Grandmother Chest Pie

I'm calling this Grandmother Chess Pie because both my grandmothers have made chest pie at some point. Not too long ago they each made a variety of it within several weeks of each other, one was lemon, the other vanilla (much like this one). Then my mother started making a chocolate chest pie which everyone went crazy over too. It was then that I really started appreciating chest pie. My favorite part is that it has this really thin crust but is gooey on the inside. Sooo good. It's so old fashioned, but in an insanely good way. It's almost like you went back 100 years and are eating pie with your great-great grandmother and that's a good thing.

This recipe came from my Sweet Carolina cookbook that I've neglected lately. This was the recipe I've wanted to try the most since it is from Rowan County and has the best story to go along with it. It's contributor was 104 when this cookbook was written. She was born in rural Rowan county (not sure which part) in 1899! One day in the 1920's she picked up the telephone to get the operator in Salisbury and instead overhead a neighbor's phone call. Oh, how fun party lines must have been! So it just so happens that when she picked up she heard someone asking for directions to bake a chest pie. So like any good southern woman, she eavesdropped to get the recipe as well. The cutest part, she calls the pies "crusties"!

*I'd suggest adding the pecans. I took the pies to my grandmother's today so I could have a pre-birthday celebration with her since I'll be in Las Vegas on Saturday. She, my cousin Allison and I could have taken out this entire pie!

Chest Pie

Nolie Ridenhour Zimmerman, from Sweet Carolina

Makes 2 pies, 6 to 8 servings each

2 unbaked 9-inch piecrusts

3 eggs

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons cream or milk

1 teaspooon vanilla

pecans (optional)-I made one of each

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the filling ingredients and blend well. Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared piecrusts. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 325 and bake for 20 to 25 minutes more, or until done.

Perfect Meringue

I love meringue. I've probably made at least 4 chocolate meringue pies in the past 2 weeks and have turned several non-meringue pie eaters into meringue lovers.

Perfect Meringue

4 egg whites (at least, more if extra high meringue is wanted), room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup of sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Add cream of tartar and vanilla to egg whites. With an electric mixer, beat on high until soft peaks form. Slowly add sugar and continue to beat on high until stiff peaks form. Spread over pie making sure that meringue is spread evenly and touches pie crust all the way around. Using a spoon or small spatula make high peaks. Bake until golden, usually around 12 minutes.

Easy Pumpkin Pie

We are working on poetry in third grade. Today we touched on sensory language. I took a big pumpkin around and they brainstormed words and ideas for sight, touch, and hearing. They were actually pretty creative with the hearing part and they said it was "nature's bongo". That line was pretty good I thought.

Tomorrow we're going to finish up the senses with smell and taste. Originally I had some canned pumpkin left over from the last holiday season that I thought we could use. Then after having so many students mention pumpkin pie, and most especially their grandmother's pumpkin pie I knew what had to be done.

I had to venture out to two grocery stores to find pumpkin. The first had a sign up that said they would not have any pumpkin until November 1 due to a manufacturing defect. Hmmm... So I went to another store with a well stocked canned pumpkin shelf. I was nearly going to follow the recipe on the back of the pumpkin can until I spotted some pumpkin pie spice and decided to go with it's recipe. So easy, and although I usually prefer a complicated recipe (don't ask why) this one was wonderful for the moment at hand.

Easy Pumpkin Pie

1 can of pumpkin

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 frozen pie crust

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, and spice. Pour into unbaked crust and bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees. Turn oven down to 350 and continue to bake for 40 minutes.

I doubled the recipe and it made 3 perfect pies (note I was using a regular pie crust and not deep dish). I was kinda glad since I was afraid that I would only have enough for the kids and couldn't share with anyone else, or I'll admit, myself.

pics coming up shortly :)

Frozen Key Lime Pie

I'm so in love with lemon meringue pie that I often quickly dismiss its closely related key lime cousin.  A few weeks ago I stopped by my mom's house and she broke out a store bought key lime pie that was actually decent.  So this weekend for mother's day I broke out one of my Barefoot Contessas and got to baking her Frozen Key Lime Pie.  Having actually seen the episode where she makes this pie and seeing how tasty it looks I don't know why I waited so long.  Plus, I really love making whipped cream.

