Part 25

Mix the sugar, flour and salt for each pie in a bowl by itself. When the bottom crust is on the pan, spread about half the sugar mixture over it, put in a generous quantity of apples so that when baked the pie will be level, not depressed, and sprinkle the remainder of the mixture over, taking pains to have a little more at the edges because of not having any underneath there. It is very disappointing to find the last mouthfuls of pie near the crust less sweet than the first from the center.

Be sure that the edge of the under crust is moistened, lay on the upper crust as directed, press the edges down well, trim off the extra crust (unless you fold it under the bottom crust), and with the thumb and forefinger press the edges well together.

Make incisions in the crust with a sharp pointed knife for the steam to escape, bind the edges with strips of cloth and bake in a moderate oven, turning occasionally, for ¾-1 hour. To be sure that the apples are tender try them with a broom splint through the spaces in the crust.

Brown sugar or molasses may be used to sweeten apple pies once in a while as some people are very fond of those sweets. The nice dried greening apples that we get sometimes may be soaked over night and used the same as fresh apples.

=Other Fruit Pies=

=Apple and Elder-berry=--1½ pt. apple prepared as for apple pie, 1 pt. elder-berries, ¾ cup sugar, 1 tablespn. flour, 2 teaspns. lemon juice, salt. Lemon juice may be omitted. A smaller proportion of elder-berries maybe used and the pie still be delicious.

=Dutch Apple=--Fill a buttered pie plate with apples without sugar, dot with bits of butter, cover with a rather thick crust and bake. Invert on dessert plate, sprinkle with sugar (mixed with coriander if liked) and serve hot.

=Phoebe’s, Delicious=--Nearly fill the crust with dry, nicely seasoned, fresh apple sauce; cover with a ⅓ inch layer of raspberry jam which has been beaten so as to spread well; bake. The jam may be put on after the pie is baked, or both apple and jam may be put into a baked crust. The pie may have a meringue, but Phoebe’s didn’t.--It may also be baked with two crusts.

=Rhubarb and Apple=--1¼ qt. rhubarb, ⅓-½ cup thick, slightly sweetened, strained apple sauce, 1½ cup sugar, 2½ tablespns. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt. Mix apple sauce with rhubarb and proceed as in apple pie.

=Blueberry=--Scant 1 qt. berries, 1 tablespn. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt. A little water if berries are dry.

=Mock Cherry=--1½ cup cranberries, ¾ cup seeded raisins, ¾ cup sugar, 1½ tablespn. flour, a pinch of salt, 1¼ cup boiling water. Mix sugar, flour and salt; pour boiling water over and boil up. Cut cranberries in halves and raisins in small pieces with the shears and add to syrup. 2 crusts.

=Cranberry and Raisin=--1 cup ground cranberries (2 cups before grinding), 1 cup ground raisins (1½ cup before grinding), 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespn. flour, 1¼ cup water, salt. Mix sugar, flour and salt; pour boiling water over, stirring, boil up, add cranberries and raisins. 2 crusts, or strips of pastry across top.

=Cranberry=--1 lb. (4⅔ cups) whole berries, 1½ cup sugar, 1 tablespn. flour, ¼-½ cup water, 2 crusts.

=Stewed Cranberry=--Fill crust with thick, strained, stewed cranberries, sweetened. Put strips of crust across the top in squares or diamonds.

=Currant=--1 qt. ripe red currants, 1¼ cup sugar, 3 or 4 tablespns. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt, 2 crusts. Bake well.

=Black Currant=--Black currants with sugar, flour, salt and water make a delicious pie. They should not be laid too thick in the plate. A layer of thin slices of apple with the currants is good.

=Currant and Raspberry=--About ⅓ raspberries to ⅔ currants, sugar, flour, salt.

=Currant and Raisin=--2½ cups red currants, 1 cup chopped raisins, ¾ cup sugar, 2 tablespns. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt.

=Elder-berry=--To each pint of elder-berries use 1 tablespn. lemon juice, ½-1 cup sugar, ½-1 tablespn. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt.

=Fig--Mrs. Webster=--1 lb. figs, 1 cup sugar, 3 cups water, 1½-2 tablespns. lemon juice, salt. Wash and grind or chop the figs, pour the water over them warm and let stand over night; add grated rind of ½ the lemon with other ingredients. 2 crusts.

