Marguerites Cookbook

A cooking blog all about making vintage recipes from a cookbook we inherited from our grandmother

Cream Cheese Brownies

cream cheese brownies header

I’m not sure if I’ve made it clear enough (although I think I have), but I love desserts. Chocolate desserts might be my favorite, and brownies are near the top of the list. Since its been a few weeks since our last dessert, the Southern Lane Cake, I think it’s time to do another. These cream cheese brownies were a great treat.

Cream Cheese Brownies

Here’s what Marguerite’s friend Susie Matha had to say:

cream cheese brownies recipe

Susie also gave us the Coffee Cake recipe, which is one of my favorite recipes I think we’ve done on Marguerite’s Cookbook. So when it came time to make these brownies, I was hopeful they would be as much of a success as the coffee cake. To be honest, these brownies didn’t quite live up to the coffee cake, but they were still tasty. It was fun to make brownies completely from scratch, and we enjoyed working on making each of the layers for this interesting brownie recipe.

Brownies Cream Cheese

The cream cheese brownies turned out really nice. They were soft and moist and had great flavor. Both the chocolate layers and cream cheese layers were delicious, and the two mixed together well to make a wonderful brownie. We both enjoyed these brownies, and they disappeared pretty fast. I’m sure we’ll be making these again!

Marble Brownies

Cream Cheese Brownies
Print Recipe
Prep Time
25 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Prep Time
25 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Cream Cheese Brownies
Print Recipe
Prep Time
25 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Prep Time
25 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Ingredients
Chocolate Layer
Cheese Layer
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Melt chocolate and 3 tablespoons of butter over very low heat. Stir frequently. Cool.
  3. To make cheese layer, cream 3 ounces of cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of butter. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar, creaming until fluffy. Blend in 1 egg, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside.
  4. To make chocolate layer, beat 2 eggs until lightly colored. Slowly add 3/4 cups sugar; beat until thickened. Add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup flour.
  5. Blend in chocolate mixture, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract.
  6. Spread half the chocolate batter in a greased 8 or 9 inch square pan. Top with cheese mixture. Spoon remaining chocolate patter over top. Zigzag knife through batter to marble. Bake for 35-40 minutes.
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Fruit Bread

Fruit Bread header

I don’t know about you, but sometimes it definitely makes me feel better to bake. And eat the thing I’ve baked, but that’s besides the point. However, I really enjoyed making this “Fruit Bread” while we are in the depths of winter here in Chicago. It was also a great way to use up any extra candied cherries you might have leftover from making a delicious batch of Christmas cake cookies.

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

Fruit Bread Recipe

I was really looking forward to making this bread, since our other bread recipes here at Marguerite’s Cookbook have been very successful. I was happy with how the bread turned out, but it sure was a process to get there! First of all, it took quite a while to chop up the candied cherries and they were extremely sticky of course. Then, as you may imagine, four cups of flour and a bunch of nuts and fruits make for a very thick batter. I was exhausted by the time the bread was all mixed together.

Fruit Bread

I did have a little trouble baking this bread. It seemed that when the time was up, the insides where just barely done but the bottom crust got burned a little bit. I suppose I may have put the bread too close to the bottom of the oven. That little issue aside, the fruit bread turned out to be quite tasty. The combination of candied fruit, nuts (we used walnuts), and orange juice added vibrant flavors to an already sweet tasting bread.

Fruit Bread

We both really enjoyed this bread. I’ll probably have some with my morning coffee, but its so sweet this may be more of a dessert bread. This might not be my favorite bread so far, but it is definitely close. I’m looking forward to sharing this with my coworkers, and I’m sure they’ll be happy to see some more delicious food coming into work with me.

Fruit Bread

Fruit Bread
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
2 loaves 40 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 loaves 40 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Fruit Bread
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
2 loaves 40 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 loaves 40 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: loaves
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Beat together eggs and sugar.
  3. Sift together dry ingredients and add to eggs and sugar.
  4. Add the oil and orange juice.
  5. Chop the candied fruit and nuts (if not already done).
  6. Fold into batter.
  7. Grease and flour two loaf pans and fill with batter. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.
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Chicken and Mushrooms

ChickenandMushroomsHeader This week we decided we would take a break from desserts (I’m sure we’ll make more soon) and leftover casseroles to make an actual meal. This chicken and mushrooms recipe is healthier than some and has a relatively short ingredient list. The instructions were interesting and included things I had not encountered before, which was fun!

