Hey, my mom used to make that!

Retro Strawberries and Cream Pie

Have you noticed how freaking ginormous strawberries are these days?

I mean the ones you get at the grocery store, not the adorable little guys you grow yourself.

My husband says they look like baboon hearts.

Sorry.

Forget I said that.

 

Here's the 1990 recipe from Pillsbury.

 

Strawberries and Cream Pie

 

15-oz. pkg. Pillsbury All Ready Pie Crusts

1 teaspoon flour

 

Filling:

8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup whipping cream, whipped
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon shortening
4 cups fresh strawberries, washed and hulled

 

Heat oven to 450˚F. Prepare pie crust according to package directions for unfilled one-crust pie using 9-inch pie pan. (Refrigerate remaining crust for later use.) Bake at 450˚F for 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool.

 

In large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and almond extract; blend well. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon into cooled pie crust. Arrange strawberries, pointed side up, over filling. Chill. In small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate chips and shortening, stirring constantly until smooth. Drizzle over strawberries and filling. Chill until set. Store in refrigerator. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

 

Click here for a quick retro recipe for citrus pie.

Retro Grasshopper Pie for St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is as good a reason as any to make a Grasshopper Pie. It's green, contains two kinds of booze and it's delicious.

This Grasshopper Pie recipe comes from a 1975 Better Homes & Gardens recipe booklet. The recipe is originally from the Grand River Inn, in Grand Haven, Michigan. The Grand River Inn no longer exists.

Chocolate Crust

Mix 1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs (19 wafers), 1/4 cup sugar and 5 tbsp. melted butter. Press into 9-inch pie plate.

Pie

1/4 cup milk
6 cups mini marshmallows
1/3 cup creme de menthe
2 tbsp. white creme de menthe de cacao
Several drops of green food coloring
4 cups whipping cream, whipped
whipped cream rosettes
whole fresh strawberries

Prepare chocolate crust. Combine milk and marshmallows; cook and stir over low heat until marshmallows melt. Remove from heat; cool, stirring every 5 minutes until partially set. Stir in liqueurs and food coloring; fold into whipped cream. Pile onto crust; freeze firm. Trim with rosettes and berries. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Click here for another retro recipe for a green-colored pie.

Via Eudaemonius

Retro Recipe: Magic Chocolate Pie

If ever there was an excuse to treat yourself, it's the month of February.

In New England, it's the coldest, bleakest, most unforgiving month of the year. The only reason I get through the month year after year is that my birthday falls in the middle of February.

Your birthday isn't in February? That's what Magic Chocolate Pie is for.

This recipe for Magic Chocolate Pie comes from a 1950s Borden recipe booklet.

1 (8-inch) pastry shell, baked and cooled
1 1/3 cups (15-oz. can) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped.

1. Pour Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk into top of double boiler. Add chocolate and salt.

2. Cook over rapidly boiling water, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and drops, rather than runs from spoon, about 4 to 8 minutes. (Cooking time varies with type of utensil used.)

3. Stir in water gradually, keeping mixture smooth.

4. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until mixture again thickens slightly, about 1 to 3 minutes. (If glassware double boiler is used, cover, do not stir, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until mixture thickens slightly.)

5. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Pour into pastry shell.

6. Cool at room temperature for about 1/2 hour; then, chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Top with whipped cream.

Click here for a retro recipe for Peanut Pie.

Via Vintage Midcentury

In honor of Presidents Day: recipes for Abe Lincoln's favorite cake and a Washington cream pie

This very old cake recipe was featured in an article of the Saturday Evening Post, February 1957. The man and woman in the photo are the grandparents of one of my dearest friends.

According to the article, Mary Todd Lincoln made this cake for Abraham Lincoln before they were married. He is said to have declared it, "the best in Kentucky."

Here's the recipe for Abe Lincoln's favorite cake; Florence McMurtry's baking hints are in parentheses.

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
3 cups flour (cake or pastry)
2 tsps. baking powder (double-acting)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped, blanched almonds
1/4 tsp. salt
6 egg whites

Cream butter and sugar lightly. Sift flour and baking powder together and add alternately with milk (to the first mixture). Add well-floured nuts, then vanilla. Fold in stiffly beaten whites of eggs, to which salt has been added. Bake in three layers (9" or 8" pans) in moderate (350˚F) oven. Ice with boiled icing, to which add 1/2 cup candied pineapple and cherries, chopped fine.

