Some mornings I’m overwhelmed with inspirational ideas. I keep a pen and paper at the end of my bakery counter and jot down random thoughts between rolling pie crusts. Usually there’s a cup of very strong coffee nearby. Other times I simply can’t think of anything novel to bake or write about no matter how much caffeine I consume. This week was one of those weeks. My attempt at creating a completely novel chocolate marshmallow pie which my son dubbed the “ooey gooey” pie was a sticky disaster.
Fortunately, my afternoon stint at the farm stand provides me with an opportunity to meet dozens of people. Although sometimes I bemoan the fact that I have to be there because of the overwhelming amount of tasks I must accomplish to keep my bakery and household running (and the limited amount of time in the day for me to do so), I do enjoy meeting people from all walks of life. I’m always curious what they’re making with the ingredients they’re purchasing and I find that people are very excited to share their recipes with me. I love the glowing looks on their faces when they reminisce about recipes past. They talk about their grandmothers’ baking prowess in particular and would sometimes lament how no one in their family has managed to replicate something she’d bake or how recipes were lost over time on account of not being written down.
Thankfully, the day after the “ooey gooey” fiasco a lovely lady I’ve known for some time came to shop and provided the necessary inspiration for something novel for me to bake. Although I’ve never baked a cheesecake recipe with success, she assured me that this was exceptionally simple. I loved the fact that she made it entirely in her blender as I too, have resorted to this technique on occasion even when the stand mixers were operational and that you could easily substitute some of the ingredients. I also loved the fact that this recipe would allow me to take advantage of the local strawberries yet again.
Dorothy Brown’s Cheesecake PieIngredients:
2 cups cottage cheese or, in the alternative, 1 cup of cottage cheese and 1 cup of ricotta cheese;
2 cups milk;1 1/4 cups of white sugar
1/4 cup melted butter (or margarine)
3 eggs2 tablespoons flour. She and I both buy ours at FM Browns.
1 teaspoon vanillaThe juice of 1 entire lemon
Instructions:Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place all of the ingredients into a blender and mix well and when I say “mix” if your blender is anything like mine just hit any button because they all do the same thing. Pour the mix into an unbaked pie shell. This recipe will make enough filling for two eight inch pies. Bake for 30 minutes or until the center appears to be firm. Let cool completely before serving. We put sliced strawberries on ours.
Although I will not be baking with marshmallow and condensed milk anytime in the near future I will most certainly be making this pie on multiple occasions and varying the fruit according to what’s available locally. I will also make an effort to write down specific recipes to hand down to my own family and encourage everyone else with a love of baking (and their families) to do the same.
Felicia Fisher is the founder of Black Buggy Baking Company and lives in Oley, PA with her husband and three children who are all willing taste-testers. To find out what Felicia’s baking up visit her web page www.blackbuggybakingcompany.com or “Like” Black Buggy Baking Company on Facebook or simply come visit at Fisher’s Produce of Oley.