Desserts
Of the many suggestions for finishing a meal that begins with burgoo, pie is most often mentioned. The base of almost every pie is the crust, which seems to be a sticking point for the home cook. Many cookbooks contain a recipe for “no-fail” piecrust. Shirley Corriher, CCP, shares her expertise on making a piecrust in CookWise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking with Over 230 Great-Tasting Recipes. Corriher writes that the basic formula for piecrust is 1–3; “one part fat to three parts flour (by volume).”1 Corriher spends almost fourteen pages of her book on how to make the perfect piecrust, discussing different ingredients and techniques. Here is an adaptation of Corriher’s recipe:
Piecrust
1 cup bleached all-purpose flour (national brand)
½ cup instant flour (such as Wondra or Shake and Blend)
Or
1½ cups pastry flour or low-protein flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
2 tablespoons shortening or lard
Combine the flour, salt, butter, and lard, working together by hand until the dough has a smooth consistency. Refrigerate until ready to roll out for piecrust, at least 1 hour.
Or you can try:
Maggie Green’s All-Butter Crust
½ cup butter, cut into 1-inch slices
1½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3–4 tablespoons ice water
Place the butter in the freezer to chill. Meanwhile, blend the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor with a medal blade. Add the butter and pulse the processor on and off until the butter is the size of large peas. With the processor running, drizzle in the water. Stop processing when the dough begins to form a ball. Do not overmix. Place the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Fold the plastic wrap over and around the dough to seal, and press the dough into the shape of a disk. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
After the dough has chilled, unwrap and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll it into an 11-inch circle and place the dough into a 9-inch pie pan. To flute the edge, use the index finger on one hand to push the dough between the thumb and index finger of the other hand, forming U-shaped indentations about 1 inch apart around the entire edge. Refrigerate until ready to fill.2
The real recipe for Derby Pie® is a well-guarded secret, known by only a few people. Derby Pie® is a trademarked title for a pie made by the Kern’s Kitchen Corp. There are many pretenders but only one real deal. The names of the pretenders include “Favorite Louisville Pie,” “Winning Ticket Pie,” “Oldham Pie,” and “Run for the Roses Pie.”3
One of the pretenders, “Run for the Roses,” won the 1976 Kentucky State Fair; it is updated as follows.4
8 servings
¼ cup margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
¾ cup light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chocolate chips
½ cup English walnuts, chopped
2 tablespoons Kentucky bourbon, plus a little extra
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Soak the walnuts in 2 tablespoons bourbon and set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat the margarine, sugar, and eggs with a spoon until fluffy. Blend in the corn syrup, salt, and vanilla. Add the chocolate chips. Take strainer and drain walnuts, reserving the bourbon. Add the walnuts to filling mixture. Add new bourbon to the reserved portion to bring the quantity back to 2 tablespoons. Add the bourbon to the filling mixture and blend well. Pour into a partially baked crust and bake for 55 minutes. Use either a homemade or purchased (frozen) 9-inch piecrust; prick bottom and sides and bake 7 minutes at 350° F. Cool.
An adaptation similar to Derby Pie® is a pie named after a former governor of Kentucky. John Y. Brown Jr. was the fifty-fifth governor of Kentucky and is the ex-husband of Phyllis George, a former Miss America. He is the son of former US congressman John Y. Brown Sr. and the father of former Kentucky secretary of state John Y. Brown III. Brown is also the former part-owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).
Patti’s 1880’s Restaurant, located in Grand Rivers, Kentucky, is famous for thick charbroiled pork chops and “mile high” meringue pies; it is also home to the John Y. Brown Pie, which was made in honor of Governor Brown’s trip to the restaurant. This recipe, adapted here, is featured in both Miss Patti’s Cook Book and Sample West Kentucky: A Restaurant Guide with Menus and Recipes.5
John Y. Brown Pie
8 servings
1 cup sugar
½ cup flour
½ cup butter, melted
2 eggs, slightly beaten
4 ounces butterscotch chips
1 cup pecan pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix together the sugar and flour. Add the butter and blend well. Stir in the eggs, chips, nuts, and vanilla. Pour the pie filling into the pie shell. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown. Pie will wiggle when done and set as it cools.
There are two restaurants that claim this recipe for Biscuit Pudding with Bourbon Sauce. The first is Kurtz Restaurant in Bardstown, and the second is the Science Hill Inn in Shelbyville.6 Here is one version.
Biscuit Pudding with Bourbon Sauce
8–10 servings
10 1½-inch biscuits
1 quart milk
6 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 tablespoons butter, melted
bourbon sauce (see below)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Break the biscuits into small pieces in a large bowl. Add the milk; soak 5 minutes. Beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla and add to the biscuit mixture. Pour the butter into a 2-quart baking dish, add the pudding, and bake until set, about 1 hour. Serve warm with bourbon sauce.
