Ohio Lemon Pie

To the great host of Shaker “Kitchen Sisters” who labored to please God in preparing the viands entrusted to their hands.

Hey, I’m back! Had a busy holiday season and will post some of those activities later but was inspired today to share the latest pie recipe and cookbook with my own “kitchen sisters and brothers.” Read on.

The dedication above comes from The Shaker Cook Book: Not by Bread Alone by Caroline B. Piercy (1953). This book has sat on our shelf for years. I think Damien either inherited it from his Aunt Florence or picked it up used somewhere. Regardless, this cookbook makes for great reading.

For example, to celebrate the winter birthday of the Shaker’s founder, “Mother Ann,” an original cake recipe read: Cut a handful of peach twigs which are filled with sap at this season (February!) of the year. Clip the ends and bruise them and beat the cake batter with them. This will impart a delicate peach flavor to the cake.

While intriguing, I think we’ll stick to the basic flavorings. There is also a recipe for making rosewater for flavoring. Hmmm. Onward!

Faced with a windfall of Meyer lemons from Melanie this weekend, I decided to make a favorite sweet-tart pie. This recipe is a combination of thin, succulent slices of whole lemons, sugar, eggs and a trusty pie crust recipe. That’s it.

After I scrape the burnt sugar syrup off the nether regions of the Spark, my next version will consist simply of macerated lemons and sugar. In the recipe above, the eggs, unless mixed very well with the lemons, tend to congregate into small batches of sweetened scrambled eggs. It’s not as bad as it sounds but I’d really prefer a consistent marmalade filling.

Next up, food preferences are a part of our personal identity. Which do you prefer the most, cake or pie?

Ohio Lemon Pie
for a 9″ – 10″ pie
I love the sweet/tart lemon slices – almost marmalade – and the crisp crust.

3-4 meyer lemons
2 – 3 cups sugar
pastry for 2 crusts (see my trusty recipe below)
4 eggs
milk/sugar for crust

This is yet another very old lemon pie recipe which the early Ohio Shakers fashioned frequently. “Slice lemons as thin as paper, rind and all. Place them in bowl and pour over them 2 cups sugar. (I used three lemons and 2 1/2 c. sugar.) Mix well and let stand for 2 hours or better. Then go about making your best pastry for 2 crusts. Line a pie dish with same. Beat 4 eggs together and pour over lemons. Fill unbaked pieshell with this and add top crust with small vents cut to let out steam. Place in a hot oven at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes and then cut down heat and bake until a silver knife inserted into custard comes out clean.”

Note: I used a butter crust in a 10″ Pyrex pie pan. I needed to cover the crust with aluminum foil after the 15 minutes to prevent burning ‘though it still got too dark on the brim. It took 30 minutes further to bake. Also, put a cookie sheet on the oven rack below the rack the pie is on. The sugar syrup boils over and the result isn’t pretty.

Trusty Pie Crust Recipe
(Joy of Cooking)

2 1/2 c. flour
1 T. powdered sugar or 1 t. sugar
1 t. salt
1 c. chilled butter or 1/2 c. chilled butter and 1/2 c. shortening
ice water

I am most successful when I use a food processor but you can use a pastry cutter or two knives.
Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a processor for a few seconds. Prepare your ice water (about a cup.) Cut butter into small cubes and put in flour mixture. Pulse processor several times until butter forms small pea-sized lumps. OR cut butter into flour mixture using a pastry cutter or two knives “slicing” across each other repeatedly. Slowly add 1/3 c. ice water and pulse processor. I almost always add 2 – 3 T. more ice water. To test if the dough is ready, I gently squeeze a small amount together. If it holds, it has enough of the water.

Pour dough mixture out on your rolling surface. Divide in two and gently and quickly squeeze dough into two disks about 6″ diameter. Chill 30 min. or more. (For this pie, I immediately rolled the dough out but it was a cool evening.) Roll one disk out for the pie lining. Roll 2nd for the topping. Handle as little as possible so dough doesn’t toughen. Once filled and topped, you can brush the pastry with milk then sprinkle with sugar.

