Saturday, April 6, 2013

Lemon-Tangerine Chess Pie

Sorry for the break in posting - my family has been in town and we had a great time touring the Bay Area - walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, sipping wine in Sonoma, enjoying Tartine pastries at Dolores Park, hiking in the redwoods at Armstrong state park, freezing our butts off at Point Reyes National Seashore, and much more! Here's my favorite photo from the visit: my sister and I sitting in a giant blue chair at Cornerstone Sonoma.


So, I haven't gotten a lot of cooking done in the past week, but I still have lots of yummy recipes to share with you guys from the past month!  Remember back on Pi Day when I said I was going to make a chess pie to celebrate?  Well, I did and it turned out really well. You can see that it got a tad too dark, but it was still delicious. I ended up using half lemon juice and half tangerine juice - we got some super tart tangerines in our CSA box that were just too sour to eat, and so this pie was the perfect use for them.  I really liked the texture of this pie - a creamy middle with a slightly crunchy top from the cornmeal.  And, the citrus flavor was amazing...combining lemons and tangerines was definitely an inspired decision!  I also loved that this pie was super easy.  I just unrolled a Trader Joe's crust, whisked all the ingredients together, and I was ready to go!  Definitely a great choice if you're short on time.   Our Thursday night group at church enjoyed this along with an amazing apple pie from my friend Elizabeth.  The perfect way to celebrate 3.14!




Lemon-Tangerine Chess Pie (adapted from King Arthur Flour, original recipe here)

1 prepared pie crust (I like the refridgerated pie dough from Trader Joe's, but of course homemade is good too!)
6 T butter
3/4 cup fresh citrus juice (I used half tangerine juice and half lemon juice)
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 T cornmeal
1 1/2 T cornstarch
5 large eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place the pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate and crimp the edges.  Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
3. Melt the butter, and then stir in the remaining ingredients.  Whisk until well combined.
4. Pour the filling into the pie crust.  Bake 40-50 minutes, until the center is set and the top is golden brown.  Check the pie midway through - if the top is browning too fast, cover with foil.
5. Let the pie cool before slicing.

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