Frozen Key Lime Pie

~Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Ingredients

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 crackers)

1/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

6 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons grated lime zest (or zest from about 3 limes)

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 6 limes)

For the decoration:

1 cup (1/2 pint) cold heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Thin lime wedges

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

For the crust, combine the graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl.  Press into a 9-inch pie pan, making sure the sides and the bottom are an even thickness.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely.  

For the filling, beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 5 minutes, until thick.  With the mixer on medium, add the lime zest, lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk.  Pour into baked pie shell and freeze.  

For the decoration, beat the heavy cream with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form.  Add the sugar and vanilla until firm.  Spoon or pipe decoratively onto the pie and decorate with limes.  Freeze several hours or overnight.  

A few helpful tips (I've figured these out from making 334 lemon meringue pies):

1.  Make the pie crust!  Sure buying the pre-made crust seems easier but a handmade crust is so much prettier and tastier.

2.  When you make that crust, if you have a food processor-use it!

3.  If you don't have extra large eggs on hand, use 7 large egg yolks.  Usually I buy extra large but the store happened to be out the last time I went.  Adding one more large egg yolk evens it out.  

4.  Don't skimp on the zest!  It makes it more tart so don't leave it out.  In fact, I added a little more.  If you  haven't invested in a rasper (or zester), Williams-Sonoma makes one that you won't be able to live without.

***And I'm in love with these cards with the vintage photos on the front.  This one looks like it was taken right out of my grandmother's photo album with a few more kids thrown in.  I'm not one for sappy Mother's Day cards and knew my mom would appreciate this one.  "On the rocks, no salt."

Cherry Pie

With the 4th of July coming up I didn't really give a lot of thought to any patriotic themed desserts. However, randomly last night while watching Sabrina, I wanted to make a cherry pie. I can't remember what the connection was to Audrey Hepburn and cherry pie or if there even is one. So cherry pie does seem very American and I added some stars to end up with a semi-patriotic dessert after all.

I got the recipe from my 1950's Better Home and Garden cookbook. It should perhaps be renamed "How to be a Good Housewife" since that seems like what it was written for. It has a lot of good cooking tips though and apparently a good basic cherry pie recipe.

Cherry Pie:

Filling:

2 cups cherries (either canned or frozen)

1/3 cup cherry juice

3/4 to 1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon butter, softened

red food coloring

Drain the cherries and reserve 1/3 cup of cherry juice. In a large bowl combine sugar and flour. Mix in cherry juice, almond extract, butter, and small amount of red food coloring (I used gel since that is what I had on hand but liquid would work as well). Add in cherries and allow to sit while pie pastry is made.

Perfect Pie Crust:

1 1/2 sticks very cold unsalted butter

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening

6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water

Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball.

Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan.

I nearly made a lattice top for the pie but then found a star cookie cutter and then cut out stars with the remaining dough (which was a lot). Only 38 stars...I'll try to be more aware of US history next time I bake.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie at it's purest. Quite possibly the easiest pie ever but if you add some lemon zest on top of the meringue and a twist of lemon peel, people think it's really fancy.


Lemon Meringue Pie
(slightly altered version of Paula Deen's)


1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Grated lemon zest of one lemon
3 egg yolks
1 prebaked pie shell

Meringue: 5 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup sugar


In medium bowl, combine milk, lemon juice, and zest; blend in egg yolks. Pour into cooled crust.


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks from. Gradually beat in the sugar until stiff. Spread over filling; seal to edge of crust. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until meringue is golden brown




Refrigerate for at least 2 hrs. before serving.