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Prune or Apricot Pie
1 pint stewed prunes or apricots Little grated lemon rind 1½ tablespoons Argo or Kingsford's Cornstarch Flaky pie crust Line a pie plate with the crust. Heat the fruit with the lemon rind (the prunes should be pitted) and thicken with the cornstarch dissolved in an equal amount of cold water. Partly cool, pour into the pie plate, put crisscross strips of the pastry across the top, and bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven.
A dried-fruit lattice pie from a cornstarch manufacturer's booklet, written for cooks who kept stewed fruit on hand. The filling is thickened on the stove, so the only real work in the oven is setting the crust.
- Moderate ovenBake at 350-375F. Because the filling is already cooked and thickened, thirty minutes is about what it takes for the bottom crust and lattice to colour; if the edges brown first, shield them with foil.
- A pint of stewed fruitThat is 2 cups of drained-but-still-juicy stewed fruit. Fruit stewed dry will make a stiff, pasty pie; leave enough syrup that the mixture pours.
- Cornstarch techniqueDissolve the 1 1/2 tablespoons in an equal amount of cold water, stir it into the hot fruit, and let it come to a full boil for a minute. Cornstarch does not reach its thickening power until it boils, and undercooked starch tastes raw and thins again as the pie sits.
- Partly cool means coolPour the filling in warm, not hot, as the recipe directs. Very hot filling can soften the fat in the bottom crust before the oven sets it, which may leave the base soggy.
- Argo or Kingsford'sBoth were brand names of plain cornstarch; Argo survives, Kingsford's does not. Any cornstarch works -- note that British "cornflour" is the same thing, whereas American "corn flour" means finely ground maize and is not a substitute. If using arrowroot or tapioca starch, expect a glossier, looser set.
- Lemon rindGrate only the yellow zest of about half a lemon. Prunes in particular are flat without acid, and a teaspoon of lemon juice added off the heat sharpens the filling further.
- Blind-baking optionThe original bakes the shell raw. For a crisper base, prebake the bottom crust 12-15 minutes at 400F before filling, then add the lattice and finish.
- YieldA pint of filling suits a small pie plate, 8 or 9 inches. Best the day it is made, as starch-set fillings tend to weep after a night in the refrigerator.
Recipes like this came out of the corn-products industry rather than a domestic kitchen: Argo and Kingsford's were both cornstarch brands brought under the Corn Products Refining Company in the early twentieth century, and their promotional booklets pushed cornstarch as a cheap, reliable thickener in place of flour or eggs. Dried prunes and apricots were the sensible winter fruit of that era, shelf-stable and shipped east from California orchards in quantity. A lattice top uses less pastry than a full lid and lets steam escape from a juicy filling.