Take medium-sized tomatoes, pare and cut out the stem end. Having your pie-pan lined with paste made as biscuit dough, slice the tomatoes _very thin_, filling the pan somewhat heaping, then grate over it a nutmeg; put in half a cup of b.u.t.ter and a medium cup of sugar, if the pan is rather deep. Sprinkle a small handful of flour over all, pouring in half a cup of vinegar before adding the top crust. Bake half an hour in a moderately hot oven, serving hot. Is good; try it.
APRICOT MERINGUE PIE.
A canned apricot meringue pie is made by cutting the apricots fine and mixing them with half a cup of sugar and the beaten yolk of an egg; fill the crust and bake. Take from the oven, let it stand for two or three minutes, cover with a meringue made of the beaten white of an egg and one tablespoonful of sugar. Set back in a slow oven until it turns a golden brown. The above pie can be made into a tart without the addition of the meringue by adding criss-cross strips of pastry when the pie is first put into the oven.
All of the above are good if made from the dried and stewed apricots instead of the canned and are much cheaper.
Stewed dried apricots are a delicious addition to mince meat. They may be used in connection with minced apples, or to the exclusion of the latter.
HUCKLEBERRY PIE.
Put a quart of picked huckleberries into a basin of water; take off, whatever floats; take up the berries by the handful, pick out all the stems and unripe berries and put them into a dish; line a b.u.t.tered pie, dish with a pie paste, put in the berries half an inch deep, and to a quart of berries, put half of a teacupful of brown sugar; dredge a teaspoonful of flour over, strew a saltspoonful of salt and a little nutmeg grated over; cover the pie, cut a slit in the centre, or make several small incisions on either side of it; press the two crusts together around the edge, trim it off neatly with a sharp knife and bake in a quick oven for three-quarters of an hour.
BLACKBERRY PIE.
Pick the berries clean, rinse them in cold water and finish as directed for huckleberries.
MOLa.s.sES PIE.
Two teacupfuls of mola.s.ses; one of sugar, three eggs, one tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter, one lemon, nutmeg; beat and bake in pastry.
LEMON RAISIN PIE.
One cup of chopped raisins, seeded, and the juice and grated rind of one lemon, one cupful of cold water, one tablespoonful of flour, one cupful of sugar, two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter. Stir lightly together and bake with upper and under crust.
RHUBARB PIE.
Cut the large stalks off where the leaves commence, strip off the outside skin, then cut the stalks in pieces half an inch long; line a pie dish with paste rolled rather thicker than a dollar piece, put a layer of the rhubarb nearly an inch deep; to a quart bowl of cut rhubarb put a large teacupful of sugar; strew it over with a saltspoonful of salt and a little nutmeg grated; shake over a little flour; cover with a rich pie crust, cut a slit in the centre, trim off the edge with a sharp knife and bake in a quick oven until the pie loosens from the dish. Rhubarb pies made in this way are altogether superior to those made of the fruit stewed.
RHUBARB PIE. (Cooked.)
Skin the stalks, cut them into small pieces, wash and put them in a stewpan with no more water than what adheres to them; when cooked, mash them fine and put in a small piece of b.u.t.ter; when cool, sweeten to taste; if liked, add a little lemon-peel, cinnamon or nutmeg; line your plate with thin crust, put in the filling, cover with crust and bake in a _quick_ oven; sift sugar over it when served.
PINEAPPLE PIE.
A grated pineapple, its weight in sugar, half its weight in b.u.t.ter, one cupful of cream, five eggs; beat the batter to a creamy froth, add the sugar and yolks of the eggs, continue beating till very light; add the cream, the pineapple grated and the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Bake with an under crust. Eat cold.
GRAPE PIE.
Pop the pulps out of the skins into one dish and put the skins into another. Then simmer the pulp a little over the fire to soften it; remove it and rub it through a colander to separate it from the seeds.
Then put the skins and pulp together and they are ready for pies or for canning or putting in jugs for other use. Fine for pies.
DAMSON OR PLUM PIE.
Stew the damsons whole in water only sufficient to prevent their burning; when tender and while hot, sweeten them with sugar and let them stand until they become cold; then pour them into pie dishes lined with paste, dredge flour upon them, cover them with the same paste, wet and pinch together the edges of the paste, cut a slit in the centre of the cover through which the vapor may escape and bake twenty minutes.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHOPPING THE MINCEMEAT.]
PEACH PIE.
Peel, stone and slice the peaches. Line a pie plate with crust and lay in your fruit, sprinkling sugar liberally over them in proportion to their sweetness. Allow three peach kernels chopped fine to each pie; pour in a very little water and bake with an upper crust, or with cross-bars of paste across the top.
DRIED FRUIT PIES.
Wash the fruit thoroughly, soak over night in water enough to cover.
In the morning stew slowly until nearly done in the same water.
Sweeten to taste. The crust, both upper and under, should be rolled thin; a thick crust to a fruit pie is undesirable.
RIPE BERRY PIES.
All made the same as "Cherry Pie." Line your pie-tin with crust, fill half full of berries, shake over a tablespoonful of sifted flour (if very juicy) and as much sugar as is necessary to sweeten sufficiently.
Now fill up the crust to the top, making quite full. Cover with crust and bake about forty minutes.
Huckleberry and blackberry pies are improved by putting into them a little ginger and cinnamon.
JELLY AND PRESERVED FRUIT PIES.
Preserved fruit requires no baking; hence, always bake the sh.e.l.l and put in the sweetmeats afterwards; you can cover with whipped cream, or bake a top crust sh.e.l.l; the former is preferable for delicacy.
CRANBERRY PIE.
Take fine, sound, ripe cranberries and with a sharp knife split each one until you have a heaping coffeecupful; put them in a vegetable dish or basin; put over them one cupful of white sugar, half a cup of water, a tablespoon _full_ of sifted flour; stir it all together and put into your crust. Cover with an upper crust and bake slowly in a moderate oven. You will find this the true way of making a cranberry pie.
_Newport Style._
CRANBERRY TART PIE.
After having washed and picked over the berries, stew them well in a little water, just enough to cover them; when they burst open and become soft, sweeten them with plenty of sugar, mash them smooth (some prefer them not mashed); line your pie-plates with thin puff paste, fill them and lay strips of paste across the top. Bake in a moderate oven. Or you may rub them through a colander to free them from the skins.
GOOSEBERRY PIE.
Can be made the same as "Cranberry Tart Pie," or an upper crust can be put on before baking. Serve with boiled custard or a pitcher of good sweet cream.