Bourbon Sauce
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
⅓ cup bourbon
Melt the butter in a heavy pan. Add the sugar and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Beat the egg in bowl, gradually adding the butter mixture while whisking constantly. Add the bourbon and mix well.
Brown sugar pie is one of Kentucky’s and the South’s quintessential desserts. It is served with and without meringue. This recipe comes from Mary Addie Freeman, who donated the recipe to the College Hill United Methodist Church Cookbook, which was published in 1989. College Hill United Methodist Church is located in Waco, Kentucky, which is in Madison County. The book was loaned to me by a sixth-generation Kentuckian, Lauren Gold, with whom I worked at Sullivan University. Amber Nate updated and tested this recipe at the Bakery on the Sullivan University campus in Louisville.
Brown Sugar Pie
8 servings
3 eggs
1 pound light brown sugar
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, melted
2 pinches salt
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 piecrust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare a pie pan with the piecrust.
Whisk together the eggs and add in the sugar, butter, salt, and bourbon. Whisk together until combined well and smooth. Pour into the piecrust.
Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Check to see that the pie is baked through—it will be gooey, but it should be set all the way through.
Pinto beans in a dessert pie may go against the normal idea of a way to end a meal. However, Pinto Bean Pie is listed in Cooking through the Years with Bullitt County Homemakers, From the Kitchens of Barren County Homemakers, Still Cookin’ after All These Years: The Presidents Club of South-Central Kentucky, and Cooking with Middletown Women’s Club. The “poor man’s pecan pie” found in Cookin’ from Scratch: Taylor County Homemakers also features pinto beans. This is an original recipe based on the idea of using pinto beans for a dessert pie.7
Pinto Bean Pie
8 servings
2½ cups freshly cooked pinto beans, puréed
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves
¾ cup sorghum
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 piecrust, partly baked
Soak the pinto beans overnight or for at least 8 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Boil the pinto beans until they are soft, drain the water, then purée the beans. In a separate bowl add the three spices, sorghum, sugar, and eggs and mix together. Add the mixture to the puréed pinto beans and combine until the consistency is smooth. Add the vanilla and incorporate into the mixture. Pour the pie filling into the piecrust. Bake for 35–40 minutes.
Before Chef Edward Lee became notable for his appearance on Bravo’s Top Chef, he directed the kitchens at 610 Magnolia. Nancy Miller’s Secrets of Louisville Chefs Cookbook, Volume Two: More than 225 Great Recipes Plus Cooking Tips from the Chefs featured a recipe for mint julep ice cream from Chef Lee, adapted as follows:
Mint Julep Ice Cream with Bourbon Sauce
About 1 quart
Bourbon sauce
½ cup high-quality bourbon
⅓ cup of sugar
Ice cream
1 cup high-quality bourbon
½ cup sugar
2 cups milk
20 stems fresh mint
6 large egg yolks
Garnish
fresh berries
tiny sprigs of mint
Bourbon sauce: Combine the bourbon and sugar in a heavy-bottom pot and heat over a medium flame. Be cautious as the bourbon may ignite. When the liquid comes to a boil, turn the heat to low and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off, transfer the syrup to a container, and chill for at least 1 hour. The syrup will stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a couple of months.
Ice cream: Combine the bourbon and sugar in a heavy-bottom pot and heat over a medium flame. When the liquid comes to a boil, turn the heat to low and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Reserve warm.
Warm the milk in a heavy-bottom pot until it just comes to a simmer. Turn off the heat, add the mint, and let the flavor infuse for at least 1 hour at room temperature. Strain, discard the mint, and reserve warm.
Combine the bourbon syrup and the mint-flavored milk and stir well.
Whisk the egg yolks until pale, about 2 minutes. Gradually drizzle the warm milk and bourbon liquid into the eggs until all the liquid is smoothly combined with the yolks. Refrigerate this mixture and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Use the mixture to make ice cream according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Chill for 1 hour. Scoop the ice cream into a bowl and drizzle a little bourbon syrup over it. If desired, garnish with fresh berries and tiny sprigs of mint. Serve immediately.
Chess Pie is a classic dessert served in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This recipe is based on Kentucky Always in Season by Greta Hipp Burkhart. Burkhart suggests serving the pie “warm or if refrigerated, served chilled with a dollop of whipped topping and a sprinkle of nutmeg.”8
Commonwealth Chess Pie
8 servings
1 cup of milk
¾ cup sugar
½ cup margarine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 9-inch baked pie shell
Combine the egg yolks, milk, sugar, margarine, flour, and vanilla in the top of a double boiler. Bring the water in the boiler to a boil, constantly stirring the top pan. When the mixture begins to thicken to a custard consistency, turn the heat off. Continue to stir for 2 minutes, then allow to set for 5 minutes. Pour the custard into the baked pie shell.