=Green Gooseberry=--1 qt. berries, 1¼ cup sugar, 1 tablespn. flour, ½ teaspn. salt.

=★ Mince Filling=

3 pts. chopped tart apples 3 cups (1 lb.) seeded raisins, chopped ½ cup lemon juice 1 cup strong cereal coffee 1½ cup nice-flavored dark molasses 1-2 teaspns. salt 2 teaspns. ground coriander seed

Grind raisins through medium cutter, then the apples which have been pared, quartered and cored; mix all the ingredients and heat to boiling; put into jars and seal, or keep in cool place in stone jar. Add a little water if necessary when making pies and do not fill crusts too nearly full. Make a lattice-work top of strips of pastry sometimes, instead of a top crust. Serve warm as a rule. Follow this recipe exactly.

We may use a little browned flour and water instead of the cereal coffee.

=Green Tomato Mince-meat=

1 pk. green tomatoes 2 lbs. (6 cups) raisins 1⅓ tablespn. ground coriander seed 5 teaspns. salt 5-6 cups brown sugar 4 cups strong cereal coffee (or 4 tablespns. sugar, caramelized, and water added) 1 cup lemon juice

Chop or grind the tomatoes, drain, measure the juice and add an equal quantity of water in its place. Grind the raisins rather coarse, combine all ingredients except lemon juice, cook 30 m., or until done, add lemon juice, boil up, put into jars and seal if intending to keep for some time.

=Crumb Mince-meat=

1 cup cracker or dry bread crumbs 1 cup molasses 1 cup sugar ½ cup lemon juice 1½ cup water ½ teaspn. ground coriander seed 1 tablespn. butter

Mix, boil, put into crusts. Grape juice may be used for part of the water with or without the coriander seed.

=Sour Cream Mince--Annie Carter=--1 cup sour cream, 1 tablespn. flour, 1 egg, ¾ cup sugar, 1 cup seedless raisins, steamed; two crusts. Bake just long enough to set the egg and bake the crust. The crust need not be quite as rich as for fruit pies. One tablespn. of lemon juice may be used. May use chopped seeded raisins or English currants in place of seedless raisins. The sugar may be flavored with oil of lemon.

=Fresh Peach=--Put sliced ripe peaches in baked crust; sprinkle with sugar and cover with whipped cream or an uncooked meringue. Serve at once. Cut pie before covering with cream or meringue. _Mellow bananas_ may be substituted for peaches and a very delicate sprinkling of sugar used.

=Prune=--Pitted stewed prunes in quarters, flour, salt and a little sugar. Do not make filling too thick as it is solid. Two crusts. Delicious.

=Prune=--Thick prune pulp, slightly sweetened or not, one crust, strips of pastry over top if convenient. May have meringue with or without grated lemon rind, or may be covered with whipped cream after cutting.

=Raisin=--1 cup chopped raisins, 1 cup water, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 tablespn. flour. Mix sugar and flour, pour boiling water over, boil up well, add raisins, cool, bake between two crusts. Vanilla or lemon flavoring may be used.

=Raisin Meringue=--Add yolks of 2 eggs to filling of raisin pie with or without 1 tablespn. of butter a moment before removing from the fire; when heated, add vanilla, turn into baked crust and meringue with the 2 whites of eggs. Milk may be used instead of water and white sugar instead of brown.

=Raisin Lemon=

1⅓ cup water ¾-⅞ cup sugar 1 level tablespn. butter ¾ cup seeded raisins 4 tablespns. flour 3 tablespns. lemon juice and pulp grated rind of 1 lemon 1 egg, salt

Mix sugar and flour, pour boiling water over, add butter and raisins, cook; when raisins look plump, remove from fire, add remaining ingredients and bake between 2 crusts. The raisins may be chopped.

=Rhubarb=--1-1¼ qt. rhubarb, in ¾ in. pieces, 1½ cup sugar, 2½ tablespns. flour, ¼ teaspn. salt.

=Rhubarb and Pineapple=

1 large pt. rhubarb 1⅔ cup shredded pineapple 1¼ cup sugar 2½ tablespns. flour ¼ teaspn. salt

=Elizabeth’s Rhubarb=--1 cup chopped rhubarb, ½ cup molasses, ½ cup chopped or ground raisins. 2 crusts.