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

Chicken and mushrooms recipe

First thing, this recipe threw me a curve ball. I had never browned the outside of a chicken breast and then removed it from heat to cook other parts of the meal. I found this incredibly interesting and I still don’t know why this recipe called for that, but it ended up working out just fine! I have really grown to like mushrooms since I was little. Mushrooms were on that long list of foods I didn’t like because I had never tried them before . . . Anyway . . . the smell of the mushrooms and garlic cooking made us excited to try this.

Chicken and Mushrooms

The next step was to add the wine. In looking up types of wines used in cooking, I found that the best choice for a chicken dish like this was a dry, oaky white. I ended up choosing a Chardonnay. After adding the chicken stock and stirring everything together, it was time to put the chicken breasts back in.

Chicken Mushrooms

While Marguerite didn’t suggest this, we decided that after eight or nine minutes of cooking we should flip the chicken breasts over to finish them. We even ended up cooking the chicken longer than Marguerite suggested (something I never thought I would do!) We decided to pair it with rice, although mashed potatoes would have been a delicious addition to this chicken and mushrooms recipe as well.

Mushrooms and Chicken

The chicken stock, wine, garlic, and parsley really soaked in to both the chicken and mushrooms. Cooking the chicken in the amount of liquid present at a lower temperature helped the meat soak up the liquid and not dry out. The chicken was tasty, but for me the real star of this dish was the mushrooms. Shannon is more a fan of mushrooms in creamy dishes, so she wasn’t as crazy about this.  In the end, this chicken and mushrooms recipe was a success but was still rather simple. If you like mushrooms or do chicken a lot and need another recipe to mix it up, this is definitely one to keep in mind.

Mushrooms Chicken

Chicken and Mushrooms
Print Recipe
Servings
2 chicken breasts
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings
2 chicken breasts
Cook Time
30 minutes
Chicken and Mushrooms
Print Recipe
Servings
2 chicken breasts
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings
2 chicken breasts
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: chicken breasts
Instructions
  1. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to skillet on high heat. Brown each side of the chicken breasts and then remove chicken from heat.
  2. Add another tbsp of olive oil, then the mushrooms and garlic. Cover and cook three minutes. Then uncover and cook mushrooms until brown over medium heat.
  3. Add the wine and increase heat to high. Cook until about half the wine has cooked off.
  4. Add the chicken stock and parsley and reduce heat to half.
  5. Add chicken. Cook 6-8 minutes per side, or until done.
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Southern Lane Cake

Southern Lane Cake Header

I hope everyone out there is having a good start to their new year. Some of you may be working on a resolution to eat healthier. While we are also attempting that goal, there is an important milestone that requires this week’s recipe to be a cake. It’s Marguerite’s Cookbook’s birthday! That’s right, we launched Marguerite’s Cookbook a whole year ago, and knew that we wanted to do one of Marguerite’s many cake recipes as a birthday treat to ourselves. This Southern Lane Cake turned out to be an excellent choice that was fun to make and delicious to eat.

Southern Lane Cake

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

Southern Lane Cake Recipe

As usual, the planning for this recipe required a little more work than just reading Marguerite’s notes. I had to research how long to bake the layers for, what a cooked white frosting was (more on that later), and a little more about just what a Southern Lane Cake was. That’s where I discovered that some fillings or icings included things like nuts, which is why I decided to put some almonds on top of the cake.

Southern Lane Cake up close

As you may or may not be able to tell, there are only three layers in the final product here. I’d like to say that is on purpose, but of course I made a little mistake and was forced into the decision. We have a tiny oven in our current kitchen, and it was a struggle fitting two 8″ and two 9″ pans into it. On top of that, the two sets of pans are not the same ages and not the same shade of aluminum. In the end, one of the four layers burned while the others turned out great, so the height of our cake was decided for me. I do think a three layer cake looks great though!

Southern Lane Cake with piece

I also had some trouble in attempting to make a homemade icing, so instead I just used some plain store bought white icing. That is why there is no accompanying icing recipe to go along with the cake. As great as it can be to make something by hand, Marguerite knew the value of making it easier when she needed to, too! In my opinion, the lack of homemade icing did not take away from this cake at all!

