Ohio Lemon Pie

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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!

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