Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Peanut Butter Chiffon Pie


I'm doing some peanut butter recipes this week in observance of my Dad's birthday - he loves PB. I also have Pie on the brain as I have a series of Pie Party talks to give this month, starting with tomorrow.

Try this one - from my beloved 1959 Farm Journal's Country Cookbook, Peanut Butter Chiffon Pie. The caption for the recipe is "A friendly home agent in Georgia gave us this recipe - also an unforgettable sample to eat and enjoy."
What's a home agent? Real estate? Door to door salesman? Did they all exchange recipes? I may try asking the next solicitor at my home if they have a good pie recipe...

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 c. cold water
3 egg yolks, well beaten
1/3 c. sugar or light corn syrup (really - those two can be substituted?)
1/2 c. smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 egg whites, unbeaten
1 (9") baked crumb crust
1/2 c. heavy cream, whipped stiff (optional)
Peanut halves
Chocolate pieces
Soften gelatin in 1/4 c. water.
Combine egg yolks, 1/4 c. sugar, 1/4 c. water and salt in top of double boiler; blend.  Add gelatin. 
Place over boiling water; beat constantly with rotary beater until thick and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Cool.
Place peanut butter in bowl; add remaining 1/2 c. water gradually; beat until smooth.  Add vanilla to egg yolk mixture; blend.  Chill until slightly thickened, but still syrupy (10 - 15 minutes).
Beat egg whites until foamy; add remaining sugar gradually, beating until stiff.  Fold into peanut butter mixture.  Turn into crumb crust (you may use baked pastry shell).  Chill until firm.  Makes 6 servings
To serve, cover top with thin layer whipped cream if desired.  Cream is pretty but detracts from the peanut flavor.)  Decorate with 'daisies' of peanut halves and chocolate pieces for centers.

I wish they'd provided a picture of those 'daisies'. Yum.

I'm reading a fantastic mystery - it came out yesterday, and I had an ARC:  Roast Mortem by Cleo Coyle. I've read this entire series, and even in this the 9th volume - the excellent writing and clever coffee/food tie ins are great reading. (I'm not even a coffee drinker and I love these.) I'm going to see if I can get Cleo to guest blog here. I didn't even know she wrote the Haunted Bookshop mysteries as Alice Kimberly. Now I have to go get those, too...

Cleo and others of my favorite writers like Julie Hyzy blog at Mystery Lovers Kitchen (see my links to the left).

1 comment:

Cleo Coyle said...

Oh, Amy, thank you! I always find it incredibly amusing -- and flattering -- when people tell me they don't drink (or even like) coffee, but they like the Coffeehouse Mysteries. You'd be surprised how many of my readers are non-javaholics.

I just love your blog and I would be honored to guest blog for you. We will work this out for sure. In the meantime, I want to thank you for writing one of my very favorite blogs on the Internet.

Happy Birthday to your dad! My husband, Marc, who collaborates with me to write the Coffeehouse Mysteries, is also a peanut butter lover. I have a great recipe for PB cookies on the recipe page of my website now. But I'm with you. Pie is the thing. As far as I'm concerned, they serve pie in heaven.

Cook (and read) with joy,
~ Cleo

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