My My My Delilah, The Piña Colada Pie!

This pie is a Summer stunner. There's a buttery base of shortbread and on top of this is a layer of vanilla scented pineapple. Above that is a fluffy, light cheesecake-style layer that is then topped with an enormous pile of fluffy vanilla whipped cream. We garnish this to look like a Piña Colada with pineapple pieces, lime slices, cherries, toasted coconut and what else but straws! Say hi to Delilah!

I devised this recipe for a friend's Southern themed New Years Day dinner. I knew I wanted to bring a pie because the theme was Southern but the warm Sydney weather lent itself to fruit. And because it was on New Year's Day I didn't want to do too much activity and this pie was perfect because it was low maintenance and could be spread across two days.

At this party there were lots of dogs and we brought along Mochi. Thank you for your lovely comments welcoming Mochi in the Christmas post. She is definitely coming out of her shell more and more every day. We're gradually exposing her to more experiences every day as well as more dogs (it doesn't help that she thinks that she is a human). She met a pug cross, a griffon and several dachshunds. She still prefers the company of humans but she isn't bothered a jot by the dogs.

I have noticed that some humans do sometimes feel the need to tell you what they think of your dog. She's a wee thing although at 5.4 kilos not as small as some and when Nina and I had finished a training session in Centennial park one afternoon, a man in his cycling lycra was putting his gear into his car. He turned around to us and exclaimed, "That's not a dog, that's a rat!!".

I was a bit stunned, I mean are we blurting out random things that come straight to mind now? Or did I somehow communicate to him that I wanted to know what he thought of my dog that was happily walking past him her tail wagging in the air taking in the sunshine? Of course we didn't think of anything to say back of any significance just fixing him with a glare.

But yeah if I had this pie in my hand, it might have landed in his face ;)

Just kidding, he isn't good enough for this pie. This went to nice people who appreciated it!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever have a good retort for people who get in your face? Have you ever wanted to put a pie in someone's face? And do you like recipes that can be spread out over time or do you want to get it all done at once?

Piña Colada Pie

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

This pie is best made the day before and decorated on the day of serving

Preparation time: 35 minutes (plus cooling and refrigeration time)

Cooking time: 1 hour

• 250g/8.83ozs. butter shortbread
• 1/4 cup desiccated coconut
• 70g/2.47ozs. butter, melted (plus extra for greasing tin)
• 430g/15.19ozs. tin pineapple in juice
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/2-2/3 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of the pineapple)
• 3-4 tablespoons cornflour/fine cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 250ml/8.83fl ozs. cream
• 250g/8.83ozs. cream cheese, softened
• 250ml/8.83fl ozs. coconut cream (thick part)
• 1/2 cup caster or superfine sugar
• 4 egg yolks

To decorate

• 400ml/14.13ozs. cream
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 1.5 rings of pineapple, cut into three pieces
• Glace cherries
• 1/2 cup toasted coconut shards
• 1 small lime, sliced thinly
• Mint leaves
• 3 small straws

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease a pie tin with butter. Process the shortbread with the coconut until it resembles fine crumbs and then add in the melted butter and mix until the crumbs are damp textured. Press into the pie tin and bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Step 2 - Blend the pineapple with the juice until you get a fine texture. Heat in a saucepan juice and all and add the sugar and vanilla. Heat to medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the juice is concentrated a little. Then add the cornflour/cornstarch and heat and stir until thickened. Cool completely.

Step 3 - Whip the cream until you get almost stiff peaks and then place in a bowl. Then whip the cream cheese until smooth and add the coconut cream, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla and whip for 2 minutes. Add the whipped cream back until you get a thick, voluminous filling.

Step 4 - Spread the pineapple on the base of the biscuit crust and then spread the cheese mixture on top smoothing the top.Bake for 40-50 minutes until the centre is no longer liquid (a slight wobble is ok). The top will be golden. Cool completely and cover and keep in the fridge overnight.

Step 5 - The next day whip the cream, sugar and vanilla together until you get soft peaks. Dollop over the pie. Decorate with half moons of pineapple, glace cherries, mint leaves, lime slices, straws sticking out and a shower of lightly toasted coconut.