=Rhubarb and Strawberry=

1 pt. fresh rhubarb 1 rounded pt. strawberries 1¼ cup sugar 2 tablespns. corn starch (or 3 tablespns. of flour) ¼ teaspn. salt

=Canned Rhubarb=

Scant quart canned rhubarb 1¼ cup sugar 2 tablespns. flour ¼ teaspn. salt

=Strawberry Meringue=--Put thin layer of universal crust in shallow pudding dish or deep pie pan; when light bake; fill with berries, sprinkle with sugar, and meringue with the whites of 2 or 3 eggs, and 1½ tablespn. sugar.

=Green Tomato--Harriet=

1 qt. sliced tomatoes 1 cup sugar 3 tablespns. flour ½ teaspn. salt

Select tomatoes that are just going to turn, or that may be a little white, or that may have a trifle of red on one side, not those that are at all ripe, yet not very green ones. Make pie in pudding dish or shallow granite basin and do not have the crust come quite to the top. Bake very slowly, after the first 10 m., for 2 hours. The pie is not good unless baked slowly for a long time.

LEMON PIES

=Lemon Pie--Granella Crust=

4 tablespns. lemon juice 1½ cup sugar 1⅓ cup water 5 or 6 tablespns. flour yolks 2 or 3 eggs ¼ teaspn. salt

Flavor sugar with oil of lemons (p. 27), add flour, mixing well, and pour the perfectly boiling water over, stirring until smooth; boil, add the slightly beaten yolks, lemon juice and salt; heat just enough to set the egg. Turn the filling into the baked granella crust and spread quickly around the edges so as to touch the top of the crust.

_Meringue_--Whites of 2 eggs, ½ tablespn. lemon juice, 2-3 tablespns. sugar. Beat whites with a little salt to moderately stiff froth, add lemon juice and beat stiff; fold in the sugar and drop by spoonfuls on the hot pie; brown delicately on top grate of oven. This filling may be used in any baked crust.

=★ Lemon Cake or Sponge Pie=

1 cup sugar 3 tablespns. flour 1 cup milk 2 eggs salt 4 tablespns. lemon juice grated rind

Mix sugar, salt and flour; add milk gradually, stirring until smooth; pour over beaten yolks of eggs, add lemon juice and rind and lastly, stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Bake in slow oven 30 m., or until just done.

=Lemon Cream Pie, large=

2⅓ cups rich milk 1¾ cup sugar 1⅓ cup flour grated rind of 1 lemon 4½ tablespns. lemon juice 2 large eggs

Mix flour, sugar and salt, pour boiling milk over, stirring, boil till very thick; add lemon juice and yolks of eggs, stir until well mixed and eggs cooked; spread in baked granella or pastry crust and cover with the meringue.

=Ma’s Lemon Pie=

grated rind of 1 lemon 3 tablespns. lemon juice 1 cup thick sweet or sour cream 1 cup sugar

Mix cream and sugar, add lemon juice and rind. Two crusts.

=Starchless Lemon Pie=

¾ cup sugar, flavored yolks 4 eggs whites of 2 eggs 3 tablespns. lemon juice in measuring cup. Fill cup with water

_Meringue_--2 beaten whites, ½-1 tablespn. sugar.

=Lemon Pie--Cornstarch=

1½ cup water ½ cup sugar 1 tablespn. butter 2½ tablespns. corn starch 1 cup sugar 3½ tablespns. lemon juice lemon rind yolks 2 or 3 eggs whites 2 eggs

Mix corn starch, the ½ cup of sugar and butter, pour boiling water over, cook; remove from fire, add the 1 cup of sugar, the lemon juice, grated rind and beaten yolks of eggs; bake in 1 crust, meringue with whites of eggs and sprinkle sugar over the top. Butter may be omitted.

=Lemon Pie without eggs or milk=

¾-1 cup sugar 2 tablespns. corn starch 1 cup hot water 2 tablespns. melted butter 3 tablespns. lemon juice grated rind of 1 lemon

Mix sugar and corn starch in double boiler, pour boiling water over and cook until thick, add butter and beat, then add lemon juice and grated rind. Two crusts.

