Home cooks demonstrated frugality in the 1950’s by creating basic recipes that could be minimally altered to achieve a variety of different results. This tactic allowed for economy in the pantry, as well as satisfied smiles from family members.
The basis of the Black Bottom Pie recipe is a simple but delicious Vanilla Cream Pie. The latter was a favorite of farm families in particular, with their ready access to plentiful fresh ingredients. The same basic recipe can be transformed into a number of other cream pies, including butterscotch and blueberry.
BLACK BOTTOM PIE
Ingredients: Dry– ½ cup sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin. Wet– 1 ½ cups milk, 3 slightly beaten egg yolks, 1 tablespoon butter. Other– ½ cup semisweet chocolate pieces. Meringue– ¼ teaspoon salt, 3 egg whites, 3 tablespoons sugar. Baked 9 inch pie shell.
Directions: Combine dry ingredients in top of double boiler and mix with wooden spoon. Gradually blend in milk and then add egg yolks. Add butter. Place over rapidly boiling water so pan is touching water. Stirring constantly and scraping down sides of pan frequently, cook about 7 minutes or until thick and smooth. Remove from heat.
Add ½ cup of the filling to ½ cup semisweet chocolate pieces and stir until they melt and mixture is smooth. Spread mixture in bottom of baked pie shell. Cover and set remaining filling aside.
To make meringue, add ¼ teaspoon salt to 3 egg whites and beat until frothy. Gradually add 3 tablespoons sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Beat half of this meringue into cream filling that had been set aside, until mixture is smooth. Fold remaining half of meringue into mixture. Spread on chocolate layer in pie shell. Chill several hours before serving. Yum!
Adapted from Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook 1959
If diving into this pie makes you want to do a happy dance, you might consider the Black Bottom. The dance was popularized by jazzy blues musicians and attendees in the Roaring Twenties, along with the Charleston. Epona as a flapper in Mind Your Goddess – Wytchfae 3 would have loved Black Bottom Pie and the Black Bottom dance. Click here to visit my book trailer.
Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Paranormal Fantasy Romance
Yum! I’m not a huge dessert fan but I love fruit pies and cream pies… I always make exceptions for them. 🙂 And I had no idea the Black Bottom was a dance too!
Mae, I love your preferences. You are one of the few people I know who really doesn’t go mad for dessert. One of my closest friends is that way too. She likes chips and salty things much better. Adding to the wonder, you are the only person I know whose favorite number is 12. Speaking of pies, my sister always preferred pies to cakes.
Flossie, chips are a mainstay of my diet, LOL, and like your friend, I like salty things. I’ve never been a fan of cake. My mother actually used to make me a birthday pie every year, because it’s the one dessert I really like. Cherry pie is my favorite. Like 12 🙂 Don’t forget to email me so we can eat up a date for you to be on my blog. I lost your email addy a while back 🙁
I’m glad your mother made you that birthday pie every year. What a good memory of a considerate mom! My husband’s favorite number was always 13 and mine 7. It’s funny how our preferences form, eh?