Mariel's Collage

Black Bottom Pie (4 stars)

41
Black Bottom Pie
3/31/12

Each General Conference we gather at my Dad's house after the priesthood session on Saturday night. It's usually modified pot luck so you never know whats for dinner. I really like it because its a chance to catch up with extended family. I made a Black Bottom Pie (Lion House), it takes several steps but is worth it. The gingerbread crust gives it a unique flavor and a little zing. Of course I love ginger snaps with a glass of milk and barely had enough to make the crust.

Crust:

Chocolate Layer

36 gingersnaps
1/2 cup butter

Filling:
3 cups whole milk
4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup cornstarch
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
4 eggs, separated

Finished Pie

2 teaspoons vanilla
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
2 Tablespoons unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
1 cup sigar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons imitation rum flavoring

Garnish:
Whipped cream
Chocolate flakes

Crush gingersnaps (I blended them) mix with melted butter, mold into 10 inch pie plate.

Scald milk; add butter. In a separate bowl mix 1-1/2 cups sugar, and cornstarch; moisten with water to make a past, stir into milk and cook until boiling, stir constantly. Add beaten egg yolks and cook for 2 minutes and add vanilla. Remove 2 cups of custard, add chocolate, beat well, pour into crumb crust and chill. Blend gelatin with cold water, allow to set for a few minutes, fold into remaining hot custard and allow to cool. Beat egg whites, 1 cup sugar, and cream of tartar int a meringue. Add rum flavoring and mix into custard. Pour plain custard onto chilled chocolate custard and chill. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate.

Neil J.

Pie tasting

Black Bottom Pie

Marc

Van

Girls Camp

Each year the young women in our ward hold a dinner and auction to raise funds for the upcoming girls camp. It's a fun night and usually a packed house. You can find just about everything at the auction, Ramon used to donate a Green River fishing trip. You can get boat rides, yard work, jewelry, and lots of baked goods.  The most unique this year were rabbits just in time for spring. Kids were bidding (including Abby) much to the chagrin of their parents. Kerry donates a quilt each year which takes her hours and hours to make but she loves doing it. Eileen always donates her famous pies, this year it was cherry, blueberry, and apple. One day I'm going to see if she will hold a training session so I can get a few tips This year I donated a Sour Cream Lemon pie (Kerry's favorite) and was happy to see Dave and Laraine be the winning bidders. I hope it was okay.

History of Pie

 As far back as 1300 b.c. Egyptian bakers were making pie dough, but the Greeks were the first to use pie dough wrapped around meat. Romans made pie with oysters and the first pie recipe was a Roman goat cheese and honey combination. The Romans spread the concept of pies through Europe. However dessert pies didn't start until the 1500's and were filled with pears, quines, and apples. An English myth claims Queen Elizabeth made the first cherry pie. A Mayflower meat dish was called "pie at sea" and when the Pilgrims arrived they used berries, cranberries, eggs, dried fruit, and molasses. By the time of the Revolutionary war pie included butter, sugar, and spices,

Western pioneers used whatever was available like huckleberries and pecans. When Butch Cassidy was a kid he was arrested for stealing a pair of pants and a slice of pie. Prairie pies included rhubarb, mulberries, and peaches. In the south they were using sweet potatoes. By the turn of the century pie had become the symbol of American plenty. Pie has come to symbolize ingenuity, resilience, mothers love, and America.

A 1902 New York Times editorial read: "Pie is the American synonym of prosperity, and its varying contents [is] the  calendar of the changing seasons. Pie is the food of the heroic. No pie-eating people can ever be permanently vanquished. It is a significant historical fact that England's glory was greatest in the days when her gallant sons ate pie."

(From November 13, 2011 Parade Magazine.)

1884 - "You're always as polite as pie to them." Tom Sawyer says to Ben Rogers in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

1943 - "Why do you take the trouble to bake my fav'rite pie?" Curly to Laurey in Oklahoma!

1972 - "So Bye Bye Miss American Pie" Don McLean

Pauline's Sweet Potato Pie (5 Stars)

40
Pauline's Sweet Potato Pie
3/24/12

I've worked with Pauline for several years now. She's from South Carolina so the recipe has to be authentic. At every work party her Sweet Potato Pie is always the first dessert to go. For some reason in my mind sweet potatoes are an orange color but actually sweet potatoes are yellow and yams are orange. The pie turned out very well with a golden brown crust. But next time I would cut back the sugar by 1/4 cup, it was plenty sweet.

Sweet Potato Pie

Grandma and a slice of pie

Crust: Single Buttermilk Crust

Filling:
1-1/2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (about 2 large potatoes)
1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 400 F, bake potatoes until tender, about 40 minutes. Remove skins and mash until smooth. In a large bowl, combine potatoes, sugar, milk, egg yolks, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Beat until smooth. In another bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into the potato mixture. Pour batter in pastry shell and bake at 400 F for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 F and bake for 45 minutes or until set.