Blessed Buttermilk Pie

i am thankful.....

I am thankful...

i am thankful...

This was the mantra I said over and over in my head yesterday (Thanksgiving) as I was trying to coordinate the finishing touches on dinner......aka: going crazy!  Been there? Done that? 

and then it hit me....it was only dinner and that I was preparing it for those that i loved the most and that those finishing touches didn't mean a thing compared to those wonderful little AND big souls that were sitting on the couch watching a movie that was way too loud, or underfoot, or didn't seem to hear the puppies whining to be taken out.  It wasn't worth being frustrated over gravy that wasn't thick enough or a floor that was messy at best and sticky mud bog at worst.

The fingers in the stuffing or the little snatches of rolls being taken were a sign that dinner was good and that they approved and dinner would be a success. The TV too loud meant I had ears to hear the kids laughter (really it was scrabbling at each other, but whatever). Life was good, and I needed to relax. My house was warm, my table was loaded, I had neighbors that for one reason or another had made an extra coconut cream pie and insisted that we take it...yeah right...but I'm not sayin no! and my quiver was full...or is that the hubs quiver that was full?  But in either case, life is more then good.....it was blessed.

So I breathed in deeply and I let it all go....because.....

because I also had Buttermilk Pie at the end of the day!  So good...that the name...Buttermilk..does not do it a bit of justice....A creamy custardy old fashioned pie that is more then easy to make. I dare say it is one of my favorite!  Thank you Aunt Peggy for introducing this pie to us last year....when we were craving a traditional homemade Thanksgiving Dinner and having enough prepared that a family of nine could just drop in and you didn't blink an eye!

I tried two different recipes, and this recipe was by far the best

Buttermilk Pie

Pat-in-the-Pan Crust Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Flour (All Purpose Unbleached)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 Tablespoons cold milk
• 2/3 cup oil (vegetable or canola–make sure it is fresh!)

Sister Liza Jane’s Southern Buttermilk Pie Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 4 eggs, whisked
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 stick butter, melted and cooled (1/2 cup of butter)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• pinch of grated Nutmeg

Pat-in-the-Pan Crust Directions:

1. Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl until blended
2. Add wet ingredients and stir gently until the dough forms a ball.( For a tender crust, do not over mix).
3. Put dough into pie pan and pat it thin and flat to conform to the shape of the pan.
4. Crimp the edges.
5. You are now ready for the filling.

Buttermilk Pie Directions:

1. In your mixer, combine the flour and sugar.
2. Stir in the eggs, and buttermilk .
3. Add the cooled melted butter, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
4. Add a pinch or two of grated Nutmeg.
5. Pour into the unbaked pie shell.
6. Put the pie in the center of the oven and bake at 425 in a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes, then lower the temp to 350, and bake for 40 more minutes.
7. Cool then keep chilled.

We of course dolloped (or drenched as I must admit) some whipped cream....and then we sat back and I pretended I was on my ole southern plantation porch rockin to and fro.........and then I woke up.......when my punks finally returned early in the am from shopping on black Friday. Ugh...is all I can say!

Love to all!