jab@uokvax.UUCP (12/19/83)
#N:uokvax:7200004:000:1862 uokvax!jab Dec 17 12:45:00 1983 Here's a recipe that my grandmother uses for Cream pies. (You'll find that almost all cream pies are the same format --- start with a "vanilla pudding" (of sorts) and then start adding whatever you want for flavors.) Boil two cups of milk, with a little margarine (say, a couple of tablespoons). Add three egg yolks (mix up the egg yolks and add a little of the hot milk, to warm up the yolks --- otherwise your pie will look like egg drop soup! --- then put the yolks in with the milk.) Add "just under a cup" of sugar, with five tablespoons of flour. (You'll want to mix the flour and sugar together, or the flour will never dissolve.) Cook (at low heat) until it reaches a thick, consistent state. Pour into a baked pie shell and top with meringue, bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes. Now, if you want chocolate filling, add three tablespoons of cocoa to the sugar/flour mixture. (If you want banana cream pie, just slice about three or four bananas and lay them in the pie shell and pour the filling over them.) If you want something like pineapple cream (shades of "Gilligan's Island!"), just put three to five tablespoons of crushed (drained) pineapple in the filling when you're waiting for it to thicken. Now, the meringue is pretty easy, really. (Honest!) You just take the egg whites from above, put them into a bowl with "a pinch" of cream of tartar (1/4 teaspoon) and "a capful" of vanilla flavor (say, 1/2 teaspoon). Beat up high speed with an electric mixer, until "soft peaks form". Add two tablespoons of sugar (or a little less) per egg white, mixing after each time you add a tablespoon. Beat until the sugar is dissolved (not very long, only a couple of minutes at the most), put on your filling, and bake (see above.) I will leave the pie shells to the experts --- I use the "Better Homes" recipe for them!