Family recipe Monday: spring pies

Rustle of spring, 60 mph

It's been two weeks: two really hectic weeks involving 1500 miles of driving from here to Fossil Butte, Wyoming, and back. Since it was late April, we had typical lovely prairie spring weather: snow, wind, sun, more snow, more wind, hail, sun, and still more wind. I looked like Beethoven's surly sister and discovered several new and delightful respiratory allergies....but it was worth it. Details will follow as soon as I get the tumbleweeds combed out.
 

And what a strange and difficult two weeks it has been on the national and international scenes. It seems that we have all had more than our share of losses, disasters and sadness this year. But every year I trace in the family genealogy project has its sad spots. I think that we need to look forward, plant seeds, and move into the sunlight. It's here. The freeze appears to be over and everything is green.

Sturdy warm food does not seem as appealing now as cool light treats. Here are a few great warm-weather pies from the files.

Maud Bowen’s avocado pie

This came from a family in Sedona, Arizona. As a teenager, I visited great-aunt Blanche there in 1971, but needed something to do while Blanche played bridge. All day. Every day. Maud and her family knew all the places to see the area at its best. I would still rather hike than play bridge, any old day. When the family drove out to pick me up, Vada got this unusual and surprisingly good recipe. Only in Arizona...

1 3-oz pkg. lime or lemon-lime Jell-O
¼ tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple
1 T lime juice (or more)
1 avocado, peeled and halved
1 3-oz pkg. cream cheese
1 cup whipped cream (optional)
1 9” graham cracker crust

Dissolve Jell-O and salt in boiling water. Drain pineapple. Combine the syrup with lime juice and add cold water to make ¾ cup. Add to gelatin. Chill until very thick. Meanwhile dice half of the avocado. Mash remaining half and blend with cream cheese until creamy. Fold cheese mixture, diced avocado, pineapple, and whipped cream into Jell-O. Fill crust. Chill. If desired, garnish with pineapple or lime slices, or top with whipped cream.
--Maud Bowen

This next one is different in combining a custard preparation with Jell-O. Totally 1950s. I don't recall that there were ever any leftovers, though.

Pineapple and banana pie

Mix ½ pkg. orange and 1 cup pineapple juice. Separately, mix 1 beaten egg and ½ cup sugar. Bring to boil and cool. Mix with Jell-O. Add drained crushed pineapple. Slice bananas into a baked pie shell and cover with the mixture. Chill and top with whipped cream.

I actually looked into the word "chiffon" as applied to pie fillings, since etymologically it refers to silk fabric, and not all of the recipes I have make a smooth filling. All I could find was that "chiffon" shows up in reference to pastries by 1929, though the term for fabrics is several hundred years older. Which is no help. This is a nice icebox pie, though. "Tall can of milk" is 16 ounces or 2 cups of evaporated milk, chilled. I had to work to figure that one out.

Heavenly chiffon pie

1 pkg. strawberry Jell-O
1 #2 can crushed pineapple
1 tall can milk
1 cup sugar

Put pineapple in saucepan, add sugar and cook 3 or 4 minutes after it starts boiling. Remove from fire and add Jell-O. Whip milk which has been in icebox overnight. Beat until consistency of whipped cream. Add custard mix and pour in baked pie shell. Let set in refrigerator.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

Happy Monday, what is left of it. Celebrate spring as if it's the first one ever.

Faith and funeral pie

Women's History Month challenge for March 10 — What role did religion play in your family? How did your female ancestors practice their faith? If they did not, why didn’t they? Did you have any female ancestors who served their churches in some capacity?

Historic St. Thomas Chapel, Dover, Delaware

Gene and I both have pictures of our respective parents' marriages in Methodist churches: his in Pennsylvania, mine in Texas. My maternal grandparents were rooted deeply in the life and activities of First Methodist. Everyone they knew was Methodist. My father may have raised a few eyebrows, being raised exotically Presbyterian and asking for forgiveness of debts instead of trespasses.

When I worked in western North Carolina, I heard a local historian and folklorist explain that, in the high Appalachians, the settlement or town generally tended to be all of one faith, depending on which flavor of clergyman first made his way into the deep woods and high altitudes. There was most likely not going to be more than one church built, so everyone lined up behind the banner of the belief that got there first. They were generally solid Protestant churches, nothing fancy or extreme, just places to pull the community together for two things we have nearly lost today: fellowship and mutual help.

For our grandparents, the term "community of faith" was absolutely literal. Their church was who they were. They came from a time when Sundays were all-day events, with Sunday school, services, a quick break for dinner (not lunch), and then singing with supper on the grounds afterward. As they moved to town and the churches grew bigger and grander, they clung to this pattern. The men went to men's Sunday school classes, the women to ladies' classes, and everyone participated in a few social and service circles during the week.

