Reviving old fashioned recipes

I was leafing through an ancient cookbook from the late 1950s yesterday because it was too cold to convince myself to do anything healthier.  I somehow found myself in the Pies and Pastry section, a place I should never ever go.  Since I did have to make something for someone, I braved it anyway, and found a recipe I’d never seen before, and one that looked intriguing.  So I made it and weighed the ingredients, too.

Here is the crust, which is the unusual recipe.  The filling is just any old filling you want.

Mounds don't

Chocolate Coconut Crust

butter very well a 9″ pie plate or 22 cm tart pan

2 oz. /56 g unsweetened chocolate

2 tablespoons / 28 g butter

2 tablespoons / 29 ml hot milk

2/3 cup / 56 g confectioner’s/powdered sugar, sifted before measuring

1 1/2 cup or 120 g dried coconut, or shredded coconut cut up finer

In a small pan, heat the butter and chocolate and when melted, add the milk.  Gradually stir in all the sugar and the coconut.  Scrape into the buttered pie pan.  Using buttered fingers, press the mixture into the pan, covering the bottom and the sides completely.  Hold it up to the light to discover any thin areas or holes.  Chill from 2 to 3 hours before filling with a cooled filling.

I made a butterscotch filling meant to be frozen.  I think I would prefer a cream or chiffon filling to the frozen.  If you do freeze it, you need to dip the pan into hot water briefly, or you cannot get the crust out in whole slices.

Butterscotch pie with chocolate crust

I sprinkled it with cocoa because I did not like the color of the butterscotch.  I wish I’d just made a vanilla cream and drizzled it with chocolate ganache.  I didn’t consider the pie a success, but the crust recipe is certainly a keeper.  Just be sure to really butter the pan and to briefly heat it before serving.
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