LEMON SPONGE PIE

According to one of our local weathermen, cold conditions just haven't been able to "lock in" here this winter. That is certainly alright with me. We will have a couple of days of cold and then it will warm up. Last week we had two really cold nights (I'm talking 2 degrees F and -15 degrees F. chill factor.) Then it warmed up in the 50s yesterday. The sun was shining so it warmed up to 70 degrees F on the back porch. 

It was really hard to just not sit out there and watch TV, but I forced myself to trim a Blanket of Hope that I have been working on forever it seems, cut and sew the strips together for the binding, and then sew them on the quilt. THEN I could sit on the porch, enjoy the sun, and slipstitch the binding down.

But before I started handstitching the binding down, I decided to make this Lemon Sponge Pie from the Amish for us since we had finished the Topsy-Turvy Tennessee Peach Pudding I made a few days ago.

The recipe was from my The Best of Amish Cooking (Traditional and Contemporary Recipes Adapted from the Kitchens and Pantries of Old Order Amish Cooks) cookbook  by Phyllis Pellman Good. The footnote of this recipe said, "Lemon pies were a treat. Citrus fruit does not grow in eastern Pennsylvania. But the area's proximity to the canals, that webbed their way as far west as Ohio and provided waterways to the Atlantic coastal cities, made it possible to get lemons and oranges. Some farmers sold their hay in Philadelphia and could bring home the treats available there. In many homes, lemon pies were made primarily when company was coming."

Our opinion? It is a different tasting lemon pie but very delicious, very lemony!! And it was pretty, also. Definite hit!!

LEMON SPONGE PIE

1       cup sugar
2       tablespoons butter
3       eggs, separated
3       tablespoons flour
1/2    teaspoon salt
juice and grated rind of 1 lemon (I used 2 tablespoons juice and 1 tablespoon dried lemon peel.)
1-1/2 cups hot water or milk (I used water)
1       8 or 9 - inch pie shell

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare pie plate with pie crust.

Cream sugar and butter.

Add egg yolks and beat well. (Don't forget to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.) 

Add flour, salt, and lemon peel together and

then add mixture to creamed mixture along with the lemon juice.

Add water or milk.

Beat egg whites til stiff peaks form.

Fold egg whites into mixture til

smooth.

Pour into unbaked pie shell.

Bake for 45 - 50 minutes. Cool on wire rack.