Both my grandmothers defined themselves by their churches and their participation. There were awards for perfect attendance, longest attendance, and greatest service. No life event happened without the church ladies being there with food and helping hands. Our older girls were and are teachers, not preachers, in their faiths. They led by example and service.

When I came across this recipe in Dolly's files, I was startled and initially appalled. Then I did what I should have done in the first place and read up on it. It's actually a lovely thing. Raisins were scarce, a real luxury food at one time. You didn't ever waste them. To have a whole pie filled with raisins was actually a loving and generous gift to a bereaved family. It celebrated the life of someone special and dear. Everyone brought enough food to get the family through a few weeks' worth of sad arrangements and adjustments. It was a promise from the community of faith that life would go on. You took this over, still warm, and helped out, knowing that someday you would be helped out in turn.

Pennsylvania-Dutch funeral pie

Make 2 crust pastry for 9” tin and line tin.

Cook covered until tender (5 minutes): 2 cups seeded raisins in 2 cups water.

Stir in: ½ cup sugar mixed with 2 T flour. Cook over low heat, stirring, and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat ad add ½ cup chopped nuts, 2 T grated lemon rind and 3 T lemon juice. Bake at 425* for 30-40 minutes. Serve warm.
--Dolly Shaffner Hess

Our families' circles of faith were and are drawn to include, not exclude.

Family recipe Monday: New Year

Seeking warmth...

There are rules--no, make that laws--about New Year's Day cooking, especially if your family tree is full of Southerners swarming all over its branches, like ours. The most iron-clad, fundamental one of all is that you have to have black-eyed peas on the menu in large quantities. This is supposed to bring good luck and prosperity in the coming year. I was surprised to find out just how deep-rooted this tradition is. Here's one account:

"The 'good luck' traditions of eating black-eyed peas at Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, are recorded in the Babylonian Talmud (compiled ~500 CE), Horayot 12A: "Abaye [d. 339 CE] said, now that you have established that good-luck symbols avail, you should make it a habit to see qara (bottle gourd), rubiya (black-eyed peas, Arabic lubiya), kartei (leeks), silka (either beets or spinach), and tamrei (dates) on your table on the New Year." However, the custom may have resulted from an early mistranslation of the Aramaic word rubiya (fenugreek)....This custom is followed by Sephardi and Israeli Jews to this day....In the United States, the first Sephardi Jews arrived in Georgia in the 1730s, and have lived there continuously since. The Jewish practice was apparently adopted by non-Jews around the time of the American Civil War."

I'm not so sure that it took that long. Black-eyed peas were themselves brought to the US from West Africa, and were very much present on the tables of African families. They were, however, considered a poverty food crop, suitable for the poor and for livestock only, until after the Civil War. They made it from West Africa to the West Indies by 1643 and made it to the continental US as the slave trade expanded. Black-eyed peas were, and are, a sturdy, dependable and nutritious food. They're the opposite of a luxury crop. Their place on the table expanded after the Civil War, when they were often all that was left in the Reconstruction South's fields. Today they are a Southern favorite across the board.

The tradition is to combine these with greens or cabbage (representing folding money) and cornbread (representing gold) to ensure maximum chances at luck and fortune. Southerners take this very seriously. Really, to do it right, you should eat 365 black-eyed peas to ensure that every day will be a success. Leave three peas on your plate for even better luck.

The problem arises with their taste and texture, which is a bit off-putting for some. Plain boiled black-eyed peas are earthy-tasting with a slightly gritty feel in the mouth, which I for one had trouble handling. Flavoring them with ham hocks did not help. I was happy to leave them all on my plate, but that was not an option. You'd think that would help with the luck thing. It was a source of consternation for all those Southern relatives, and it's a miracle I ever had any good luck or money at all, to hear them talk. Eventually I discovered the myriad recipes for Hoppin' John, and have never looked back. If you're up here on New Year's Day, this is what I'll be serving. Come on over.

Hoppin' John

West Indies rice and bean dishes and promptly spawned thousands of variations across the Caribbean, Central and South America, and eventually the United States and Mexico. If they have made it to Canada, all the better. It's easy to see why--these are solid, nutritious, tasty dishes that can be made in quantity very inexpensively. The name "Hoppin' John" has many explanations, the most likely being that it is an English mispronunciation of pois pigeons, or "pigeon peas," the name still used in the Caribbean for the many, many varieties of black-eyed peas. Leftover Hoppin' John served on January 2 is apparently called Skippin' Jenny, and is yet one more harbinger of good luck, representing your frugality. We will take all the luck we can get....

1 pound dried black-eyed peas (or two cans if you forgot to soak the dried ones)
5 T olive oil and/or butter (or enough to cover the bottom of a skillet, just)
1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 can (10 to 14.5 ounces) Ro-Tel tomatoes
2 sweet onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, minced
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning (I am a Tony Chachere fan)
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt

This is best made the day before, so that the flavors have time to reach their peak. (You may not feel up to cooking on New Year's Day, either, so this can be a real plus.)

