After last week’s [undeniably odd] green tomato pie, this week’s pie needed to be a sure bet. We recently had spent some time experimenting with butter making–what, this isn’t what everyone does on the weekends?–which left us with fresh, real buttermilk in the fridge.

This Amish buttermilk pie is going to become one of my go-to pies. (Have I mentioned that one should ALWAYS trust the Amish when it comes to desserts? No exception here.) It’s quick and simple to put together, and it seems extremely versatile in terms of flavors and additions. Since it was one of the last warm weeks before autumn turned cold, I opted for bright flavors: lemon and raspberry. The results were fresh, light, and completely delightful.

This time I made cute mini-pies in silicon muffin cups.

Lemon Raspberry Buttermilk Pie (made 11/8/15)

1 single piecrust recipe, unbaked
¾ c. sugar
2 Tbsp. + ¼ c. flour, separated
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 c. buttermilk (store bought is fine)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
½ c. fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll pie crust to a circle approximately 11 inches in diameter, and lay in greased 9-inch pie pan. Set aside.

Separate eggs and set aside the egg whites. Mix the egg yolks, sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, butter, buttermilk, lemon juice, and zest.

Rinse the raspberries if they are not already cleaned. Toss with the remaining ¼ cup of flour, then sift off any excess flour. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whip the egg whites with an electric mixer on high speed until they are foamy and form stiff peaks.* Gently fold egg whites and coated raspberries into the buttermilk mixture, leaving small pillows of egg whites remaining. Pour mixture into piecrust.

Bake pie for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then lower oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 50 minutes, or until the middle is firm and a toothpick comes out clean. Serve at room temperature or chilled. (If making mini-pies like mine, they will only require 12-20 minutes at 350 after the initial 400-degree bake.)

*Note: If you wish, you may omit separating the eggs and beating the egg whites, simply adding whole eggs to the filling mixture. I do like the fluffy bit of “crust” that forms on top of the pie, though.