Retro Recipe-Root Beer Float Pie

I've never liked soda much, but I do enjoy root beer.  Both the taste and the fact that it always seems a little old fashioned:

 Add some vanilla ice cream and its even more delicious:

That is why when I saw the recipe for this pie in one of my favorite cook books First Prize Pies:

I new I had to give it a whirl.   Technically it isn't a retro recipe, the book was published two years ago, but it's retro in spirit.  I felt a little reluctant to put the recipe on here but its else where on the web and you really, really should buy the cook book.  This is just one of the best desert cook books I've ever read and all the recipes are delicious.  The author explains everything in detail and she comes up with great ideas, many of her pies are inspired by candy bars and other fun deserts like this pie.

The pie was pretty easy to make and it was fun too.  The book gives recipes to make your own vanilla wafers and ginger snaps for the crust but I just used store bought ones.


Root Beer Float Pie 

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

• ¾ cup gingersnaps
• ¾ cup vanilla wafers
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

• 2 cups of your favorite root beer
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup brown sugar (light or dark is fine)
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Topping:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

Crust:

1. Place all the cookies in a food processor and grind until a fine crumb forms. Transfer the cookies to a medium mixing bowl and stir in the salt and sugar.
2. Add the butter. Use your hands or a rubber spatula to mix the butter and crumbs together. The crumbs should be moist, but not overly wet.
3. Pour the crumbs into a 9-inch pie plate and use your hands to press the crust up the sides and flat against the bottom.
4. Place the pie plate in the fridge, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. (Don't skipping the cooling time!!) Once the oven is ready, place your pie plate in the oven and bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Filling:

1. While the pie crust is baking, heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add root beer, and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half (to 1 cup), about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove your pan from the heat and cool the syrup completely. (The root beer concentrate and pie crust usually finishing cooling about the same time for me.)
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, and salt until combined. Mix in the root beer concentrate until everything is well combined. The mixture will be very runny.
3. Place the pie plate on a baking sheet, and carefully pour the root beer mixture into the cooled pie crust.
4. Bake pie for 22 to 27 minutes, or until the center of the pie will be set, but still slightly wobbly. Remove the pie from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Topping:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla until medium peaks form.
2. Spread the whipped cream all over the top of the pie. (I like to leave about a ½-inch space around the edge of the pie so you can see the brown under the whipped cream.)
3. Refrigerate until ready to serve, or at least 30 minutes.

Vintage Recipe-Lemon Ice Box Pies

Starting in the 1920s when refrigerators became a staple in well appointed private kitchens

Ice box dessert recipes started cropping up in home cokes recipes files.   

These simple deserts, often made without a stove at all, but always with a long rest in the ice box, rely on whipped cream, cookies, and/or  fruits to make a cool tasty treat.

Sadly these delicious summer desserts have largely fallen out of favor.   It's really too bad because they are SO easy to make and truly delicious.  One of my favorites is this Lemon Ice Box Pie.  I use an ever so slightly modified version of the recipe from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, but there are many versions.  It's a perfect recipe for welcoming warmer days.  I make it every summer, in fact I think I may have shared the recipe on this blog before, but here it is again!


Lemon Ice Box Pie From the Magnolia Bakery

For the lemon curd

12 egg yolks at room temperature 
3 tbsp grated and minced lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice 
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

Separate the eggs while they are cold, placing the yolks in a large sauce pan.  Reserve the egg whites for another use, you can store them in a zip lock bag in the freezer and thaw them at a later date to make pavlova or another egg white recipe.   Let the yolks sit in the pan until they come to about room temperature, 30 min to an hour.  Whisk the lemon juice and zest and the sugar into the yolks.  Place the pan over medium low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the curd is thick and bubbly, about 20 min.  Remove from the heat and immediately whisk in the butter,  one piece at a time.  Transfer to a container and refrigerate until cold, several hours or overnight.

For the crust
1 box Nilla wafers
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Grind the cookies in a food processor and add the butter and process until moist crumbs form.  Press into an ungreased glass  pie pan and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.  

For the filling

Chilled lemon curd 
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Beat the cream in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters until stiff peaks form.  Fold in the lemon curd and pour the mixture into the crust.   Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Garnish
Blueberries 
Lemon slices

Decorate the finished pie with blueberries and lemon slices. Enjoy!

This pie can be stored for about a week in the refrigerator, if it lasts that long.    If you want to simplify things you could use store bought lemon curd, but I think its really fun to make your own.