Soak the black-eyed peas for at least 4 hours in plain cold water, better yet overnight. Pick out the floaters and any other non-starters, drain  the water and replace it with fresh cold water just to cover. (I use a slow cooker for this.) In a skillet, heat the olive oil and butter, and saute the sausage, onion, garlic, peppers, and celery. Add the seasonings and continue to saute until the vegetables are cooked through but not limp. Transfer the vegetable mixture to the black-eyed peas. Check the cooker periodically to stir the mixture and adjust seasonings. The peas are done when you can see their skins start to peel back when you blow gently on a spoonful of them. Serve hot over cooked rice (or mix with cooked rice) with plenty of Tabasco (regular, green and/or chipotle, if you're not a purist) and Worcestershire sauce, cornbread and greens.

You can also use a Dutch oven or small lidded stockpot if you want this as a stovetop preparation. Keep the burner temperature low to medium, never high. I personally don't cook the black-eyed peas and rice in the same pot, but that is a popular approach. I just like serving the peas on top of the bed of rice. I've used long-grain white, brown, pecan, and wild rice in years past, all to great effect.

This recipe is great for additions and experimentations with ingredients, and can be doubled (or quadrupled) to feed a crowd. The one thing you cannot do on New Year's Day, unless you want to be swarmed by Southern ghosts, is to substitute any other bean variety for black-eyed peas. Not an option. You have the rest of the year for red and black beans.

I'm planning to use this cornbread recipe:

Texas Panhandle cornbread

1 cup blue or yellow cornmeal
1 T baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt
2/3 cup melted butter or bacon drippings
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
2 cups whole-kernel corn
¼ lb. grated cheese
1 4-oz can chopped green chiles
½ cup bacon bits (very, very optional)

Grease a 9” square pan or large cast iron skillet. Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Blend the butter, eggs and sour cream with the dry ingredients. Fold in the corn kernels. Pour half of the batter into the pan or skillet. Cover with the cheese and chiles. Pour the remaining batter over the top and add the bacon bits. Bake in a preheated oven at 375* F for 30-40 minutes.

For the greens, I like to do a spinach salad, not having a ready source of fresh collard or turnip greens up here. Cabbage is also an option. I assume that it has to be green cabbage for green folding money, so red cabbage is out. This may annoy Gene's Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, but, really, y'all, we can make up for it starting January 3. This version omits the hard-cooked eggs and bacon. I would use the artichoke oil as part of the dressing, myself.

Spinach salad

Fresh spinach, washed, torn
Tomatoes
1 jar marinated artichoke hearts
Onions
Mushrooms
Garlic salt
Onion powder
Mix all ingredients. Toss with 2 T oil and 2 T vinegar. Toast sesame seeds and mix.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

There are no New Year's Day dessert laws that I know of, so you can go wild there. We made pecan pie for Christmas and may just do it again for New Year's Day.

Pecan pie (Tidewater, Virginia)

Make pastry for 1 9” pie and line pan. Beat together 3 eggs, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/3 tsp salt, 1/3 cup butter (melted), 1 cup dark syrup. Mix in 1 cup pecan halves. Pour into pan. Bake at 375o for 40-50 minutes.
--Dolly Shaffner Hess, Gene K. Hess

Serve with iced tea (sweet if you're Southern) and possibly mimosas if you're up to them after the New Year's Eve party. Here are tips from the Simple Gifts files, if you're unsure about iced tea. Any time you have the option, sweeten tea when it is hot and then allow it to cool.

Three ways of looking at iced tea

• Using loose tea or teabags and boiling water, bring 1 quart of freshly drawn cold water to a full rolling boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and immediately add 1/3 cup of loose tea or 15 teabags. Stir, cover, and let stand 5 minutes. Stir again and strain into a pitcher holding another quart of cold water. Serve over ice. Yield 2 quarts.
• Using teabags and cold water, fill a clean quart pitcher or container with cold tap water. Add 8-10 teabags without tags. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove teabags, squeezing against side of container. Pour into ice-filled glasses. Recipe may be doubled.
• Using instant tea or iced tea mixes and cold water, follow directions on jar or envelope. In general, allow 2 rounded T of powder to each quart of cold water. Stir and add ice. If using flavored iced tea mix, use 2 small envelopes or ½ cup mix to each quart of cold water.

May the New Year be bright, bountiful, and just filled to overflowing with good luck for you and yours.

Thanksgiving recipe: Texas cream pie

We were braced for a major storm the past two days, but it missed us. Thanksgiving is snow-covered under a blazing blue sky. From a low of -8*F, we have come up to 22*F. It is a glorious day to be indoors looking out. Hot tea and a warm and busy kitchen make it even better.

Thanksgiving dinner starts as soon as Gene finishes the glazed carrots, made with some truly incredible carrots from a friend's garden. Everything else is ready to go--turkey, whole-berry cranberry relish, sage-cornbread dressing, other assorted sides, and a trio of pies. We went with sweet potato, buttermilk and mincemeat pies, and everything smells wonderful up here.