=Mrs. Hance’s Lemon Pie=--Pare 1 lemon thick enough to remove all the white part, cut in thin slices and remove the seeds. Add 1 egg and ¾ cup of sugar, beat well and turn on gradually 1 cup of cold water. Two crusts.

=Lemon Pie that will keep several days=

1 large lemon 1 egg ⅔ cup sugar ⅓ cup molasses salt

Grate the rind and as much of the lemon as possible, remove seeds, squeeze out the juice and chop pulp and skin very fine; beat the egg, mix all the ingredients and bake between 2 crusts.

=Lemon Pie with Bread=

2 slices bread ½ in. thick 1 cup boiling water 1 level tablespn. butter 3 tablespns. lemon juice grated rind of lemon 1 scant cup sugar 2 eggs

The slices should be from a medium sized, brick shaped loaf of bread. Cut off the crusts and pour boiling water over; add butter and beat with a fork until the bread is smooth; then combine with the rind and juice of the lemon, the sugar and beaten yolks. Bake in 1 crust and meringue with whites of eggs.

=Lemon Custard Pie=

4 eggs 1 cup sugar 4 tablespns. lemon juice flavoring 1¾ cup rich milk salt

Leave out 2 whites of eggs and beat the remainder with sugar, add lemon juice and flavoring, salt and milk. Bake slowly until just set, no longer. Meringue.

=Orange Pie=

5 tablespns. sugar 1 tablespn. butter 3 eggs juice and pulp of 2 oranges grated rind of 1 orange juice of 1 lemon grated rind of ½ lemon

Add beaten whites last. May omit butter.

=Orange Custard Pie=

rind of 1 and juice of 2 oranges 4 eggs 4 tablespns. sugar 1 pt. rich milk

Leave out 2 whites for meringue.

CREAM PIES

=Cream--Par excellence=--1½ pt. rich milk, ⅔ cup flour laid lightly in cup, scant cup of sugar, 2 eggs, salt, 1 teaspn. vanilla. Mix flour, salt and sugar, put into oiled saucepan, pour boiling milk over, stirring until smooth, boil, add yolks of eggs, just heat, add vanilla, turn into baked granella or pastry crust. Meringue. With some brands of pastry flour, a scant measure only will be required. Thin slices of banana may be laid on the baked crust before the filling is put in, for banana flavor.

=Cocoanut Cream--Famous=--Same as cream pie with ¾ cup sugar only and about ¾ cup desiccated cocoanut. (If cocoanut is fresh grated, use 1 cup sugar.) Add cocoanut just before putting filling into crust, reserving enough to sprinkle the top of the meringue before baking. Do not brown the meringue, just heat it until it puffs up and possibly tints the tips of the cocoanut.

=Nut Cream=--Use chopped hickory or other nuts in place of cocoanut in Cocoanut Cream Pie.

=★ Farina Cream=--Scant pt. rich milk, 1 tablespn. Hecker’s, 1½ tablespn. Am. Cereal Co’s farina, ⅓ cup sugar, 2 eggs (3 eggs enough for 2 pies), 1 teaspn. vanilla. Heat milk and sugar to boiling, sift in farina and cook for ¾-1 hour in double boiler; add slightly beaten yolks of eggs, just heat through, remove from fire, add flavoring, turn into baked granella or pastry crust. Meringue. Thin slices of banana may be used to flavor this pie also but it is delicious with no flavoring. Farina may be cooked 45 m. only, yolks and flavoring added and the filling be baked in the crust.

=Cream of Rice=

1 qt. rich milk ⅓ cup rice ⅓ cup sugar pinch of salt

Cook all together until thick and creamy. Turn into baked crust, brown delicately over the top, cool.

Better the second day. Do not use with granella crust.

=Caramel Cream=--Steep ¼-⅓ cup cereal coffee in milk of cream pie, in double boiler for 15 m., strain through 2 thicknesses of cheese cloth, add milk or cream to make 1½ pt. Finish the same as cream pie. Flavor with vanilla.

The pie may be made with not very rich milk and covered, after cutting, with flavored, sweetened, whipped cream instead of being meringued.

