Pineapple Chess Pie

Winter is over, well mostly, I am still wearing a winter coat. The cherry blossoms are popping. The daffs are up. I even saw my first tulip at a friend's house today.

The friends hosted the first picnic of the season this still slightly chilly sunday. It was at a beautiful spot, under a great big old cherry tree and on a hill overlooking Washington. We saw an eagle, a hawk, and hardly any people.

I got up at 6am this morning, with my lovely daughter, who I do wish would sleep a little longer. And, after sometime, I was inspired to make a pie. I have been honestly bored with apples and pecan, pumpkin and pear. All the winter pies have had me down. But the spring and summer fruits aren't here yet.

I had two pineapples so I thought, Pineapple Pie! Why not. Pineapples are summery, and picnics need pie.

My sister got me the Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook for Christmas. It has no less than 4 recipes for Pineapple pie, one doesn't even have pineapple in it. The one I had the ingredients for was Pineapple Chess Pie.

• 1 cup plus of chopped pineapple (the recipe called for a 13.5 oz can drained)
• 1 T flour
• 1/2 c butter
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 2 t vanilla
• 1/4 t salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c sour cream

I trimmed and and cored the pineapple. And chopped up about 1/3 of it into chunks. The Whitehouse cookbook I mentioned, says to trim and cut the pineapple with different knives - and it won't hurt your mouth. (I think it works) So, I did this too and my daughter and I snacked on the pineapple. Make a pie shell and bake it at 425 for 5 minutes.

Add the flour to the pineapple. Cream the butter, sugars, vanilla and salt. Beat in the eggs individually. Stir in the sour cream and pinapple and pour it into the pie shell. It said to bake it at 325 for 50 to 60 minutes. I baked it for an hour and twenty and it still should have gone longer. I would bake it until almost the whole pie is set.

I didn't know this until today, but Chess pies are of English descent and are what evolved into Pecan Pies. They are rich and have a jelly like consistency.

This one was tasty, but could've used even more pineapple and definitely needed to cook longer and at a higher heat. But it was eaten and enjoyed.