Blood Orange Shaker Pie
Plus, a video on how to make crème fraîche + what to make this weekend!
How to Make Crème Fraîche
Crème fraîche is the sophisticated French cousin of sour cream. Its texture is smoother and the flavor more subtle, not quite so sour, but still a bit sharp. It is unbelievably simple to make and requires only two ingredients, so it is no wonder it is a staple in most French kitchens and a must-have for pastry chefs. I like to add a thin layer on my butterscotch pot de crème, a dollop on top of a berry pie, or stirred into chocolate ganache. Would you believe me if I told you it takes just two simple ingredients and a bit of patience to make it on your own?
What to Make this Weekend
Start your morning with popovers, breakfast cookies, or a Dutch baby.
I’m feeling like all things butterscotch lately and I recently photographed an older recipe that I’d love for you to try: butterscotch pudding with coffee-caramel bananas. It’s a great way to use some homemade crème fraîche!
It also feels like a homemade pizza weekend.
As always, if you’ve recently made one of my recipes, I would appreciate it if you would leave a rating/review on my website!
Coming Soon: Q&A Videos!
Thank you so much for the support on my YouTube channel. I love creating videos for all of you to enjoy. A new perk for paid subscibers: you can ask me a question and I’ll record a video answering them! Everyone will have the opportunity to view the videos on my YouTube channel, but only paid subscribers can ask questions. Extras subscribers: Leave a comment below with a question you’ve been wanting to ask me!
Blood Orange Shaker Pie
My love for all things orange marmalade began when I was nearly 9 years old and I met Sally. I adopted Sally as one of my chosen moms and her English mum, Eileen, as a bonus grandmother. They introduced me to marmalade. The intensely orange jam with chunks of fruit seemed exotic and sophisticated, but also comforting. I would secretly eat it from the jar with a spoon. Honestly, I would have fallen in love with chicken livers had they served it to me. Over the years marmalade has been associated with incredible memories of time spent at their farm in upstate New York or in Sally’s kitchen in CT, and now I always have a jar in my refrigerator.
This is the pie version of all that love. It is based loosely on the 19th-century Shaker lemon pie, otherwise known as an Ohio lemon pie. Where were the Shakers in Ohio getting lemons in the 1800s? It is a bit of a mystery and it must have been an exceptional treat indeed. In an attempt to use up the entire fruit and waste nothing, they sliced the lemons, peel and all, set them in sugar overnight to soften, and then baked it all in a crust.
Extras subscribers get this beautiful pie recipe and there’s even a gluten-free version. Thank you for supporting my work!