Pies are not necessarily unwholesome articles of diet. They may be just good rich unleavened bread and fruit. Perhaps the greatest objection to pies occasionally, is the length of time it takes to make them, for paste that will make a tender crust cannot be rolled out in a hurry. It is better to have something else for dessert when one has not time to make a good pie.

Suggestions

Always use pastry flour (winter wheat) for pie crust. Bread flour requires more shortening, creeps together when rolled and does not make a nice, tender crust when you have done your best with it.

Always use pastry (never bread) flour for thickening cream or lemon pies. If cream pies are not to be used the day they are baked less flour will be required. Lemon pies should be used the day they are baked.

Apple and all fruit pies require a little flour in the filling, for the flavor as well as to absorb the juice. A little salt develops the flavors of fruits. Mix the flour, sugar and salt together and put enough of it over the under crust to cover it well in order to prevent the crust from soaking and to allow the sugar to cook up through the fruit.

Berry pies may have most of the sugar mixture stirred with them before putting into the crust. A little browned flour may sometimes be added to the mixture for apple pies.

Do not peel rhubarb for pies.

To keep the juice from running out, wet strips of pliable cloth 2 or 3 in. wide (bias better) and wrap around the edge of pies where the crusts join, so that half is on the top crust and half under the edge, and press close all around. Milk or hot or cold water may be used; leave the strips quite wet; remove from pies while hot; they may be used several times.

Another method is to make a small opening in the upper crust and insert a little roll of paper, like a chimney, to allow the steam to escape.

It is a good plan, also, to put the upper crust on to the pie as loose as possible; lift it and make wrinkles in it all around, back from the edge of the pie, before pressing the two crusts together; this will keep the steam and juice in the pie instead of forcing them out.

One way to make the edges stay together is to wet the edge of the lower crust and sprinkle flour over it (shaking off what does not adhere) just before filling and putting on the upper crust.

If with all your care the juice begins to run out, either at the edge or through the openings in the crust, remove the pie at once from the oven and let it stand on the hearth or table until it stops boiling. (If necessary, put a little dry flour in the space). Return to the oven and by slow cooking it may not run out again; if it does, take it out again, but do not leave it out until the fruit is perfectly cooked. It would be too bad to waste all the labor of making a pie by serving it underdone.

Make pies without under crust when preferred. Put a strip of paste around the edge of a shallow pudding dish or deep pie pan, fill dish with prepared fruit, sugar and flour, cover with a lid of paste, press on to the strip and bake.

Fillings of squash, pumpkin or sweet potato pies may be baked on pie pans, in custard cups or in pudding dishes, without a crust, and with or without a meringue.

Serve fruit pies the day they are baked. Those that are unavoidably left over, put into the oven and just heat through before serving, to make like fresh pies.

Apple pies may be put together at night, kept in the ice box and baked the next morning. For custard or other deep pies, cut the crust with the shears about ½ inch larger than the pan, moisten the under side of the edge slightly and pinch it up with floured thumb and finger so that it will stand up above the edge of the pan. The crust may be pinched up before trimming and cut around the edge of the pan with a knife. It is a good plan to set the prepared crust in the ice box long enough to become firm before filling.

Crust may be put on to several pans when making pies one day and baked when desired.

Several crusts can be baked at a time, then just heated before using.

To bake before filling without blistering, put pastry on to one pan, set another of the same size into it and bake between the two.

Another way is to cover the pastry with paraffine paper and fill to the depth of ½ in. with flour. The partially browned flour may be used in soups and gravies afterwards.

Fill pastry-lined patty pans with raw rice, cover with an upper crust and bake when baked patty cases are desired. The rice will not be injured and the crusts will keep their shape.

Sometimes with two-crust pies, sprinkle sugar over the top of the crust when done and leave in the oven for two minutes.

Lattice work of strips of crust put on in diamonds or squares makes an attractive finish for such lemon and orange pies as will hold the strips up, as well as for cranberry and mince pies.

Beat whites of eggs for meringue with woven wire spoon or silver fork until stiff; add ½–1 tablespn. of sugar to each white and beat till very stiff, add flavoring, pile in rocky form on to hot pie, bringing meringue well out over the crust; brown delicately on top grate of moderate oven. As soon as the tips are tinted the meringue is done. Overbaking makes it tough and causes it to draw away from the edges. Having the pie hot when the meringue is put on helps to cook it more evenly and keeps it from becoming watery next to the pie. When but one white is to be used for a meringue, do not beat it quite so stiff and use a little more sugar so that it will spread over the top of the pie well.

