Buttermilk Pie

 Buttermilk Pie. 

Sounds kinda weird to people who've never eaten it.  And, in truth, it wasn't until I was in my teens that I began to really love this pie that mom made almost every winter holiday.  

Back in the day, it would have been made with churned buttermilk, not cultured.  But, even if you have to fake buttermilk by adding lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to plain milk, it's still wonderful. 

Warning: Not for diabetics.  There's A LOT of sugar in this recipe!

Ingredients:

3 eggs, beaten lightly

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 stick of margarine

1/4 cup flour

2 tsp vanilla

dashes of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves

3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1. Cream butter & sugar.  
2. Incorporate the eggs.
3. Incorporate the flour and spices. 
4. Mix in the buttermilk. 
5. Pour into an unbaked pie shell, and bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes. It's done when a knife inserted comes out clean.

For extra decadence, serve with whipped cream.

Note: Mom always sprinkled extra cinnamon & nutmeg on top.  I just add a little extra into the pie mixture. 

Never Fail Pie Crust

 I don't know if this pie crust ever failed, since Mom almost always used frozen pie crusts (and this was back when frozen pie crusts were truly awful).  Mom was great with most things, but the two things she was unable to master were biscuits and pie crust.  However, the recipe is lightly stained, so she may have used it at least once.  It's in my handwriting. 

3 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold water

1 cup shortening

1 egg

1 tsp vinegar

Cut shortening into flour and salt. Beat egg adding water and vinegar. Add liquid to flour mixture. Roll onto lightly floured board. 

---

On the reverse side of the card is this recipe, cut out from a a magazine or some other publication:

Cookie Crust Pastry:  Stir 1/4 cup margarine to soften; mix in 1/4 cup sugar and 1 egg yolk. With pastry blender gradually mix in 1 cup flour until crumbs form. Press firmly into jbottom and sides of 9-inch pie plate.  Bake in 400F oven about 10 minutes or until edge is browned. Cool. 

Loretta's Peanut Butter Cookies

 This recipe says it was "from Hazel."  I'm hoping my sister remembers who Hazel was.  Unfortunately, I don't. This is another well-loved recipe card, with stains enough to show that we must have liked it.

Oven 350

1/2 cup margarine

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 c. sifted flour

3/4 tsp soda

salt

Cream butter peanut butter sugars egg & vanilla. Add sifted dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Shape into 1 inch balls. Mash w/ a fork. Bake 10-12 min.

Banana Bread

 The recipe card for this is just plain disgusting. You can literally feel the stains.  So, you know this recipe is seriously good.  The recipe is in my handwriting, but I don't recall ever making banana bread.  I'm sure all that recipe-love staining came from Mom.

1 Cup sugar

1/2 cup margarine

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas - 3 or 4

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 cups sifted flour

3 tsp b. powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped nuts

cream sugar w/ butter. Add eggs, 1 at a time. Beat well after each. Stir in bananas and lemon juice. Sift flour w/ b. powder + salt. Add + mix quickly. Stir in nuts. Bake in greased 9" X 5" X 3" pan at 350 1 hr or till tested done. Cool. 

Lemon Chiffon Pie

 This recipe is in my handwriting, but it includes mint, which sounds like something Mom would do.  So, maybe she saw it somewhere and had me write it down for her.  The card isn't stained at all, so it's possible that she was interested in the recipe, but never got around to making it. 

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup cold water

3 eggs, separated

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp grated lemon peel

cornflake or graham cracker crumb pie shell

lemon slices

sprigs of fresh mint

Soften gelatin in cold water 5 min. Beat egg yolks. Combine w/ 1/2 cup of the sugar, lemon juice + salt in top of double boiler + cook, stirring constantly, until mixture coats a spoon. Remove from heat + stir in lemon peel. Cool until thickened, stirring occasionally. Beat egg whites till stiff not dry. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold lightly into lemon mixture. Spoon into pie shell + chill well. Garnish w/ lemon slices and mint or chocolate curls. 

Bettye's Famous Baked Dill Pickles

Back in the 70's, fresh herbs were not as readily available in stores as they are now.  I remember Mom having to search a bit to source the fresh dill and the grape leaves needed for the recipe.  The little sprigs of dill and the grape leaves looked so pretty in the jars.  

The pickling cucumbers are not really mentioned in the recipe.  I think they are just assumed. Also, the direction to punch a hole in the pickles comes at the end, but I suspect it's supposed to be the very first thing you do.

1 C salt

4 C w. vinegar

12 C water

2 cloves garlic

1/2 hot dry pepper

2 or 3 sprigs of dill

grape leaves

Pack in gars with 1 grape leaf. Pour in hot juice 1/2 inch from top. Put on lid. Place in oven at 225 for 1 hr on cookie sheet. Let cool + store.

Punch hole in each end of every pickle so they won't shrivel up. 

Apricot Bread

This recipe card is stained, so you know it was a good one. The apricot bread was made with Grape Nuts cereal, which gave it a lovely bit of texture.  It was especially good made with ripe, fresh-off-the-tree, Central Valley apricots. I've yet to find even a farmer's market apricot that has that intense apricot flavor that this recipe needs.  If you're lucky enough to have an apricot tree in your life, enjoy!  And send me a slice. 

1 3/4 C flour

3/4 C grape nuts cereal

1 C sugar

1 tsp salt

2/3 C chopped apricots

2 1/2 tsps b. powder

1 1/4 C milk

2 tbsps oil

1 egg, well beaten

Mix flour, b. powder, sugar, + salt.  Stir in cereal + apricots.  Blend milk, egg, + oil.  Add flour mixture. Stir till just moist.  Pour into greased loaf pan + bake at 350 for 1 hr or until done.  Cool in pan 10 mins.