Anna Sultana’s Buttermilk Pie (Old-Fashioned, Quick & Impossible)

A couple of weeks ago I posted the recipe for ma’s Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake.

I sure hope it helps you get through the stress of preparing for the back-to-school and holiday season.

A reader emailed and said she wanted to make a dairy dessert but she didn’t want to buy ricotta.

She wanted to know if a pie can be made from buttermilk, the way the quiche was made from cream and milk.

Of course it can.

Buttermilk Pie, like all really great recipes, has been around a long time and has become a favourite everywhere it’s been made.

As far as anyone knows, it was originally made in the United Kingdom, and it is now a considered a traditional pie of the southern United States. 

I’m not surprised at its popularity - it is a comforting custard pie with a slightly caramelized topping.

it’s easy to make and the ingredients are usually found in anyone’s kitchen.

Hints:

About the Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie…

You can double the vanilla and the ground nutmeg for a slightly stronger flavour.

It can also baked at 350ºF for 40 to 60 minutes, which is handy to know if you’re also baking a casserole. 

A knife inserted in the centre comes out clean before removing from the oven.

For a lemony flavour leave the nutmeg out and add

1 Tablespoon lemon zest or 1 teaspoon lemon extract

3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

If you want to make this pie but don’t want to buy buttermilk, just combine in a measuring cup

1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice

enough fresh milk to make 1 cup

Stir and let it sit 5 minutes before using the mixture in the recipe.

The Quick Pie recipe just needs a 1/2 Cup buttermilk, so either halve this recipe or make two pies.

This mixture will make a fine substitute for a baking recipe, but it won't taste like regular buttermilk if you want a drink.

Well, nothing's perfect.

Cover leftovers with plastic wrap and refrigerate for two to three days.

                                Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie

Heat oven to 400°F

Melt 

1/2 Cup butter

Set aside to cool.

Place in large mixer bowl

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

Beat until smooth.

Add

the cooled melted butter

3 Tablespoons flour

1 Cup buttermilk

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon of salt

Beat together until smooth.

Pour into 

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.

Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown and knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. 

The centre might jiggle a tiny bit. That’s fine. Don’t over bake - it could burn.

Place pie on a wire rack.

Cool 1 to 2 hours at room temperature.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of nutmeg… or not

                                Quick Buttermilk Pie

Heat oven to 350°F

Place in large mixer bowl

1 1/2 Cups sugar

1/4 Cup margarine

Cream until light and fluffy.

Add

3 beaten eggs

3 Tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 Cup buttermilk

Turn mixture into unbaked pie shell.

Bake 35 - 40 minutes. 

It should be golden brown and a knife inserted in the centre will come out clean. 

Cool 5 minutes before serving.

If you saw the post for Anna Sultana’s Coconut Cream Pie and enjoyed the Bisquick™ Impossible Pie you might also like this pie:

                                                

                                Impossible Buttermilk Pie

Heat oven to 350°F

Grease 9-inch pie plate

Melt 

1/3 Cup butter or margarine

Set aside to cool.

Place in medium bowl

1 1/2 Cups sugar

1/2 Cup Original Bisquick™ mix

1 Cup buttermilk

the melted butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

Beat all ingredients until smooth - 30 seconds in a blender on high or 1 minute with a hand beater. It can also be beaten with a fork.

Pour into the greased pie plate.

Bake 30 minutes. 

It should be golden brown and a knife inserted in the centre will come out clean.

Cool 5 minutes.

Serve with mixed fresh fruit if desired.

Anna Sultana’s Chicken Pot Pie, February’s Full Snow Moon and The Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon

A little over a week ago ago I posted the recipe for Ma’s Coconut Cream Pie.

It was based on the Impossible Pie that was featured on the box of Bisquick™ a few years ago.

If you're my age I'm sure you remember how popular that was a few years ago.

I got an e mail from a young lady who’d decided to buy a box of Bisquick™ and use that in the recipe.

She’d like to know if Ma had any other recipes that could make use of the rest of the Bisquick™.

Well, of course she did.

Ma had originally gotten a recipe which used Bisquick™ as a biscuit topping for chicken stew.

As with the Impossible Pie, Ma preferred not using a biscuit mix.

I’ll give you the recipes using both, as I did with the Coconut Cream Pie.

If you’d like to make the biscuit topping using Bisquick™:

Do not combine together the oil, milk and vinegar.

You'll just be adding the sour cream and milk for the liquid in this version.

In a medium bowl place

1 Cup Bisquick™

1/4 Cup sour cream

3 Tablespoons milk 

Stir just enough to make a stiff dough.

Spoon the dough in 6 mounds over the chicken mixture.

Hints:

This recipe is a good way to use leftover rotisserie chicken, or cooked turkey or ham.

You can use a can of condensed cream of broccoli or asparagus soup, instead of the condensed cream of chicken soup.

You can also use canned or leftover cooked vegetables. 

A bit more or less of the vegetables - or meat - doesn’t matter.

If your family really likes biscuits, double the biscuit recipe and bake the extra biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet while you are baking the pie.

If you’d like the pot pie with a bit more flavour, add finely chopped scallions or your favourite spices to the meat/vegetable mixture or to the biscuit mix.

If you’d like to reduce the fat content, you can use a can of low fat soup, and skim milk, as well as light sour cream and cheese.

