Growing up, my mom baked a lot. We were your typical Southern family, eating traditional Southern meals and desserts reflected our roots. My mom did what you would find at nearly every family reunion or potluck here in Mississippi: red velvet cake, pineapple upside down cake, brownies, sweet potato pie and pecan pies. My mom made it all....one thing she never did make was the one pie I absolutely loved: Buttermilk. The name can be different depending on who you ask, Chess Pie, Egg Pie, Custard or Buttermilk Pie. I think of Chess Pie as having coconut, so Buttermilk is what I call it. And boy oh boy is it good. Golden custardy, buttery, sugary goodness. Seriously, the best. pie. ever.
Now that I am older, I am wanting to try more traditional recipes....things that I just thought would be so complicated and guess what? They really aint that hard. Why did I not try this sooner!? For Father's Day and to celebrate my sister's birthday, I finally made a Buttermilk Pie. I had settled on making a Red Velvet cake when I started thinking....summer makes me think of pies. And why not make something I have not ever tried to make and had not had in FOREVER.
I found a super easy and simple recipe over at Add A Pinch. Seriously? Could it be any easier? It was a hit! I left out the lemon juice and zest because the Buttermilk pies I always had did not have a lemon taste to them and I wanted something that reminded me of my childhood and the only pie I would eat.
I started with the crust. I have not tackled homemade pie dough yet and since I was in a time crunch, today was just not the day to start. I used store bought refrigerated dough.
I added a braid to the edge of one of the pies. You do this by cutting the dough into strips and then braiding. Just like you do hair.
Coat your pie edge with an egg wash (one egg white and 3 tbsp of water mixed) and then add your braids.
Press where the braids meet and coat with egg wash.
I love this technique. Using a spoon upside down, press the top of the spoon to make a decorative pattern around the edges of your pie crust.
Add all of your ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix well. Make sure you melt your butter (which I did not do on the first pie) because if not, the pie filling looks like this....still bakes perfectly fine, but um, yeah, not too cute unbaked.
Melt your butter!
Ahhhhhh. There we go. Much better.
Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 40-50 minutes until top is brown. When you remove it, the pie will be jiggly like jello, don't worry, it will settle as it cools. Allow to completely cool before slicing and then enjoy the deliciousness that is Buttermilk pie. Oh yeah!
