A Traditional Farm Life - Butterscotch Crème Pie

A Traditional Farm Life

By Shasta Hamilton

 Greetings from Enterprise, dear friends!  We’ve been blessed in this neck of the woods with more than an inch of rain over the weekend.  Even the weeds are looking their brilliant green best after a scrubbing from a spring shower!

Speaking of weeds, there has been much activity in the garden patch this week.  Our two oldest boys have spent many hours digging dock roots.  The spring tilling of our new garden plot chopped up the roots of this troublesome weed and they have re-rooted all over the garden. 

As all gardeners know, the battle with weeds is an ongoing one throughout the growing season.  While the dock seems to have the upper hand on the farm right now, the boys had a hard won victory this week over the weeds and trees growing up in the fence around the garden. 

Our property sat vacant for more than a year, and as a result we have many years of hard work ahead of us in order to get the farm back into shape.  The boys pulled out last year’s brown, dead weeds and cut down the small trees that were growing up in the fence around the garden.  The weed eater certainly earned its keep after a long winter season loafing in the shed!

In the girl’s garden, the garlic is coming along very well.  They have been very diligent in weeding and watering their small spread in an untamed land out back.  The largest plant is now about 12” tall with a nice thick neck.  I’ve personally never had much success growing garlic, especially spring-planted garlic.  Their thumbs are definitely greener than mine!

Meanwhile, back at the restaurant, we are pleased to announce the launching of our new website, www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com.  Built by our dear friend Dr. Michael Hernandez of HBT Productions, its professional presentation far exceeds our expectations.  You can see colorful pictures of various Buggy Stop menu items, download our lunch or Wednesday and Friday supper menus, and even read “A Traditional Farm Life” online!

As we celebrate the first anniversary of this humble column this April, it is interesting to reflect on how much readership has grown in a year.  I now have the pleasure daily of visiting with “Friends of the Farm” at the restaurant.  Our customers have in many cases become our friends, and we look forward to making many more as the years go by.

In the year to come, I’d like to focus on “Traditional Farm Pies” when possible in our weekly recipe section.  Pies have been “rounding out” meals since Colonial times, when women used round pans to literally cut corners and stretch hard to come by ingredients.  Pantry staples like flour, lard, salt and water made crisp, golden crusts holding fillings of farm-fresh ingredients.  As orchards and berry patches grew, so did the variety of pies through the seasons.   Truly an American tradition, pies are still an enduring favorite at dinner tables today—although probably not as often as they used to be. 

Let’s keep an American tradition alive and learn to bake pies again.  While a perfect, tender and flaky pie crust made from scratch at home takes more work than purchasing one from the refrigerated section of the grocery store, there is no comparison in taste.  A beginner can gain confidence with recipes like last week’s “oil pastry” pie shell before moving on to more complicated recipes.

Fillings need not be complicated either.  Last weekend we practiced the pie shell recipe and filled it with Butterscotch Crème filling.  Replacing white sugar with brown and adding extra butter gives a homemade vanilla crème pie a subtle butterscotch flavor.  So, pull that handy flat-bottomed whisk out of the drawer and let’s get cooking!

Butterscotch Crème Pie

1 (9”) pie shell, baked

1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

5 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

2-3/4 cups whole milk

4 egg yolks, beaten

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

Cool Whip, optional

1.  In a medium saucepan, whisk together brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and egg yolks (with a regular whisk) until smooth.   Slowly add milk mixture to dry ingredients in saucepan, whisking (now with the flat whisk) to prevent lumps.

3.  Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens and boils, then cook 1 minute more.

4.  Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla, whisking until butter melts and is fully incorporated.

5.  Pour hot filling into baked pie shell; place plastic wrap directly on top of filling and refrigerate until chilled.  Remove wrap and serve with Cool Whip if desired.

Shasta is a fifth generation rural Kansan now residing in Enterprise, Kansas.  She and her husband own and operate The Buggy Stop Home-Style Kitchen with their six home-schooled children.  You can reach The Buggy Stop by calling (785) 200-6385 or visit them on the web at www.thebuggystoprestaurant.com.

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