Day 47 - Lemon Chess Pie

          In honor of Pi (pie) Day, it is only fitting that today's recipe should be a pie.  I didn't even know until last week that there was such a thing; pi day, not pie, silly (that I'm well aware of!).  My son came home with a field trip form saying his 8th grade class was going to the park to celebrate it last Friday.  A math field trip of course, and that they would be eating pizza (pies), and different kinds of pie.  They were also going to do some different pi type events, such as finding the circumference of the park.  Needless to say, the boy wasn't that excited about it, but it turned out to be a beautiful day and he was outside instead of inside a classroom which I'm sure was a plus. 
I did a little research on good ol' Wikipedia to find more about March 14.  Gee, Pi Day today, the Ides of March tomorrow, St. Patrick's Day on the 17th and Poultry Day on the 19th, who can handle it?

Pi Day is a holiday commemorating the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 (or 3/14 in month/day date format), since 3, 1 and 4 are the three most significant digits of π in the decimal form. In 2009, the United States House of Representatives supported the designation of Pi Day.^[2]

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wonder if Hallmark sells cards for Pi Day, too?

    

     I made a lemon chess pie and also made the crust from scratch.  This one comes from The New Doubleday Cookbook, p.766, 783; authors, Jean Anderson and Elaine Hanna; publisher, Doubleday, a division of Random House; ISBN 0-385-19577-X.

     Lemon Chess Pie

    

     1 recipe Flaky Pastry I

     Flaky Pastry I

     1¼ cups sifted flour

     ½ teaspoon salt

     1/3 cup vegetable shortening or lard, chilled

     ¼ cup ice water

      Place flour and salt in a shallow mixing bowl and cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Sprinkle water over surface, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix in lightly and quickly with a fork, just until the pastry holds together.  Shape gently into a ball on a lightly floured pastry cloth, then flatten into a circle about 1" thick, evening up the rough edges.  Using a lightly floured, stockinette-covered rolling pin, and short, firm strokes, roll into a circle about 3" larger than the pan you plan to use.  To transfer pastry to pan, lay rolling pin across center of pastry circle, fold half of pastry over pin and ease into pan; press lightly.  Seal any cracks or holes by pressing dampened scraps of pastry on top.  Trim pastry so it hangs evenly 1" over rim, roll overhang under even with rim and crimp or flute.

    

                                         

     Filling

     1½ cups sugar

     2 tablespoons flour

     Finely grated rind of 2 lemons

     5 eggs

     Juice of 2 lemons

     1/3 cup melted butter or margarine

    

     Preheat oven to 325ºF.  Make pastry as directed and fit into a 9" pie pan; do not bake.  Mix sugar, flour, and rind.

Then beat in eggs, one at a time.  Stir in lemon juice and finally the melted butter, adding a bit at a time and beating well after each addition.  Pour filling into pie shell and bake about 1 hour until puffy and golden (filling will seem unset). 

Cool pie to room temperature (filling will settle and thicken).  Serve at room temperature.

     I have to say that everybody loved this!  My rating system is from 1-4 with 4 being the best and this lemon chess pie earned a rating of 3½ rolling pins.  It was deliciously lemony.  It had just the right amount of tartness to go with the perfect amount of sweetness and reminded me of lemon meringue pie without the meringue.  Oh, and by the way,  I didn't use the stockinette-covered rolling pin.  My regular lightly floured one worked just fine.

     Happy baking!