Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies

National Pie Day Give Away

One of my favorite things about being a writer is learning about the subject I happen to be covering. Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies was such a fun project. It wasn't just learning about how to make pie, it also was learning about the culture of pie. One of the organizations I've come to know is the American Pie Council (http://www.piecouncil.org/). Who would have thought there was a council just for pie? Well, according to the American Pie Council, January 23 is National Pie Day.

So, in honor of National Pie Day, I'm giving away a signed copy of my little pie book, along with two pie toppers. If you've never heard of a pie topper, count yourself in good company. Neither did I. Yesterday, I visited the Cheese Shop in Stuarts Draft, Va., owned by Mennonites, who are some of the best pie bakers in my world, and I spotted the "pie toppers."

They are made for pies with a top crust and act as a pie-crust shape-cutter, like a big cookie cutter. I've not used them, but it seems like it's a handy way of making pretty crust with lovely shapes cut into it. I love the idea of this Christmas tree shaped cutter. Imagine a berry pie on the Holiday table with the deep red color poking out of the crust in tree shapes.  And check out the topper with the squares—lattice without the painstaking work? Maybe. I hope that the winner will report back on how well they work. 

Here's how to win: simply leave a comment on my blog. It can be about pie, my book, Mrs.Rowe's, or just a how-do. But it has to be on my blog. The winner will be randomly generated. Good luck and please let all your friends know about it. If one of your friends wins, maybe they will share their pie with you. The winner will be announced on Monday.

 

Interview on Open Salon

Here is my interview on Open Salon with the fabulous Roz Cummins. Check it out.

Emma's Birthday Cake—Lemon-Lime Refrigerator Sheet Cake

This cake is one of my favorites—and it's not even from scratch. In fact, my mother started making this cake after she had gone back to work, no longer having the time to bake from scratch. It's a refreshing, gentle cake that gives your taste buds a a sweet lemon-lime joy ride, along with a nice play of textures—the jello, the Dream-Whip-pudding topping, and the cake. Mmmmm.

I was so pleased when my daughter Emma asked for this cake for her birthday. Even though it's not from scratch, I associate it with my working mom and all the love she poured into what ever kitchen creations she managed.

Several people who were at the party asked me for the recipe. I know you are all pie lovers. But surely there is enough love to go around—especially for cake.

Lemon Lime Refrigerator Sheet Cake

1 box of lemon cake mix

1 small pack of lime jello

1 envelope of Dream Whip

1 pack lemon instant pudding

1 1/2 cup cold milk

Follow the instructions on your cake mix box. 

Dissolve jello in 3/4 cup of boiling water. Add 1/2 cup cold water and set aside.

Cool the cake for at least 20 minutes. Poke holes with a fork about one inch apart from each other.  Pour liquid jello into the holes, carefully. It's okay if some of the liquid jello spills on the cake. It will solidify, as well. But try to keep it in the holes.  Chill the jello and cake in the refrigerator.

To make the topping, blend the Dream Whip, pudding and milk until stiff.

Red Velvet Lovey-Dovey Pie, Part 2

I've been wanting to get this post done for what seems like weeks. Finally, here it is. I wanted to let you know how the red velvet pie turned out. It was good, but not perfect. It's still a work-in-progress. The biggest problem was the icing, which would really not be a problem if you like your pie very sweet. I used a cream cheese icing recipe--next time, I'm going to try a less sweet icing or topping that still has cream cheese as an ingredient. When I scraped part of the icing off, it made for a much better pie. Also, I plan to add another tablespoon of cocoa because the buttermilk flavor was a little too intense for me. I think a little more cocoa would really offset that flavor. Here is the way the pie looked (held by my daughter, Emma, before she delved into it, eating every bite.):

Check this out!

SuzySaid.com is listing favorite local Holiday gifts. Guess what is on the list? Click here to find out.

Red-Velvet Lovey-Dovey Pie

Recently, I made my first red velvet cake from scratch.  I made it for my husband of nearly 19 years.  Red velvet cake is his favorite. We’ve bought so many of them over the years for him that I really had no idea what a homemade red velvet cake would taste like. He asked for a homemade cake and that is what he got. Quite happily.

Of course, the cake was so much more delicious than what I've tasted in the past. And I fell in love with the process and idea of making cake. But pie is more a part of my family tradition—and it is the subject of my cookbook, even though it’s Mrs. Rowe’s pies, not my own.

So as I found myself loving making the cake, I also felt a little like a traitor to pie. But I learned a lot about the cake that I would not have known without actually making it.  It’s not a simple chocolate cake—as some have suggested to me. It’s really a buttermilk-cocoa cake. I’m no fan of sipping buttermilk—but it adds a depth of flavor and tang to cooking and baking that’s hard beat.  As I was creating the cake, I thought of Mrs. Rowe’s Buttermilk Pie. How easy would it be to make it into a “Red Velvet" pie? Quite easy, as it turns out. I just added cocoa and food coloring to an otherwise perfect buttermilk pie recipe.

The pie gets a thin cakelike skin on it as it cools, which is lovely for topping purposes.  It would work with a number of toppings. But for me, it’s not Red Velvet without the cream cheese icing, which I won’t be making until tomorrow when I get to Pennsylvania. I’m not sure about transporting the pie with the topping on it--six hours in the car. I’ll take pictures of it at some point.

