Sunkist Orange Pie Filling and Eight-Minute Meringue

Click on image to view larger

This recipe is one of a set of gorgeously illustrated vintage Sunkist recipes I found in Grammy's recipe box preserved in nearly pristine condition. Feel free to download the image so you can print it out and use it in your kitchen.

Ingredients for pie filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Grated rind from 1 Sunkist orange
• 1 cup Sunkist orange juice
• Juice of 1/2 Sunkist lemon
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 egg yolks, beaten light

Instructions for pie filling:

1. Mix sugar, flour, salt, and grated rind
2. Add fruit juice
3. Cook in double boiler for ten minutes, stirring until thickened, and afterward, occasionally
4. Add butter and beaten egg yolks
5. Cook two minutes
6. Cool
7. Put in a pie crust that has been baked on the outside of a tin pie plate
8. Prepare meringue (see below)

Ingredients for Eight-Minute Meringue:

• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/6 cup granulated sugar
• Grated Sunkist lemon rind [lemon zest]

Instructions for Eight-Minute Meringue:

1. Beat egg whites with egg-beater until stiff
2. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating vigorously
3. Fold in granulated sugar
4. Add lemon zest to flavor

Instructions for finishing pie:

1. Cover pie filling in pie crust with meringue mixture (see below)
2. Bake for 8 minutes in a moderate oven (350°F-375°F)

Seed Cake

This typewritten recipe for a bundt cake has limited instructions but seems fairly straightforward.

Ingredients:

• 1 package yellow cake mix
• 1 package instant lemon pudding
• 1 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 4 tablespoons poppy seeds

Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients
2. Bake in greased and floured bundt pan at 325°F for one hour or until done

Lemon Supreme Special

This recipe is written in Grammy's handwriting and is attributed to Connie Sherwood.

Ingredients for cake:

• 1 Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix
• 1 cup apricot nectar
• 3/4 cups salad oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar

Ingredients for icing:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Mix cake mix, sugar, oil and nectar
2. Add one egg at a time, beating them in
3. Bake in tube pan at 350°F for 1 hour
4. Cool right side up for 15 minutes
5. Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice separately
6. Pour icing mixture over cake while still warm to make a glaze

Lemon Loaf Cake

This recipe is written in a handwriting I don't recognize. Since it says it is from the kitchen of Gae Barker, I suspect it is her handwriting.

Ingredients for cake:

• 1 package white or yellow cake mix
• 1-3 ounce package of lemon Jello
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup undrained crushed pineapple (do not drain)

Ingredients for icing:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Instructions [pretty vague and do not include mixing steps]:

1. Bake at 350°F in 13-inch by 9-inch by 2-inch greased and floured pan until done [again, very vague without a specific baking time]
2. While cake is warm, poke fork in it all over, then pour icing over cake slowly

Mystery of Grammy's Pumpkin Chiffon Pie recipe solved

About twenty years ago, I discovered a recipe for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie written in my Grammy's handwriting and made it as part of a homemaking class on recipes using pumpkin (I also taught how to make your own pumpkin pie filling from fresh pumpkins). It was a lighter and fluffier recipe than any pumpkin pie I'd tasted before, seeming quite chic and sophisticated.

It wasn't until today that I discovered the possible source of that recipe. As I thumbed through a well-used copy of "Aunt Chick's Pies" by Netti Pendleton McBirney (1940), I found some clues. In the index, I found penciled checkmarks next to only three recipes--one was for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie. I also found my Grammy's handwriting in the margins of page 4 of the pamphlet (as well as speckles of white flour from her kitchen stuck to page 3, still white and looking very flour-like).

What I'm finding wonderful about this fairly succinct recipe pamphlet is the breadth of knowledge it contains. It covers all the basics about pie crusts but also covers the basics of tarts, fried pies, filled cookies, doughnuts, ravioli, sweet dessert pies and savory meal-in-a-crust pies. If you want a traditional recipe for Christmas mincemeat pie, it's in here. If you want the recipe for "Southern Sweet Potato Pie", it's got that too. There's a whole section covering just custard pies (that's where you'll find a recipe for "Peanut Butter Pie").

In addition to a list of all the necessary tools you need to make pies from scratch (see photo below), there are specific instructions on caring for a non-stick pastry canvas just like I watched my mom use for years (keep in mind this was written in 1940 and my copy is a reprint from 1944 so there is at least one racially insensitive statement about Japan in this section).

The opening page has an interesting couple of paragraphs under "War Time Pastry" that give us a peek into what it was like for cooks at that time. Here's a transcription of the text:

"Metals are gone so I can no longer sell you a blender. However one of these days this fight is going to be over. In the meantime if you have no blender use the recipe for Hot Water Piecrust given below. It is just as good a piecrust. It has a slightly greasy feeling as you handle it which I do not like especially but the results are worth working for.  

"Fats will be scarce no doubt, therefore use your own ingenuity patterned on what I will tell you below, using bacon fat, chicken, turkey, goose, or any other fat you may have on hand, especially for biscuits and meat pies. The government is after only that fat for which you have no use."

Just from the excerpt above, I'm thinking many of the recipes could be adapted for survivalist conditions, off-the-grid cooking, or outdoor camp-kitchen conditions (possibly even a dutch oven). Let me know if any of you test any of the recipes in any of those ways. I'd love to know if my hunch is right.

I've scanned the entire pamphlet and 

made it available in a pdf file to view or download 

Click here to see it