Buttermilk pie with raspberry crown
Instructions:
- Bake and cool the pie shell.
- When ready to make the pie, preheat the oven to 350°F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Whip the egg whites in a large, very clean glass or metal bowl until they are mixed and look cloudy with an electric mixer set to low speed. Increase the mixer speed to high and whip to soft peaks. Set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy in a large bowl with the mixer set to high speed. Beat in the egg yolks and mix well. Beat in the flour, vinegar, vanilla, lemon zest, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the buttermilk.
- Use a rubber spatula to fold about one-fourth of the beaten egg whites into the buttermilk mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in the rest of the beaten whites. (The batter should be fairly smooth, but it is better to have a few visible wisps of whites than to stir so hard that you deflate the whites completely.) Pour the filling into the pie shell. The filling should come just to the inside rim of the crust, so you might have a little filling left over. You can discard it or bake it in a ramekin as a cook’s treat.
- Bake until the filling is lightly browned and a tester inserted 3 inches from the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. (When done, custard fillings are not firm in the very center. When gently shaken, the center should jiggle slightly but no longer slosh or ripple.)
- Cool the pie to room temperature on a wire rack. The center of the pie will fall and firm up as it cools. Cover the top of the pie with fresh raspberries arranged in pretty concentric circles. Serve at room temperature or lightly chilled.
- Tips and Techniques. Cold eggs are easiest to separate because cold yolks are less likely to break. Egg whites won’t whip properly if they contain even a speck of yolk, so crack the eggs one at a time. Collect each white in a small cup and then pour it into the work bowl. That way, if you do break the yolk, it spoils only that one white in the cup instead of all of them in the bowl. If you drop in a bit of shell, fish it out with a large piece of shell; the little piece will almost magically cling to the larger piece.