Tiny dots of beaten jelly may be placed with a pastry tube in the depressions of the meringue of lemon pies, after baking.

In cutting pies with a meringue, cut just through the meringue first with a thin bladed knife dipped in cold water; afterwards cut to the bottom.

Pies should always be left so that a current of air will pass under them while cooling to keep the crust from soaking.

? Pastry for one Large Pie

• 2½ cups flour, salt
• large ? cup of cooking oil
• 1–1½ teaspn. lemon juice
• ice water

Have all ingredients as nearly ice cold as possible. Dip the flour lightly into the cup with a spoon, do not shake it down. Mix salt with flour; pour oil over and chop it in with a spoon; do not mix much. Put the lemon juice in a cup, add water to make ¼ of a cup, and pour over the flour and oil mixture, adding enough more water to make a rather soft dough; chop all together with a spoon, press into a mass without kneading, roll out without mixing on a well floured board, with a well floured rolling pin. A little more oil will be required when lemon juice is not used.

Nut or olive oil may be substituted for cooking oil, with a slightly smaller proportion of olive oil. Olive oil does not, of course, harmonize as well in flavor with all fillings as the others.

? farina may be used in crust, with less shortening.

In mixing crust for several pies at once, not quite so large a quantity will be required for each.

Keep crust that is left each time well covered in a cool place and when making pies again, chop or grind it and mix it with the flour before adding the oil. It will make the new crust more flaky.

“Pie Flakes”

Mix flour, salt and oil for a quantity of pies. Put into a large, close covered jar (or tin pail lined with waxed paper) and set in cold place. To make a pie, take out about 2? cupfuls, add water and mix and roll as usual.

Hot Water Crust

Mix together equal quantities of oil and boiling water and pour over flour which has been mixed with salt.

This crust rolls out more easily than ice water crust but is not as tender and flaky. A slightly larger proportion of oil may be used, but if too rich, the crust cannot be handled at all.

? Cream Pastry

Mix flour and salt and pour enough thick sweet or sour cream over to roll out well. The thicker the cream, the better the crust will be. Sour cream makes more crisp and tender crust than sweet and has not the least sour taste when baked.

Butter Crust

Rub together ½ cup (¼ lb.) butter and 2 cups (½ lb.) flour; wet with ice water to make of a rollable consistency, press into a mass and set in the ice box. When thoroughly chilled, roll ?–½ inch thick; spread with butter, sprinkle lightly with flour, roll up, cut across the roll and roll pieces out thin for the pie. Butter pastry is not tender even when much pains is taken with it and the flavor is not agreeable.

Bread Pie Crust

• 4 slices small loaf of bread
• boiling milk, salt
• 6 tablespns. oil
• 2–2½ cups flour

Dip slices of bread in boiling milk, cool, add oil, salt, and flour to roll. This makes two under crusts.

Nut Meal Crust

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup home made peanut meal
• salt
• cream

Mix flour, meal and salt, pour enough moderately rich cream over to make a paste to roll out. A little oil may be added to the meal and flour, and water used in place of cream.

? Granella Crust

For one good sized pie take about ½ cup of granella (less if fine, more if coarse, but it is better not to be too coarse nor too very fine). Mix a little salt with it and pour over it quickly, enough rich milk or thin cream to moisten it slightly, about ¼ cup, perhaps. (If too moist, the crust will be soggy.) Turn immediately on to the pan and spread and press it evenly with a spoon over the bottom and sides, dipping the spoon often into cold water. A teaspoon is best for the sides, and holding the forefinger of the left hand above the edge of the pan as you are pressing with the spoon makes the edge of the crust firmer and smoother. Do not let the crust come over the edge of the pan, because only that part which adheres to the filling will come out with the pieces of pie when served; the remainder will drop off and be wasted. For that reason the crust should be just as thin as it is possible to pat it out on the pan. Be careful to make the crust in the angle between the bottom and sides of the pan no thicker than in any other part. The novice usually fills that in rounding. A positive pressure of the teaspoon in pressing the paste up on the edge of the pan will remove the extra portion there.

In baking these crusts before filling, watch them that they do not get too brown, and handle them carefully.

I have been thus explicit because this is of all pie pastes the most important hygienically and in point of time. It is very quickly and easily made, in fact, it must be made quickly. If the crust stands long after the liquid is added, it does not spread well.

In making a large number of pies, mix each crust separately; you will save time. Zwieback crumbs may be used instead of granella and almond or cocoanut cream in place of dairy. The cream must be thin or the crust will not spread well.

