Old Time Pies and A Crochet Doily Recipe

Grammy made the bestest pies.  Her pies were so good I wanted to eat the whole pie.  I know it was a lot of work making the crust and then the pie.  She had some "desperation era" pie recipes  which were used in lean years.  The first one is for Cream Pie, which is rich but doesn't even have eggs in the recipe. It has whipping cream which was readily available on the farm because of the milk cows.  The second is called Penny Pie, and is similar to the Cream Pie.

DESPERATION CREAM PIE

1/3 c. flour
1/2 c melted butter
1 c. brown sugar
2 c. whipping cream unwhipped
1 unbaked 9 ” pie shell

Blend flour into melted butter. Add brown sugar. Mix thoroughly. Add cream and stir until well-blended.
Pour into the pie shell and bake in a 375 dgreee oven for 50 -55 minutes (center will be jiggle a bit like Jello when done)  Cover the edge of crust with foil strips the last part of baking so it won’t overcook.
Cool . Serves 6-8

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PENNY PIE

1 1/2 c. sugar
4 tbsp. flour
1 egg

Mix and pour into unbaked pie shell, dot with 1/4 stick butter and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake 40 to 50 minutes at 400 degrees.

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Grammy always had tons of doilies around her house.  Some were flimsy and some were stiff and held their shape.  I asked her if she used starch and she said when she was young she used a doily syrup and then later on she used a thick starch when starch was really good, but at the time she thought starch wasn't much good any longer so she went back to using a syrup to make them stiff.  Here's her recipe for Doily Syrup.  I found this is good if your house is dry, but don't store these in a damp area.

DOILY SYRUP

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

Cook over low heat (but don't boil) until it's clear.  Remove from heat and let cool.  After cooled, dampen the doily with water, patting with a paper towel to remove excess water.  Dip dampened doily in the syrup and gently sqeeze the doily to remove the excess syrup.  Lay flat on a counter or piece of marble to dry....don't remove until completely dry.

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Grammy told me lots of things.  Be sure to come back soon to see what my grammy and mama says about lots of things.

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