not so impossible, especially with awesome live music ::::
After a quick love affair with the crack pie I made awhile back, getting over the addiction, I’m filling the void with something impossible. Kind of.
In the late 1990s, Eat and I lived in Atlanta, Georgia while attending graduate school at Emory University. It was a fun time in my life, frequenting coffee shops and live music shows, learning how to play guitar during study breaks from Biostats classes and Epidemiology. There was a plethora of open mics that I attended, watching unsigned artists craft their art.
One night, I decided to see a local band at the famed Eddie’s Attic music venue, one of the members a graduate student in the same graduate program I was attending, in fact. They were the opening act for a locally popular folky group Soul Miner’s Daughter. As the venue quickly filled with people between acts, the temperature rose, the excitement grew, I realized that I shouldn’t miss the headliner. After hearing an a capella number belted out effortlessly by Jennifer Nettles, her guitar duets with beautiful harmonies from her partner Cory Jones, and down-to-earth interaction with the audience, I was ready to see them play live every night. Jennifer has gone on to bigger things, namely country-pop with Sugarland (though her coffee shop performances with Cory will always be better). And, as foodie celebrities often are, she was more recently featured in an issue of Food & Wine magazine extolling the magic of her grandmother’s Impossible Pie. I revisited my Soul Miner’s Daughter tunes and made some Impossible Pie, quite possibly the easiest pie one can make.
The pie’s name comes from the non-pastry crust that forms while baking, with a wonderfully chewy toasted coconut top. I argue that truly more impossible is the musical reunion of Jennifer and Cory; the pie just has a silly name. I can only dream and hope that I can find replacements for my scratched CDs.
And that, I might just do soon. Tomorrow. I’m off to Atlanta for a few days next week (without the family – that freaks me out a bit) to attend a conference for work. Here’s to visiting my old stomping ground, hoping I can make some time to see an open mic with budding musicians abounding.
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing pie plate
- 1¾ cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup self-rising flour (or use ½ cup all-purpose flour + ⅔ teaspoon baking powder + pinch of salt)
- 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- 2 cups milk
- Preheat the oven to 350° and butter two 9-inch glass pie plates.
- In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter with the sugar.
- Add the eggs and beat until smooth. Stir in the flour, coconut and milk.
- Divide the mixture between the pie plates and bake in the lower third of the oven for about 1 hour, until the pies are firm to the touch and golden. Transfer the pies to a rack and cool completely before serving.
- Make ahead: The pies can be refrigerated overnight. Return them to room temperature before serving.
