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

Valentine's Sweets to the Sweet

Oh, Valentine's Day. That yearly tension between refusing to succumb to vapid consumerism and the genuine desire to express your love. To me, the can't-go-wrong solution is to show your affection with a simple homemade or handmade token and then shower your loved ones with the real, sincere kindnesses that money can't buy. A good rule for the other 364 days, really. In any case, here are a few Valentine-y suggestions for an edible treat--rich and chocolatey, tart and fruity, or otherwise. Of course you can always find more via the Recipe Index.

Happy LOVE day & enjoy!

Chocolate
Chocolate Coconut Pie (gluten-free)
Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pretzel Tart
Milk Chocolate and Salted Caramel Hazelnut Tart
Nutella Icebox Pie

Fruit
Blood Orange Chess Pie
Cranberry Hand Pies (heart shaped!)
Pistachio Blood Orange Tart

Custard
Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie
Maple Bourbon Buttermilk Pie
Salty Honey Pie

All of the Above
Chocolate Orange Pie with Mascarpone Cream
Cranberry Chocolate Chess Pie
Dark Chocolate Lavender Tart with a Lemon Cardamom Crust

Samoa Pie & Elizabeth Graeber at Wild Hand Workspace

Elizabeth, Morgan, and I had so much fun with last month's collaboration/excuse to hang out (which is really the best kind of collaboration) that we decided to turn it into a monthly affair. April's edition was kind of a no-brainer, as Elizabeth was already planning to have an art show at Morgan and her friend Victoria's studio, Wild Hand Workspace. I jumped on board by contributing baked goods for the opening last week.

Inspired by Miss Moss' fashion and food pairings, I wanted to make some food items that were inspired by Elizabeth's art, whether in shape, color, form, or topic. Her tiger painting and another tiger pillow (which served as the show's poster) reminded me of the Samoa Pie I'd seen in Allison Kave's inspirational new pie cookbook First Prize Pies. A wildly creative collection of show-stopping recipes with at least one pie for every week of the year, I recommend picking up a copy and baking your way through the book. That's what I plan to do at least.

The Samoa Pie is, as you might imagine, a take on the Samoa Girl Scout Cookie or as they're called where I'm from Caramel deLites (for more on the regional name variations, read this incredible piece of investigative journalism on the subject). Like the cookie, it has a shortbread base, coated with caramel, coconut and chocolate. I love that this recipe uses coconut cream in the caramel, which adds an extra coco-nuty kick. Do make sure to refrigerate the coconut milk before you plan to make the pie--I forgot to plan ahead and had to delay my caramel making a bit.

Samoa Pie
Adapted only slightly from First Prize Pies by Allison Kave

Ingredients
For the crust:
1 1/2 cups shortbread cookie crumbs (15-20 cookies)
2-4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 can (14-oz) full fat coconut milk, refrigerated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup toasted shredded coconut

For the topping:
1/4 cup toasted shredded coconut
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or chips
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions
For the crust:
1. Pulse the cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Pour in the butter gradually and pulse between pours until the mixture it the texture of wet sand. Firmly press the crumbs into a 9-inch pie pan. Chill the crust in the fridge or freezer while preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for about 10 minutes until golden, then remove from the oven and let cool completely.

For the filling:
1. In a heavy-bottomed medium-sized saucepan, stir together 1/2 cup water, the sugar, and corn syrup until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Cook over medium-high heat, moving the pan around occasionally, until the caramel has turned a dark amber and reached 360 degrees F on a candy thermometer (for me this took about 15 minutes). Keep a close eye at this stage and the caramel can burn very quickly.

2. Remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately start to whisk the butter into the caramel. Be very careful here as the caramel will bubble violently and release a lot of hot steam. Open the chilled can of coconut milk and spoon off the thick, white coconut cream from the top (save the remaining water for smoothies!). Whisk the coconut cream into the caramel until it is fully dissolved, then add the vanilla and salt. Stir in the toasted coconut flakes and pour the filling into the pre-baked pie shell.

3. Refrigerate the pie, uncovered, for at least 1 hour, until the surface of the pie is set. Sprinkle the toasted coconut flakes over the surface of the pie. 

For the topping:
1. Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and set aside. Heat the cream until scalded and then pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for a minute and then whisk until glossy and no chocolate chunks remain. Using a fork or whisk (I found a whisk to work best), drizzle the ganache over the surface of the pie in a crosshatch pattern, then sprinkle the toasted coconut flakes on top. Return the pie, uncovered, to the fridge to fully set for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight. Serve the pie just chilled or at room temperature (it can begin to melt if it gets too warm). 



Along with the Samoa Pie, I also made Coconut Caramel & Chocolate Tarts (with leftover pie filling), Grapefruit Meringue Tarts, and Yossy Arefi's Mini Black and White Cookies, which you can find the recipe for on Food52. I didn't plan it this way, but Morgan noticed that they paired perfectly with Elizabeth's zebra painting, a companion piece to the tiger. Maybe someday we'll create a whole baked goods & painting safari experience!



I'm forever enamoured with Elizabeth's work but it was so stunning to see her paintings and zines and pins and totes displayed across an entire wall of the light-filled Wild Hand Workspace. Thanks to Elizabeth for all the fun and fanciful art and to Morgan and Victoria for hosting such a lovely spring evening of art and friends and snacks and (somewhat dangerously) strong homebrewed saison via Grizzly Beer. Make sure to check out Panda Head Blog & Elizabeth's tumblr for more on the show-- and also BYT who featured it on their site with beautiful photos by Rachel Cumberbatch.



Related recipes:
Dark Chocolate & Vanilla-Bourbon Salted Caramel Pie
Floriole's Milk Chocolate & Salted Caramel Hazelnut Tart
Gluten-Free Chocolate Coconut Pie

Photos by Morgan Hungerford West