Sugar, eggs, cream, and butter … a holiday pie so simple to stir together you don’t even need a mixer. The crust will be just as easy if you adapt the Savory Pastry recipe. Leave out the cornmeal and substitute a neutral oil like canola or safflower if you like, but you don’t have to. I love the taste of olive oil in dessert crusts, and my blog friend almostgotit says cornmeal in sweets is great. SAM
2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (9-inch) unbaked Savory Pastry shell
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and flour. Add the eggs, half-and-half, butter, and vanilla. Pour into the pastry shell and bake for 45 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.
Makes 8 servings.
July 4, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Sam is right: the tiny bit of extra texture the corn meal provides is just right… similar to the feel of the granulated sugar my grandmother always sprinkled over the top crust of fruit pies as she whisked them out of the oven.
July 4, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Cornmeal does crunch like granulated sugar. I never thought of that. It’s also a nice, nutty counter to the brown sugar. This recipe is an early variety of chess pie. Most recipes now call for corn syrup—a big mistake to my way of thinking. What could top brown sugar, eggs, butter, and cream?