Miss Euphrates’ Pies: Sumptuous Treats from Stony Kill

copyright © 2015 by Marie White Small

All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher.

This edition published by SelectBooks, Inc.

First Edition (ePub)

ISBN 978-1-59079-390-9

Many, many thanks to all of my kind supporters

WELCOME TO THE SUMPTUOUS WORLD OF MISS EUPHRATES’ PIES…

Miss Euphrates is a pivotal character in the novel, Stony Kill by Marie White Small. Miss Euphrates is a woman of considerable skills and wisdom, and in the story teaches Joss Ellen Ryckman how to cook and bake pies. Here are several of Miss Euphrates favorite pie and tart recipes.

STONY KILL is Marie White Small’s debut novel. This richly detailed family tragedy tells the story of a woman who must first come to terms with her past before facing a less than certain future. Stony Kill is available whereever books or ebooks are sold.

Contents

Pie Recipes

Recipies for Pie Crusts

Lagniappe

Alphabetical Listing of Recipes

About the Author

PIE RECIPES

WELCOME!

MISS EUPHRATES SAYS…

“You got to have some heart, some soul to make a pie. Passion’s what makes a thing good. Pie-making or love-making—it all comes from the same place. You got to fall in love with your ingredients, and always be trying new methods.”

MISS EUPHRATES EXPLAINS HOW MISS DEZZARAE TAUGHT HER TO BAKE PIES…

“She was my auntie, my mother’s sister. I lived with Miss Dezzarae and her man, Mister Henry Moses, when I was a young child in the Carolinas on the edge of the wild ocean. Every Sunday we’d take the ferry over to the island just offshore. Uncle Henry Moses had himself a farm stand there. After church let out, all those ladies be buying his okra, collard green, melons, sweet corn—ripe succulent produce, fresh-picked that very morning.

“But the main attraction was always the array of homemade pies Miss Dezzarae set out for all those fine church ladies. She was famous round those parts for her pies and tarts. That woman could make a pie out of anything—navy beans with molasses, fluffy white potatoes with candied lemons, cornmeal mush and farmer’s cheese scented with oranges—whatever she had on hand. She called them her “pantry pies.” ‘Every one of them as good as any fruit pie,’ she always said. ‘Don’t be shy! Experiment a little. It’s just a pie. If it’s no good, there’ll be a better one tomorrow.’”

AFTER YEARS OF EXPERIMENTING…

“These are my favorite recipes. I even included a recipe for some pretty Heirloom Tomato Tarts. They are delicious, even though Miss Joss never did have much use for tomatoes! Use the best you can buy and bear in mind when you’re making pastry dough, it is not just the ingredients, it is technique: a light hand when it comes to mixing, and properly chilling the dough before you roll it. And if you can, use a French rolling pin. Recipes for pastry, and lagniappe—those divine little extras—are all together, following the pie recipes.

“Ladies, and gentlemen, too! Time to put on your wide apron— there’s flour involved! Let’s make us some pies!”

SALVATION PECAN PIE

THIS PIE HAS WON CONTESTS…

Because this pie is baked in a slow oven, the liqueur does not cook off. The Kahlua kick is a lovely surprise! This pie needs to ripen for a day before serving.

CRUST

1 teaspoon Kahlua

1 egg yolk

Prepare a half-recipe of Miss Euphrates’ Pastry Dough for a single shell (see instructions under Pie Crust Recipes). Use Kahlua as the liqueur.

Preheat oven to 400° F. Prick chilled shell with a fork. Fit parchment paper over raw shell. Add pie weights. Bake twelve minutes. Beat together the Kahlua and the egg yolk. Brush onto shell. Bake for another two minutes. Reduce oven to 275° F.

FILLING

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons finely ground dark roast coffee beans

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup dark corn syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ cup kahlua (scant)

1 cup finely ground pecans

1 cup pecan halves

Toast pecans in a heavy bottom pan. Grind half of them to a fine powder. Set aside. Melt butter in double boiler. Whisk in sugar, salt, corn syrup, eggs (one at a time), and coffee. Heat to 130° F. or until mixture is shiny and quite warm to the touch. Remove from heat. Add nuts, vanilla, and Kahlua. Fill Shell. Bake fifty to sixty minutes at 275° F. Allow pie to ripen for one day before serving.