Southern Lane Cake piece

This “blogiversary” cake was delicious. I used to not like cakes with fillings, or filling that wasn’t more icing. Now that I am older and wiser I have seen the error of my ways and am less narrow-minded towards filled cakes. The actual cake parts cooked great, and were light and moist. The combination of the cake, cherry pie filling, and icing worked very well together to make this a very enjoyable dessert. Shannon agreed that this cake was tasty, but was happy to see it go to work with me so we didn’t eat it all.

Southern Lane Cake

My favorite part of this Southern Lane Cake was putting it together and decorating it with Shannon. She took a Wilton cake decorating class before so she is the resident cake expert. Making icing walls to hold the cherry pie filling and stacking the layers on top of each other together was a lot of fun. I also love spreading icing, so I got to do that over the whole cake, too. Here’s to the first year of Marguerite’s Cookbook. Thanks for spending some time with us and with Marguerite. We had a great first year, and hope to have many more to come!

Southern Lane Cake

Southern Lane Cake
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 cake 25 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
20-25 minutes 1 hour
Servings Prep Time
1 cake 25 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
20-25 minutes 1 hour
Southern Lane Cake
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 cake 25 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
20-25 minutes 1 hour
Servings Prep Time
1 cake 25 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
20-25 minutes 1 hour
Ingredients
Servings: cake
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour 4 nine inch round layer pans.
  2. Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla.
  3. Combine dry ingredients (flour, powder, salt). Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to creamed butter and sugar.
  4. Fold in egg whites.
  5. Bake 20-25 minutes.
  6. Let layers cool before constructing cake using cherry pie filling and icing. Add nuts like almonds to the top if desired.
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One Pan Ham and Cheese

cheese ham header

Well, here we are in the midst of the holidays with plenty more leftovers to finish and we could all use a fresh idea or two on how to do that. Luckily, Marguerite had leftover casseroles and other one pan dishes for many different main ingredients. One of the best parts of this one pan ham and cheese bake is that it turned out to be more of a breakfast dish than anything else. A great twist and a different way to have dinner time leftovers!

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

onepanhamcheeserecipe

The nice thing about the ingredients in this recipe is that they include a nice mix of fresh and pre-cooked ingredients. It was also extra quick and easy because Marguerite seemed to suggest the ingredients should be mixed right in the casserole that went in the oven. Baking was also simple and the time Marguerite said in her recipe was just about right on. Checking the middle with a knife was an easy way to make sure the one pan ham and cheese was done completely.

cheese ham quiche

Now this ham and cheese recipe was mostly eggs and Bisquick. That made it turn out incredibly quiche-like. This is much like another ham and cheese recipe, our Ham and Cheese Strata, which was also like the breakfast dish. However, the main difference in this recipe is that it had many more ingredients, which gave way to a more exciting dish with more flavor.

ham and cheese bake

While I like Bisquick because it is normally made into pancakes, I am not a huge fan of eggs for breakfast, so I wasn’t the craziest for this recipe. I did like that it was prettier than the aforementioned strata, having much more color due to the green onions, tomatoes, and the like. Aaron enjoys quiches and omelets, as well as the vegetables in the dish, so he did enjoy having it, and for breakfast no less, even though the ham had been for dinner! If you try this one pan ham and cheese recipe to use up some of your Christmas ham this season, we hope it makes your breakfast, or any meal you happen to have it for, a little more relaxing as 2016 winds down.

one pan ham cheese

One Pan Ham and Cheese
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4-6 20 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4-6 20 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
One Pan Ham and Cheese
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
4-6 20 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4-6 20 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease 8" x 8" x 2" square baking dish.
  3. Mix Bisquick, milk, salt, mustard, parsley, pepper, and eggs together in dish with fork until batter is a uniform color.
  4. Stir in remaining ingredients.
  5. Bake uncovered until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
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Christmas Cake Cookies

christmas cake cookies header

A Merry Christmas Eve to everyone! As Christmas approaches, many of you have probably made countless desserts to share with family and friends this holiday season. If you haven’t started yet, or you’re looking for something different to add to your Christmas time cookie arsenal, we have a Christmas Cake Cookie recipe that is a fun and tasty twist on the traditional holiday fruitcake.