This recipe for fried pies was first mentioned in Kentucky Hospitality, a 1976 publication of the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs, and then later in the 1998 publication Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking by Joseph E. Dabney. The recipe is credited to Mrs. Earle Combs of Richmond, Kentucky. A similar recipe is found in A Slice of Kentucky: Sharing Our Recipes, with more spices including nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.9
Half Moon Fried Pies
16 miniature pies
1 pound dried apples or peaches
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 teaspoons cinnamon (to taste)
piecrust
lard
additional sugar
Cover the dried fruit in water and soak overnight. Drain the fruit, add a small amount of fresh water, and cook slowly until tender. Mash the fruit. Add the sugar, butter or margarine, and cinnamon. Stir well and let the mixture cool.
Make your favorite piecrust, using only half the regular amount of shortening. Cut into circles 4–6 inches in diameter. Place a generous tablespoon of the fruit filling on one side of each circle. Fold the other side over and seal firmly along the edge with your fingertips or a fork. Fry in about ½ inch of hot lard, turning once. When the pastry is browned, remove and drain on paper towels. While the pies are still warm, sprinkle them lightly with sugar.
Alternatively, bake the pies at 400 degree F. for about 30 minutes; brush the top with melted butter before baking in order to make the surface crisp.
The recipe for Amber Pie is based on Favorite Fare II, which was published by the Woman’s Club of Louisville in 1984. The book includes a section titled “Kentucky’s Favorite Food,” which includes classics such as Henry Bain Sauce, Cissy Gregg’s Kentucky Burgoo, and the Hot Brown, to name a few.10 Amber Pie is located in this section; however, there are few references to this pie in other books.
Amber Pie
8 servings
2 teaspoons flour
½ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 cup blackberry jam
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Beat the eggs and set aside. Stir the other ingredients (except the pie shell) together well; then beat in the eggs. Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake until the crust is brown. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake for 30 more minutes.
Similar to brown sugar pie, Kentucky Pie is based on a brown-sugar mixture. Favorite Fare by the Woman’s Club of Louisville featured the recipe from which the following was adapted.11
Kentucky Pie
8 servings
1 unbaked rich 9-inch piecrust
½ cup butter
3 cups brown sugar
5 eggs
½ cup light cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon cornmeal
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Cream the butter, sugar, and eggs together. Add the rest of ingredients. Pour the filling into the piecrust and bake for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degree F. and bake for another 45 minutes until firm. Cool on cake rack and serve warm.
Kentucky Tombstone Pudding is mentioned in Charles Patteson’s Kentucky Cooking and in The Farmington Cookbook. Patteson suggests serving a pudding such as this in the fall around Halloween, perfect for the traditional burgoo season.12
Kentucky Tombstone Pudding
8 servings
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon flour
1 cup dessert sherry (e.g., PX sherry)
2 dozen almond macaroons
2 egg whites
pinch salt
pinch cream of tartar
2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup whole almonds
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Beat the yolks until thick and lemon colored. Mix 1 cup of sugar and the flour together, and then beat the mixture into the yolks. Add the sherry and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Pour the custard over macaroons that have been arranged in a shallow, ovenproof baking dish.
Add the cream of tartar and salt to the egg whites. Beat until stiff, gradually adding the sugar. Beat until the sugar is dissolved. Spread over the custard, covering it completely. Stud with almonds (to represent tombstones), and bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Serve hot.
The Blue Grass Cookbook includes two recipes for Transparent Pie.13
Transparent Pie
16 servings
Number 1
8 egg yolks
½ pound butter
1 pound sugar
1 wineglass wine, flavored with lemon
2 9-inch piecrusts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix the eggs yolks, butter, sugar, and wine together. Pour into the piecrusts and bake for 30 minutes.
Number 2
4 eggs, separated
1 cup butter
2 tablespoons blackberry or raspberry jelly
1 9-inch piecrust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat the sugar and butter. Beat the egg yolks until smooth; add in the sugar and butter mixture and continue beating until smooth. Mix in the jelly. Pour into the piecrust and bake for 30 minutes.
Beat the egg whites until they peak; use them as a meringue for the pie once it has cooled.
Marion Flexner included a recipe for Transparent Pie in her classic Out of Kentucky Kitchens. The modern cook might also try this recipe adapted from Mountain Recipe Collection by Valeria S. Ison.