In a hectic year and a tough economy, we are thankful for our supportive network of friends and family, and are grateful for everyone who is healthy, happy and safe. We cherish both the long-term friends who have put up with us for years, and the people we have met in the past three years or so up here who have become good friends as well. I am personally thankful for having the opportunity to live in this wild, beautiful and deep-rooted part of the world, and to be in a position to learn and document, and maybe even to help protect, its history.

Today's recipe is the one that my grandmother cherished most deeply and protected most fiercely. She was reluctant to give it out at all, even in her last years. As you know, I'm not sure that recipes can or should be as secret as all that; nevertheless, I had some pangs about publishing this one. Consider it a gift, our thanks for your being here.

There are two very slightly different versions of this. Texas Cream Pie is nothing like Boston Cream Pie, which is a cake, anyway. It is a gelatin-enhanced vanilla-perfumed custard with a slightly extravagant whipped topping and chocolate shavings as the final garnish.

Texas cream pie

The all-time winner for a perfect dessert. This was taken from a commercial recipe and it was years before Vada felt that she could share it. Her note reads “This is a prize winning $1,000 recipe. Guard it carefully.”

For 2 pies have ready 2 baked pie shells.

Sift together

½ cup sugar
1 heaping T flour

Add 2 cups milk. Cook slightly in double boiler. Add ¼ of this mixture to 5 egg yolks, slightly beaten. Then add yolk mixture to rest of custard. Return to double boiler and cook 3 minutes. Soften 1½ envelopes gelatin in ¼ cup cold water. When custard has cooked 3 minutes, remove from heat and stir in gelatin and 2 tsp vanilla. Cool thoroughly. Beat 4 egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar and add ½ cup sugar. Fold in custard mix gently and put in baked pie shells. Set in refrigerator. Whip ½ cup cream and add 2 T powdered sugar. Spread on top of pie and decorate with grated semi-sweet chocolate over top.

There are two versions of this recipe: the older one adds 1 extra egg, ½ stick of real butter, and an extra ½ envelope of gelatin. This is the version Vada and Gladys came up with and preferred.
--Vada Brooks Johnson, Gladys Brooks Strickland

It's worth the trouble, is all I can say. Happy Thanksgiving. Squeeze your loved ones and don't be afraid to have seconds of anything.

Family recipe Monday: a Simple Gifts Thanksgiving

This is the dream-team Thanksgiving dinner from the Simple Gifts project. Collectively, these recipes span over a hundred years and a goodly part of the country. I wish I could bring all these cooks together--some of them never even met each other. Family cooking keeps us together across the generations--be sure to give your loved ones an extra hug from us.

Start out with these perfect nibbles.

The Shelton-Sommers family. Ralph is on the left.

I may now be disowned for publishing this, but I think it is a great picture.

Ralph’s East Texas parched pecans

Pecans

Worcestershire sauce

Butter

Melt butter in skillet. Add Worcestershire sauce and pecans. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden. Best paired with a single-malt Scotch.

--Ralph Shelton

Use the next two recipes to put together a world-class version of Texas Cornbread Dressing.

Corn kernel cornbread

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

¼ cup sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

1 cup milk

3 T melted margarine

1 cup yellow cream-style corn

Preheat oven to 450* F. Brush 9” square baking pan or skillet with melted shortening. Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl, stirring to blend well. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, margarine and corn. Add all at once to dry ingredients, mixing quickly and thoroughly. Pour batter into pan and bake about 30 minutes, or until bread tests done. Can also be baked as sticks or muffins. Serve hot.

Dipping biscuits

Whisk in bowl to blend:

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup unbleached flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
¾ tsp onion powder
½ tsp ground thyme
½ tsp ground sage (or substitute ¾ tsp Bell’s seasoning)

Add ½ stick butter cut in ½” cubes; blend in with pastry blender until coarse meal consistency. Blend in 1 cup buttermilk, 1 large egg, mix until moist. Turn onto floured surface, knead briefly until dough comes together. Gather into ball, roll out to ¾“, cut into rounds or squares. Bake in 400o preheated oven 20-22 minutes, or until biscuit tester* comes out clean! Dip in gravy and enjoy.
--Pat Monaco

*This is an in-joke. Our friend Pat actually found a snooty gourmet magazine recipe for biscuits that required the use of a biscuit tester to determine doneness. If you can’t tell when biscuits are done, a tester will not help you much. These are great crumbled into a cornbread-sage dressing.

For a soup course, try this Pennsylvania classic.

Shaffner-Hess wedding reception, 1954.

Potato soup

Sauté gently in 2 T butter:

1 T grated carrot
1 T scraped onions

Stir in:

1 tsp salt
¼ tsp celery salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups hot milk
1 cup mashed or boiled potatoes, put through a coarse sieve

Cook 20 minutes
--Dolly Shaffner Hess

For a variation on the standard cranberry jelly, try this.