 

Now for the Washington cream pie. I cannot tell a lie. While it's called a pie, this is really a cake. 

I found it in this 1954 booklet from Carnation.

Here's the recipe for Washington Cream Pie/Cake. It makes a two-layer, 8-inch cake.

Cake

1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp. double-acting baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Carnation Evaporated Milk

Blend butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy (about 5 min.). Add dry ingredients (which have been sifted together) alternately with the evaporated milk. Pour into two buttered, paper-lined, 8-inch layer cake pans (1/12 inches deep). Bake in a moderate oven (350˚F) about 25 minutes. When cool, spread Cream Filling between layers and spinkle top with confectioners sugar.

Cream Filling

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup Carnation Evaporated Milk
1 cup water
1 tsp almond extract

Combine sugar, salt and cornstarch with evaporated milk and water mixture over low heat or in double boiler. Cook until thickened (about 7 to 10 minutes), stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add flavoring; stir. Cool; spread cream filling between cooled cake layers and sprinkle top of cake with confectioners sugar.

 Click here for a retro recipe for fudge cake.

Retro chicken pie

Here in Boston we're facing a possible snowpocalypse Friday. That calls for comfort food. Like this chicken pie recipe from Crisco.

The official name for this dish is Cock-A-Doodle Pie.

Chicken Filling

Cook a 3 to 4 lb. chicken. Remove meat from bones and cut into large chunks. (This yields about 2 cups of meat.) Cook 1 bunch of broccoli* until almost tender. Melt 6 tbsp. Crisco, blend in 1/2 cup flour. Add 4 cups chicken stock (or milk) and cook until thick. Add 2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper and 1/2 cup grated cheese. Place broccoli in bottom of casserole (1 1/2 qt. capacity). Add chicken and cover with gravy.

Crisco Pastry

1 1/2 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Crisco
3 tbsp. water

Mix flour and salt in bowl. Cut Crisco into flour with 2 knives until pieces are the size of peas. Blend together 1/4 cup of this mixture and 3 tbsp. water. Add to remaining Crisco-flour mixture and mix with fork or fingers until dough holds together. Shape into a round flat mass. On a floured board, roll a circle of dough about 12 inches in diameter and 1/8-inch thick. Cut slits for steam. Place on filling, flute edges, bake in a 425˚F oven for 30 to 40 minutes. From trimmings, cut little chickens, bake separately. Place on pie (prop up with toothpicks.)

* Or use cooked asparagus or string beans.

It's me again. I would ignore that nonsense about cutting and propping chicks. Instead, after making slits for steam, but before putting the dough on the filling, roll out your trimmings and use a cookie cutter to make whatever shapes you find pleasing. Wet with water the back of each cut-out shape with your finger — you're wetting it just enough so it will stick to the circle of dough — then place your cut-out shapes on the rolled out dough, making sure you don't cover up any slits. Then place the circle of dough on the filling and bake as directed.

Click here for another savory pie recipe from the past.

Via vintage.kitten

1956 recipe for Fruit Cocktail Eggnog Pie

Here's Knox gelatine's recipe for Fruit Cocktail Egg Nog Pie.

1 (1 lb. 14 oz.) can of fruit cocktail
1 envelope Knox gelatine
1 1/2 cups commercially prepared eggnog
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond flavoring
1 cup whipping cream
1 9-inch baked pie shell

Drain fruit cocktail thoroughly; measure 1/2 cup of the syrup. Stir gelatine into syrup; place over boiling water and stir until gelatine is dissolved. Remove from heat; stir into eggnog. Add salt and flavorings. Chill until mixture mounds when dropped from spoon. Whip cream; fold into gelatine mixture along with 1 1/2 cups well drained fruit cocktail. Chill again 5 to 10 minutes, until mixture mounds. Heap into baked and cooled pie shell. Chill 2 to 4 hours. Decorate with remaining fruit cocktail.

Click here for another retro pie made with fruit cocktail.

