Black Bottom Lemon Pie

I first came across this recipe in a copy of the 1932 Woodward and Lothrop Cookbook and Kitchen Guide for the Busy Woman in the library of Sandy Spring Museum in Sandy Spring, Maryland, where I was doing fieldwork at the time. The cookbook, written by Mabel Claire, was of local publication, as Woodward and Lathrop was a Washington, D.C. department store, first opening in 1887. The implication of the subtitle, according to author of The American History Cookbook Mark Zanger, was that these recipes were for the woman who worked outside of the home, kept no garden, nor had much stockpiled in the way of stored, preserved food. She was likely a city-dweller, and was also living in the midst of the Great Depression. Hence, this collection offers recipes that are generally quick and thrifty, calling for a modest number of ingredients and none too fancy. The cookbook does make up for this frugality by offering innovative recipes, as evidenced in the lemon-chocolate pairing in this Black Bottom Lemon Pie.



The classic Black Bottom Pie features a chocolate bottom layer, covered with vanilla custard, and sometimes topped with whipped cream. This version is said to have originated in southern California, first appearing in print in the 1928 Los Angeles Times. I couldn't find much about the origins of Black Bottom Pie with a lemon layer, but four years later, Mabel Claire included it in her cookbook, calling it a "New taste thrill-- chocolate in lemon meringue pie. It's a gourmet treat." Today, the pie has been popularized by Emily and Melissa Elsen of 4 and 20 Blackbirds, who offer it in their Brooklyn shop and include a recipe in their cookbook.

Here, I stuck closely to Claire's version, adding some cornstarch to thicken the yellow custard, and including more specific directions-- particularly for blind baking and refrigeration (the original did not call for it). What I certainly kept, and what may be the most ingenious part of the recipe is the lattice meringue, a style I've never found elsewhere.

Black Bottom Lemon Pie

Adapted from The Woodward and Lothrop Cookbook and Kitchen Guide for the Busy Woman

Ingredients

Nothing in the House pie crust, halved

2 ounces semisweet chocolate

4 eggs, separated

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 Tablespoons water

1 teaspoon lemon peel 

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

For the crust:
1. Prepare half of Nothing in the House pie crust as per the directions, reserving the leftover egg for an egg wash and saving other half of the recipe in the freezer for a future pie. Chill dough at least one hour before rolling and fitting into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan. Prick crust with fork all over the bottom. Place pie pan in the freezer for 1 hour to set before baking. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Remove crust from freezer, line with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Blind bake crust for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove paper and weights and brush with egg wash. Return crust to oven and bake for 5-8 more minutes more or until fully baked, puffed, and golden brown. Let cool while you prepare the filling.

For the filling:
1. Melt chocolate over hot water in the top of a double boiler.  Spread evenly over the bottom of the baked and cooled pie shell and set aside.

2. In the top of a double boiler, beat egg yolks until thick. Add lemon juice and water, mixing well to combine. Stir in lemon peel, 1/2 cup of sugar, and cornstarch. Cook over hot (not boiling) water, stirring constantly until thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from water and heat and let cool.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites until frothy. Add remaining 1/2 cup sugar gradually, beating constantly until stiff glossy peaks form. Fold half of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture until combined and pour over chocolate bottom in pie shell.

4. Spoon remaining egg white mixture into pastry tube and make a lattice design on top of the lemon filling.

5. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until meringue is lightly browned. Let cool to room temperature and chill in refrigerator at least 1 hour before serving. Enjoy!

Related recipes:
Black Bottom Pie
Lemon Chess Pie
Lemon Meringue Pie
Lemon Meringue Pie Cake
Levon Helm's Lemon Icebox Pie

Black Bottom Pie (You Make the Rockin' World Go Round)

I only frequented Raleigh's Poole's Diner twice when I lived in the North Carolina piedmont, but twice was enough to know that when Ashley Christensen, the chef of the up-scaled Southern luncheonette shares her pie recipes, you make them. I tried her banana cream pie with salty bourbon caramel for Pi(e) Day and again for a honky-tonk St. Patrick's Day party (I will post that recipe soon, I promise), and have been eyeing the black bottom pie on my Pinterest board (which I've been using lately to track recipe ideas). So when two dear friends with a penchant for sweets came to visit, and with a birthday-and-music party on our dance card for our Saturday evening, I figured it was a chance for somethin' special.

