Atlantic Beach Pie

After collaborating on an illustrated Peppermint Pattie Tart place setting for BYT's holiday table decor guide, Elizabeth and I decided to turn it into a series. Each month in 2014, we'll bring you a new installment of Hand Drawn Pies-- thematically illustrated place setting 'n' pie combination for your viewing and tasting enjoyment. 

Nothing like a polar vortex to make you long for salty beach air and warm and salty summer days. Though you may not be able to take a getaway (the plane may not even be able to takeoff with all this snow), this salty citrus pie can take you there for a moment in your mind.

Atlantic Beach Pie is a classic at seafood restaurants along the North Carolina coast. According to Bill Smith, who grew up in that area, if you ate sweets after a meal of seafood, you'd get sick. The only exception was a lemon-lime pie with a saltine crust and a meringue top.

This version, which replaces the meringue with whipped cream, comes from Smith, the chef at Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill. I'd read the article about the pie on NPR, but didn't drink the Kool-Aid until I'd tried the original, while on a visit back to my old Carolina grad school haunts. Now this pie has found it's rightful place in my repertoire-- not only is it a heavenly trio of tangy, salty, and sweet, it is also a cinch to make. The ease and lightness makes it perfect for any vacation, whether in the snowy West Virginia mountains or in the hot sand on Kure Beach, after seafood or not.

Atlantic Beach Pie

Adapted from Bill Smith of Crook's Corner via NPR

Ingredients
For the crust:
1 1/2 sleeves of saltine crackers
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

For the filling:
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup lemon or lime juice or a mix of the two
Fresh whipped cream and coarse sea salt (I used Himalayan pink salt) for garnish

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crush the crackers finely but not to dust, using a food processor or just your hands, and place them in a medium-sized bowl. Add the sugar, then knead in the butter until the crumbs come together like dough. Press into a 8 or 9-inch pie pan. Chill for 15 minutes, then bake for 18 minutes until the crust begins to color.

2. While the crust is cooling (it doesn't need to be cold), beat the egg yolks into the milk, then beat in the citrus juice. Make sure everything is completely combined. Pour into the shell and bake for 16 minutes until the filling has set. Let cool completely to room temperature and refrigerate at least 1 hour before slicing. Serve with fresh whipped cream and a sprinkling of sea salt.

Related recipes:
Florida Grapefruit-White Chocolate Pie
Key Lime Pie Popsicles
Lemon Chess Pie
Lemon-Ginger Meringue Tartlets
Lemon Meringue Pie
"Levon Helm's" Lemon Icebox Pie
Lime & Raspberry Italian Meringue Pie

Illustrations by Elizabeth Graeber

DC's Best Pie!

It's the peak of summer, the farmers' markets are teeming with local berries and fresh stone fruit, and NPR just launched #pie week, meaning there's an utter explosion of pies and tarts on the interwebs. Aside from our usual blogging and baking, last week Kari and I got in on the action when Nothing-in-the-House's strawberry crème tart and Tarts by Tarts were featured as the cover photo and one of DC's best pie bakers on Refinery29. They also mentioned the pie blog's lemon icebox pie and Florida grapefruit-white chocolate pie. Oh so nice! We're in great company too, with Alexandria's Buzz Bakery, Baltimore-based Dangerously Delicious Pies, and farmers' market stand Whisked also in the mix.

At the moment, Tarts by Tarts' future together is sadly uncertain, and we'll be taking a hiatus as Kari is Maine-bound for a goat cheese-making apprenticeship (I will miss my tartner so!), we'll continue to keep you updated on our current baking and future projects via the Tarts by Tarts site. In the meantime, I've been scheming plans to keep the Tarts by Tarts spirit alive in a new endeavor--a pie CSA? pop-up shop? baked goods bicycle delivery service? For more on those developments, keep your eyes glued to this space, as well as on the Nothing-in-the-House Facebook & Twitter for upcoming projects. As always, feel free to e-mail us at tartsbytarts at gmail dot com or me at nothinginthehousepie at gmail dot com if you're interested in collaborating, catering service, or placing a one-off order. We'd love to work with you, whether at a bean suppa on a Maine farm, a rooftop deck party in DC, or anywhere in between.