Via tikitacky

"Open Sesame" Pie, 1955 First Prize Winner of Pillsbury Grand National

1 envelope Knox Gelatin
1/4 c. cold water
1 c. milk
2 egg yolks
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. pitted dates, cut very fine
3/4 c. heavy cream, whipped
1 tsp. French's Vanilla
2 egg whites
2 tbsp. sugar
French's nutmeg
1 baked "Sesame" pie shell

Soften gelatin in cold water. Beat together milk, egg yolks, sugar, salt in top of double boiler. Cook over hot water, stirring until mixture coats metal spoon. Add softened gelatin; stir until dissolved. Chill until almost set, stirring occasionally. Fold in whipped cream, vanilla, dates. Beat egg whites until slight mounds form. Add sugar gradually, beating after each addition. Fold stiff meringue into date mixture.Heap into cooled pie shell. Chill until firm, sprinkle with nutmeg before serving.

"Sesame" Pie Shell Toast 2 to 4 tbsp. French's Sesame Seeds in piepan at 325˚F 8 to 10 mins. until light golden brown. Remove seeds. Sift together 1 c. sifted Pillsbury's Best Enriched Flour and 1/2 tsp. salt. Add sesame seeds. Cut in 1/2 c. Crisco until particles are size of small peas. Gradually sprinkle 3 to 4 tbsp. cold water over mixture, tossing and stirring lightly with fork. Form into ball; roll out. Fit loosely into 9" piepan; flute edges. Prick with fork. Bake at 450˚F 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.

Via Tikitacky

Retro Chocolate Mint Pie

For peppermint candy filling:

1 envelope (1 tbsp.) gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
2 egg yolks, unbeaten
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup finely crushed peppermint stick candy
1/2 cup cream, whipped
few drops red food coloring
2 egg whites
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 baked 9-inch pie shell

Mix gelatin and cold water. Combine egg yolks and milk, and cook and stir over low heat until mixture coats a metal spoon. Pour over gelatin. Add candy; stir until dissolved. Chill. When slightly thickened, fold in whipped cream and coloring. Beat egg whites with salt until foamy, then add sugar gradually, beating until peaks hold. Fold in gelatin mixture. Spoon into pie shell; chill til firm. Spread with topping. Chill again.

For the chocolate topping:

Cream 6 tbsp. butter; add 6 tbsp. confectioner's sugar gradually. Add 1 1/2 squares Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate. melted, and 1 egg yolk. Mix well. Spread on chilled pie.

Click here for a retro Marshmallow Chocolate Pie recipe. 

Via vintage.kitten

Chocolate Pear Cream Pie

2 squares baking chocolate, finely cut
1 No. 1 tin (about 18 oz.) Bartlett pears, drained
2/3 cup sugar
few grains salt
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup cream
1 egg, separated
1 8-inch baked pie shell
2 tablespoons sugar (for meringue)

Combine chocolate and juice drained from pears in top of double boiler. Cook over hot water until chocolate is melted. Mix sugar, salt and cornstarch in a bowl; stir in cream and add to hot mixture. Cook over direct heat, with constant stirring, until mixture boils and thickens. Place over boiling water and cook, covered, 10 minutes. Beat egg yolk; add a little of the hot mixture, stir well and return to double boiler. Cook 2 minutes longer. Cool slightly before pouring into pie shell. Garnish with pear halves. Whip egg white; beat in sugar and pipe on edge and center of pie. Bake in a moderate oven (350˚F) about 10 minutes until meringue is golden brown. Set on cake cooler to cool. Serves 5 to 6.

Click here for a recipe for Lemon Gold Pie.

Via Chronically Vintage

De Luxe Peanut Pie

This Karo syrup recipe is from the 1940s.

2 eggs beaten
1 cup Karo Syrup, Blue Label (dark syrup)
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. melted butter or margarine
1 cup shelled, roasted peanuts

Roll pastry 1/8-inch thick. Line a 9-inch pie pan. Mix remaining ingredients together, adding peanuts last. Pour into pastry shell. Bake in hot oven (400˚F) 40 minutes or until a silver knife inserted in center of filling comes out clean.

To make Peanut Tarts: Follow above recipe for De Luxe Peanut Pie using 1 recipe pastry. Line 6 to 8 individual tart shells. Pour in filling. Bake in hot oven (400˚F) 20 to 25 minutes.

 Click here for a recipe for Cranberry Mallow Pie.

Via Shelf Life Taste Test