Lemon Chess Pie - Checkmate!

Don't be discouraged, you don't need to be a grandmaster to make this pie. Oh, look at how the sun glistens on that custard...sorry i got a little distracted.

Chess pie is a classic Southern dessert, basically a custard in a pie crust. The origin of the name is not clear, but some people think it's because of an old custom of calling custard "cheese". Imagine a southern grandma saying cheese really fast blindfolded, it'll sound close enough. Anyways it's not about the name it's about the taste. But before i go along with the baking a hats off to Angie Mosier whose recipe I adapted this from.

For the crust:

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, in cubes
1/4 cup plus 1/2 a tablespoon of chilled vegetable shortening
3 tablespoons ice water


Custard:

4 eggs
1 1/2 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon white cornmeal ( it's just for binding and some extra flavor, substitute with 1 tablespoon of flour)
1 tablespoon of all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
5 tablespoons of butter, melted
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/3 fresh lemon juice
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

One kitchen tool that I use the least often is the food processor. I feel it has it's place in a kitchen, but for me it seems more practical to do things the old-fashioned way, plus it's just a hassle to wash. So instead of pulsing this in a food processor, I'm going to use a pastry blender. For those of you that aren't familiar with this kitchen tool this is what it looks like. And I took the power and energy to scour the internet to find you the best deal on one so there'll be a link at the bottom of the post. 

As therapeutic as cutting butter into flour is, it also makes for b-e-a-u-tiful crust, like me on Google+ if you know which movie that's from. So to do this we are just going to combine the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. And you're going to hear me say this a million times over, but your butter has to be cold. I'm not sure the scientific reason as to why, but all I know is that if your butter melts, the dough will be one single unit, which means no layers. If your butter is cold it can't melt into the flour creating a flakier, crispier crust.Take your cold butter, and cold shortening out of the freezer and start cutting it up with that pastry blender. Once your butter and flour mixture resembles small peas, or coarse sand, drizzle in your water and mix with your hands. You're hands were going to get dirty anyways so stop complaining. And if you were thinking to yourself about skipping the water because you thought a couple tablespoons wouldn't change a thing I think it's time we part our separate ways. You will see once you add that ice water, again it has to be cold, your dough will start coming together. And right now is as a good as any time, (well not anytime 'cause we're trying to work quickly), to pat this into a disk and wrap it in plastic to chill. 

Read a book, watch your DVR list, do those chores that you promised to do a week ago, because it's just a waiting game now. If you couldn't think of anything to do because you forgot to have a life, clean out your oven, you know the thing you store all your brand-new baking equipment in, and preheat it to 350. I'm not judging I'm simply stating to facts.

So by now your dough should be sufficiently chilled so on a floured work surface carefully roll out the pastry to a 14 inch round. Ever so gently transfer it to a 9 inch pie or tart tin, and decoratively crimp the edges to your liking. No one likes a perfectionist in the kitchen so what ever crimp style you concoct just stand behind. And just by the way I said "No one likes a perfectionist in the kitchen", and I emphasize that because without perfectionists the environmentalists would be mad about all the rocket shrapnel in the ocean. But back to the cooking, the last step before the baking is to freeze the pie shell for about 5 minutes, or until it is just chilled. 

Line the pastry with parchment paper and pie weights and bake for 20 minutes, until nearly set. Some tips on this step would be to remember to completely cover the dough. We don't want to see much color because later we are going to be baking it again. Also instead of going at and spending money on pie weights, just fill the pie tin with baking beans and reuse. Once you finished the first baking, pour out the beans uncover the parchment and bake again for five minutes. It should have any color but now it should be set. 

Now if you were smart, while your pie was baking you made your filling, and it's just as easy mixing. First whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Then add all of the ingredients together and in one fell swoop whisk until smooth. 

Pour the filling into the warm pie shell. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the custard is golden brown, and nearly set but still quite jiggly. Don't worry it'll harden up in the oven. Oh and a reminder, half-way through cover the edges of the pie crust with tin foil so they don't get to dark.

This pie should be eaten cold, your patience will be rewarded. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a smile. 

To buy a Pastry Blender click the link below
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/stainless-steel-pastry-blender/