"Levon Helm's" Lemon Icebox Pie

I've seen The Last Waltz at least half a dozen times now. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down was a favorite sing-along selection in college. I'd always hoped to make it to A Midnight Ramble--my friends' farm where I spend a lot of time is right across the river--but the closest I got was a friend producing an album in the barn. I put The Band in heavy rotation as soon as I heard that Levon Helm was sick, and his death hit me hard, or as much as the passing of a personally-influential music legend who you've never met can.

Though I'd had This Wheel's On Fire on my shelf for a while, I didn't start to read it until after that sad April day. Prior to all the sex, drugs, and rock and roll (to put it simply, but accurately) in The Band's scintillating autobiography, there is this little story amid Levon's description of his upbringing in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas:

"Mom and Arlena would bake up a couple of big cakes: one coconut, one pecan. On special occasions the two moms would collaborate on lemon icebox pies, their own invention. They'd beat two cans of Pet milk until it was whipped to foam, adding sugar and lemon juice until it congealed. Then they'd freeze it in the icebox. I loved this beyond belief. It was so sweet your mouth would pucker. After I was old enough to work, they'd have to make three pies: one for each family and one for Lavon [Levon's birth name]. And I'd guard mine. Then we'd make the radio the main feature, maybe play cards, visit."

As soon as I read that, I wanted to make a similar lemon icebox pie--so sweet and tart your mouth would pucker-- in tribute to the lone American (and Southerner) of the legendary group. I wonder if that was indeed the actual recipe--nothing but sweetened condensed milk, sugar and lemon juice. Perhaps I'll try that minimalist variety at some point, but this time I opted to add a few other ingredients, and turned to Martha Hall Foose, via Francis Lam for guidance. Ms. Foose, as you'll remember, is the Mississippi chef who invented the genius sweet tea pie. With that serving as a fine recommendation, along with Francis' glowing review of her lemon icebox pie, I didn't think I could go wrong. I swapped 'nilla wafers for the graham cracker crust, upped the lemon content for a higher pucker-factor, and made a few other adjustments. Despite a few more ingredients than Mrs. Helm's, it's still a delightfully simple pie to make.



"Levon Helm's" Lemon Icebox Pie
Adapted from Martha Foose via Salon

Ingredients
1 1/2 c. 'nilla wafer crumbs
1/8 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (I ended up not using this because we were out!)
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk (Pet brand if you're trying to be authentic)
4 large egg yolks
2 packed tsp. lemon zest (add more for more pucker)
2/3 c. fresh lemon juice
2 c. heavy cream
6 Tblsp. confectioner's sugar

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In the bowl of a food processor, combine 'nilla wafer crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and butter and pulse until well mixed. Pat the buttery crumbs into a 9-inch pie pan, pressing mixture into the bottom and sides to form a crust. Place in oven and bake for 6-8 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.
2. In a large bowl, whisk milk, yolks, lemon zest & lemon juice until well combined. Pour lemon filling into cooled crust and bake for 10 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once at room temperature, chill pie for about 30 minutes.

3. When pie is chilled through, whip cream and confectioner's sugar until stiff peaks form. Spoon the whipped cream on top of the pie and mound decoratively. Chill for an additional hour. Serve cold.

Put The Big Pink on the record player, The Last Waltz (& Coal Miner's Daughter) on your TV screen, and Levon's favorite pie in the fridge, and you've got yourself the perfect tribute to this departed rock hero. Hell, you've got yourself the perfect night! Though there was no Band a playin', on the night we drove this Dixie pie down (terrible I know, I KNOW!), there were people a singin' and a bonfire in the country, a taco moon, and a field a light with disco fireflies. I might have even heard some Spike Jones on the Box.