Cranberry salad

1 lb. cranberries
1 whole apple

Grind in food chopper. Cover with 1 cup sugar. Add:

1 small can crushed pineapple
Pinch salt
1/2 cup nuts

Mix into 2 pkg. Jell-O (cherry or raspberry) in 3 cups water. Chill.
--Vada Brooks Johnson, Shirley Johnson Shelton

And here is a quartet of great side dishes:

Vada’s marinated carrots

2 lb. carrots, cut in 1” pieces

Cook until tender; drain and set aside. Bring to boil:

1 cup sugar
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1/3 cup oil
½ cup vinegar

When boiling, add 1 onion (sliced) and 1 green pepper (sliced). Bring back to good hard boil and pour over carrots.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

Rice-broccoli casserole

1 package chopped broccoli

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped celery

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 small jar Cheddar cheese spread

1 cup cooked rice

Cook broccoli according to package directions. Sauté onion and celery in small amount of oil. Mix with broccoli. Add soups and cheese spread. Line a casserole dish with rice. Pour broccoli mixture over rice and bake at 375* F for 10 minutes.

--Vada Brooks Johnson

Pennsylvania red cabbage

2 tbsp bacon drippings heated in skillet (oil may be substituted)

Stir into drippings or oil:

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup cider vinegar

½ tsp caraway seed

¼ cup water

1 ¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Stir in to coat:

4 cups shredded red cabbage

2 cups cubed unpeeled red apple

Cover and cook on low heat about 15 min until cooked but still crisp. Stir occasionally.

--Dolly Shaffner Hess

Perfect baked sweet potatoes

4 medium to large sweet potatoes

Safflower oil

Preheat oven to 400* F. Wash and scrub potatoes. Dry thoroughly. Coat potatoes lightly with oil. Prick surface with fork. Bake until tender (40-60 minutes, depending on size).

The best rolls of all time for the dinner are Bran Rolls and Potato Rolls. I'd serve these with Honey Jelly.

Honey jelly

3 cups honey

1 cup water

½ bottle liquid fruit pectin (Certo)

Measure honey and water into large saucepan and mix well. Place over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. At once stir in pectin. Then bring to a full rolling boil and boil hard 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, skim off foam with metal spoon, and pour quickly into glasses. Cover jelly at once with 1/8” hot paraffin wax. This will make five glasses.

Here are a couple of options for the main course, in addition to the Shrimp Creole we love for holidays. Because we just do, that's why.

Basic roast turkey

18 to 22-lb. turkey

2 oranges or 4 lemons, halved

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

Salt, pepper, paprika

Cheesecloth

4 T corn oil

Clean turkey with damp paper towels. Dry well inside and out. Squeeze orange or lemon juice over the inside and outside of cavity. Fill neck cavity with one stuffing and body cavity with another, if desired. Don’t pack too tightly. Close cavities by sewing or skewering. Rub 1½ sticks of butter over outside of turkey. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika. Drape cheesecloth over top of turkey. Place breast side up on rack in roasting pan. Bake 4½ to 5 ½ hours at 325* F or until turkey tests done. Baste every 30 minutes with corn oil which has been mixed with remaining butter (melted). Baste without lifting cheesecloth, but check periodically to make sure it is not stuck to skin. If it is, gently lift and baste under cheesecloth. If breast gets too dark, tent with a piece of foil.

The Brooks family. Vada is the taller of the two little girls.

For the poultry-averse:

Brisket

6 lb. brisket

3 T garlic salt

3 T onion salt

3 T celery salt

½ bottle dark smoke (liquid smoke), 3-oz bottle

Wrap in foil and marinate overnight. Cook 6 hours at 275* F.

--Vada Brooks Johnson

Finally, if you are still able to move, we recommend a nice selection of pies for dessert. You can never have too many of these. Some already-printed classics include Pumpkin-Chiffon Pie, Buttermilk Pie, Pecan Pie and Caramel Pie. Here are a few other dessert options:

Sour cream dried cherry pie

2 cups sour cream
3 egg yolks
½ cup brown sugar
3 T flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 ½--2 cups dried sour cherries
½ cup water

Put the cherries in a small saucepan with the water and plump them over low heat about 5 minutes. Cool and drain. Combine the flour and sugar. Add the beaten egg yolks, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Cook the custard in a double boiler until it just starts to thicken, stirring continuously. Mix in the cherries and divide between two pre-baked piecrusts. Bake at 350* until just golden, 10-12 minutes.
--Pat Monaco and Sally Shelton

Chocolate chip cheesecake

1 ½ cup finely crushed Oreo cookies
¼ cup oleo or butter, melted
3 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 14-oz can Eagle Brand condensed milk (not evaporated)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mini-chocolate chips
1 tsp flour

Preheat oven to 300* F (important). Combine crumbs and oleo; pat firmly on bottom of 9” springform pan. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add Eagle Brand milk and beat well. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. In a small bowl, toss together ½ cup chocolate chips, 1 tsp flour to coat. Stir into cheese mixture. Pour into pan. Sprinkle ½ cup chocolate chips on top. Bake 1 hour or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool to room temperature. Chill and remove side of pan. Serves 10-12.
--Marcie Nelson

I'll post another pie recipe on Thanksgiving Day. Happy Monday.