You can also leave out the sour cream and/or the cheese.

                        Chicken Pot Pie

Thaw

3 Cups frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, green beans, peas)

Grease an 8 inch square baking pan

Preheat oven to 375º F

In a measuring cup stir together (this is for the biscuits)

1/4 Cup oil

1/2 Cup milk

1 teaspoon vinegar

Let sit while preparing the pie filling.

Pour into the prepared pan

1 can (10 fl oz) condensed cream of chicken soup 

1 can water

3/4 Cup sour cream

Stir just enough to blend.

Add

4 Cups chopped cooked chicken
The thawed vegetables
1 Cup shredded old cheddar cheese 

In a medium bowl combine

2  Cup flour                               

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Stir in the milk mixture.

Stir just enough to make a stiff dough.

Spoon the dough in 6 mounds over the chicken mixture.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown.

Serve warm.

If you'd like more vegetables, a salad or a cooked vegetable would be fine.

About the sky this week, thanks to the folks at The Farmers' Almanac…

February 3 – Midpoint of winter. This is the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. First Quarter Moon, 11:19 pm.

February 7 – The large waxing gibbous Moon will appear inside the very large asterism that we in the Northern Hemisphere call the Winter Circle, sometimes called the Winter Hexagon. 

February 9 – The large waxing gibbous Moon will be just 4 degrees from the Beehive Cluster, also known as Praesape, and M44.

February 10 – February’s Full Snow Moon at 7:33 p.m. Learn how February’s full Moon got its many names in this short Farmers’ Almanac video. 

February 11 – The Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon. This eclipse favours the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, where the Moon enters the Earth’s outer (penumbral) shadow soon after moonrise. 

For the rest of the United States and Canada, the eclipse will already be underway as it rises. The Moon will be passing through the southern part of the Earth’s shadow and at maximum its upper limb will come tantalizingly close to the much darker central shadow (the umbra). 

So at maximum, a subtle, but perceptible dimming will be evident along the Moon’s upper limb. 

Moon Enters Penumbra: 5:34 pm

Maximum Eclipse: 7:45 pm 

Moon Leaves Penumbra: 9:53 pm

Magnitude of the Eclipse: 0.988

Anna Sultana’s Coconut Cream Pie for the Family or Two / Bisquick™ Impossible Pie

Goodness! January is over half over.

It’s been one of those months. 

Yeah… THOSE months.

But, no matter what’s happening during the month, we all have to eat.

And a bit of dessert takes some of the rough edges off of the day.

Well, you knew it would.

About fifty years ago Bisquick™ included a recipe for Impossible Pie on the back of its box.

Bisquick™ is a baking mix that can be used for making biscuits, dumplings, pancakes and other meal staples.

It's handy for camping trips and in-a-rush meals.

Well, one of their cooks invented Impossible Pie, and it soon became quite popular.

The flour settles to a crust, the coconut makes a topping, and the centre is a custard.

You don’t have to make a crust and yet you can serve the family a pie! 

What’s not to love?

Ma wasn’t big on buying mixes.

To be honest, neither were most of her friends.

So, somebody came up with a recipe using flour instead of the mix.

Ma got the recipe and tweaked it.

Well, you knew she would.

Hints:

If you want to use the whole 14 ounce bag of coconut, do it.
If you think the mixture is too much for your pie plate, put some in a custard cup - or two - and bake along with the pie.

If you want a firmer texture, place the baked pie in the refrigerator for two hours.

You can pour the batter over stewed fruit, such as apples. 

Bake at 350º F for 45 minutes.

                        Coconut Cream Pie 

Grease and flour a 9 inch pie plate

Preheat oven to 350º F

Place in a blender

2 Cups milk

1 Cup shredded coconut

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon coconut extract (optional)

1/2 Cup flour

1/2 Cup butter 

3/4 to 1 Cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix well.

Pour batter into the prepared pie plate.

Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until centre tests firm.

It's good warm or cold.

Cover and refrigerate leftover pie.

Want to make a dessert for two? It’s easy.

Grease 2 custard cups or an individual ramekin

Place in a blender

1/2 Cup milk

4 Tablespoons shredded coconut

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon coconut extract (optional)

2 Tablespoons flour

2 Tablespoons butter 

4 Tablespoons sugar

dash salt

dash nutmeg

Pour into prepared custard cups or ramekin

Bake at 350º F for 50 minutes. 

If you’d like to make the original, using the mix, here it is:

1 Cup flaked or shredded coconut

3/4 Cup sugar

1/2 Cup Original Bisquick™ mix

1/4 Cup butter or margarine, softened

2 Cups milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch pie plate with shortening or cooking spray.

In medium bowl, stir all ingredients until blended. Pour into pie plate.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until golden brown and knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cover and refrigerate any remaining pie.

About the sky this week, thanks to the folks at The Farmers' Almanac…

January 23 - Castor and Pollux, the brightest stars of Gemini, the Twins are nearly overhead at around 11:30 p.m. local time.

January 25 - About 45 minutes before sunrise look very low to the southeast horizon for a narrow sliver of the waning crescent Moon. About 5° to its lower left will be Mercury. Binoculars will help pick both objects up against the brightening dawn sky.

January 27 - New Moon at 7:07 p.m.