Granella Crust No.2

Allow scant ? cup of granella to each pie. Measure up the quantity required. Mix the salt with it and pour oil over in the proportion of ½ tablespn. of oil to each pie. (¾ tablespn. melted butter may be used and no salt.) Rub all well together with the hands, take out enough for each pie at a time, wet with cold water and proceed as in the preceding recipe. This mixture will need to be quite wet to spread.

Zwieback crumbs may be used for this also.

Fillings for Granella Pies

The pulp of stewed prunes, peaches, apricots or dried apples, or other not too juicy materials, with or without a meringue or whipped cream, or a sprinkling of dry granella on the top.

Cooked fillings of cream or lemon pies are delightful in the baked crusts.

If you have not a pie knife, use two broad flat knives in serving a pie with granella crust.

? Apple Pie

• 5 or 6 medium sized, tart, juicy apples
• ¼ teaspn. salt
• ?–¾ cup sugar
• 1 tablespn. flour
• crust

Prepare apples according to directions for apple sauce, p.47, cut the quarters in two if large, then in halves crosswise. This will give irregular shaped pieces which when placed in the crust will allow spaces for the steam to come in contact with the fruit and cook it more quickly and thoroughly than when packed in slices.

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 ? 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, ?–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. (4? 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 ? raspberries to ? 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
• 1? 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

• 1? cup water
• ¾–? 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
• 1? 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
• 1? 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

• 2? cups rich milk
• 1¾ cup sugar
• 1? 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

• 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
• ? cup sugar
• ? 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, ? 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, ? 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
• ? cup rice
• ? 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–? 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
• ? 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
• ?–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

• 2? cups rich milk
• ¼ cup parched corn meal
• ? 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, ? 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), ?–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
• 1? 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, ? squash), 1 qt. milk, salt. No other flavor.

Lemon Squash Pie

• 1½ cup nice dry squash
• 2? 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

Bake in not too rich crust in moderate oven 1½ hour. Use 1 cupful more of pumpkin if not dry, and if necessary, 1½ level tablespn. of white flour.

Pumpkin Pies with Eggs—3 very large pies

• 1 qt. rich dark dry pumpkin
• 2 qts. milk
• 6 eggs
• 1–1½ cup sugar
• or ¾ cup sugar and ¼ cup molasses
• 1 teaspn. salt
• 1½ tablespn. browned flour No.3 or 3–6 tablespns. browned flour No.2

Beat whites and yolks of eggs separate; bake slowly until firm in center. Use 1¼ qt. of pumpkin if not dry, and 1¾ qt. only of milk. May use a little less pumpkin when adding dates.

? One Pumpkin Pie

• 1¾ cup moderately dry pumpkin
• ½ tablespn. browned flour No.3, or
• 1–2 tablespns. browned flour No.2
• ½ level tablespn. white flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tablespn. molasses
• ½ level teaspn. salt
• 2? cups milk
• 1 egg

Bake in moderate oven. ? nice winter squash improves the pie.

One recipe says ¼ teaspn. ground coriander seed. Some of the best pies have no added flavoring.

1 teaspn. of butter or 1 or 2 tablespns. of thick cream in the filling will give a gloss to the surface.

Some prefer flour, a little granella or a few zwieback crumbs to eggs, for thickening when the pumpkin is not very thick.

Grated Pumpkin Pie

Grate pumpkin without peeling. If moist, put into a piece of cheese cloth and squeeze out the water; for each pie take:

• 1 cup pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespns. molasses
• 1 or 2 tablespns. sugar
• pinch of salt
• ½ tablespn. browned flour No.3 or 1–2 of No.2
• 1 teaspn. ground coriander, or ¼ level teaspn. ground anise seed, or 1 teaspn. vanilla, or no flavoring
• small piece of butter
• 2 tablespns. cracker or zwieback crumbs
• 1½–2 cups milk

Sprinkle top with cocoanut or not. Bake thoroughly.

Carrot Pie

• 1¾ cup mashed cooked carrot
• ½ tablespn. browned flour No.3 or 1–2 tablespns. browned flour No.2
• 1 level tablespn. white flour
• ? cup sugar
• 1 tablespn. molasses
• ½ level teaspn. salt
• 2? cups milk
• 1 egg
• dust with coriander

Or, use 3 tablespns. only of carrot, omit browned flour and flavor with lemon or vanilla.

Turnip Pie

• 1½–2 cups mashed turnip
• ?–½ cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespns. molasses
• 1 tablespn. melted butter
• 2 eggs (or 1 egg and scant ¼ cup of granella)
• ½–1 tablespn. browned flour No.3
• 2 teaspns. ground coriander seed
• 2 cups milk
• salt

The turnip should be the sweet Swedish turnip.