Tres Leches Cake and Lemon Chess Pie ("Bill Clinton's favorite pie"). I got to make 2 different deserts this week. The Tres Leches Cake turned out real nice and was very moist and tasty. It had just the right amount of the milk mixtures in it. So when it was plated it didn't make a big puddle all over the plate. I would have liked to garnish it with some sliced fruit or caramel but we didn't have any. I was pretty surprised that the chess pie turned out so well. The recipes in the book can be a bit "off" some times. The pie is like a lemon custard and gets most of its flavor from the lemon zest and buttermilk. It forms a nice thin, crunchy layer on top as it bakes. The history of the pie is unclear but one theory is around the time the pie was invented, it did not have a name and when the cook was asked what kind of pie it was, she simply replied "Its ches pie" which is southern speak for "It's just pie" ). I did see another recipe on line for this pie I might try next time, basically its the same ingredients except you separate the eggs into yolks and whites. At the end you whip up the whites to stiff peaks and fold it into the batter. ------------------------------ Lemon Chess Pie INGREDIENT AMOUNT Eggs (room temp) 4 Sugar 1 1/2 cups White cornmeal 1 tablespoon APF flour 1 tablespoon Salt 1/2 teaspoon Butter (melted, cooled to room temp) 5 tablespoons Buttermilk 1/2 cup Lemon juice 5 tablespoons Lemon zest 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon Unbaked 9-inch pie crust 1 Whipped cream (optional) Procedure 1) Preheat the oven to 350F . 2) Whisk the eggs to blend. 3) Add each of the ingredients through vanilla in order, completely incorporating one before adding the next. 4) Pour the filling into the piecrust and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the pie is golden brown on top and almost set. The center of the pie should remain slightly loose; it will set as it cools. 5) Cool completely before cutting. NOTE: It is important that all ingredients for the pie be at room temperature. Otherwise, blending may be difficult, and the cold ingredients, especially buttermilk or lemon juice, will cause the butter to re-solidify and separate from the mixture.