Pastry | Rosie's Riveting Recipes

Home Baked Strawberry Pie

I love strawberries. They’re one of my all time favorite fruits (along with peaches and nectarines). I love strawberries any way they’re prepared. Fresh out of the box. On shortcake with whipped cream. As jam on toast. Dipped in chocolate. On top of ice cream. And as a fresh baked pie or cobbler.

I found this recipe years ago. It went over big with all my friends, and I’ve adapted it to my own taste. Those who prefer a homemade crust may enjoying trying the Victory Pie Crust recipe from the Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook. I tested it in my own kitchen. It’s a delicious, flakey crust.

HOME BAKED STRAWBERRY PIE

1 package premade pie crusts
2 pints fresh strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, if desired
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg

Preheat oven to 450F. Place 1 pie crust in the center of a pie pan. Blend sugar, flour and cinnamon, (if desired) in a medium-sized bowl and gently mix with fresh strawberries. Pour mixture into the pie pan and dot with butter. Cover the top with the remaining crust and flute the edges together. Cur several slits across the top. Beat egg in a small mixing bowl and brush the top and the edges. Bake 34 to 45 minutes or until the crust is brown.

Note: If the edges get too brown, cover with strips of aluminum foil and continue baking.

Imagine the government telling you how much meat or chicken you could buy, or how much sugar or flour you could have. Strange as it may seem, at one time it actually happened. Rosie’s Riveting Recipes gives a glimpse into life on the WW 2 home front. A cookbook and a history lesson in one with more than 180 economical, back-to-basics World War 2 ration recipes with short tales of life on the American home front interspersed throughout. Rosie’s Riveting Recipes is available on Amazon, Barnesandnoble.com, and with many other online book sellers.

Fresh Fruit Cobbler

The things you will find after your kitchen has been remodeled. This time it was scrap of paper with my mother’s fruit cobbler recipe, written in her own handwriting. I’m so happy to have found it as I thought this was one recipe that was gone for good. Her fruit cobblers were amazing, and she often served them with breakfast. They’re also super easy to make and fabulous for dessert too.

Mom usually made hers with peaches, but other fruits, such as blackberries, blueberries or raspberries, would also work.

Gayle Martin

FRESH FRUIT COBBLER

4 to 6 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced, OR
3 to 4 packages fresh raspberries, blueberries, blackberries or strawberries
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter
pinch of cinnamon, if desired

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix fresh fruit, sugar and flour in a mixing bowl. Add cinnamon, if desired. Pour into an 8 x 8-inch baking pan. Cut butter into small pieces and sprinkle on top.

Topping

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg

Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized mixing bowl. Drop by spoonful over the fruit mixture. Bake for 30 to 25 minutes or until the topping is brown.

By the way, other delicious cobbler recipes can be found in the Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook. Available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

New England Turnovers

from the Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook

Seafood was just as popular in Rosie’s day as it is today. This recipe from the Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook is yummy and delicious. However, those who don’t feel comfortable making pastry from scratch should be able to get good results using frozen pie crusts. Butter can also be used in place of margarine.

Gayle Martin

NEW ENGLAND TURNOVERS

Turnover Filling

1 4 oz. package shredded codfish
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons enriched all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup milk

Freshen codfish as directed on package. Melt margarine over low heat. Add flour and seasoning and stir until smooth. Add milk, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. Add freshened codfish and mix well

Pastry

1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sifted all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 tablespoons water

Sift flour and salt together 3 times. Cut in margarine with a pastry blender or 2 knives until consistency of coarse meal. Add water and toss lightly with a fork until all particles are moistened. Roll out on lightly floured board into an 8 x 22-inch rectangle. Cut into 6 squares. Heap turnover filling into each square. Fold squares in half. Press edges together with fork dipped in flour. Prick top to allow steam to escape. Bake in hot oven (425• F) 15 minutes. Yield: 6 servings.

Modern adaptation: Fish can be freshened by placing it in a bowl of cold salt water for about 15 minutes. However, if using individually frozen pieces of uncooked fish, this step may not be necessary. Frozen pie shells or pastry can also be used, and any leftover filling can be served as a delicious topping over the turnovers.