This recipe is a perfect example of how versatile pie is—once you have a good, solid recipe that works, it’s fun and easy to experiment with it. I call this pie my “Lovey-Dovey Red Velvet Pie” because I’m honoring my husband’s Southern traditions and tastes while also acknowledging my own pie-loving Yankee family and traditions.

  

 

Makes 1 9-inch pie

 

1 pie crust 

1 cup unsalted butter, melted, slightly cooled

1 cup sugar

½ cup all purpose flour

3 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 heaping teaspoon of cocoa

1 ounce of red food coloring

 

Preheat oven to 325. Line a 9-inch pie plate with dough and crimp the edges.

 

In a bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and flour, and stir well. One at a time, add the eggs. Mixing well after each addition. Add the buttermilk and vanilla and stir well. Next, add the cocoa and stir into filling. Last, stir in the food coloring. Red, isn’t it?

 

Pour the batter into the pie crust.

 

The original buttermilk pie recipe called for baking for 25 to 35 minutes, until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  But it took 45 minutes in my oven for in to get thick. When you insert the knife, there will be a little filling on it—but it continues to firm up as it cools. 

 

Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, until the filling firms up. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

 

I’ll be serving mine in Pennsylvania with whipped cream cheese topping.

Peace, Love, Pie and Happy Holidays

Announcing a Pie Blog-A-Thon

Hello all you bloggers! Do you love pie? Are you up for a challenge? Let's get together and do a Pie Blog-A-Thon. Over the next few months as you're making your Holiday pies, (c'mon, we ALL make pies over the holidays), take one of the recipes from Mrs Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies and make it your own. One of the points of this book is to show that making pie is e a fun, creative process. The book is not meant to be a tome on pie. It's a fun little pie book—so let's have some fun. Add an ingredient, a topping, a filling, what ever and make one of Mrs. Rowe's Southern pies into your own masterpiece. That's it, the only rule. Get creative. I'll post your post on my blog and link your site to my blog. Also, I'll be promoting this as much as I can, so it's a good situation for all of us. So are you ready to create a stir?  If you need more information, please email me at molliebryan@comcast.net

Granny Smith Apple Pie and more...

This story was cut from the original manuscript of the book MRS. ROWE'S LITTLE BOOK OF SOUTHERN PIE. I'm happy to share it here, along with the fabulous pie recipe—which did make it into the cookbook.

Wearing Your Work

It’s 9:30 in the morning at Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant and Cynthia Craig looks tired. Her eyes have circles under them and her hands are red and rough from scrubbing them. She is coming off her shift of stirring, kneading, patting, twisting, and sliding huge pans in and out of the huge ovens at Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant and Bakery. She dons an apron over her red t-shirt and jeans. She smiles. “You definitely wear your work home when you’re a baker. The meringue gets everywhere. So does the chocolate pie filling.”

 Cynthia starts her shift at 2 a.m. She loves her job—she tried working at another local restaurant and didn’t like it. She admits that some days are better than others, though. Around the holidays, for example, she sometimes puts in 14-hour shifts. And, even after 20 years of baking, she still makes mistakes. “I’ve burned cookies and pie shells. I’ve messed up the spoon bread. Just the other day, for some reason the lemon filling for the pie just wouldn’t get thick. I added more cornstarch and then it was like rubber.” She laughs.

Cynthia loves the creative challenge of her work. “I like the sense of pride here. We are all told that we shouldn’t serve something we wouldn’t want to eat. I think that comes straight from Mrs. Rowe.”

It’s an attitude that permeates the kitchen, and Mrs. Rowe’s owner-son, Mike DiGrassie carries on with the same work ethic.

Cynthia’s most vivid memories of the matriarch of the restaurant center on Mrs. Rowe and Karl Craig, another baker, making mincemeat pie. “She oversaw it all and would keep a close watch on the apples. If there were any apples left over from her batch, I used them for my Granny Smith apple pie.”

Mrs. Rowe encouraged frugality with the food and the restaurant still does not waste produce in the kitchen. Cynthia took the opportunity the leftover apples offered to make her mark with her own recipe. Customers look forward to it every year during the apple harvest season.

 

Granny Smith Apple Pie

 

If you like your apples sour, cut the sugar to 1/3 cup. 

 

Makes one 9-inch pie

1 piecrust

6 cups peeled and sliced Granny Smith or other tart apples (about 2 pounds)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon butter, cut into bits

Glaze:

 1 tablespoon milk, warmed

 1 teaspoon sugar

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Put the bottom crust in a pie pan.

Peel and quarter the apples.

Toss with lemon juice. 

Mix sugar, flour, and spices in a small bowl.

Add to apples and toss to coat apples thoroughly.  

Spoon the mixture into crust.

Dot with butter.

Place the top crust over apples.

Flute the edges of the piecrust. 

Mix the warm milk with the teaspoon of sugar and brush over top crust.  Pierce a couple of holes to vent steam.

Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350°F and bake another 30-40 minutes until crust is golden brown and the fruit is tender. 

Check the pie about halfway through for over browning on edges of crust.  Cover edges with pie shields or foil if needed. 

Cool before slicing.

 

History, Food, Fiction, and Me

One of my great passions is history. It used to be ancient history, now it's American history. When I can combine food, fiction, writing, and history, I am thrilled. This is one reason I enjoyed writing my as of yet unpublished historical romance "Tempting Will McGlashen," Almost all of my passions were combine in one project. I happened on this site "Wonders & Marvels" and subscribed immediately. When I saw their book review program, I signed up to read and review "The Belly of Paris" by Emile Zola. I highly recommend it. Read the post to find out why.