Pi Day!

This cook book from 1960 is the perfect "i love vintage" entry for 3/14, aka Pi Day! The recipes include so much shortening, you guys. And lots of raw eggs in frostings. And "enriched flour," which, is that even a thing anymore?

Unfortunately, there's no close-up photo of the luridly-green lime pie shown on the cover. But there is a pic of a nice-looking apple pie which has been defiled with "cheese cornucopias:" rolled-up slices of what appears to be American cheese, held in their cone shapes with clove "pegs." Urp. 

I include the following page as an entry for my imaginary "most iconic image of a cherry pie" contest.

Pecan pie was a family favorite when I was growing up. My grandmother grew up in Louisiana. To honor her memory I try to remember to pronounce "pecan" with the "can" rhyming with "car," not with"man."
It tickles me that they angled the serving spade just so in order  to reflect the pink flower that's been cropped out of the frame.

And this is 1960, so there is a lot of canned fruit showing up all over the place. I admit that I am a fan of chilled cling peaches in juice (not syrup). The recipe (not shown) for this Peach Parfait Pie calls for a No. 2 1/2 can. (What? Here. Thank you, Google.) The rest of the recipe involves gelatin and vanilla ice cream.

And finally, a non-pie dessert that I felt compelled to share on account of its accompanying mums with cut-out paper facial features stuck on them. Also, note the chopped walnut and candy corn garnish. This is a Spice Layer Cake with Date-Nut Filling and Brown-sugar Frosting, if you're curious. Go-with: Hot Cider, back when cider was filtered so completely it may as well have been plain ol' apple juice. 

Happy Pi Day! I hope you get to enjoy a slice.
​xo