Lemon Chess Pie with Water Whipped Crust

I love Lemon Chess Pie.

I’m not really blogging about the pie I made for Christmas as much as this crust. Who would think you could make pie crust with boiling water? Who would think you could roll this crust till the cows come home and it would bake up flaky?

I found this crust recipe in an old Southern Living magazine, Sept. 1995. They gave the credit to a lady, Eloise Pope.

Thank you Southern Living and Eloise Pope. I will never again make my conventional pie crust.

Water Whipped Crust

3/4 cup shortening
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 cup boiling water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Place first 3 ingredients in deep mixing bowl and whip at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy and incorporated.

Add flour and salt and beat at lowest mixer speed until all ingredients are moist. Shape into 2 balls and place in refrigerator for 4 hours.

Remove and roll on wax paper coated with a bit of flour.

Fit in pie plate as desired. Without filling bake at 350 for 18 minutes. Filled follow pie directions

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The filling is great also. Not as amazing, but wonderful.

Lemon Chess PIe

2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon fine yellow cornmeal
4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter — melted
2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice with pulp
1 unbaked pie shell — (9-inch)

Directions
In a large bowl combine the sugar, flour and cornmeal. Blend well, then add the eggs and combine well. Add the milk and mix then stir in the melted butter, lemon rind and juice. Pour this filling into the crust and cover then edge of the crust with foil to prevent it from burning, taking care not to touch the filling. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes, removing the foil after 30 minutes. Cool and serve or refrigerate overnight but let sit out 3 hours before serving to warm up slightly.