=Tomato Cream--Fine=

1½ cup very rich milk 1½ cup strained tomato 1 cup sugar ⅔ cup flour salt 2 eggs vanilla

Mix sugar and flour, pour boiling milk over, then boiling tomato, boil up, add salt and yolks of eggs, cook, add vanilla and put in baked crust. Meringue. Use a little more flour when pie is to be eaten the day it is made.

=My Mother’s=

1 pt. thick cream ⅓-½ cup sugar 1 tablespn. flour 1 egg

Mix and bake in 1 crust; serve in very small pieces. No flavoring but that of the cream is required and no meringue is necessary as the cream gives a beautiful finish to the top of the pie.

=Parched Corn Cream=

2⅔ cups rich milk ¼ cup parched corn meal ⅓ cup sugar salt 3 eggs

Soak corn meal in milk 1 hour, cook until thickened; add salt, and eggs beaten with sugar. Put into crust and bake. One white may be beaten to stiff froth and stirred in last, and if wished, a little sugar may be sprinkled over the top.

=Cream--Sour=

1 egg 1½ tablespn. flour ½ cup sugar salt 1 teaspn. vanilla 1 pt. thick sour cream

Mix flour, sugar and salt; turn beaten egg over and stir in cream gradually; add vanilla and turn into crust; bake in moderate oven. If preferred, 1 more egg may be used, the white beaten to a stiff froth and stirred in last.

=Sour Cream=

2½ cups sour cream 2½-3 tablespns. flour 1 cup sugar salt 2 eggs vanilla, almond, rose or lemon

Bring cream just to boiling and pour over sugar and flour which have been mixed together; boil up, add yolks of eggs, heat to thicken but do not boil; add flavoring, turn into baked crust. Meringue with whites of eggs.

=White Cream=

whites of 3 eggs 2 level tablespns. flour ½-1 cup sugar 1 pt. cream flavoring

Beat whites with sugar, add other ingredients which have been mixed together; bake in 1 crust.

=Custard Pie=--2½ cups rich milk, ⅓ cup sugar, 3 eggs, salt. Dusting of coriander or anise, or any suitable flavoring.

=Custard Pie that Makes Its Own Crust=--1½ pt. rich milk (or scant 1½ pt. skimmed milk and 1½ tablespn. of butter), ⅓-½ cup sugar, 3 eggs, 4 tablespns. flour, salt; almond, lemon or coriander flavoring. Mix ingredients, stirring flour with milk and pour into an oiled pie pan. Bake very slowly.

The flour will settle to the bottom and form a delicate crust.

Use 1 more egg, mix ingredients with 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks more, then add the 2 whites stiffly-beaten, at the last. This makes a more attractive pie.

=Custard Pie Without Milk=--4 eggs, 3 or 4 tablespns. sugar, salt, 1 pt. boiling water, flavoring. Beat 2 whole eggs and 2 more yolks with sugar and salt, pour boiling water over gradually, stirring, pour into crust, dust with coriander, bake; meringue with whites of 2 eggs. Vanilla, lemon or orange flavoring may be used in the pie. The whites may be beaten stiff and stirred into the filling before baking instead of adding the meringue.

=Rice Pie=

1 good pint rich milk 1 cup well cooked rice 2 eggs 4 tablespns. sugar vanilla, or no flavor

Dust with coriander sometimes. May beat eggs separate and add whites last. One crust.

=Crumb Pie=

Line the pan with crust, put into it a large pint of rather dry bread crumbs (cracker crumbs may be used) and turn over them sweetened, thin cream to fill the crust. Bake. Serve warm or cold. Any desired flavor may be used.

=★ Crumb Pie No. 2=

1 cup fine dry bread crumbs ½ cup sugar 1 tablespn. flour 1 egg, 2½ cups milk ground coriander seed or other flavoring

Mix crumbs, sugar and flour, add milk to beaten egg and pour over dry ingredients, stirring, turn into crust, dust with coriander, bake in moderate oven. Lemon or vanilla flavoring may be used in the pie but they do not compare with the dusting of ground coriander seed.

=Buttermilk Pie. Excellent=

1½ pt. buttermilk ¾ cup sugar scant ½ cup flour 2 eggs salt lemon and rose flavor

Mix lemon flavored sugar with flour, heat buttermilk quickly in double boiler and pour over the mixture, boil up well, add yolks of eggs, heat to cook eggs but do not boil, add salt, turn into baked crust, cover with meringue flavored with rose.

