I realized that my last post could have been a part of this series. I was too excited about mastering biscuits to think about it. Oh well.
For my second post in this series, I wanted to use one of my newer cookbooks. I was so in love with Sweety Pies last year, I gave it as a gift. I like a good story with my recipe and this book delivers!
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Let me back up. I was home last week for a funeral and someone brought over a homemade egg custard pie. You would not believe the excitement this elicited from Aunt Carolyn, me and later my big brother. This woman put her foot in that pie! My dessert-loving Uncle Herman later agreed. Needless to say, I was willing to make another attempt at this pie until I got it right. I had a few books to choose recipes from and I chose Sweety Pies because it was newer.
Since the filling was so simple, I tried to go for a more difficult traditional pie crust. I chose the one in Baking Illustrated. Y'all know pie crust has been my nemesis. I wanted to venture away from my beloved Cook's Illustrated Foolproof Pie Dough. Not the smartest move I've ever made, but practice makes perfect.
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Pie crust first. The best-tasting crusts have butter and shortening. Make sure they are both well chilled.
Take the flour, salt and sugar for a spin. Add the shortening and process. The mixture should look like wet sand. Evenly distribute the butter on top.
Process until the butter is the size of peas.
We'll now fast forward. Dump the mixture into a bowl and add cold water. Shape into a disc and refrigerate for at least an hour. Roll it out and get it into the pie plate.
Moving on to the filling. Cream the sugar, butter and eggs. I gave the butter and sugar a head start and then added the eggs.
Look at Sparkle go! Don't be confused; you know I named most of my appliances. I didn't call the food processor by name, but you already know Miracle.
Add your flour, buttermilk and extracts. The recipe called for lemon and vanilla. I think I want to go for just the vanilla next time. The buttermilk made the eggs curdle. Curdled batters always make me nervous.
Here's the result -- a little more golden brown than I planned on, but still good. Do you know how hard it was to wait on the pie to chill so I could taste it?!! I had to go to bed to rid myself of the temptation.
Although good in it's own right, this is not the pie I tasted in Little Rock last week. I just called my Aunt Myrt to see if she can get the recipe!
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Tools of the trade:
I welcomed 34 with a determination to conquer my nemesis, pie dough! How fortuitous Cook's Illustrated came out with a new Foolproof Pie Dough recipe -- the stars were starting to align. This pie dough has vodka in it to help reduce the amount of gluten formed during preparation.