Family recipe Monday: autumn pies

Autumn light streams in

 Stained glass lends more beauty

Cat dreams in colors. 

Farmers' market ends

Gardens yield their last harvest--

October feasting.

It is a gloriously pretty time up here on the prairies, but it's obvious from the color and slant of the sunlight that fall is racing toward the cold times. The cranes have started returning in huge flocks, flying high and fast, headed for Texas and New Mexico and other warm refugia after summer in the Arctic. Their calls trail after them, sounding like soft questions. Where? Where?

The farmers' market is selling the last of the produce and more of the canned goods. All the pumpkins, squash and gourds are coming in nicely, unlike the apples and plums of summer. The root vegetables are also maturing rapidly.

Pies featuring autumn produce are different in texture and preparation from the fresh fruit pies of summer, less sweet and more at home with the warm spices. In general, both sweet potato and pumpkin/squash pies are based on a custard preparation, baked at a low temperature to allow the custard to set without cracking. They are single-crust (like most custard pies) and often are topped with a meringue or whipped cream layer.

I have moved away from cinnamon somewhat and more toward nutmeg and allspice. It's trickier to get the gentler cinnamon as opposed to the harsher cassia, and the latter can mask the flavor of a pie. Nutmeg and allspice let the flavor shine through. The following recipes from the Simple Gifts files tend to call for cinnamon because that was what was available in West Texas at the time. You can substitute spices and experiment until you hit the right combination.

Prize sweet potato pecan pie

 ½ cups mashed sweet potatoes
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups scalded milk
2 well-beaten eggs

Fill unbaked pie shell. Bake in moderate oven, 350* F, until nearly set, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with mixture of ½ cup butter, ½ cup brown sugar and ¾ cup pecans. Continue baking until custard is done (about 45 minutes in all). Serve with whipped cream.

Here is a recipe for a custard which is wholly cooked before being poured into the pie crust to set up.

Pumpkin chiffon pie

1 cup pumpkin (cook slowly in heavy stewer 10 minutes and cool)
½ tsp salt
3 beaten egg yolks
1 cup milk
½ cup sugar
1 T butter or margarine
¼ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon

Mix these ingredients and add to pumpkin, cook until thick. Then add one envelope gelatin that has been soaked in ¼ cup cold water, 1 tsp grated orange rind, and 1 T butter or margarine. When this mixture begins to thicken, add the 3 egg whites, beaten stiff, to which ½ cup of sugar has been added. Pour into baked pie shell. Top with whipped cream and nuts.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

Mrs. Peters’s pumpkin pie

2 T butter or margarine
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
¼ tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 cup mashed pumpkin or squash {cooked}
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 ¼ cups milk

Cream the butter. Add the sugar and eggs and mix well. Then add the remainder of the ingredients and mix. Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake 1 hour at 375* F.

Finally, here is a custard pie that is a comfort food with no rival. I think that this is a Southern speciality. It's hard to find it anywhere else.

Buttermilk pie

8 T butter
2 cups sugar
3 T flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
Dash nutmeg
Unbaked 9” pie shell

Cream butter and sugar together well. Beat in flour and eggs. Stir in buttermilk, vanilla and nutmeg. Pour into pie shell. Bake in preheated 350* F oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the custard sets. Cool before serving.

Happy Monday. And for you math geeks....

Here is what I did with the apples in the second picture. There are so many ways to use extra pie crust dough decoratively.... 

Family recipe Monday: three classic pies

Yes, I realize I should have posted this for Pi Day (March 14 at 1:59; you math geeks types will get it), but I have an excuse. It's not signed by my mother, but I do have witnesses. I was off in Nebraska preparing to do a series of lectures the next day, and I didn't have the foresight to do the prescheduled pie posting instead of the prescheduled cake posting last week. So sue me. The complaint line forms at the left; take a number and wait to be called.

Here are three classic pie recipes from the Simple Gifts files. Gene and I have somehow fallen into the pie-baking niche of the family, and these are a few favorites. The first one, another one written on a moving-company scratch pad, is for a classic southern delight, pecan pie. There is not a Texan or other Southern type alive who doesn't believe that his/her version is the best on the planet. Gene believes that his Virginia version is better than this one. So be it. He is, of course, misinformed. He is, of course, from Delaware.

