When Anna called yesterday and asked me if I wanted to come over to her cute new condo and make jelly pies - well- who would turn that down? Anna and I met when she and my son were in pre-school together. It was love at first sight. We’ve been cooking and crafting together since she was old enough to reach my countertop. Now she’s all grown up! She’s bought a condo and has better shoes than I’ll ever dream of, and best of all we still love to cook and craft together.
The recipe we made yesterday was from Anna’s great grandmother’s collection. It was in her treasured recipe box and, judging by appearance, has been referred to plenty of times. The recipe was passed down to Anna with one specification – it has to be stirred with a wooden spoon and of course Anna has a special one just for that. Don’t panic or give up on this recipe if you don’t have a special spoon – I’ll be making these pies many times – and my spoons are fairly ordinary.
Here is a little diverging from the story and recipe, but bear with me – it’s good. I was telling my mom all about the pies when she said that one of Anna’s great grandmother’s daughters was a dear friend of hers and she remembered quite well having had the pies. I went on to show her the recipe and laugh about the fact that when my mother or any of her contemporaries give out a recipe, it just has the ingredients listed – like this one for Jelly Pie – and very little instruction.
My mother said – and this has to be quoted - “Because any fool knows how to make a recipe if you know what’s in it.” Well that put me in my place. But I will remain quite glad I helped Anna and paid attention to everything we did.
Back to the pies – they are just delicious. In fact they are sort of like a lightly apple flavored chess pie. Anna said that in her great grandmother’s day they were expected at any party or at any funeral held in Nashville! I guess if you were already having a good time the pies just made it better, and if you were sad they cheered you up. I think it is that kind of pie. The bottom line is that we had so much fun making them and I’m delighted that Anna is letting me share this recipe for Jelly Pies. You will be too.
Stay tuned for Crafting with Anna (Part 2) coming tomorrow!
Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) butter – we were doubling so 2 are in the photo
1 cup sugar
½ cup apple preserves or jelly (we added more than the original recipe called for)
2 eggs
Pinch of salt
12 small sized unbaked pie shells
Directions (sorry Mom)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add eggs to combine.
Stir in apple jelly. (We almost tried Muscadine – pick a flavor you like.)
Mix in about ¼ tsp salt and spoon batter into pie shells.
Bake pies on a cookie sheet (can line with foil to catch any spills) for 35 to 40 minutes until filling is almost set and crust is lightly browned.
Delicious warm or at room temperature.
