There are so many layers to the story of these pie crust cookies that it's hard to know where to begin. My grandmother was an amazing baker and my mom is too. My grandmother made cobblers and pies, too numerous to count. I remember peach the best. Peach orchards rim the county where my grandmother lived and my mother grew up, so I associate peaches not only with summer but with these two women.

I'm not a fan of cooked fruit, but give me a pie crust any day. To me, the filling of the pie is immaterial to the whole pie business. It's all about the crust. I grew up with these cookies, made first by my maternal grandmother, Grandma Mercedes (not pronounced like the car; the emphasis is on the 1st syllable) and now made by my mom. They're simple, really. Make your pie crust for your pie, but make a little more.

At our house, things break down with the make your pie crust for your pie. Every time my mom comes, we "make" her make us a pie, and every time we have trouble remembering which crust recipe was the very best. I'm going to suggest you pick your own recipe here, even pre-made will do.

If you make a pie, go ahead and make it, but really? That part isn't necessary. If you don't bake a pie, preheat your oven to 350º. Take whatever pie dough you have left, roll it out and cut into long strips. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, brush milk on the strips. Sprinkle a combination of cinnamon and sugar onto the strips of dough.

Bake in the 350º oven for 10-15 minutes or until brown. Try not to eat them all before Neel gets home.

Is it the barely sweet that makes them so wonderful? Or is it the fact that we rarely have them? I'm not sure which. Callum and I contemplated just making a batch for the fun of it, and thought, nah, we'll wait for Ama. I think they taste better that way.

There were so many ways that I didn't fit in to the small conservative southern town that I grew up in. Really, too many to count. The story I started to tell you was about a memory I had of the summer of 1980 and my mom wearing a tee shirt commemorating the Moscow Olympics. It was shortly after the decision to boycott and she was chastised by a neighbor of ours (do you remember that mom? maybe you have more insight!). And then I thought, huh. The more things change, the more they stay the same, right? Not that we're going to boycott the Olympics, but Russia again?

Anyway, I digress. One of the ways my family was different was that my parents shared cooking duties. My dad handled two nights a week and he was responsible for the Spam and brown sugar glaze that I spoke fondly of in Rooth's blog last week.

He was also responsible for corn fritters. People, I love corn fritters. I don't know for sure how he got them to our table (were they made from scratch? were they frozen and then baked or pan fried?), but it seemed we had them only rarely, never enough.

I loved corn fritter night.

Now I would gladly heat up pre-made frozen corn fritters on a weeknight; I'm not proud. If only I could find them. For a little while there our grocery store carried something corn fritter-like, but I think it was meant as a chicken nugget substitute, so: not the same. I had no choice to but to try to make my own.

Corn Fritters, adapted from marthastewart.com

1/2 - 3/4 bag of Trader Joes Frozen Roasted Corn or 3 ears, husks and silks removed
1/3 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 - 1/2 cup corn meal
1/4 - 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Vegetable oil
sour cream
maple syrup

Preheat oven to 200º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

If you are using fresh corn, remove the kernels from the cob by standing cob on end in a bowl and slicing downward with a sharp knife. Add the following ingredients to the bowl of corn (fresh or frozen): milk, egg, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper. Fold in the corn meal and flour, starting with 1/4 cup each and adding more until the mixture resembles a fairly dense batter. It shouldn't be runny.

Coat the bottom of a nonstick skillet with vegetable oil. On medium heat, drop batter in tablespoons into the oil, but don't crowd the pan. You'll probably need to do this in two batches. Fry the fritters until golden brown, flipping once. Roughly 2-4 minutes per side.

Place the cooked fritters on the baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you cook the other fritters.

Serve with sour cream or maple syrup (my personal favorite, because salty/sweet, duh).

baking history :: pie crust cookies {life}

baking history :: corn fritters {life}