Black bottom pie is another southern favorite which, according to John Edgerton in his Southern Food: At Home, On The Road, In History, surfaced almost simultaneously-- appearing in Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' 1942 Cross Creek Cookery as well as in Duncan Hines' Adventures in Good Cooking in the early 1940s. It's called such because of the bottom layer of chocolate custard, which is covered with a layer of vanilla custard, and topped with a healthy (or unhealthy) dose of whipped cream. In this version, marscapone in the custard and coffee in the chocolate layer give it a little extra oomph. I found this recipe to be a little sparse on the vanilla layer, as you can see from the pre-whipped cream and toppings picture above, so next time I make it, I'll set more vanilla custard aside before adding chocolate to the rest. Christensen's calls for 1 cup to be set aside, but I would recommend 1 1/2 cups, for more equal portions of vanilla and chocolate, and a purty three-layered cross section when you slice it.

Black Bottom Pie
Adapted from Poole's Diner via Bon Appetit

Ingredients
For crust:
6 oz. gingersnap cookies
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp. heavy cream

For custard:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin 
1 1/2 c. whole milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tblsp. rum (dark preferred)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. mascarpone
5 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate (I used bittersweet, 60% cacao)
1/4 oz. hot espresso or strong coffee

For topping:
1 c. chilled heavy cream
3 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. rum (dark preferred)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Unsweetened cocoa powder (for dusting, optional)
Grated or chopped semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (for sprinkling, optional) 

Directions
For crust:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Pulse cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Slowly add melted butter and cream and pulse until fully combined and crust begins to form together. Grease and flour a 9-inch pie pan. Pour crust into pan and use your hands or the back of a measuring cup to pack into the bottom and sides of the dish to form a crust shape. Bake 12-15 minutes or until set. Let cool.

For custard:
1. Pour 2 Tbsp. of water in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over. Whisk until incorporated and let sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat milk and cream in a small saucepan until it just begins to simmer. Remove from heat.

2. Whisk egg yolks, sugar, rum, cornstarch, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl. Gradually mix egg mixture into milk mixture, using the whisk. Return to medium-low heat and cook until thick, about 5 minutes.

3. Remove custard from heat and stir in mascarpone. Place 1 cup custard in a medium bowl and set aside (though this ended up not allowing for enough vanilla custard for me. I would advise setting aside 1 1/2 c. custard). Return saucepan with remaining custard to heat and stir in chocolate until melted and smooth. Add coffee. Pour chocolate custard into crust and smooth top. Chill until set, about 30 minutes, while keeping vanilla custard at room temperature.

4. Gently pour remaining vanilla custard over the chocolate layer. Be careful not to disturb the chocolate, so that layers set separately! Smooth top and chill for about one hour.

For topping:
1. Using a mixer, beat cream and sugar until cream begins to thicken. Add rum and vanilla, then beat until stiff peaks form. Spread whipped cream over custard, and dust with cocoa powder and sprinkle with chocolate curls or slices.

As it turned out, when we arrived at the party, we found out that there was no birthday cake for the birthday boy, so this black bottom pie was adorned with candles and magically transformed into a black bottom birthday pie (adding to the alliteration)! Then I had the task of cutting lil' tiny slices so everyone could get a piece. Here's my old pal Angela, one of the aforementioned dear friends with a penchant for sweets, with one of the aforementioned wee slices. The slicing of the pie was just what we needed to get the music started. Once it was gone, there was nothing left to do but bust out some Fats Waller & Jelly Roll Morton piano in the living room and later, fiddle tunes with friends in the attic.

This pie is a little bit labor intensive with lots of steps, but is worth it for those double custard rummy layers in a spicy gingersnap crust. It also wasn't overly sweet, which I like, but if you've got a real sweet tooth, then opt for semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet. And as I couldn't stop singing when I was making it, black bottom pie, you make the rockin' world go round! (to the tune of Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls," clearly).