Soul food from the South
It is a rare sunny (& cold, brrrr) winter day here in the great northwest. I felt I needed a bright slice of pie with a bite of Tangerine Chess pie. A citrus delight with the zing of tangerine topped with a swirl of tangerine whipped cream! It tastes like summer. So, read along to make Tangerine Chess Pie; it will snap you out of the winter blahs.
In case you are wondering, one source states chess pie got its name from Pie Chest(s) (Pie Safe or Pie Cupboard), which was around before ice boxes. I am so grateful for refrigeration! Back in the day folks only ate seasonally. Their cellars were barren of fruit, thus chess pie became a winter/spring classic dessert.
Today, cooking seasonally is in! Our ancestors knew this; they were trendsetters at their best. So in the spirit of following in their footsteps I decided to use a fruit that is more plentiful during the winter. Tangerines win!
As a kid, Christmastime always meant we had a tissue-wrapped tangerine or mandarin orange in the toe of our stocking. Though I loved pulling off the tissue, this was my least favorite part of the stocking. There was usually half a crate of the stocking toe nuggets left over to be eaten too.
Mandarin orange, lemon or lime could all be substituted and they would all taste divine, just choose the flavor your family loves the most, but tangerine is my favorite of the “orange” world. Chess Pie has a good amount of sugar;the tartness of the citrus cuts through and evens out the sweet of the pie and ta-da, you have a perfect blend of tart vs. sweet, man alive, I love it.
One of the ingredients in a good ol’ southern chess pie is cornmeal, which I felt like mine was too coarse so I ran it through the flat blade of my “Magic Bullet.” You can see the before/after below.
How to test when done? Great question! Most custard pies will puff up slightly around the edges, but you don’t want it to puff up across the entire pie. The puffiness will settle down and your pie will be beautiful once again and perfectly baked.
If you prefer, a “knife test” is great too, it needs to come out fairly clean, definitely no goo. The knife test can sometimes leave a ghastly scar, but unless you are presenting this as magnificent masterpiece, I doubt the family will care; heck they may not even notice.
For the tangerine whipped cream, I mixed 2 tablespoons of sugar with the zest and let the sugar take on the zest flavor and color. Reason: When you are whipping the cream some of the zest will get “caught” on the beaters and I don’t like to scrape it off, however the sugar will now have absorbed enough of the flavor, so you get creamy tangerine zesty whipped topping without big pieces of zest, but some big zest flavor.
The citrus curls were SUPER EASY. Click on the link for instructions making Citrus Curls. It’s simple, fast, and takes under a minute or two. Try it, you will be a believer.
This pie will brighten any day, even our super-soaked rainy gray winter in the northwest or any cold winter day.
So, grab a book, curl up in a blanket and enjoy a slice of sunshine! And remember to save the last slice for yourself.
Tangerine Chess Pie
Ingredients
Pie Crust – Makes one 9-inch pie shell
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening or butter
- 1 tablespoon C&H pure cane granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup cold water
Filling
- 1-1/2 cups C&H Pure Cane granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal (ground in blender for finer consistency)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch or Clear-jell
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
- 4 large eggs
- zest from 1 tangerine
- 1/3 cup tangerine juice (may use 1/4 cup OJ plus 1 tablespoon lemon)
- 1 prepared unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Tangerine Whipped Cream:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup C&H pure cane granulated sugar
- zest from one tangerine
- tangerine curls for garnish (see link to instructions above)
Instructions
Pie Crust – Makes one 9-inch pie shell
- In a large bowl stir together all dry ingredients. Using a large serving fork (or pastry cutter) cut in the shortening until crumbly & pea size.
- Add the cold water all at once, stir just until combined (about 4 or 5 stirs is all it should take).
- On a floured surface, roll out dough and place in a 9-inch pie plate. Cut and crimp edges by hand or fork. Set aside for filling.
Filling:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix the buttermilk with the tangerine juice, set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornmeal, cornstarch and salt. Using an electric beat in the cooled butter, buttermilk mixture, and vanilla.
- Add the eggs, mixing with electric mixer until thoroughly blended in. Stir in tangerine zest.
- Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and set, about 50 to 60 minutes.
- Cool completely, keep refrigerated after cooled. Serve with tangerine whipped cream (see below) and garnish with tangerine curls, and dig in.
Tangerine Whipped Cream
- Stir the tangerine zest with the granulated sugar and let sit for about 30 minutes (this can be done the night before, room temp). While the sugar is mingling with the sugar go ahead and make your crust.
- With an electric mixer (I am a Kitchenaid fan) add the tangerine zested sugar to the heavy cream and beat until stiff peaks form, about 7 to 8 minutes. Top cooled pie with tangerine whipped cream.