christmas cake cookies

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

christmas cake cookies recipe

As you can see in Marguerite’s ingredient list, she called for dates in addition to quite a few other ingredients. We couldn’t find them easily and we also weren’t too keen on putting them in this recipe anyway. So we decided to skip them and just go with the ingredients we were more familiar with. Now, some of you may be looking at this and saying, ‘a pound of nuts and a pound of candied fruit is going to make a lot of cookies.’ Aaron really wishes he had thought that before he mixed all these ingredients together. Over an hour later and a lot of spooning of dough, Aaron had churned out almost 90 cookies! Now that we’ve made and tasted these cookies, we’re glad we made that many to share with our friends and families, but boy was it tiring at the time.

christmas cookies

I mentioned earlier that these Christmas Cake Cookies are a twist on the holiday fruitcake. We here at Marguerite’s Cookbook have never actually had a traditional fruitcake, but we know all about the negative stereotype fruitcake has been saddled with. If fruitcake has been labeled as dry and hard, these Christmas Cake Cookies are the exact opposite! The cookies were soft and cooked through perfectly, turning out to be yet another success.

cake cookies

We both really enjoyed these cookies, because well, they’re cookies. Having more brown sugar than other cookie recipes was a big plus for me, since I would bathe in brown sugar and butter if it we’re practical. Aaron liked the combination of nuts and candied fruit. The reds and greens of the candied cherries helped put us in a holiday mood and makes these cookies extra festive.We hope our friends and families enjoy these Christmas Cake Cookies as much as we did as we share them over the holidays!

christmas cake cookies and milk

Christmas Cake Cookies
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
90 cookies 1 hour
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
90 cookies 1 hour
Cook Time
30 minutes
Christmas Cake Cookies
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
90 cookies 1 hour
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
90 cookies 1 hour
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: cookies
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs.
  3. Sift dry ingredients together and add fruits and nuts to dry ingredients.
  4. Add dry ingredients to the rest of the batter.
  5. Drop by teaspoonfuls into tea sized (mini) cupcake liners. Do not grease papers or trays.
  6. Bake for 13 minutes at 350.
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Ice Cream Sundae Pie

ice cream sundae pie

Welp, this is our last pie of pie month! It’s been an interesting month and we’ve learned a lot. Hopefully next year, we’ll be a little more organized and a little more prepared. This pie is a great way to end it. If you love ice cream, then you’ll love this ice cream sundae pie.

Here is what Marguerite had to say:

fudge sundae pie recipe

This one looked pretty complicated at first glance, however the parts where we had issues were somewhat unexpected. Aaron made sure to take the ice cream out of the freezer before we prepared the rest of the recipe, but it was still too firm when we began trying to spread it into a layer on top or the vanilla wafers. Those wafers also wouldn’t stay put when they came into contact with the ice cream. It was also time consuming and boring to wait for the fudge to cool, so it ended up being a little too warm when we started layering. Oh well.

ice cream sundae pie

But oh my goodness this pie was to die for! I loved the vanilla wafer crust and the fluffiness of the fudge mixed in with the ice cream. One change we would have made: either keep the layers of fudge and ice cream neater or try to marble them more. This was mostly a side effect of the issues we mentioned having above. This wouldn’t have changed the taste, mostly just made it look a little prettier.

ice cream sundae pie

I’m not personally crazy about nuts and would have liked to top this one with either whipped cream or sprinkles, but I’m glad we tried Marguerite’s ice cream sundae pie like the recipe said first. Aaron, of course, loved it. He was sort of expecting these ingredients that are typically found in a fudge sundae to magically transform into something different, but not too surprisingly, it just tasted like a delicious sundae!

ice cream sundae pie

We hope you enjoyed pie month! We’ve got some great holiday themed treats planned for December!