SWEET POTATO TARTLETS WITH CORNMEAL CRUST

CRUST

Prepare a recipe of Cornmeal Crust (see instructions under Pie Crust Recipes).

FILLING

1½ cups fresh mashed sweet potatoes, whizzed in a food processor

2 beaten eggs

½ cup cream

a pinch of salt

½ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon cardamon

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of rum, brandy, or bourbon

2 tablespoons butter, melted

12 fresh blackberries

blackberry jam

12 mint leaves

Mix sweet potato, eggs, cream, salt, sugar, cardamom vanilla, and spirits. Blend well. Stir in melted butter.

ASSEMBLE THE TARTS

Cut 12 parchment rounds and place in the bottom of individual tart pans. Roll the dough, making sure it is not too thin. Thins crusts are difficult to remove from the tins. Fit into each tin, pressing the excess off on the edge of the tin. fill with sweet potato mixture. Bake forty-five minutes at 375° F.

Cool. Garnish with blackberries that have been coated in melted

PEACH PIE WITH CHERRIES AND CORNMEAL CRUST

CRUST

Prepare a recipe of Cornmeal Crust (see instructions under Pie Crust Recipes).

FILLING

6-8 ripe peaches

15 ripe cherries, pitted and halved

½ teaspoon orange zest

1 tablespoon peach schnapps

¾ cup sugar

½ cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

Douse the peaches in boiling water for five minutes, set aside for another five minutes and then slide the skins from the fruit pulp. This works best while the peaches are still hot. Slice the fruit into a mixing bowl. Add the cherries, orange zest, schnapps, sugar, flour and salt. Mix gingerly with a large spoon and set aside.

Make sure the dough is well chilled, and then roll out the cornmeal crust dough, using plenty of flour on your rolling surface (parchment paper works well) and on the rolling pin for a 9-inch fluted tart pan. Transfer dough to the tart pan, carefully laying the edges over the pan. Stir the filling and then pour into the pan.

Roll out the top crust, pinch the edges together, remove the excess dough, and then use a hors d’oeuvres fork to seal the crust.

Add vent holes and small cookie cutter cut-outs of leaves made from the leftover scraps of dough to decorate the top. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Place pie on a parchment lined jelly roll pan, with a wire rack on top, brush the top with cream, sprinkle lightly with sugar, and then place it in the middle of the oven rack. Bake for approximately one hour. Cool for two hours before slicing.

STONE FRUIT PIE

CRUST

Prepare a recipe of Miss Euphrates Pastry Dough (see instructions under Pie Crust Recipes).

FILLING

1 pint of fresh blackberries

4 purple plums

2 ripe nectarines

2 ripe pears

1 tablespoon crème de cassis

zest of 1 lemon

¾ cup sugar

½ cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

Wash and chop plums, nectarines, and pears into uniform slices. Add blackberries, liqueur, zest, sugar, flour, and salt. Mix and set aside.

ASSEMBLE THE PIE

Roll out half the dough for the bottom crust. Fix into a 9-inch pie plate, letting the edges overhang. Add the filling. Roll out the remaining dough. Place on top. Trim the edges and press together and flute the edges. Cut in air vents and decorate with small cutouts of leaves and berries. Place pie in refrigerator to cool for at least a half hour.

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Just before placing the pie in the oven (in the center of the oven on a parchment lined jelly roll pan, with a wire rack on top), brush with cream and sprinkle sugar on the top. Bake for fifteen minutes at 400° F., and then lower oven to 350° F. and cook another forty-five minutes until the pie is golden brown.

CHESTNUT CRÈME ANGLAISE TARTS WITH POACHED PEARS, GANACHE, AND RASPBERRY DRIZZLE

This is a time-consuming recipe, but is not only unique and delicious—it also makes a beautiful presentation.

CRUST

Prepare a recipe of Nut Crust (see instructions under Pie Crust Recipes). Add a disk of parchment paper to the bottom of eight individual tartlet pans. Press in crust mixture. Add another disk of parchment paper, add pie weights and bake at 350° F. for fifteen to twenty minutes.