Book Cover for Rosies Riveting Recipes — Cover photo by Rob Resetar

Rosie’s Riveting Recipes is available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

Lemon Chiffon Pie

from the Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook

Presenting another delicious historic recipe from the pages of Rosie’s RIveting Recipes.

People may have had to cope with food shortages back in Rosie’s day, but it didn’t mean they weren’t enjoying delicious desserts which are still tasty today. In fact, this pie turned out so good I would call it decadent, and surprisingly easy to prepare. For best results I recommend using your favorite pie crust recipe, or trying the historic Victory Pie Crust referred to in the recipe. Frozen pie crust would also be suitable. Whichever crust you use, be sure to bake it as directed below before adding the lemon filling.

Gayle Martin

LEMON CHIFFON PIE

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 package Lemon Jell-O
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
dash of salt
3 egg whites
baked pie shell

Combine egg yolks and water in top of double boiler, mixing well. Add 1/4 cup sugar and cook over hot water about 3 minutes, or until well heated, stirring constantly. Remove from fire. Add Jell-O and stir until dissolved. Add lemon juice and rind. Chill until slightly thickened. Add salt to egg whites and beat until foamy; then add remaining sugar gradually and continue beating until stiff. Fold slightly thickened Jell-O into egg whites. Pour into cold pie shell. Chill until firm.

BAKED PIE SHELL

Prepare Victory Pie Crust as directed above. Place dough on lightly floured board, shape round and pat flat with rolling pin. Then roll into 1 1/2 -inch circle. Fold in half and place on bottom of inverted 9-inch pie plate. Open out folded half of pastry and fit snugly to plate. Trim off pastry to outer edge of plate and mark around rim with table fork dipped in flour. Prick crust well. Bake in hot oven (450F) 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Rosie’s Riveting Recipes is available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.

Victory Pie Crust

A photo of a freshly made pie crust ready to be filled. — © Can Stock Photo / StephanieFrey

from the Rosie’s Riveting Recipes historic cookbook

One of my earliest childhood memories is of standing on a stool and watching my mother make a pie crust from scratch. She could sculpt the crust on the rim of the pie plate like Picasso, and she’d always break off little pieces and let me taste it. The raw dough was delicious. (It still is.)

Sadly, my mother soon stopped baking pies. She always said her mother could whip up a pie crust with virtually no effort at all, so perhaps my mother felt that she simply couldn’t compete with Grandma’s pies. Whatever the reason, her homemade pies virtually disappeared from the family menu, and, on those rare occasions when she did bake a pie, she used the frozen pie shells.

Fast forward. I’m testing recipes for Rosie’s Riveting Recipes, and the time had come for to try making my own pie crust from scratch. I’d never done it before, but they say certain genes skip a generation. I soon discovered that making pie crust from scratch isn’t rocket science. All you need is flour, baking powder, shortening, and a little water. Having the right tools helps too. I bought a pastry cutter at Walmart, and that investment of a few dollars really paid off because it makes blending in the shortening a snap.

Victory Pie Crust is used in many of the historic recipes in Rosie’s Riveting Recipes. And one other historic note. The word victory was a significant part of the lexicon during World War II. It was a moral booster and it was used everywhere.

Gayle Martin

VICTORY PIE CRUST

1 1/4 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 or 4 tablespoons cold shortening
3 or 3 1/2 tablespoons ice water*

Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt, and sift again. Cut shortening into small pieces; add to flour and cut in until mixture is almost as fine as meal. Make small well in flour mixture. Turn 1 tablespoon ice water in this and mix quickly and lightly with surrounding flour only until a small ball of dough is formed. Do not over mix. Repeat this way, mixing all of the flour in separate portions. Then press portions together lightly but firmly into one dough. Makes enough pastry for 9-inch pie shell. Double recipe for pastry for two-crust pie.

*Use only 3 tablespoons ice water with 4 tablespoons shortening; use 3 1/2 tablespoons ice water with 3 tablespoons shortening.

Note: If the crust should come out too dry and crumbly simply add small amounts of water until the mixture has a more doughy consistency.

Rosie’s Riveting Recipes is available on Amazon, Barnesandnoble.com and with many other online book sellers.