Pecan pie

1 cup pecans

3 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup white Karo syrup
¼ cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 unbaked pie shell (9”)

Put pecans in bottom. Pour mixture over. Bake 10 minutes at 400* F, then 50 minutes at 350* F until done. Add 4 eggs if too sweet.
--Gladys Brooks Strickland

This needs some interpretation, stat. That's 4 eggs total, not 4 eggs added to the 3 you already mixed. You do not want this to be a 7-egg pie. Trust me on this one.

Southerners will argue ALL DAY about mixing the pecans into the syrup vs. pouring the syrup over the pecans. We (by which I mean "I") fall squarely into the latter camp, and it's not up for discussion. (NB: The word is pronounced "pe-KAHN," and that is not up for discussion, either.) The white Karo syrup and vanilla make this an aromatic, delightful version.

Here is a particular family favorite.

Gladys’s caramel pie

For 2 pies

1 cup sugar, browned in a heavy iron skillet
4 egg yolks (reserve whites)
3 cups sweet milk
4 T flour
1 cup dry sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 T butter or margarine

Mix all ingredients except browned sugar. Pour over browned sugar and let dry sugar melt. Pour into baked crusts. Use whites for meringue. Top with meringue, brown in oven, and cool.
--Mary Marcella Walker Brooks, Gladys Brooks Strickland.

When the Johnson family would go to the Brooks farm in Littlefield on Saturday morning, Gran Brooks usually made a caramel pie because it was Shirley’s favorite. To this day, Shirley associates caramel pie with Saturday nights at the farm.

For a reliable meringue, try this.

Never-fail meringue

1 T cornstarch
2 T cold water
½ cup boiling water
3 egg whites
6 T sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla

Blend cornstarch and cold water in a saucepan. Add boiling water and cook, stirring until clear and thickened. Let stand until completely cold. Beat egg whites at high speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff, but not dry. Turn mixer to low speed and add salt and vanilla. Gradually beat in cold cornstarch mixture. Turn mixer back to high speed and beat well. Spread meringue over cooled pie filling. Bake at 350* F for about 10 minutes. This meringue cuts beautifully and never gets sticky.

Finally, just to keep you in a meringue frame of mind, here is a classic lemon pie. We have two lemon meringue pie recipes, and one for lemon chiffon that is indistinguishable from the first version of lemon meringue. Since it's called lemon chiffon on the card, we'll go with that name. The results are just as wonderful.

Lemon chiffon pie

4 egg yolks {4 eggs, separated}
1 cup sugar
1 lemon

Beat egg yolk until light colored, add ½ cup sugar and lemon juice. Cook until thick. Beat whites and add other ½ cup sugar. Put half of whites with yolks of eggs, folding slowly. {Fold into baked pie shell.} Add remainder of whites to top and brown.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

Footnote: yes, we make our own pie crusts. This is apparently the part that intimidates many people. For a wonderful account of pie-making and its decline in America, read American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America's Back Roads, by Pascale Le Draoulec. I have been tempted to drive across the country with a rolling pin mounted on the bumper ever since I read this terrific book.

For a dependable pie crust, try this:

Pie crust

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
7/8 cup vegetable shortening
1 egg or egg yolk
1 T white vinegar
3 T ice water, or slightly more

In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, salt and sugar. Cut in shortening just until incorporated. In a 1-cup measure, beat the egg or yolk. Add vinegar and ice water and stir well. You should have about 1 cup of liquid in all. Very slowly, pour liquid into flour mixture. While pouring, mix with a fork until it clumps together. If too sticky, add pinches of extra flour. If too dry, sprinkle on a bit more water. Divide the dough into 2 pieces. Chill, then roll out into a circle slightly larger that the pie plate. Fold dough in half, place in pie plate, and then unfold. Makes 1 double-crust or two single-crust pies.

It's fun and it's better than anything you can buy. Happy Monday.

Family recipe Monday: pears

It's a frosty Monday morning and I'm not happy about being an adult human instead of a hibernating bear. Hibernation sounds like a great idea right now. But I've warmed up with cinnamon tea and am off to face the day. Just don't ask me to be perky yet.

Gene will soon be posting a series of family recipes from the Hess-Shaffner side. These reflect a totally different heritage, pure Pennsylvania Dutch, and some are even older than any I've collected from my side of the tree.

In the meantime, I'm thinking about pears...

Pear preserves

1 quart thinly sliced pears
1 cup sugar per quart pears
Very thinly sliced lemon to taste
Water to cover

Cook over very low heat to right consistency.
 --Mrs. E. A. (Leo) Tipton

I am not sure who Mrs. Tipton was; I'm assuming that she was a family friend who shared her recipes (unlike some people we know, or have read about). I love the combination of exactitude on the slicing and heat, but vagueness on the consistency. Hint: cook this until the syrup coats a spoon, but the pear slices are still intact. You're making preserves, not jam, and these are lovely. The preserves will continue setting up in the jar as they cool. I'd use at least half a lemon per quart, and make sure that the water only just covers the pears. mmmm....
 

