home recipes archives press reader raves about  
 
 

In this Issue: Vintage Summer Salads Omar Khayyam's Spinach Salad with Zesty Dressing, Spice 'n Easy Hash Brown Potato Salad, Crunchy Cauliflower Salad, Swedish Potato Salad, Nut Tree Green Frosted Potato Salad, Gone But Not Forgotten Resto Recipes Bill Zuber's Rhubarb Kuchen, Fritzel's Creamy Griddle Cakes with Blueberry Sauce, Anna Maude Cafeteria German Chocolate Pudding, Green Goddess Chip Dip, Pie Revival Whoopie Pies, Banana Cream Pie, Montana Mom's Rhubarb Custard Pie Cream Plum Pie, French Silk Pie, Taco Pie, Natchitoches Fried Pork Pies, Pork Apple Brunch Pie, Zesty Lemon Sponge Pie, Old World Sour Cream Raisin Pie, Poppyseed Refrigerator Torte, Celebrity Citings Joel Grey's Chinese Chicken Salad, Sinatra's Spicy Sausage and Sweet Green Peppers, Reader favorites Chocolate-frosted Peanut Butter Cake, Armenian Manti, Pickles, Preserves & Such Zucchini Relish & Dixie Relish, Famous Nut Tree Bread with North Carolina Pear Honey, Calumet Baking Powder Biscuits, Kumquats in Syrup, Old-fashioned Creamy Coleslaw, “You know...for the kids!” '50s Picklenik, Back from the Bar Oak Bar Plaza Sweet, Better Left Lost Canned Asparagus Casserole,

 
 

Jean Hewitt's Cream Plum Pie

print email

Three reasons I love Jean Hewitt's 1968 NYTimes Large Type Cookbook? Great typography, whimsical woodcuts and sophisticated recipes that work. This cognac-laced custard pie with orange/plum/nut topping is an adult-palate-pleasing example. Hewitt put this book together seven years after joining NYTimes as an assistant to Craig Claiborne. I can't help but think that this pie reflects Jean's tastes and English roots. It's reprinted here with permission from Jean's son, Gordon Hewitt.

Makes one 9- or 10-inch pie
Plum conserve topping Ingredients
  • 4 cups pitted sliced purple (or red) plums
  • 2 ½ cups sugar
  • 1 cup orange marmalade
  • 1 cup sliverd, blanched almonds
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
Filling Ingredients
  • 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
  • ¼ cup cold water
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ¼ cup flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 cups milk, scalded
  • 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 3 Tbsp cognac
  • ½ cup heavy cream, whipped
Instructions
  1. Baked 9 or 10-inch pie shell, cooled
  2. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Mix plums with sugar and place in a roasting pan with lid, or cover with aluminum foil. Bake about 1 hour until plums are cooked and mixture starts to thicken. Stir in marmalade, almonds and lemon juice. Chill
  3. Make filling: Soften gelatin in cold water. Mix together sugar, flour and salt; gradually stir in milk. Pour mixture into top of double boiler and beat, stirring over direct heat until mixture thickens. Cook, covered, over boiling water 10 minutes more. Stir some of the hot mixture into egg yolks to temper them. Return egg yolk mixture to pan and cook until thickened—about five minutes.
  4. Remove from heat. Add butter and gelatin and mix well. Cool. Add cognac. Fold in whipped cream and pour into pie shell. Chill. Use plum topping as a border, or spread all over pie before serving.

The plum conserve will last you long after the cream pie is gone. Try some on plain Greek yogurt, or, with a Basque, sheeps-milk cheese—delicious!

Recipes by Alphabet
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Recipes by Meal Part
Appetizers
Baked goods
Breakfast
Confections
Desserts
Drinks
Meat
Pasta
Poultry
Preserves and Pickles
Seafood
Salads
Sandwiches
Sauces and Salad dressings
Soups
Vegetables and side dishes