Four & Twenty Blackbirds' Lemon Chess Pie

For #PieWeek, our guest editors are Emily and Melissa Elsen, the pie mavens behind Four & Twenty Blackbirds in Brooklyn, NY. They will be sharing recipes all week from their first cookbook, and giving away a copy each day!

Today: A winter pie that still manages to be bright and tangy.

Lemon Chess has garnered a close following in our pie shop. It appears most often on the menu during the winter months, when fresh fruits are scarce on the East coast and we source from the West coast for its bounty of citrus. This tangy but rich custard is a longtime favorite of our pie shop customers.

Lemon Chess Pie

Serves 8 to 10 people

Zest of 1 lemon
1 2/3 cup cups of granulated sugar
1 tablespoon stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
5 large eggs
2/3 cups heavy cream
7 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photo by Gentl & Hyers

To win a copy of The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, tell us in the comments: What is your favorite winter pie? We'll pick winners at random at the end of the week! (Unfortunately, we can only ship domestically.)