FLORIDA PIE RECIPES

Steps:

• Crust Preparation:
• Using 2 pastry blenders, blend the flours, sugar, shortening, butter and salt. Whisk the egg, vinegar and water in a 2-cup measure and pour over the dry ingredients incorporating all the liquid without overworking the dough. Toss the additional flour over the ball of dough and chill if possible. Divide the dough into 2 disks. Roll out 1 piece of dough to make a bottom crust. Place into a pie dish. Put dish in refrigerator to chill.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Filling Preparation:
• Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, tapioca, flour, zest and juice of lemon, dash of cinnamon, and vanilla. Mix well in a large bowl and pour out into chilled crust. Dot the top of the filling with the butter. Brush edges of pie crust with egg white wash. Roll out the other piece of dough and place over filling. Crimp to seal edges. Brush with egg white wash and garnish with large granule sugar. Collar with foil and bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Decrease temperature to 375 degrees F and bake for an additional 45 to 50 minutes, or until the filling starts bubbling. Higher altitude will take 450 degrees F and 400 degrees F respectively. Also, you can use a pie bird for extra decor. Let cool before serving.

Steps:

• Combine sugar and butter and mix until well blended.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and mix well.
• Combine and whisk the flour, cocoa, and salt until mixed. Then add to the butter mixture.
• Add buttermilk and vanilla to the mixture. Stir until well mixed.
• Pour into pie shells and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Or, as oven temperatures vary, bake as long as it takes for the pie to be firm and not jiggle in the middle.
• Cool completely before cutting. Store leftover pie in the refrigerator.
• Note: I used an electric mixer though this recipe can easily be mixed by hand. Adapted from Karen’s Buttermilk Pie My older sister Karen always made the Buttermilk Pie for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, and though I’m not sure where she got her recipe, I am sure that it was the best Buttermilk Pie that anyone in our family ever made. Yes, even better than mine. My beloved sister passed away in 1999 a few days after Christmas. The following year I decided to make her Buttermilk Pie in honor of her. I contacted family members and began a search for her recipe. To my dismay no one had it. My mother said my sister had written down the recipe for her, however, after searching she could not find it either. Each year I make a buttermilk pie from recipes I have found in books and online and none of them tasted the same. I am happy to say that while looking through old recipes of my mother’s, after 13 years, I found my sister’s handwritten recipe in time to bake it for Thanksgiving and my family got to enjoy a piece of Karen’s Buttermilk Pie as we reminisced about her and holidays past.