear to play minor roles in most versions, toasting them make them much more apparent. Like I said, this pie was fantastic.
In addition to the taste, I also really liked the look of this pie. The filling was beautiful light pink color with specs of red, yellow, and brown. The white whipped cream and red cherries on top added even more color. The brown of the graham cracker crust was the perfect base to highlight the beautiful filling. Served to a group people, this pie would definitely catch their attention.
I don’t have many critical comments about this recipe, and the ones I do have are minor. A bit more cherry flavor would have made this better, but added more maraschino syrup may make the filling runny. A bit deeper red color for the filling would have been nice as well. Like I said earlier, some recipes for million dollar pie call for combining cream cheese with the sweetened condensed milk instead of Cool Whip. I think that a bit more tartness would make this recipe very interesting, so I will have to try that at some point.
As you can see, this millionaire pie recipe was a total success: I really enjoyed it. I am already thinking about possible future versions of this pie. If you are looking for an easy and delicious no bake pie, be sure to give million dollar pie a try!
Millionaire Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch graham cracker crust (homemade or storebought)
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 8 oz container Cool Whip or other whipped topping
- 1 10 oz jar maraschino cherries, all the cherries + 1 Tablespoon of juice
- 1 15.25 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
- 5 Tablespoons lemon juice (1/3 cup or 80g)
- 1/2 cup pecans (60g)
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (120g)
- For the Topping:
- extra maraschino cherries
- whipped cream
Instructions
- If desired, toast pecans and coconut (see video for instructions).
- Add all ingredients for the filling–except the cherries, cherry juice, and Cool Whip–to a large bowl.
- Cut all of the cherries from the 10 oz jar into smaller pieces. Cutting them in half is good.
- Add chopped cherries to the filling, along with only 1 Tablespoon of the maraschino cherry juice.
- Add Cool Whip on top of the ingredient in the bowl, then combine by folding. Use a spatula or large spoon to bring what is at the bottom of the bowl to the top.
- Once filling is combined, add it to the prepared 9-inch graham cracker pie crust. DO NOT forget the lemon juice, or else the pie will not set.
- Chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours, if not overnight, so that the pie can set.
- Decorate with more whipped cream, as well as additional cherries from another jar, before serving.
YouTube Video Recipe:
Be sure to watch my YouTube video recipe:
Links
Google Trends:
https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US