Ice Cream Sundae Pie
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 40 minutes
Passive Time
4 hours
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 40 minutes
Passive Time
4 hours
Ice Cream Sundae Pie
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 40 minutes
Passive Time
4 hours
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 40 minutes
Passive Time
4 hours
Ingredients
Servings: pie
Instructions
  1. Put milk, chocolate, marshmallows, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until chocolate and marshmallows melt completely and mixture thickens.
  2. Take off heat and cool to room temperature.
  3. Line a 9" pie pan with vanilla wafers.
  4. Layer a pint of vanilla ice cream over the wafers.
  5. Cover ice cream with half of chocolate mixture.
  6. Repeat with another pint of vanilla ice cream and the rest of the chocolate mixture.
  7. Place pecan halves on top.
  8. Freeze until firm, 3-5 hours.
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One Pan Turkey ‘n Stuffing

One Pan Turkey and Stuffing Header

Happy Thanksgiving from Marguerite’s Cookbook! We hope everyone had a nice and relaxing holiday surrounded by the ones you love. We couldn’t make it home for Thanksgiving this year, so we had a Thanksgiving for two that Aaron made for us. You may have seen it on our Instagram.

We’re going to take a quick break from pies, but we’ve got our final one of the month coming later this week. So if you made more food than you could eat, or couldn’t send enough leftovers home with your dinner guests, we have a one pan turkey and stuffing recipe that’ll give you a nice twist on the same old leftovers. And spare you from some turkey sandwiches!

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

one pan turkey recipe

As you can see, the only leftover from the meal you actually use is the turkey, but I find that it is the thing you have the most of and it sits in the refrigerator the longest. It is nice that this recipe includes “stuffing” without having to use any leftovers, or have another box of stuffing around. The Bisquick is a nice substitute for the dried bread crumbs in stuffing and it is a good way to hold onto all those seasonings in this one pan turkey and stuffing.

One Pan Turkey and Stuffing

This recipe is meant to be almost a full meal in itself. Marguerite suggests that this only serves six, which means everyone is supposed to take a sizable portion. Since there aren’t any vegetables in it, that could be a good option to pair with it to round out your meal. Because we know you’re still swimming in green beans and corn. Now on to taste, but first, an unpopular opinion. Turkey may honestly be my least favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal, as I live for all the sides. But this wasn’t bad. Aaron liked it of course. He found it to be an interesting twist and a nice way to switch up eating all that turkey. He especially liked it because Marguerite made so many different dishes with pre-cooked, leftover meat and it reminder him of her.

One Pan Turkey

We felt the best way to surround this one pan turkey and stuffing dish in our pictures was with photos of the people we are thankful for and missed seeing this Thanksgiving. If you try this recipe with your leftovers this weekend, we hope you enjoy it, but not as much as you enjoyed time with your friends and family.

One Pan Turkey n' Stuffing

One Pan Turkey 'n Stuffing
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6 10 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6 10 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
One Pan Turkey 'n Stuffing
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6 10 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6 10 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease casserole dish.
  2. Mix Bisquick, milk, eggs, and seasonings with a fork until batter is a uniform color. The batter will still be lumpy.
  3. Stir in remaining ingredients.
  4. Bake until golden brown and knife inserted in center comes out clean.
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Peanut Butter Meringue Pie

peanutbuttermeringuepie

We are very excited to bring you another unique pie as we continue pie month! Aaron and I were looking forward to this peanut butter meringue pie until we looked at the length of both the ingredient list and directions. This is probably the most difficult and most involved recipe we have attempted in our first year of Marguerite’s Cookbook. However difficult, this pie cannot be considered anything less than a delicious success!

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

peanutbutterpierecipe

When reading over the recipe, Aaron realized we had to ask a more experienced baker quite a few questions to even be able to attempt this pie. So we called Mercedes and got some direction on everything from scalded milk to meringue. Recently, Aaron has been doing most of the cooking while I observe due to our tiny kitchen, but not this time. It took both of us, most of our mixing bowls and saucepans, and a long time to put this peanut butter meringue pie together.

peanut butter meringue pie

This definitely wasn’t the most stress-free recipe, and it didn’t turn out perfectly, but we’ll consider it a success. The custard was difficult and important, since it was the majority of the pie. The meringue was also very challenging. On top of all that, it is not the most attractive pie. But you know what they say, “don’t judge a peanut butter meringue pie by its cover.”

peanut butter pie

I was expecting this pie to basically look like a pumpkin pie, but like with just peanut butter. Well, I was surprised. The flavor was to die for though. Aaron really liked this pie, and not just because he would live on peanut butter if I let him. He made sure to try every bit of the pie individually, so he could really decipher the flavors that made up our peanut butter meringue pie. The custard and meringue taste as they should, and can be considered successful first attempts at both of those components. Of course the peanut butter/powdered sugar component was the highlight of the pie, and made it incredibly sweet. Overall, another success!

