Walnuts really are the best nuts for this pie I’ve decided; they add great texture, chopped to 1/4 t. size; flatter pecans wouldn’t add as much texture to this pie as only 1 cup of nuts is used. I didn’t have my stick of butter softened much at all; just cubed the butter small and creamed it with the liquid from the egg yolks. You wouldn’t want the butter completely soft so this worked fine. Vinegar is the unexpected flavor in the pie and it is just enough to keep it from being overly sweet. Beat the egg whites frothy and fold in to the batter gently. This results in a top crust that crumbles easily; use a serrated knife to slice this. A just-right accompaniment tonight was a large dollop of Cool Whip. Delicious!
If you’re after an easy to prepare dessert (completed in 30 minutes prep time, including rolling out a pie shell) then check out this savory “old timey” cupboard pie. It’s a snap to make and definitely a real snap-crackely-pop for your palette.
Mrs. Bernie’s Chewy Nut Pie
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 T. vinegar
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 9” unbaked pastry shell
Directions Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vinegar in medium bowl. Add nuts and raisins. In separate bowl, beat egg whites slightly, and fold into first mixture. Stir well to blend all ingredients. Pour in unbaked pastry shell and bake for 45 minutes and allow to cool before cutting.
Because I was indulging my wild-child hippie flower power tendencies (i.e. doing a ton of cleaning out of flower beds and digging-in-the-dirt planting) for the past four days, I have neglected to blog. Truth of the matter is, you can’t blog if you’re not cooking and can’t cook if you’re outside dirt digging all day long until twilight falls! I am so happy to be back at it today and even happier to introduce you to this delicious, easy-breezy, apricot nectar cake!
The recipe came to me from BFF Susan who received it from her sister-in-law, Vikki. You can also bake this using mango nectar and I make sure to keep several cans of both nectars on my pantry shelves so that I can bake this cake in a jiffy when I need something quick but delicious. I find the nectar at Walmart in the canned juices aisle.
You will have this batter mixed and breathing in the bowl in under 10 minutes. I do beat the eggs separately because the one time I didn’t, the cake wasn’t nearly as light in texture. Some recipes call for using a yellow cake mix for this one, but I love the hint of lemon that the Duncan Hines Supreme Cake Mix offers in this recipe. You also might want to zest up a teaspoon of lemon peel and add that to either the batter or the glaze. The lemon flavor adds a great zing to the apricot or mango flavors. The cake is beautiful baked in a Bundt pan sprinkled with finely-sifted powdered sugar. Today I baked this exactly as found in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook.
You just can’t get too fruity for spring time! Offer those around your table a taste of robust apricots or tropical mangoes then just sit back and accept your compliments! Guaranteed you will have many!
Apricot Nectar Cake
Ingredients
1 box Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup apricot nectar (found at Walmart in the canned juices section)
3/4 cup cooking oil
4 eggs, beaten separately
Directions Preheat oven to 325. In large bowl, mix first four ingredients with electric mixer on medium for approximately two minutes. Scrape batter from sides of bowl with spatula as you mix. In separate small bowl, beat the eggs with mixer then gently fold into the batter. Pour batter into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean and dry. Poke holes in cake with the tines of a fork and pour hot glaze over cake.
Glaze
2/3 cup powdered sugar
Remainder of the can of nectar
1 T. butter
Directions In medium saucepan, combine ingredients and bring to a slow boil. Cook just until smooth and the powdered sugar is dissolved. Take cake out of oven and poke holes in hot cake with a fork then pour glaze into a measuring cup and slowly pour over cake. Make glaze a few minutes before cake is out of oven. Let cake cool then invert onto your serving platter and dust lightly with powdered sugar.
I found this recipe in mama’s recipe box, written in pencil, on a yellowed index card, and memories flooded back as I remembered eating this delightful pie at the Barker house next door while a kid in Marble Hill. Bernie Barker’s recipe for Raisin Nut Pie will delight you too if you are a raisin and nut lover especially. The recipe is also found in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook.
My prep time today was less than an hour and that included rolling out my homemade crust. Separate the eggs, the egg whites beaten slightly then added to the pie filling right before baking. Be sure you fold in the egg whites, not stirring, but folding, taking care to leave them as light and fluffy as possible. I used pecans today but walnuts are also great in this pie. I also used golden raisins rather than dark raisins; either works fine.
This old recipe is often referred to as a “funeral” pie and I do turn to it often when I need something for bereavement dinners at church. You will have the ingredients on hand most likely and perhaps that is why it is such a popular pie here in southern Missouri when you need to prepare something quickly to carry in somewhere.