FILLING

4 Seckle pears, peeled, halved and poached in rosé wine

Chestnut Crème Anglaise (recipe follows)

Ganache (recipe in Lagniappe)

Raspberry Sauce (recipe in Lagniappe), or Pomegranate Seeds

POACHED SECKLE PEARS

1 bottle rosé wine

2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 cup sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise

4 Seckle pears, peeled and halved

Combine wine, lemon juice, sugar, and zest in a large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and cook five minutes. Add pears, lower heat, and cook twenty to thirty minutes, until pears are tender. If necessary, turn pears very gently so they cook evenly. Remove pears to a bowl. Bring poaching liquid to a rapid boil, and reduce by half, about ten minutes. Pour syrup over pears and refrigerate, covered, at least six hours, preferably overnight.

CHESTNUT CRÈME ANGLAISE

½ cup whole milk

½ cup whipping cream

2-inch piece vanilla bean, split

3 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup Whole Chestnuts in Vanilla Syrup (recipe in Lagniappe)

Combine milk and cream in heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring milk mixture to simmer. Remove from heat. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into yolk mixture. Return custard to saucepan. Stir over low heat until custard thickens and leaves a runnel on the back of a spoon when a finger is drawn across it, about five minutes (do not boil). Strain sauce into bowl. Cover and chill. (Can be made one day ahead.) Puree the chestnuts and strain through a sieve. Just before assembling tarts add one cup of pureed chestnuts.

ASSEMBLE THE TARTS

Remove the pears from their poaching liquid and place on a rack allowing them to drain for an hour. Remove the tartlet shells from the tins. Fill to one-third with Chestnut Crème Anglaise. Top with half a pear, top side out. With a cake decorating squeeze bottle with a small tip, zigzag across the tart with Ganache. Refrigerate. Just before serving, garnish with pomegranate seeds, or zigzag in the opposite direction with Fresh Raspberry Drizzle.

PLANK PORCH PIE

CRUST

¾ cup light corn syrup

¾ cup creamy peanut butter

5 cups crushed cereal flakes

¾ cup ganache (recipe in Lagniappe)

In a heavy bottom saucepan, heat the corn syrup so it just begins to boil. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and crushed cereal. Press into the bottom and up onto the sides of a 9-inch by 12-inch buttered baking dish. Freeze for fifteen minutes. Remove from freezer and add a layer of Ganache. Return to freezer for ten minutes

FILLING

5 cups coffee ice cream, softened

1 cup caramel sauce (recipe in Lagniappe)

1 cup chopped salted peanuts

Remove pan from freezer and spread the softened ice cream evenly. Freeze for four hours. To serve, drizzle the top with Caramel Sauce and sprinkle with salted peanuts. Slice with a sharp knife and enjoy!

APPLE PIE WITH WARMED CARAMEL SAUCE AND SALTED WALNUTS

CRUST

Prepare a recipe of Miss Euphrates’ Pastry Dough (see instructions under Pie Crust Recipes).

FILLING

4 pounds of granny smith apples, peeled and sliced

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon allspice

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon calvados

¼ teaspoon salt

Caramel Sauce (recipe in Lagniappe)

Toasted Walnuts (recipe in Lagniappe)

Fleur de sel

Mix all ingredients together, except for the Caramel Sauce, the Toasted Walnuts, and the fleur de sel, and set aside.

ASSEMBLE THE PIE

Roll out half the dough for the bottom crust. Fix into a 9-inch pie plate, letting the edges overhang. Add the filling. Roll out the remaining dough. Place on top. Trim the edges and press together and flute. Cut in air vents and decorate with small cutouts of leaves and berries. Place pie in refrigerator to cool for at least a half hour.

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Just before placing the pie in the oven, brush with cream and sprinkle sugar on the top. Place pie on parchment lined jelly roll pan with a wire rack on top, and bake for fifteen minutes at 400°F., and then lower oven to 350° F. and cook another forty-five minutes until the pie is golden brown.

TO SERVE

Cut and serve slices of pie, adding warm Caramel Sauce topped with Toasted Walnuts and a pinch of fleur de sel.

CRANBERRY GINGER TART IN A TOASTED ALMOND CRUST

CRUST

Prepare Almond Nut Crust (see instructions under Pie Crust Recipes) in a 14-inch by 4½-inch fluted tart pan and follow direction for prebaking.