Peanut Butter Meringue Pie
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 45 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 45 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Peanut Butter Meringue Pie
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 45 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 45 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: pie
Instructions
  1. Combine the powdered sugar and peanut butter together.
  2. Sprinkle 3/4 of this mixture on the bottom of a baked pie crust. Keep the other 1/4 for topping.
  3. Scald 2 cups of whole milk and set aside to cool.
  4. Combine the cornstarch, sugar, and salt together. Add the slightly cooled milk and mix well.
  5. Beat egg yolks well, add a small amount of the milk mixture over yolks and mix well.
  6. Add eggs to rest of milk mixture. Cook in double boiler until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
  7. Add the butter and vanilla.
  8. Pour into shell.
  9. Beat the 3 egg whites, cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt until stiff and dry. Slowly add the sugar. Continue beating until stiff. Spread over pie and seal edges.
  10. Place in 325 degree oven on second rack and bake 15-20 minutes (until meringue is browned.)
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Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie Header

What pie would be better to make as we approach Thanksgiving, than a classic homemade pumpkin pie?! Nothing quite beats a well executed pumpkin pie, and we were able to do just that. Of course, we used Marguerite’s perfect pie crust to go with this timeless pie.

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

mother's pumpkin pie recipe

As you can see, this recipe is titled Mother’s pumpkin pie. That would be Marguerite’s mother, or Aaron’s great grandmother,  Allen. One of the best stories from Aaron’s mom regarding this pumpkin pie recipe is that she remembers Marguerite pouring the milk for this recipe straight out of a glass bottle (that was delivered by an honest to goodness Milkman!) As usual, Marguerite didn’t give us too much direction.

Pie Recipe

For as short as the ingredient list is, we should have had an easier time. The pie you see in these pictures may or may not be the third one we made (don’t ask.) But in our first failed attempts, we learned things to improve our process. On our first try, we just added all the ingredients together without any real order, rhyme, or reason. The successful change we made was to mix the dry ingredients into the pumpkin thoroughly first.  Then we beat the eggs well and add them, followed by the milk. The baking step was also a bit tricky for us, but in the end the pie came out of the oven looking just fine.

Pumpkin Recipe

Now, on to taste. Mercedes gave us the insight that those who tried Marguerite’s pumpkin pie liked it for its more mild pumpkin flavor, which Aaron also noted. Marguerite attributed this milder flavor to the higher concentration of eggs and milk versus pumpkin. Aaron liked this pumpkin pie well enough, although pumpkin is a little farther down his list of favorite pie flavors than others. I care not for pumpkin, and the small bite I sampled was not appealing to me. The crust, I could eat all day though.

Pumpkin Pie Piece

So where could we take this pumpkin pie to find willing taste testers? That’s right, Aaron’s co-workers. They all enjoyed it, and Aaron’s pretty sure they weren’t just being polite! One of them, who claimed to like pumpkin pie even more than any cake, ate a quarter of it in one sitting! We hope if you try Marguerite’s pumpkin pie this fall that you like it as much as Aaron’s work pals.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
60-70 minutes 30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
60-70 minutes 30 minutes
Pumpkin Pie
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
60-70 minutes 30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 pie 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
60-70 minutes 30 minutes
Ingredients
Filling
Crust
Servings: pie
Instructions
Crust
  1. Blend flour and salt in large bowl. Cut shortening into flour mixture using pasty blender or fork. Stir in just enough water with fork until dough holds together.
  2. TIP Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not any additional water. If the dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball when pressed together.
  3. Shape dough into a ball. Flatten ball into a 1/2 inch round disk.
  4. Chill for 30 minutes or up to two days.
  5. Roll dough from center outward into a circle 2 inches wider than pie plate on lightly floured surface. Transfer dough to pie plate.
Filling
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Mix pumpkin, salt, nutmeg, and sugar well.
  3. Beat eggs well, and add to pumpkin. Mix together well.
  4. Slowly add milk, mixing ingredients together well.
  5. Pour into shell.
  6. Cook in oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 and cook until a knife inserted in the pumpkin comes out dry, around 40-50 minutes.
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