No matter your reason for preparing this old stand-by, you will be glad you did. Serve it up slightly warm with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and enjoy the smiles around the table.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 T. vinegar
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 9” unbaked pastry shell
Directions Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vinegar in a medium bowl. Add nuts and raisins. In separate bowl, beat egg whites slightly, and fold into first mixture. Stir well to blend all ingredients. Pour in unbaked pastry shell and bake for 45 minutes and allow to cool before cutting. This is good served with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top.
I was SO excited to find raspberries at my local market because I had almost given up on the idea of making this delicious coffee cake for Easter, and when I spotted those raspberries yesterday, my arms went up in a victory sign and i danced a jig right there in the produce section! I have made this coffee cake for many years now and especially love enjoying it for Easter morning when we are visiting my sister and her family in Illinois. Everybody likes this moist cake, from great-granny to the little kids, and because it is so beautiful to behold that is our Added Bonus for this dish!
It might seem a good deal of work for only a small one-layer cake, but it bakes tall and small wedges make it a perfect breakfast offering. Although the recipe in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook says you can use frozen raspberries also in this cake, I never do; fresh berries are definitely worth the wait. The tart berries contrast with the sugar, flour, and eggs in a dense batter flavored with fresh lemon zest. Do press the raspberries gently into the half-baked batter so they aren’t merely decorating the top of the cake (save that happiness for just a sprinkle of powdered sugar).
Because this cake usually travels, I bake it the day before, and it is even more delicious on the second day. Every bite is moist and sweet, and every berry, perfection! This is, of course, just made for coffee, but I know that our little kids like it with milk. Whatever works for you, you will be glad the cake is on the table. Wishing you and yours a Happy and Blessed Easter morning as well!
Lemon Raspberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1-1/4 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel (zest)
1 egg
1 cup fresh raspberries (or frozen if you must)
Powdered sugar
Directions Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease bottom of 9×1-1/2” round cake pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Grease and lightly flour bottom of parchment; set aside. For cake, in a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In separate large bowl, beat 1 cup of the sugar and the softened butter with mixer on medium until combined. Add 1 egg and the vanilla. Beat on low for 1 minute. Alternately add flour mixture and the 3/4 cup buttermilk, beating just until combined after each addition; set aside.
For cheesecake filling, in a small bowl beat cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup sugar with mixer on medium until combined. Add lemon zest and 1 egg. Beat well until combined.
Spoon half the cake batter into prepared pan, spreading to edges. Spoon cream cheese mixture on cake batter, spreading carefully to edges (so the two layers don’t combine). Dollop remaining cake batter on top of cream cheese layer, carefully spreading to edges of pan.
Bake 20 minutes or until puffed then take out of oven and gently press raspberries into cake. Bake another 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen edges of cake from the pan then turn out to a plate then turn out again on serving plate so cake is right side up. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired; so pretty!
There didn’t seem any better day to bake a Buttermilk Pie than April 1st (and no April Fool’s indeed!). A spanking new calendar page, spring daffodils already in bloom, and the sweet tang of buttermilk are a perfect way to greet this beautiful month!
This pie will remind you of a southern Chess Pie with the same creamy texture. Today I used a heaping 3 T. of flour to be sure that there was enough flour to thicken the liquids in the batter. The buttermilk is the most distinctive taste in this pie; just a hint of tartness with the sugar complementing the buttermilk tang.
You really must make your own crust for this pie; using a store-bought crust will not give you anywhere close to the results you will get rolling out a homemade crust, flaky but sturdy enough to provide texture to the creaminess of the pie. As always, I used 4-5 T. of ice water for my crust and worked the shortening in quickly to the flour-salt mixture using just my fingers to cut the shortening in until the dough resembled small peas.
Once your crust is ready and in your pie plate, you need only to mix up the filling. Sprinkle the top of the pie lightly with nutmeg, and dessert is in the oven in no time. Hello April!
Ingredients
½ cup buttermilk
1-3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 T. flour
Pinch of salt
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 unbaked 9” pastry shell
Directions: Preheat oven to 400°. Set pastry shell aside. In large mixing bowl combine all ingredients except the nutmeg and the pastry shell and stir well with a wooden spoon to blend then use a wire whisk to incorporate the liquid ingredients more thoroughly. Pour batter in the unbaked pie shell; sprinkle the top lightly with nutmeg. Bake 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350 and bake another 45 minutes until the top is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted comes out dry. Cool well, allowing the filling to set well before cutting into wedges.