Wow. I wrote this from memory. If it doesn’t work, let me know!

The Hips Have It

Hips are often underappreciated by women. Why are we so critical? There are plenty of round, smooth, curvaceous things we love – eggs, ice cream scoops, mashed potatoes, wine glasses, baby cheeks – you get the picture. And, of course, I see the problem. There are other hips that are underappreciated in this reproductive world of ours.

Rose hips. Roses give us a great seasonal show. What a deal: from shy buds, to bursting blooms, to overblown “madames,” the flowers are the main attraction. The real magic starts when the flowers are at their ugliest, petals browning and falling off. Then, the fruit swells and reddens (ahem) and seems to call out, “Take me! I’m yours!” to passing birds or the occasional gardener looking for autumnal decoration. Ah, the exciting world of plant reproduction.

A couple of weekends ago, I finally pruned the massive shrub roses in the backyard. Let’s just say I kept putting off pruning until I had time to create something pretty. Yup. That’s it. I don’t procrastinate. No, no, no! Anyway, These are hardy shrub roses, I have no idea what variety, but as many of you know, they produce abundant mini-bouquets of scentless pink flowers TWICE a growing season. How lucky are we? These roses were planted long ago probably by the original Italian owners. I can take no credit for their success except to say I haven’t killed them off . . . yet.

The rose hips were crying out to be appreciated, so I used a former Christmas wreath frame and created this autumnal themed wreath for the front door. The dried flowers are a super fragrant salvia or sage that grows nearby AND also needed pruning.

Garden update for today: the Granny Smith apples are aching to belong to pies. In fact, you could say they’re eating their hearts out – lots of little holes by their friends the worms. We’ve made one pie this season. So easy to make. Perhaps I should sponser a pie-baking blitz and freeze a bunch. Anyone up for pie?

Mark Call Julio

It’s definitely fall around here. Leaves are falling, the air is cooler especially in the evenings, the days are warm, and we are all used to the new school schedule. The Spark, with a little help from my Silpats and fabulous baking sheets churned out some tasty goodies, Mark Call Julio cookies.

When dating my husband, I gained access to a recipe much loved in his family and deservedly so. You might think these are merely chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, but when the unwary bite into one, there is suitable swooning and many comments associated with guilty pleasures. I’ve since added my own secret ingredient from a special recipe in my not dark but sometimes dim past.

The name? My boyfriend, now husband, scribbled out the recipe on a slip of paper he found near the phone in his shared apartment. Initially a silly joke, the name has stuck. Inspiring even several entries in a recipe card wedding box from his clever sister, Mel. Mark Call Julio Sauce, Mark Call Julio Casserole, Mark Call Julio h’ordeuvres, and so on. An entry for every category. Handy for when you need to grab the recipe quickly!

Mark Call Julio Cookies
Preheat your Spark to 350 degrees F

1 c. softened butter
1 c. cane sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. sifted flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 T. nutritional yeast
3 c. rolled oats
1 12 oz pkg chocolate chips
1 c. chopped nuts (optional, I usually leave these out.)

Cream butter, add sugars. Beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla. Beat well. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutritional yeast together. Add to creamed mixture and blend thoroughly. Add oats, mix well. Add chocolate chips, mix with sturdy spoon rather than mixer. Drop from teaspoon or small ice cream scooper on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 9 1/2 to 10 min.

In the Beginning

I love our stove. The Spark came with the house. The oven heats unevenly and a little wildly. Sometimes I think the Spark considers itself an Aga: perpetually heating the room with its pilot and loose oven door. The broad space between burners stays so hot, we can plate food and keep it warm off the burners. But the stove has character. It works well enough. Heats high and simmers low. And it looks GOOD.
And it goes with the floor.

People either love this floor or hate it. What do you think?