Chess Pie Squares
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Lisa Nicklin for The New York Times
These heavenly little bars, adapted from the Southern cookbook author Julia Reed, are a modern-day, perfect-for-a-picnic version of a traditional custard pie made from flour, cornmeal, sugar, eggs, butter and buttermilk. They are like lemon bars without the lip-puckering citrus: a blanket of egg-rich custard generously laced with vanilla atop a lightly salted, crumbly shortbread crust.
(If you don't have buttermilk, you can make an easy substitute by combining one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice with a cup of milk. Let stand for 5 minutes, then measure out 3/4 cup.)
Featured in: ‘Julia Reed’s South’: Entertaining, In Luxurious Down Home Style.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE SHORTBREAD CRUST:
2 cups/240 grams all-purpose flour
½ cup/57 grams confectioners’ sugar
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
6 ounces/57 grams unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
FOR THE FILLING:
6 ounces/57 grams unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
1 ½ cups/297 grams granulated sugar
6 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ cup/168 milliliters buttermilk, at room temperature
2 tablespoons fine white cornmeal
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
PREPARATION
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Make the shortbread crust: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two forks until well blended and the dough holds together when you press a lump in your hand.
Make the shortbread crust: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two forks until well blended and the dough holds together when you press a lump in your hand.
Press dough evenly into the bottom of 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake until edges begin to brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove shortbread from oven and let cool slightly. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, until well blended. Switch to the whisk attachment and slowly beat in vanilla and buttermilk until well blended. Beat in cornmeal and flour until just combined.
Pour filling over crust. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden and set. Cool in the baking dish on a wire rack and cut the dessert into 24 squares (each about 2 inches) to serve.
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