Author Notes
I know, weird right? Strange though it may be this Pinto Bean Pie has been tempting me for months. I'd stumbled upon a few variations in different mother's association cookbooks, even one from Hank's hometown of Breckenridge, TX, and finally decided it was time to give it a try. The recipes I found seemed like they would be overly sweet and needed some adjustment, so I ran with my ideas and came up with this lightly sweetened pinto bean filling, baked it up and used the leftover egg whites to make a simple meringue for the top. I had planned to surprise my folks and have them guess what kind of pie this was, but Hank spilled the beans (ha!) before I had the chance. —thehungrytexan
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Ingredients
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1
unbaked pie crust
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2 cups
cooked pinto beans (if using canned beans drain well)
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2 tablespoons
butter, melted
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1/2 cup
sugar
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1/2 cup
milk
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2 tablespoons
molasses (optional)
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1/8 teaspoon
cinnamon
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1/8 teaspoon
allspice
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1 teaspoon
vanilla
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3
egg yolks
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3
egg whites
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1/4 teaspoon
cream of tartar
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1/2 teaspoon
vanilla
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3 tablespoons
sugar
Directions
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Mash the pinto beans thoroughly with the melted butter. Add the sugar, milk, molasses and spices.
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Separate the eggs and lightly beat the yolks, add to the bean mixture. Mix well and pour into an unbaked pie crust.
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Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. You may need to cover the crust to prevent it from burning.
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While the pie is baking make the meringue. Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla until soft peaks form.
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Add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat until stiff peaks form. Once the filling has set spoon the meringue on top and brown in the oven.
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