Let Them Eat Pie

Mama has spent the evening baking pie. Yep, Mama. Not me. Mama. She's entering a pie contest at her office summer picnic. And she has to make it herself. Though, she's never really made pie before. Well, there was one time. A long time ago, when she was in Chicago and I was in NYC and we were in love. She was making a pie to take to a party: Toll House Pie. And she was quite a novice. Didn't put the pie on a cookie sheet. Didn't put foil on the crust edges until the last 15 minutes. Didn't recognize the sound of her smoke alarm when it went off because the pie had bubbled over and burned in her oven. I was on the phone the whole time (Ah, young love. When long distance minutes were expensive!) giving advice.

Well, this time I'm at the kitchen table, reading aloud my recipe for Buttermilk Pie to her. She chose this Southern staple because she figured almost everyone else would be doing a double-crust blueberry or cherry and we aren't such crust connoisseurs over here, which is why we went with a single-crust pie (the rules don't stipulate 2 crusts, thank heavens). And there are no dewberry bushes around to make that Texas treat.

After knowing each other for 16 years and being together for 13, she's picked up a thing or two about pie. And she did everything with aplomb and precision, from making her own crust last night and chilling it to rolling out dough between two layers of plastic wrap to crimping the edges to sprinkling only the pretty almonds to foiling the pie's edge before placing it on a foil-covered cookie sheet. It's prettier than any buttermilk pie I've ever made.

And we'll get to taste it too. She made two little pie-lets with leftover filling and dough so we'll get to try her contest entry in about 5 minutes. If it tastes as good as it looks, she's doing great. But then, she's been a winner in my book for a long time. Even with that first pie attempt.

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Buttermilk Pie

Frozen pie dough (or see my recipe for two crusts here)

6 tablespoons butter

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup sliced almonds or 1/2 cup currants

Preheat the oven to 350F. Fit the pie dough into a 9 inch pie pan. Crimp the edges to seal the pasty onto the pan. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool.

Combine the eggs, sugar, flour, the melted and cooled butter, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl and beat the ingredients with a whisk or electric mixer set at a moderate speed 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and uniform. Add the buttermilk and stir the ingredients thoroughly to blend it in well. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Sprinkle the nuts or currants on top. Bake 45 minutes or until the surface is golden brown and the center is set.

AMNY

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Toll House Pie

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

½ cup flour

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

2 beaten eggs

2 sticks hot melted butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake 45 minutes at 350°F. Top with Cool Whip when serving.