By Sonya Eggold

You don't choose the traditions you're born into. They are woven into your life years before you're born. They are a gift that comes without asking.

My grandmother, Ella Altevogt, found a pie recipe on the back of a Gold Medal Flour bag in the late 1940s, back when Betty Crocker recipes appeared on packaging before there was a Betty Crocker cookbook. Ella cut out the recipe and tried it using McNess extracts from a traveling salesman.

The pie was called White Christmas Pie, and without knowing it, she started a tradition. It was served every Christmas for as long as her daughter, my mother, Marilyn Helmer, can remember. Marilyn served White Christmas Pie on her Christmas table, and now, my sister (Tashia Dieckhoff), and I carry on the tradition on our Christmas tables—a tradition spanning more than 80 years!

I would like to share this recipe with you with hopes that it will create great traditions in your home this Christmas.

White Christmas Pie
(serves 8)
1 cup sugar (divided)
1⁄4 cup Gold Medal flour
1 envelope (1 Tablespoon) unflavored gelatin
1⁄2 tsp salt
1 3⁄4 cup whole milk
3 egg whites
1⁄4 tsp cream of tarter
1⁄2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped. Or 8 oz Cool Whip.
1 cup shredded coconut (extra for garnish)
1⁄4 tsp coconut extract
1⁄4 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
9” Baked Pie shell cooled
Red and Green Maraschino Cherries

Make the pudding: Combine 1⁄2 cup sugar, 1⁄4 cup flour, gelatin, and salt in a sauce pan. Add the milk and whisk over low heat constantly until mixture boils. Boil one minute. Remove from stove and cool until thickened enough to hold its shape when spooned. Stir in 1⁄4 tsp coconut extract, 1⁄4 tsp almond extract, and 1 tsp vanilla extract after cooled.

Make the Meringue: In a mixer, add egg whites and cream of tartar and beat until frothy. Gradually add 1⁄2 cup sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Do not under beat - sugar should be dissolved.

Fold Together: Once the pudding has fully cooled, gently fold in the meringue and then fold in the cool whip and 1 cup coconut.

Make the pie: Pour pie mixture into a baked and cooled 9-inch pie shell. Garnish the top of pie with coconut and decorate each slice with a poinsettia. Do this by using the Maraschino Cherries. Slice red cherries to form petals (5 slices per flower) and green cherries to form the leaves (2 slices per flower).

Cover and refrigerate several hours and serve cold.

The White Christmas Pie recipe was printed in the Betty Crocker Cookbook: 1950. It is described in the cookbook as a “Pure white heavenly concoction.”