Red, White, and Blue Pie

I think I’ve finally hit upon the winning formula for a pie recipe I’ve been working on. Here’s the recipe.

Pie shell
¾ Tbsp. gelatin
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup milk
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup whipping cream

1. Prepare and bake a pie shell using your favorite recipe.
2. Combine the dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs, retaining both.
4. Beat the egg yolks.
5. Add the milk and beaten egg yolks to the dry ingredients.
6. Mix well.
7. In heavy saucepan heat the mixture over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until it forms a thick cream.
8. Remove it from the heat.
9. Add the vanilla into the mixture.
10. Allow it to cool until it begins to set.
11. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
12. Fold the beaten egg whites into the custard mixture.
13. Whip the cream until it is stiff.
14. Fold the whipped cream into the custard/egg white mixture.
15. Fold the entire mixture into the baked pie shell.
16. Let the pie set for at least three hours.
17. Top with fresh fruit of your choice or just serve it as it is.

In this case I topped it with fresh raspberries and blueberries for a nice, red, white, and blue effect. Fresh strawberries, all raspberries, all blueberries, or fresh peaches would be great, too. The crust is all butter and uses a combination of white and wheat flours. It’s one of the best crusts I’ve ever made.

This recipe is derived from Aunt Chick’s Chiffon Custard Pie with Cream. “Aunt Chick”, whose real name was Nettie McBirney, had a column for years in the Tulsa Daily World. Her book, Aunt Chick’s Pies, published 70 years ago and something of a scarce commodity, has a collection of the best pie recipes I know of. I’ve been tinkering with some of her recipes and this is my first truly successful result. Onwards to lemon chiffon!