Transparent Pie
8 servings
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 heaping tablespoon flour
6 tablespoons milk
¾ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons water
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons heaping butter, melted
1 9-inch piecrust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the milk, water, eggs, and vanilla. Then add the salt and flour. Beat well, then pour into piecrust. Bake for 1 hour.
Woodford Pudding is named for Woodford County, Kentucky. This outstanding pudding is found in almost every Kentucky cuisine cookbook. This version comes from We Make You Kindly Welcome by Elizabeth Kremer and is featured in the book Kentucky’s Best: Fifty Years of Great Recipes by Linda Allison-Lewis. Lewis adds the vanilla sauce, which she sourced from Kremer’s book.14 The Larue County Kitchens of Kentucky was published in 1976 by the Hodgenville Woman’s Club. The cookbook contains three recipes for Woodford Pudding, each with a different sauce. I have included the three sauces with an adapted pudding recipe: Nutmeg Sauce, Butterscotch Sauce, and Bourbon Sauce.
Woodford Pudding
6–8 servings
½ cup butter
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 cup blackberry jam
½ cup sour milk
3 eggs
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix all the ingredients together well. Bake in a pudding dish for 40 minutes or until lightly firm.
Vanilla Sauce (for Spice Puddings)
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup water, boiling
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vanilla bean seeds
few grains nutmeg
few grains salt
Mix the sugar and cornstarch. Gradually add to the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the other ingredients. Serve hot.
Nutmeg Sauce
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
To avoid lumps, first mix the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan over low heat. Add the water and salt. Cook until the mixture is clear and thick. Mix in the butter, vanilla, and nutmeg to taste. Serve hot over warm pudding.
Butterscotch Sauce
1½ cups dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons flour
dash salt
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
In a saucepan over low heat, mix the dark brown sugar and flour; then add the water and salt. Stir and cook for 6–8 minutes. Remove from the stove and add the butter, cream, and vanilla. Blend well and keep warm until used.
Bourbon Sauce
½ cup sugar
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon flour
1 pint water, boiling
2–3 tablespoons good bourbon
Beat the sugar and egg together. Add the flour, then the boiling water. Flavor with the bourbon. Serve over pudding.
In 1982 the Kentucky division of the American Cancer Society published a cookbook, Partytime in Kentucky. Connie Martin from Williamstown in Grant County donated a recipe for a traditional Kentucky jam cake, updated here.15
Traditional Jam Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
1 small jar prune baby food
½ cup blackberry jam
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, 3 times over waxed paper; set aside.
Combine the sugar, oil, and eggs; mix well. Stir in the prunes and jam, mixing well. Add the dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in the buttermilk and pecans until blended. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 30–35 minutes.
Let cool slightly; then remove from pan. When cake is cool, frost with caramel icing.
Caramel Icing
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup sugar
½ cup milk
¼ cup butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over low heat; stir well. Heat to a rolling boil; cook for 1 minute. Let cool completely at room temperature, and then use to frost the cake. Note: if the icing mixture is too thin, add a small amount of powdered sugar until the desired consistency is achieved.
In 1971 the Woman’s Auxiliary to the Jefferson County Medical Society published Prescriptions for Cooks, Volume II. Mrs. William E. Hopkins donated a peach cobbler recipe to the project; it is adapted as follows.16
Peach Cobbler
8–10 servings
1 No. 2½ can peach halves (about 3½ cups)
1½ cups sugar
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup juice (of the canned peaches)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Arrange the peach halves in the bottom of a deep baking dish; reserve the peach juice.
Mix together ¾ cup of the sugar; the milk, baking powder, and butter; 1 cup of the flour; and ½ teaspoon of the salt. Pour this batter over the peaches.
Mix ¾ cup of the sugar, 1 tablespoon of the flour, and ¼ teaspoon of the salt; sift this mixture over the batter. Pour the juice over the top. Bake for 1 hour.
Cook’s Delight is a cookbook by Plainview Pre-School in Louisville. It includes a recipe for an Easy Cobbler, which is good for any fruit but in this case is adapted for apples.17
Apple Cobbler
8–10 servings
1 stick butter
1 cup flour
2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
3 cups apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup water
cinnamon, to taste (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt the butter in 9 by 13–inch baking dish. Mix the flour, 1 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, and salt in bowl. Add the milk gradually. Pour the mixture into the baking dish.
Combine the fruit, water, and the remaining sugar. Pour the fruit over the batter; sprinkle with cinnamon if desired. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
One of the desserts recommended for burgoo is vanilla ice cream.18 This recipe is based on Bluegrass Winners.
