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Dutch Pie
9 zwiebach 1 can condensed milk 5 egg yolks, beaten 2 lemons (juice) 1 tablespoon cornstarch 5 egg whites, beaten stiff 2 tablespoons shortening Roll Zwiebach into very fine crumbs. Grease well a deep pie dish and spread half the crumbs in it. Add egg yolks to milk, then lemon juice, which has been mixed with corn starch. When well mixed, add whites of eggs and pour into pan. Cover with remaining Zwiebach crumbs, dot with shortening and bake in moderate oven (375 degrees F.) for 30 minutes. Serves six.
A lemon icebox pie in baked form, built on a zwieback crumb crust rather than pastry. The whole thing hinges on using sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated.
- Condensed milk means sweetenedThere is no sugar anywhere else in the recipe, so the milk supplies all of it: a standard can of sweetened condensed milk (modern cans are 14 oz). Evaporated milk will give you a thin, sour custard.
- ZwiebackZwieback is a twice-baked dry rusk, still sold in boxes as teething toast. Nine slices yields well under a cup of fine crumbs; plain rusks substitute by volume, and graham crackers will do though they are sweeter.
- The dishA "deep pie dish" here is a 9-inch pie plate or a shallow 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Grease it generously, since the crumb layer is unbound by butter or sugar and will stick otherwise.
- Why the lemon thickens itThe acid in two lemons (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup juice) sets the condensed milk on contact, before any heat is involved. Mix the cornstarch into the juice as directed, or it will clump when it hits the thickening custard.
- Folding the whitesBeat the whites stiff but fold them in with a spatula rather than stirring. Overworked, they deflate and the pie bakes dense instead of soufflé-light.
- Oven and doneness375°F is correct as printed for a moderate-to-brisk oven. After 30 minutes the top crumbs should be browned and the centre barely set with a slight wobble; it firms as it cools.
- ShorteningPeriod shortening was lard or a vegetable compound. Butter is better here, dotted in small pieces so the top crumbs brown evenly.
- ServingServes six, and it needs to cool thoroughly before cutting. Cut warm, it will run.