 

Pear honey

4 quarts ground pears
3 quarts sugar

Cook in pan over medium flame until pears are tender and juice is clear. Add 1 quart crushed pineapple--continue cooking 10 minutes.
 --Vada Brooks Johnson

Pineapple was another exotic fruit that transformed cooking in the dryland areas when it became available in stores. People put it in everything they could get away with, as I recall. The pears were ground with a hand mill/food mill. You could use a food processor for this, with no problems. Just don't overdo it--this should be a coarse grind.

A note on the recipe card itself: this is obviously a sheet from a scratch pad rather than a card. My grandmother and her mother wrote down recipes on any paper that was at hand, and my grandfather always had scratch pads from the businessmen he worked with as an architectural draftsman. This is a prime example. I think we need to do a little local research and find out what we have in our recipe papers from businesses that no longer exist. We could do a micro-history of the businesses in the area.

Finally, here is a preview of the Shaffner-Hess recipe files. Gene's mom Dolly was an ace cook and had the dietitian's degree to prove it. Her recipes are short, crisp and exact. More on her when Gene gets his recipes up.

Early American pear pie

Make pastry and line 9” pan. Fill with:

Pare and slice firm pears—6 cups. Mix ¾ cup sugar, 1 tsp nutmeg or cinnamon, 2 T flour. Mix through pears. Fill pie tin, dot with butter, cover with crust. Bake 425 [F] for 35-45 minutes.
--Dolly Shaffner Hess

Being a fan of eating produce in its season, I only have six or seven months to go before fresh pears are available. I'm ready for them right now. This is why hibernation would be such a great idea. Snarl. Happy Monday.

Don’t pass it out

A few of the ribbons my grandmother won for her baked goods at the South Plains Fair, ca. 1960.

I've had a few questions about Family Recipe Mondays. The recipes are in fact all family favorites, most of them older than I am (which is no longer insignificant, alas). We have spent a long time sorting, organizing and scanning them so that everyone who wants a copy can have one, in the original handwriting and measurements. It's been a labor of love.

I have transcribed the recipes, and Gene has scanned them. I made the judgment call early on that I was not going to try to update measurements or ingredients. These are relics of their time. There are a number of them I will probably never make, but they are fascinating glimpses into the history of the family, time and place. I can tell the difference between a 1920s favorite and a 1960s favorite in many cases from the ingredients alone. And I am having fun sharing these.

My grandmother and her sister were just the opposite: they did not give out recipes to anyone except family and trusted friends, and sometimes not even then, even to each other, depending on the status of their relationship at any given moment. Cooking was the touchstone of excellence for them. They were good at it, but convinced that someone was going to take this from them somehow. So I have an occasional twinge when I post one of their recipes, knowing that they would never have done what I am doing now and putting them out for the world to see.

Dessert recipes were especially hoarded. Desserts were the proof of one's cooking prowess. The most elaborate desserts were variations on layer cakes and custard pies. Me, I've never tried the Nesselrode pie recipe below--and don't have any plans to do so; that is a LOT of maraschino cherries--but the warning at the end, from my great-aunt to my grandmother, reminded me of the recipe wars all over again.

Gladys’s Nesselrode pie

1 graham cracker ready-made pie crust
1 ½ tsp unflavored gelatin (½ packet)
1 pkg. (3 oz) instant vanilla pudding/pie filling mix
2 cups whipped cream
1 cup chopped, drained maraschino cherries
½ to 1 cup pecans
6 maraschino cherry halves

Combine gelatin with dry pudding mix according to pudding directions. Cool to room temperature. Fold in whipped cream, chopped cherries and nuts. Spoon into crust and chill until firm (3 to 4 hours). Decorate top with more whipped cream, cherry halves, slivered semi-sweet chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Gladys’s note: “Nesselrode [was] named for a Russian diplomat and statesman (Count Karl Robert Nesselrode). This dish was a favorite of royalty before it crossed the sea to America. I make my own pie crusts from butter-flavored Crisco; I make 3 to 6 at a time. I buy my maraschino cherries by the half gallon. Hope you don’t have this recipe, hope you like it and dine like royalty. Don’t pass it out any more than you did the Texas cream [pie].”

--Gladys Brooks Strickland

Well, she was right about the Count and the dessert (originally more of an iced custard) being named for him. I'm not sure that this early 1980s version has much connection to the original Nesselrode pudding, however. Women of my grandmother's generation weren't shy about jumping on time-savers like prepared pie crusts and instant mixes. They had, by that time, spent 60+ years in the kitchen, starting with wood-fired stoves, through gas to electric. Pies were still the test of their cooking skill, and a rich indulgent one like this was perfect for impressing a club meeting or a bunch of rowdy grandchildren.

So there it is. Use this and all of our recipes as you like. Some things are not really meant to be secrets.