FILLING

3 cups fresh cranberries, washed and cleaned

1/3 cup finely chopped tender ginger

1 cup sugar

1 cup currant jelly

¼ cup orangecello

1 teaspoon orange zest

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

½ cup cold water

Soften the gelatin in ½ cup of cold water. Set aside. Chop the ginger, using only the most tender and young parts of the root. Combine ginger with the remaining ingredients (except gelatin) in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Simmer for ten minutes, or until the cranberries are soft but not bursting. Do not overcook. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool. Add softened gelatin, and then pour the mixture into a precooked pie shell. Chill for two hours before serving.

GINGER CUSTARD PIE WITH FRESH RASPBERRY DRIZZLE

CRUST

1 teaspoon brandy, rum, or bourbon

1 egg yolk

Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Prepare a half recipe of Miss Euphrates’ pastry dough (see instructions under Pie Crust Recipes). Roll out, fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Flute the edges, and chill for an hour.

Prick chilled shell with a fork. Fit parchment paper over raw shell. Add pie weights. Bake twelve minutes. Beat together brandy, rum, or bourbon and egg yolk. Brush onto shell. Bake for another two minutes.

FILLING

1 cup finely chopped tender ginger

1½ ounces limoncello

1½ ounces rum, brandy, or bourbon

1½ cups sugar

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pats

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Fresh Raspberry Drizzle (recipe in Lagniappe)

Mince young and tender ginger root, place in a bowl. Add the liqueurs and soak for an hour. Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at the time, mixing each addition. Add vanilla, then flour, salt, and zest, pouring in cream as needed to achieve the consistency of scrambled eggs. Add soaked ginger last. Pour the mixture into the partially baked piecrust and bake at 350° F. about fifty minutes, until the center is just set. If the crust appears to be browning too much, tent with aluminum foil.

When the pie is completely cooled, drizzle raspberry sauce is a zigzag design across the pie. Slice and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

HEIRLOOM TOMATO TARTS

CRUST

Prepare a half recipe of Miss Euphrates Pastry Dough (see instructions under Pie Crust Recipes). Substitute the liqueur with ½ teaspoon black pepper. Line six individual tart tins with rounds of parchment paper. Roll out the pastry dough and cut into rounds large enough to fit into the tins. Press overhang against the tins, trimming excess.

FILLING

3 cups of heirloom tomatoes, cut into thirds

½ cup Pesto (recipe in Lagniappe)

Fleur de sel

Fresh ground pepper

Gorgonzola cheese crumbles

Fresh herbs

ASSEMBLE THE TARTS

Divide the Pesto evenly between the six tarts and swirl into the bottom of the raw crust. Add tomatoes and Gorgonzola. Season the tarts with salt and pepper, and then bake at 375° F. for twenty-five minutes, or until done. Serve warm or at room temperature garnished with fresh herbs of your choice.

RECIPES FOR PIE CRUSTS

MISS EUPHRATES’ PASTRY DOUGH

2¼ cups soft pastry flour

1 cup sugar (for a flakier crust, use less sugar)

1½ teaspoons salt (scant)

½ cup non-hydrogenated shortening

½ cup unsalted butter

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream (on the generous side)

Generous Splash of Liqueur—(It is best to use a flavor that compliments your filling, such as crème de cassis for berry pies, or Kahlua for coffee for chocolate tarts.)

Cut the butter and shortening into pats. Cool pats in the freezer until they are cold but not too firm for mixing.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Cut in the pats of butter and shortening until slightly crumbly. Add sour cream, egg yolk, and liqueur. Do not over-mix. The dough should just stick together. If it is too dry, add a little more sour cream. Ball the dough and wrap in parchment paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour.

On a well-floured board, silpat, or parchment paper, roll out the dough. A French pin works best. Roll out from the center in one direction only; do not roll back and forth. When the disk is large enough, roll it onto the pin and uncurl into the pie dish. Fill. Repeat rolling for top crust. Crimp, add vent holes, and refrigerate for one hour. Just before baking, sprinkle with cream or whole milk and dust with sugar.

This recipe makes a tender piecrust due to the addition of sugar. For a crisper crust reduce the sugar.