2½ quarts
2 cups half-and-half
4 cups milk
12 egg yolks, beaten
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup whipping cream (do not whip)
In the top of a double boiler, scald the half-and-half and milk.
Beat the egg yolks well; add the sugar and salt and beat until well blended.
Pour the scalded half-and-half and milk over the egg yolk mixture; return all to the double boiler and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats a metal spoon. Cool.
Put the mixture into a 1-gallon ice cream freezer; add whipping cream and vanilla. Freeze until firm.
People cook with what they have available. When people have great products to cook with, they are able to produce great dishes. So when you come from an area that makes the best whiskey in the world—bourbon—it is only natural that you use bourbon in cooking. Sometimes you can have your cake and eat the bourbon too. This recipe is based on Derbytown Winners Cookbook, which was published by the Crescent Hill Woman’s Club.19 The Original Kentucky Whiskey Cake was credited to Mrs. T. G. Stigall.
Original Kentucky Whiskey Cake
15–20 servings
5 cups flour, sifted
1 pound sugar
1 cup brown sugar
¾ pound butter
6 eggs, separated and beaten
1 pint Kentucky bourbon
1 pound candied cherries, cut in pieces
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pound shelled pecans
½ pound golden raisins, halved, or ½ pound dates, chopped
Soak cherries and raisins in bourbon overnight.
Preheat oven to 250–275 degrees F.
Cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat well. To the butter and egg mixture, add the soaked fruit and the remaining liquid alternately with the flour. Reserve a small amount of flour for the nuts. Add the nutmeg and baking powder. Fold in the beaten egg whites. Add the lightly floured pecans last. Bake in a large greased tube pan that has been lined with 3 layers of greased brown paper. Bake for 3–4 hours. Watch baking time carefully.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Burkesville, Kentucky, is in southern Kentucky close to the Tennessee border near Lake Cumberland. The town held a bicentennial celebration in 2010 and, as part of the celebration, published Burkesville, Kentucky, Now and Then, A Bicentennial Celebration: 200 Years of Treasured Recipes. I was lucky enough to acquire a copy of this cookbook as a gift from the Cumberland County Library Staff when I spoke there in 2010. The book includes a recipe for Sweet Potato Pie, adapted here, that was submitted by Nada Groce from the Spears Chapel Community Church.20
Sweet Potato Pie
8 servings
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup milk
1½ cups sweet potatoes, mashed
1 9-inch pie shell, unbaked
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Mix together all the ingredients and pour into the unbaked pie shell. Bake for 10 minutes; then reduce oven to 350 degrees F. and bake for 30–40 minutes, or until filling is firm.
Annie Johnson was born in the “Deep South,” the daughter of a sharecropper. The Rankin family of Louisville hired Johnson as a cook/housekeeper when Jane Lee Rankin was only six weeks old. Rankin would eventually attend the Culinary Institute of America in New York, graduating with honors. Johnson and Rankin would form a lifelong bond that is outlined in Rankin’s book Cookin’ Up a Storm: The Life and Recipes of Annie Johnson.21 The book has many Kentucky cuisine recipes including spoonbread, Benedictine, barbecue, and many cakes and pies reflecting the heritage and the background of both the author and her friend, the book’s subject. One recipe, for pumpkin pie, is adapted here.
Pumpkin Pie
8 servings
1 9-inch piecrust, unbaked
2 cups pumpkin, shredded or canned
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, beaten
⅓ cup milk
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
Make the 9-inch piecrust (see the recipe on page 113), line the pie pan, and flute the crust.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the pumpkin, butter, and sugar and mix well. Add the eggs and milk, mixing well. Stir in the flour and spices until well combined. Pour the mixture into the unbaked piecrust. Bake on the bottom rack for 25–30 minutes, or until the pie is set. Move to the top rack for the last 5 minutes to brown the crust.
The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook by Maggie Green includes a recipe, adapted here, for a single-crust Shaker Lemon Pie. The original Shaker Lemon Pie, which was featured in Elizabeth Kremer’s We Make You Kindly Welcome and Caroline Piercy’s The Shaker Cookbook, sports a double crust.22
Shaker Lemon Pie
8 servings
1 9-inch all-butter piecrust
2 lemons, washed and carefully sliced paper thin
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
In a bowl, combine the lemons and sugar. Stir well, cover, and let sit for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Line a 9-inch pie plate with the piecrust (see the recipe on page 114) and place it on a rimmed baking sheet. Add the eggs to the bowl with the lemon and sugar mixture. Pour the batter into the piecrust. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake for about 40 minutes more, until the pie no longer jiggles in the middle when the pan is gently moved back and forth. Let cool before slicing.