Need a Last Minute Pie??

I got you. And she's a simple beauty. (And some special news about Reverie!)

Nov 23, 2022

Popping in here really quickly as we launch into the heat of the holiday cooking fever to give you a little recipe to use or save for a rainy day.

My buttermilk chess pie was something I started fine tuning around 2009 and developed it toward what I feel is the closest I’ll ever come to flavor and texture perfection. I’m not one to really get all proud on myself, but this pie is the one I’ll have carved in my headstone. Not even really kidding.

I found versions of buttermilk pie and chess pies in various books I studied, old cookbooks here and there from yard sales and used book stores. And a buttermilk pie was served at a restaurant I once waited tables at and eventually became the pastry chef of. It was a fine version. A little underwhelming and never served with a proper crust, I always thought. When I started baking there, I took it as a challenge to try to perfect it.

I started working hard to perfect my crust, studying french technique (fraisage method which is used in quick puff became my go to - I would teach about “shmearing” and “golden flakes of flour”), balancing it with traditional southern pie ratios, testing and testing and testing and once I got it as close to good as I could, I started working on the buttermilk chess filling.

Good buttermilk is key. Great buttermilk is super sonic. This pie is balanced with just enough lemon and vanilla and can be made in many variations (add a cup of sweet potato puree and maybe some nutmeg - it still bakes perfectly and tastes incredible). Once I opened Husk with Sean Brock, I put it on the menu, taught about fifty young cooks how to make it to perfection and customers demanded it never be taken off the menu. It became it’s own beautiful feature and many folks would come and just have that for dessert at the bar. She’s really a beauty of a pie.

So, I wanted to share her with you today in case you need a good and easy pie to add to your repertoire this holiday. It is one, I promise, that you will go back to over and over and over again.

I’ll be making it tomorrow with my son who just drove up from New Orleans and my mom. I’ll let it sit overnight at room temp and then tomorrow it will be absolute perfection at the end of the meal.

You can find my pie crust here with my friends at Food&Wine.

Buttermilk Chess Pie / Lisa Donovan

YLD: Filling for two 9-10”” pies / can be batched up or down

Filling:

6 Eggs, large

2 ¼ c Sugar, pure cane, unbleached preferred

½ c All-purpose Flour, unbleached

¾ t Salt, kosher Morton’s preferred

3oz Unsalted butter, melted

1c+2T Buttermilk, full fat, Cruze’s preferred

¼ t Lemon Zest and a little juice from half

1 t Vanilla Paste or scraping of whole vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 425.
Roll and crimp two pie shells and freeze in their pie tins, unbaked, while preparing filling.
Melt your butter. Add your vanilla so it will disperse into the butter and not clump up in your pie filling. Let your butter cool, slightly before adding to pie filling.
Combine flour, sugar, salt and whisk together.
In a different, larger bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, lemon zest, a little squeeze of juice and butter/vanilla mixture. Discared vanilla bean if used.
Add your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and whisk until thoroughly combined. There is no such thing as “overmixing” here, but, do be sure to not incorporate too much air with whisk. Take it easy.
Take pie shells out of freezer and place on baking sheets.
Pour filling into frozen shells until it reaches right under the crimp/lip of the pie shell.
Place pies in oven, close the door, immediately turn oven down to 350. The high heat will be a good shock for your ice-cold pie dough, which should result in a nice flaky crust from top to bottom.
Bake for 40-45/50 minutes, rotating after about 35 minutes if they are on different shelves for even baking.
They should have a slight wiggle to them, but definitely not a jiggle.
Let it rest for several hours before you cut into it.
Can be stored room temp one day and one night. Refrigerate from then on. Let come to room temp to serve or eat cold. It can live like this for two days, but it usually doesn’t last that long.

Some news about Reverie Retreats!

We have a big Black Friday discount planned so that you sweet darlings who buy travel for your loved ones for the holidays can capitalize on the moment!

If you are not already subscribed to our newsletter (or if you have no idea what I’m talking about!), head over to the link embedded above and discover more.

It is basically a week baking with me and brilliant brilliant bread baker Julie Belcher in different regions in France - while we learn about wine, cook and eat together, tour the region, learn about its specialties and live in historic chateaus together all the while - and our 2023 calendar is getting booked fast.

We’d sure love for you to join us. We really have a good time. And, starting on Friday, we’ll be kicking 10% off a reservation. So, check it out!

That’s all for now!

As always, thanks for being here and for being readers and subscribers. It’s a real joy to have an outlet to reach out when this crazy life permits.

Enjoy your rest and feasts and love and boardgames and pets and naps and puzzles and sports ball and parades this week!!

I hope you enjoy every second!

Love and thanks,
Lisa