NUT CRUST

5 ounces of almonds, walnuts, or pecans

½ cup cold butter, cut into pats

1/3 cup sugar

1½ cups flour

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon almond extract or Frangelico liqueur

Add all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture just comes together. Roll into a ball, flatten, then roll the edges evenly into a disk. Cool for fifteen minutes in the refrigerator, then press into fluted tart tins as needed. Cool for an additional fifteen minutes while the oven is preheating to 350° F. Line the shell with parchment paper, and then add baking marbles, pie beads, or dried beans to keep the shell from bubbling in the oven. Bake for twenty-five minutes or until golden brown. Cool, then add the filling.

CORNMEAL CRUST

Two sticks plus 2 tablespoons (18 tablespoons) of unsalted butter

1½ cups sugar

6 egg yolks

3 cups soft pastry flour

1 cup yellow corn meal

1½ teaspoons salt

Zest of 1 lemon

Splash of rum, brandy, or bourbon, or other spirits that go well with the pie

Whisk flour, cornmeal, and salt together. In separate bowl blend together butter and sugar until it just comes together. Add egg yolks. Add dry ingredients until just blended. Chill for an hour in refrigerator. Either press into tart tins or roll out carefully onto parchment paper. This crust is tender and takes patience to roll. Use plenty of flour on the pin and beneath the parchment paper.

LAGNIAPPE

LAGNIAPPE:

noun (la·gniappe / lan-`yap)

A small gift given a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase; broadly: something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure

We picked up one excellent word — a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word — “lagniappe.” They pronounce it lanny-yap. It is Spanish — so they said. We discovered it at the head of a column of odds and ends in the Picayune, the first day; heard twenty people use it the second; inquired what it meant the third; adopted it and got facility in swinging it the fourth. It has a restricted meaning, but I think the people spread it out a little when they choose. It is the equivalent of the thirteenth roll in a “baker’s dozen.” It is something thrown in, gratis, for good measure. The custom originated in the Spanish quarter of the city. When a child or a servant buys something in a shop — or even the mayor or the governor, for aught I know — he finishes the operation by saying — “Give me something for lagniappe.”

The shopman always responds; gives the child a bit of licorice-root, gives the servant a cheap cigar or a spool of thread, gives the governor — I don’t know what he gives the governor; support, likely.

When you are invited to drink, and this does occur now and then in New Orleans — and you say, “What, again? — no, I’ve had enough;” the other party says, “But just this one time more — this is for lagniappe.” When the beau perceives that he is stacking his compliments a trifle too high, and sees by the young lady’s countenance that the edifice would have been better with the top compliment left off, he puts his “I beg pardon — no harm intended,” into the briefer form of “Oh, that’s for lagniappe.”

Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (1883)

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

10 Ounces of Semisweet or Bittersweet Chocolate, Chopped

1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

1 Teaspoon Salt

In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring cream to a simmer. Place chocolate in a bowl. Pour cream over chocolate. Set aside for 2 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Mix in butter and salt.

FRESH RASPBERRY DRIZZLE

1 Pint Raspberries

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

¼ Cup Cold Water

1 Teaspoon lemon juice

Add raspberries and lemon juice to heavy bottom pan. Cook slowly under medium heat, stirring until berries are slurried. Dissolve the cornstarch into the water, add to the berry mixture. Drizzle in the liquefied cornstarch a little at a time until the berry sauce is the right consistency. Strain, and then cool slightly. Pour into a cake decorating squeeze bottle with a small tip opening.

CARAMEL SAUCE

1½ Cups Sugar

1¼ Cups Heavy Cream

Pinch of Salt

1 Teaspoon Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

In a heavy, high-sided saucepan, cook the sugar over medium heat until it begins to melt around the edges, about 5 minutes. Cook for about 3 minutes more, continually stirring with a wooden spoon, until the sugar is melted and medium amber in color.

Don oven mitts to protect your hands and arms and carefully pour the cream along the sides of the pan in a slow and steady stream, all the while stirring. It will bubble and sputter vigorously. When the cream has been completely incorporated, add the salt and lemon juice. Transfer to a container and reheat as needed.