=Buttermilk Pie No. 2=

¾ cup sugar flavored with lemon 2 eggs 2½ tablespns. (¼ cup) flour 1½ pt. buttermilk salt

Mix, bake in crust ½ hour in moderate oven. Flavor meringue with orange.

=Sour Milk Pie--Mock Lemon=

2 eggs 1 cup sugar 1⅓ tablespn. corn starch 2½ cups sour milk lemon flavor salt

Mix, leaving out whites of eggs, bake, meringue.

=Sour Milk Pie with Raisins=

1 cup chopped raisins 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 cup sour milk 1 tablespn. butter flavoring if desired 2 crusts

May use juice and grated rind of 1 lemon instead of butter.

=Sweet Potato Pie=

1 cup mashed sweet potato ½ cup sugar yolks of 2 eggs 2 cups rich milk salt

Mix all with beaten yolks of eggs, bake slowly, flavor meringue of whites of eggs with vanilla.

=Squash Pies. Two large=

2½ cups squash, not very dry 1 scant cup sugar 2 tablespns. flour salt 2 eggs 1 qt. rich milk 1½ teaspn. vanilla a few drops of almond flavor

Mix sugar, flour and salt and stir into squash. Break eggs in and beat a little, add milk gradually, then flavoring, bake in moderate oven.

With 3 cups of squash use a little less flour. For variety, flavor with lemon or vanilla only, or with neither and stir in a little cocoanut, sprinkling a little over the top.

=Bro. Cornforth’s Squash and Sweet Potato Pie=

2 eggs, ½ cup sugar, 1 pt. dry mashed squash and sweet potato (½ potato, ⅔ squash), 1 qt. milk, salt. No other flavor.

=Lemon Squash Pie=

1½ cup nice dry squash 2⅓ cups water or 2½ of milk ¾-1 scant cup sugar salt ¾ teaspn. vanilla 2 tablespns. lemon juice 1½-1¾ tablespn. flour 3 eggs 3-5 drops lemon extract

Mix as usual, reserving the lemon extract and white of 1 egg for the meringue. Bake in moderate oven and meringue with the white of egg beaten not very stiff with 1-1½ tablespn. sugar and the lemon extract. (A thick meringue seems out of place on a squash pie.) If preferred, 1 or 2 of the whites may be beaten stiff, flavored and stirred into the pie before it is baked. ½-¾ cup soup cracker crumbs may be used instead of eggs.

=Pumpkin Pies=

_Suggestions_--Select a dark, rich-colored pumpkin with deep indentations and thick meat. Some of the small sugar pumpkins are very nice.

Good pies cannot be made out of coarse-grained, watery pumpkins.

Baked pumpkin makes richer pies than stewed, with less work. To bake, cut or saw a pumpkin into halves, and if large, cut into quarters; place on a large tin and turn another over it; bake until tender.

To boil, cut in strips, remove fibrous portion from center, cut in pieces and put over the fire in some thick-bottomed utensil, either copper, re-tinned, or iron; add just enough water to keep it from burning and simmer slowly, stirring often, for several hours until the pumpkin becomes a rich brown and is well dried out. Rub through colander while hot.

Pumpkin may be steamed in strips, unpeeled, but is not so rich.

The question of peeling is an open one; many claim that the rind gives a richer flavor to the pies as well as a darker color, while others fear it may give a strong flavor.

“The real genuine old-fashioned golden-brown pumpkin pie our great-grandmothers prided themselves on” is made without eggs.

Long, slow baking is necessary to the perfection of pumpkin pies.

Cover crust of pies with a circle of paper if in danger of becoming too brown.

Meringued patty pan pies or tartlets are very dainty and nice.

The addition of ¼ cup of date pulp (½ cup of dates steamed and rubbed through the colander) to the filling for each pie gives a more old-fashioned flavor, without harmful condiments.

=Pumpkin Pies Without Eggs--3 pies=

1¼ qt. rich, dark, dry pumpkin 3 pts. rich milk ¾ cup sugar ¼ cup molasses 1 teaspn. salt 1½ tablespns. browned flour No. 3 or 3-6 tablespns. browned flour No. 2