Buttermilk Pie with a little help from Cowgirl Sue

There’s nothing more southern than dishes that use buttermilk. Buttermilk biscuits, buttermilk pancakes, buttermilk and corn bread … that’s right, buttermilk and cornbread. My grandparents (Nanny and PaPa) used to like buttermilk and cornbread (and sometimes sweet milk and cornbread) all mashed together in a glass or bowl and eaten with a spoon. Yuck. I’m not a fan myself, but I am a fan of my Nanny’s buttermilk pie. I just got off the phone from talking to her and she said she thought she should write a cookbook that features buttermilk recipes. I told her it was a great idea!

This is my favorite picture of my nanny. I think she looks pretty, but tough. That’s my PaPa holding the gate for her. This picture is appropriately labeled Cowgirl Sue on my computer.

I wasn’t a fan of buttermilk pie until I reached adulthood. When I was a kid I thought it was gross to be honest. Pie made out of buttermilk seemed strange to me. However, last Christmas Nate and I stayed with my Nanny and she served us a slice of buttermilk pie that I absolutely loved. She also uses the base for this buttermilk pie to make bread pudding. While I didn’t care for it as a child, I love it now.

I think it’s nice to find out as an adult that you like many of the things you didn’t like as a kid. In fact, Nate recently made mashed potatoes with turnips and we loved them after having a life-long hatred of turnips. On the other hand, that same night, we made macaroni and cheese from a box, which I adored as a child and would have eaten everyday of my youth. To be honest, it wasn’t all that good to me now. So, I guess it works both ways. Noting the fact that we liked the turnips, but no longer like the comfort food of our youth, Nate said: “I think you know you’re getting old when you prefer turnips in your potatoes to some Kraft mac and cheese.” He may be right!

Here are a few things I didn’t like when I was younger that I do like now:

• Green Beans
  
• Asparagus
  
• Pork Roast
  
• Bananas
  
• Baked fish
  
• Oatmeal
  
• Chicken and Dumplings
  
• Mayonnaise
  
• Coffee
  
• Cauliflower
  
• Tamales
  
• Meatloaf
  
• Cabbage

I’m sure there are more things I can’t remember. I’m just glad to mature and find out that I do like Buttermilk Pie.  

By the way, when I called my grandmother for her recipe for Buttermilk Pie, she gave me the ingredients out of her head and then I adapted some other recipes to make a similar version. She and I agree this is pretty close to how she makes hers. I knew I wanted to add sugar and nutmeg to the top.  And, yes, I did use a store bought piecrust. Please don’t judge me. I’m a busy working woman.

Please post a comment — what are some foods you like now, but didn’t like as a kid?

Recipe:

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter melted

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons flour

3 eggs, beaten

1 pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla or ½ vanilla bean scraped

1 cup buttermilk

1 deep-dish pie shell (either your own recipe or store bought)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light.

Add the eggs and beat; then beat in vanilla.

Add flour, salt and buttermilk and beat until smooth

Pour into a deep-dish pie shell

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 350F and bake for 50-60 additional minutes. Pie should turn a nice golden brown and a knife inserted should come out clean. For extra flavor, sprinkle the top with 1 tablespoon of sugar mixed with ½ teaspoon of nutmeg for the last ten minutes of cooking time. If top gets too brown, simply tent with aluminum foil, just make sure the foil isn’t touching the pie.

** Note: I sprinkled the sugar and nutmeg on mine right before I put it in the oven and then tented it about 30 minutes into the cooking time.

I also used real vanilla bean for this recipe. You can see the dark flecks of vanilla. Yum.