Frozen Lime Chiffon Pie: Oh My Goodness, Was it Delicious

Matt and Erin gave me a new cookbook called The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.  She has also written The Bread Bible which they swear has the best bread recipes they have tried.  Coming from them, that is quite an endorsement. 

I wanted to make a cool summer dessert this weekend, but I had homemade icecream last night and I had just made our favorite Oreo Lime Dessert. I wanted something new, so I tried Frozen Lime Chiffon Pie from the new cookbook.  Oh my goodness, was it delicious.  It was tart, light and cool. Definitely a keeper recipe. Because the recipe was requested by all who ate the pie, I am including it here.  Since I don't usually blog about food, it didn't even occur to me to take a picture, but trust me, it looked as good as it tasted.

Rose's recipes are usually quite involved, but in reality are not that difficult.  You just have to plan ahead when using them. I made the crust and the custard the night before and assembled the pie the morning I served it, though it can be made ahead and frozen for up to three months.

Graham Cracker Nut Crust
8 1/2 double graham crackers--crushed to equal 1 cup crumbs
1/2 cup toasted pecans
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons melted, unsalted butter
  Process graham crackers, pecans and sugar in food process until crackers become fine crumbs, about 20 seconds. Add the melted butter and pulse about 10 times, just until incorporated. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie. To keep the crumbs from sticking to your fingers, place a piece of plastic wrap over the crumbs and press through the wrap. Chill.

Lime Chiffon Filling
2 large eggs-separated
1/3 cup sugar--divided
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2/3 cups cream
1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
  Have a fine mesh strainer suspended over a medium bowl ready near the range. In a double boiler suspended over boiling water (the bottom of the upper container should not touch the water), stir together the yolks, 3 tablespoons of the sugar, salt, lime zest and juice until blended. Heat the mixture, stirring constantly, to just below the boiling point (170-180 degrees F). Steam will begin to appear and the mixture will be slightly thicker than heavy cream. It will leave a well defined track when a finger is run across the back of a spoon dipped in the mixture. Remove from the heat and pour into the strainer, scraping the thickened custard from the bottom of the pan. Cover top of custard with plastic wrap and chill until cold.
 Beat the cream just until soft peaks form. Using a large whisk or rubber spatula, fold the whipped cream into the chilled custard. Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl until foamy. Add the cream of tarter, raise the speed to medium and beat until soft peaks form. Continue beating, while adding about 1 tablespoon of the remaining sugar. Raise the speed to high, beat in the remaining sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, fold the beaten egg whites into the lime and cream custard in two parts, making sure all the custard from the bottom is Incorporated and is uniform in color.
  Pour the mixture into the chilled graham cracker crust, smoothing the surface to make even, Freeze for at least six hours. Cover tightly with plastic wrap after the surface is frozen solid, about 1 hour. Transfer the pie plate from the freezer to the refrigerator 1-2 hours before serving. It should still be partially frozen when served. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Grandmama Keaton's Swastika Quilt

Grandpapa and Grandmama Keaton,

My mother-in-law, Martha Mary Luton Lingard's mother Gladys Urso Keaton and infant sister died of pneumonia when Martha was 3 years old. She and her brother Earl were raised by their grandmother, Martha Mary (Mattie) Keaton, who, in the best southern tradition, was called Grandmama. I am often reminded, when Martha does or says something that is extremely old fashioned, that she was raised by someone who was born around the time of the Civil War.

Grandmama Keaton was an intelligent, frugal, stoic woman from  Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Her ancestors held land leases from King George that is still farmed by her descendants today. She was almost 60 years old when Martha and her brother Earl came to live with her in the late 1920s.

Around 1940 Grandmama Keaton frugally pieced 80 red, white and blue quilt blocks to make a quilt called The Spirit of St. Louis.  There are 3 different blue fabrics, several shades of muslin and the some of muslin fabric has been sewn together to make pieces big enough for the blocks.  Then the United States entered World War II. Grandmama had two grandsons in a army tank division in Germany. All she could see in the blocks was the red German Swastika, and she couldn't bring herself to finish the quilt.  She put the blocks away and never got them out again,   

Note the red swastika and  the seamed muslin piece on the top left.. 

A few years ago Martha showed me the blocks and asked me what to do with them.  I asked her if I could finish the quilt. I wanted to preserve the wonderful family treasure that Grandmama Keaton began.  Instead of swastikas I see loyalty, love and patriotism. As I stitched, I traced the seamed muslin patches with my finger and hoped to someday meet the woman who so frugally pieced and then put away her quilt blocks.  Her legacy lives on in her granddaughter and most importantly to me, her great grandson John.