The Power
of Your Giving
T he Jewish Federation changes the lives of
hundreds of thousands of people through
our work to care for community members
and make Jewish life accessible. However, for
each vulnerable person we support, there are
so many more in need that we can’t reach.

Your gift can help us
expand our impact to:
• Provide enhanced mental health services to
more individuals whose lives were upended
by the pandemic and dismantle the barriers
that keep people from seeking help
• Empower the next generation to understand
their history so that they can confidently
and proudly live a Jewish life
• Launch initiatives to respond effectively
to antisemitism and create safe and
secure environments for children to learn,
community members to pray and our
neighbors to gather
Change even more lives – make a
gift to the Jewish Federation’s
Jewish Community Fund before year’s end.

Visit jewishphilly.org/donate or call 215.832.3484
16 DECEMBER 23, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



L ifestyle /C ulture
Pie in the Sky
F OO D
KERI WHITE | JE FOOD COLUMNIST
OVER THANKSGIVING,
my husband’s cousin Sharon
sent me a photo of the pecan
pie she made for dessert.

Sharon had used the recipe of
our late, great Aunt Beulah.

Beulah was a legend —
beautiful, spirited, brilliant,
stylish, an unparalleled cook
and hostess, and a woman
who could have a fascinating
conversation with anyone
regardless of age, station,
profession and demographic.

She was both interesting and
interested, traveled extensively
and was everyone’s favorite.

When I received the photo,
I called Sharon right away,
and we had a grand chat
about family, tradition and,
of course, food. She then sent
me the photo of the vintage
3x5 typed card with the recipe
that included Aunt Beulah’s
handwritten notes. Priceless. I
simply had to share.

PECAN PIE ALA BEULAH
Makes a 9-inch pie
Beulah always labeled her
recipes thusly; if it was my
brownies, she copied out the
recipe and entitled it “Brownies
ala Keri.” Earning a spot in
Beulah’s recipe card file was
the height of praise.

A note on the pie shell: Use
your favorite crust recipe or
buy a frozen or premade pie
shell. 3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup broken pecans
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Heat your oven to 450
degrees F. Mix the beaten
eggs with all the other ingre-
dients, and pour them into
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM an unbaked pie shell. Bake at
450 degrees for 10 minutes,
then reduce the heat to 350
degrees and bake for another
40 minutes or until the crust
is golden and the filling is set.

Cool completely. Serve at room
temperature or chilled.

BUTTERMILK PIE ALA THE
WALL STREET JOURNAL ALA
MY MOM
Makes 1 9-inch pie
My husband is not a big eater.

He rarely makes requests and
even more rarely makes dessert
requests. So when he cut this
recipe out of the Weekend
Journal a few weeks back, I
knew I had to make it.

I waited until my mother,
she of the mad pie skills, came
to visit, and she and I set to
work. Normally, I follow a new
recipe, especially a baked item,
to the letter before I begin to
tweak it, but since Mom is a
pie pro, I felt confident cutting
a few corners.

The original version called
for rye flour, which I neither
had nor wanted, so we used
all-purpose. I also used
past-their-prime raspberries
and made them into a semi-jam
as the topping over the fresh
berries, but the original recipe
uses raspberry jam cooked
down into a syrup. Either is
fine — I just wanted to avoid
tossing the berries.

I also swapped the rye
whiskey called for in the filling
for bourbon; I find the caramel
sweetness of bourbon is better
for desserts, and since I had
ditched the rye flour, which
was likely meant to comple-
ment the booze in the pie, I felt
this was the right call.

The pie was quite tasty —
a delicious, smooth custardy
filling without too much
eggy-ness. Prebaking the crust
was a good move; it kept the
bottom of the pie nicely crisp
and avoided even a whisper of
sogginess. The version here is pretty
much identical to the WSJ
version. It just shaves some of
the time off, skipping one part
of the prebaking and reducing
the dough chilling time by half.

Note: The raspberry topping
is optional. Although local
berries are long gone, we were
able to get some good quality
fresh berries at the market.

The pie would be fine plain or
topped with a fruit compote,
chocolate, caramel or toffee.

For the crust:
1½ cups flour
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons cold butter,
cut into pieces
4 tablespoons buttermilk
Pecan pie
Photo by Sharon Diamond
For the filling:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick butter, melted and
cooled 3 tablespoons bourbon
For the topping:
1½ cups fresh raspberries
¼ cup raspberry jam (or ½
cup overripe raspberries
simmered with 1
tablespoon sugar and ¼
cup water until the berries
break down and form a
sauce Mix the crust ingredients
in a large bowl, and beat them
on low-medium until small,
pea-sized bits form. Gather
the dough together into a disc
(about 5 inches in diameter)
and wrap it in cellophane.

Refrigerate it for about 30
minutes. Remove the dough from the
refrigerator, and roll it out on a
floured surface until it is thin
and large enough to fit into a
pie plate. Crimp the edges in
decoratively, and freeze the pie
JEWISH EXPONENT
Buttermilk pie ala The Wall Street Journal ala my mom
Photo by Keri White
shell for 15 minutes.

Heat your oven to 350
degrees F.

Remove the pie shell from
the freezer, and prick it all over
with a fork. Line it with parch-
ment and cover the surface
with rice, beans or pie weights
to avoid the crust contracting.

Bake it for 20 minutes.

While the pie bakes, make
the filling: Mix all the ingre-
dients in a medium bowl with
a whisk.

Remove the pie shell from
the oven — it should not be
fully cooked. Pour the filling
into the shell, and return
the pie to the oven for 35-40
minutes. The crust should
be golden brown when done,
and the center should be a bit
wiggly; it will continue to set
over the next few hours.

To garnish the pie, artfully
arrange the raspberries over
its surface. Melt the jam or
make berry sauce and cool it
slightly. Drizzle it over the pie
and serve. l
DECEMBER 23, 2021
17