I recently received Lady Bird Johnson’s recipe for Buttermilk Pie from History by Mail and had to try it out. This pie was made regularly by their private chef Zephyr Wright in the White House, but the recipe is from Lady Bird’s family.

If you look around the internet for buttermilk pie recipes, you will find quite a number of them, but none of them are at all like Mrs. Johnson’s. The single major difference is that her recipe has you separate the eggs and beat the whites into stiff peaks, and then fold that into the batter. This gives a much lighter pie. I also note that most of these modern recipes incorporate vanilla and/or lemon juice and butter to give the pie a different flavor, while the original Lady Bird recipe has none of them: the flavor is a mild custard with the tang of buttermilk.

This simple recipe comes together in about 5 minutes (plus the piecrust) and bakes for 35 more. Our simple piecrust recipe is here.

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
• 2 eggs separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups buttermilk
• ¼ tsp salt
• Cinnamon for topping

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.
2. Beat egg whites until very stiff.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and add the sugar and mix.
4. Stir flour into part of the buttermilk and mix until free of lumps
5. Add the flour mixture to the eggs and sugar, and add the remainder of the buttermilk.

6. Fold in the egg whites. This works best if you mix in part of the egg whites and then fold in the rest using a rubber spatula.
7. Pour into the pie shell and sprinkle with cinnamon.
8. Bake for 35 minutes.
9. Let the pie cool and refrigerate it. Serve cold, with whipped cream.

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