TOASTED WALNUTS (OR PECANS, ALMONDS, ETC.)

Chop a cup of walnuts into uniform sized pieces. Place in a heavy bottomed skillet under medium heat. Stir continually until the nuts begin to brown slightly. Remove from heat and add Fleur de Sel, Gray, or Pink Salt

WHOLE CHESTNUTS IN VANILLA BRANDY

(Prepare a few days ahead.)

3 Pounds Fresh Unshelled Chestnuts

2 Cups Firmly Packed Brown Sugar

4 Cups Water

1 Vanilla Bean, Split Lengthwise

2 Cups Brandy

Cut an “X” on the flat side of each chestnut. On a jelly roll pan, roast the chestnuts at 375° for 25 minutes or until the shells have cracked and chestnuts are tender when pierced with a knife. Cool slightly and remove the shells and the papery inner skin.

In a large saucepan combine brown sugar with water and heat the mixture over low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to boiling, add chestnuts and vanilla bean. Bring back up to a boil for one minute. Cool, cover and let chestnuts soak overnight.

Return to the boil, and with a slotted spoon transfer the chestnuts to sterilized canning jars. Divide the brandy evenly between the jars and top with vanilla syrup. Seal the jars and either refrigerate, or process the jars in a boiling water bath for 50 minutes. Allow jars to cool before checking the seals.

SWEET BASIL PESTO

3 Cups Washed Basil Leaved, Patted Dry

Juice of 1 Lemon

4 Anchovy Fillets, Bottled in Oil

1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Pepper

¼ Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

3-5 Cloves Garlic

¼ Cup Asiago Cheese

¼ Cup Pine Nuts

½ Cup Fruity Olive Oil

Add all the ingredients to a food processor, except for the olive oil. Pulse until blended Drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto attains the consistency of mayonnaise. Place in a glass container and refrigerate

ABOUT THE NOVEL

After the sudden death of her mother, Joss Ryckman finds herself running away from everything— the life she did not choose of managing the family bakery in Brooklyn, the troubled relationship with her sometimes violent father, and her conflicts with Wyatt, a lover who always wants more. But when she flees to the country farm of her childhood in upstate New York, will she finally find the truth of dark events in her family’s past? Or will all that she has held at bay for twenty years come crashing down?

As Joss comes to terms with her loss, she is forced to confront memories of a childhood steeped in both joy and sorrow. As the past seeps in through the rich farmland and the landscape of the treacherous, churning Stony Kill, Piecing together the broken past and her family’s dysfunction, the dark secrets of a family submerged in a history of violence and regret begin to take shape, and the reality of two brutal killings can no longer be denied. Joss must make her own choices and, ultimately, let go.

Rich with beautiful language and immersed in powerful descriptions of Joss’s feelings, Stony Kill tells a powerful story of the heartbreak and suffering from violent acts of a dysfunctional family, and ultimately her hope and choice of a better life.

ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF RECIPES

apple pie with warmed caramel sauce and salted walnuts

caramel sauce

chestnut crème anglaise tarts with poached pears, ganache, and raspberry drizzle

chocolate ganache

cornmeal crust

cranberry ginger tart in a toasted almond crust

fresh raspberry drizzle

ginger custard pie with fresh raspberry drizzle

heirloom tomato tarts

Miss Euphrates’ Pastry Dough

nut crust

peach pie with cherries and cornmeal crust

plank porch pie

salvation pecan pie

stone fruit pie

sweet basil pesto

Sweet Potato Tartlets with Cornmeal Crust

toasted walnuts (or pecans, almonds, etc.)

whole chestnuts in vanilla brandy

MARIE WHITE SMALL

A secret writer from a pragmatic blue-collar neighborhood, Marie White Small brings her skills as a florist, waitress, antiquarian bookseller, bookbinder, cook, and pie baker to the page. She studied at the Center for the Book Arts in NYC and was the founder and moderator of a community literary critique group, North Gotham Fiction Writers, for ten years. Ms. Small is currently the writer-in-residence at a Vermont mountaintop writer’s retreat. She has published short fiction in the anthology, Southshire Pepper-Pot (Lion’s Mark Press, 2007). Stony Kill is her debut novel.

She and her family, along with two willful cats, live in Bennington, Vermont.