Honeysuckle Season

by Mary Ellen Taylor

  Buttermilk Pie

  3 eggs

  ⅔ cup sugar

  ½ cup honey

  1 cup buttermilk

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  ½ teaspoon salt

  1 prepared piecrust

  Lay piecrust in a greased pan. Mix together the remaining ingredients and pour into the shell. Bake at 350°F for 35–40 minutes. Serve with fresh fruit or ice cream.

  Chess Pie

  ½ cup butter, softened

  2 cups white sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  4 eggs

  1 tablespoon cornmeal or bread crumbs

  ¼ cup evaporated milk

  1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

  1 9-inch pie shell

  Preheat oven to 425°F.

  Cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Mix in eggs one at a time. Next, blend in cornmeal or bread crumbs, evaporated milk, and vinegar. When the mixture is smooth, pour into prepared pie shell. Bake for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 300°F, and continue baking for another 40 minutes.

  Honeysuckle Syrup

  1 cup sugar

  1 cup honeysuckle blossoms

  2 cups water

  Place all ingredients into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and as soon as the mixture bubbles, reduce heat, and simmer until water is reduced by half. Strain out the blossoms and let cool.

  Lemon Cake

  3 lemons

  2⅔ cups all-purpose flour

  ½ teaspoon baking soda

  ½ teaspoon salt

  1 cup oil

  2 cups granulated sugar

  3 eggs

  1 cup buttermilk

  Zest each of the lemons and reserve. Juice the lemons. Sift together the dry ingredients, including the flour, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl mix the oil and sugar. Mix in 1 egg at a time. Add ⅓ of the sifted dry ingredients, and when incorporated, add 1 cup of buttermilk. Alternate until all is blended. Mix in lemon juice and rind. Spoon batter into two round cake pans and place in a preheated 350°F oven. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

  Glaze

  4 tablespoons butter, melted

  2 cups powdered sugar

  2–4 tablespoons water

  1 tablespoon lemon juice

  Mix together melted butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of water. Continue to add water until the desired consistency is achieved. Drizzle over a warm turned-out cake.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © 2017 by Studio FBJ

  A southerner by birth, Amazon Charts bestselling author Mary Ellen Taylor displays a love of her home state of Virginia that is evident in her contemporary women’s fiction. When Mary Ellen’s not writing, she spends time baking, hiking, and spoiling her miniature dachshunds, Buddy, Bella, and Tiki.