Angel Pie I from Ruthy's Historic Bedford Collection

I've talked about how I love old cookbooks.... I even published a roasted possum recipe last year just to make youse cringe!!!

It was kind of fun in a sick, twisted way.

And there was cringing going on.

Well, this old cookbook is from the well-to-do area north of New York City. Put out by the Bedford Garden Club in 1953 (yes, before we were born!!!), these ladies earned money from the sale of the book to plant pretty flowers in their historic town.  I love flowers and old recipes, so this book was a double-win for me!

I found it at an antique cooperative while researching His Mistletoe Family (yes, that's a live link to Amazon, they have His Mistletoe Family in paperback and on Kindle!!!) and had to buy it. It was $4.

FOUR DOLLARS for a gem like this!!!!!

Anyway, I've been leafing through the recipes and today we're doing the "Angel Pie I" from Mrs. Robert Grosjean. Most of the ladies signed in appropriate Miss Manners style, using their husband's names after the "Mrs."... In her notes for this recipe, however, she writes "Stolen from a Norwegian cook."

Clearly she and I think alike!!! I did some research on the ladies involved in this endeavor, but none of the ones I searched for online are still living... and the Garden Club itself is gone, although a new one has been started.

And if you've never been to the areas north of New York City, the sprawling hills, streams and mountains that climb northward, it is a beautiful and historic trip. Just gorgeous! Think "Last of the Mohicans" kind of gorgeous. "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" kind of beautiful. Wonderful towns and villages.... Anyway, this book is filled with gems to share, recipe ideas you just don't see in today's cookbooks. And that's what makes it so delightfully special!


Angel Pie I

Stolen from a Norwegian cook (I love this line every time I see it!!!!)

Shell:

4 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup sugar


Beat 4 egg whites with 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar and 1 cup sugar. Beat stiff. pour into 9" pie plate and bake in slow 300 degree oven for one hour. Light oven as you put in shell. Let cool.

This is the raw meringue in the pie pan...

Baked for 1 hour at 300 degrees....

And it falls a little as it sits to cool:

Filling: Original recipe (This is not the one I used... Mine is below)

4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
pinch of salt
2 Tablespoons lemon rind

Combine egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, salt, lemon rind (grated very fine). Cook in double boiler until thick. Let cool.

Ruthy note:  I'm making this now, and I'm changing the filling to a more traditional lemon pie filling. This original filling is more like a "lemon curd" and I thought hmmm.... a filling for ANGELS should be splendorific. So here's what I did instead:

Lemon filling:

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
4 egg yolks, mixed with fork in medium sized bowl
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 Tablespoons butter

Mix and cook until boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Then slowly add this mixture to 4 beaten egg yolks.... (Do this slowly so you don't "cook" the egg yolks).

 Return to pan. Bring back to a boil for one minute, stirring like crazy. Do not start Virginia Carmichael's delightful book "Season of Joy" it will DISTRACT you and you'll burn this wonderful filling. So don't do that.

Remove from heat. Whisk in the lemon juice and the butter. Chill.

Whipped cream:

 16 oz. heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar

Whip 16 oz. of heavy cream and 1/2 cup sugar until stiff peaks form.

Cover cooled meringue pie shell with whipped cream.

Add lemon filling and top with more whipped cream. (Already this could be nothing but GOOD, right????)  Place in refrigerator for 6 hours before serving.  Heavenly company dessert after a fairly light meal.  (Note that it's a heavenly STOLEN dessert... :)

This is the pie shell filled with whipped cream....

And now the lemon filling....

And here is the final product:

Now we must chill this thing.... but that's okay, we need to eat something nutritious like CHILI!!!!

:)

I love winter foods!

Next week we're going to do Angel Pie II that adds other fruit to the lemon custard mixture. And Angel Pie II DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE STOLEN.... Not admittedly, anyway!