A few weeks ago, Brandon and I decided to start baking our way through an old recipe box that we purchased from a local antique mall. (If you haven’t read all about that, start here!) I named the former recipe box owner Barb, mostly because it seems fitting for the era in which many of these recipes originated. Her cursive penmanship is reminiscent of your grandma, and I’m fairly  certain she served up a number of these recipes when her children came over for supper on Sunday or to take to the church potluck on Wednesday nights.

Yesterday was Harry Potter Night at our house – the first official night that we begin watching the Harry Potter series. We’ve done this for the past several years in October and continue to watch the movies all the way until January 1st. On repeat. We love them. Anyway, after looking through our prized box, we thought Impossible Pie seemed fitting for Harry Potter Night and decided to give it a try.

While Barb for sure wrote this recipe, she does credit the original to Edna Chester and Neighbor. We found the “and neighbor” part a little hilarious. Like, why didn’t she write the neighbor’s actual name? Was she a nosy neighbor à la your typical 1960s subdivision? Was she a new neighbor and she couldn’t remember her name? Did Barb not like said neighbor, but still felt obligated to credit her despite their differences?  The possibilities are endless.

With very little directions to go off of, we basically put all of the ingredients into my KitchenAid mixer, blended it through, and dumped it into the pie pan. If you’re familiar with The Great British Bake-Off, it totally reminded me of one of the challenges from there – where you just do your best with what you know/have!

What emerged about 40 minutes later, was a toasted coconut treat!

All of the shredded coconut floated to the surface, creating a perfectly crusted surface and a custard-like pie beneath. I added some whipped cream and almonds for serviing. 

This is not a terribly sweet dessert, though I used unsweetened coconut and would definitely use sweetened OR some additional sugar if I made it again.  Also, I subsequently learned from a friend and a little internet investigation, that you’re supposed to pulse all the ingredients together in a blender before putting it into the pie pan. #liveandlearn

Overall, I was pleased with another recipe from sweet Barb and can’t wait to try another!

If you’re looking for other delicious treats, click on the images below!

Let me know if you decide to try this recipe or have made Impossible Pie before!