Help! I purchased too much buttermilk... Chess pie to the rescue!
It’s a common scenario. That great recipe you’ve been checking out for weeks keeps calling your name and you just have to make it. When checking what ingredients you need you see buttermilk on the list. No big deal right? What you didn’t account for was only being able to buy buttermilk by the liter and only needing a quarter cup for the recipe. Now you have nearly a full bottle of buttermilk on your hands. There is no shame in that. I am here to help. Let me present you with a recipe that has saved me a few times when I ran into this issue… Chess Pie.
Chess pie is a sweet and tangy buttermilk based pie that is more commonly found in the southeastern US states. I first stumbled across chess pie when, I too had an abundance of buttermilk with few outlets. This led me to find many recipes including buttermilk ranch dressing, pancakes, and biscuits (which are all amazing options) and then I found Chess Pie to satisfy my dessert cravings.
All about buttermilk
Now, stepping back from the recipe a bit, If you do not have a recipe that uses a large amount of buttermilk you might be able to find an alternative option. You may be asking yourself… “What is buttermilk anyway?”.
Historically buttermilk was the resulting liquid that remained after churning… butter! This liquid was mildly sweet but not acidic. Contrast that to the buttermilk you are likely to find at your grocer, Cultured Buttermilk, which is not as sweet and is more acidic. Cultured buttermilk is a product made in a similar fashion to yogurt. Using milk and introducing cultures which eat the milk and produce some lactic acid as a byproduct of fermentation.
If your recipe calls for buttermilk, it is likely referring to the acidic cultured buttermilk which is important if your recipe uses baking soda as a rising agent which needs the acid to react with and create bubbles. Which means if you want to substitute buttermilk, you will need to find something that has the same acidic kick, either resulting from natural cultures or added acidity.
If the recipe isn’t 100% dependent on just the buttermilk there are substitutes made with more common kitchen ingredients. Some substitutes include Kefir, Sour Cream, and even milk with lemon juice or vinegar added. I recommend checking out this detailed article from King Arthur flour which does a deep dive on how best to use substitutes.
Taste Verdict
This recipe is really simple to pull together. It is made even less complex if using premade pie dough from the store. If you would like to make your own, here is a link to a solid recipe for pie crust, again from King Arthur flour.
Chess Pie utilizes quite a bit of buttermilk in the recipe and that is noticeable in the end product. The resulting pie is creamy, tangy, and sweet. This is definitely a recipe that you should check out if you have too much buttermilk on hand. Is it a recipe I would go out of my way to buy buttermilk for? Honestly, probably not. the big question is, would I make it again if I have too much buttermilk? Absolutely!
I hope, if you find yourself in the situation of having too much buttermilk you will take a shot and try this recipe out! If you make it, let me know what you think!
If you enjoyed this baking project, check out some of my other recipes here!
Buttermilk Chess Pie
Equipment
- 9 inch pie pan
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Measuring Spoons
- Measuring Cups
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch pie crust
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons finely ground cornmeal or coarse if you cannot find it
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
Instructions
- Prep pie crust from either store-bought or homemade crust. There is no need to blind bake the pie crust with this recipe.
- In a large bowl, mix together all filling ingredients, whisk until smooth.
- Pull the top rack of the oven out slightly and place the prepared pie crust onto the top rack.
- Pour in filling mixture into pie crust and then sprinkle brown sugar onto the pie filling.
- Push the top rack back into the oven, close, and bake until chess pie is completely set, about 60 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let the mixture cool for 3 hours until room temperature. One at room temperature you can either dig in or you can refrigerate for a chilly treat.