Bessie Bloodworth’s Lemon Chess Squares
Chess pies and pastries are a traditional Southern dessert made with a filling of eggs, sugar, and butter, cooked in (or on) a pastry crust, with some sort of topping—basically, a cheeseless cheesecake. Some recipes include cornmeal, others are made with vinegar, and flavorings (vanilla, lemon juice, chocolate) are sometimes added. Some food historians believe that the word chess is derived from the word cheese. Others believe that it is a dialect form of the word chest, referring to a pie safe or chest, where pies were often kept. And then there is the tale of the cook who, when asked the name of her pie, replied, “Oh, it’s jes’ pie.” Whatever the derivation and whatever its form, chess pastries are a treat.
2 cups flour
? cup confectioners’ sugar
? teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or shortening
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons white or yellow cornmeal
? cup melted butter
4 tablespoons lemon juice
confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350°F. To make the crust, sift together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter, using two knives or a pastry blender. Mix well and pat into a 10-x 15-inch cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.
Beat remaining ingredients and pour over baked crust. Return to oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar when done. Cut into squares when cool.
Reading List Here are a few of the many documents I found useful as background reading for this book in the Darling Dahlias series and a very brief explanation of the reasons for their inclusion.
Books
Daily Life in the United States 1920–1940: How Americans Lived Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, by David E. Kyvig. Helpful period background.
Dry Goods, Butler Brothers 1934 general merchandise catalog. What people were wearing and using during the early thirties.
Everyday Fashions of the Thirties as Pictured in Sears Catalogs, edited by Stella Blum. Helpful period descriptions of clothing styles, fabrics, materials.
Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America’s Most Famous Gangster, by Jonathan Eig. The real story of how the Feds nabbed Al Capone. Detailed, highly evocative of the life and times of gangland Chicago.
Happenings in Old Monroeville, Vol. 2, by George Thomas Jones. Monroeville local history from the thirties.
Mae West: It Ain’t No Sin, by Simon Louvish. Life as a vaudeville burlesque queen (before becoming a movie star) wasn’t easy, even for Mae West.
Month-by-Month Gardening in Alabama, by Bob Polomski. What Alabama gardeners might be doing at different seasons of the year. The Ponder Heart, by Eudora Welty. Wonderful Southern voice.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Harper Lee grew up in Monroeville (the source for her descriptions of Maycomb, where TKM is set). Monroeville is only fifteen miles from Darling.
Websites
Ziegfeld 101, Biography Part III, by John Kenrick: http://www.musicals101.com/ziegbio3.htm. Last accessed 6.27.2010. The story of Ziegfeld’s Frolics (yes, the overhead glass walkway is real!).
Historical Documents Relating to Al Capone: http://www.irs.gov/foia/article/0,,id=179352,00.html. Background documents (letters, reports) written by the investigators who dug up the dirt on Al Capone, released and published online by the IRS in 2008.
Newspaper Archives: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/. A subscription website that allows you to search, read, clip, and save newspapers from the United States and around the world.
The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies
Susan Wittig Albert's books
- The Face of a Stranger
- The Silent Cry
- The Sins of the Wolf
- The Dark Assassin
- The Whitechapel Conspiracy
- The Sheen of the Silk
- The Twisted Root
- The Lost Symbol
- After the Funeral
- The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
- After the Darkness
- The Best Laid Plans
- The Doomsday Conspiracy
- The Naked Face
- The Other Side of Me
- The Sands of Time
- The Sky Is Falling
- The Stars Shine Down
- The Lying Game #6: Seven Minutes in Heaven
- The First Lie
- All the Things We Didn't Say
- The Good Girls
- The Heiresses
- The Perfectionists
- The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
- The Lies That Bind
- Ripped From the Pages
- The Book Stops Here
- The New Neighbor
- A Cry in the Night
- The Phoenix Encounter
- The Dead Will Tell: A Kate Burkholder Novel
- The Perfect Victim
- Fear the Worst: A Thriller
- The Naturals, Book 2: Killer Instinct
- The Fixer
- The Good Girl
- Cut to the Bone: A Body Farm Novel
- The Devil's Bones
- The Bone Thief: A Body Farm Novel-5
- The Bone Yard
- The Breaking Point: A Body Farm Novel
- The Inquisitor's Key
- The Girl in the Woods
- The Dead Room
- The Death Dealer
- The Silenced
- The Hexed (Krewe of Hunters)
- The Night Is Alive
- The Night Is Forever
- The Night Is Watching
- In the Dark
- The Betrayed (Krewe of Hunters)
- The Cursed
- The Dead Play On
- The Forgotten (Krewe of Hunters)
- Under the Gun
- The Paris Architect: A Novel
- The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush
- Always the Vampire
- The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose
- The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree
- The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star
- The Doll's House
- The Garden of Darkness
- The Creeping
- The Killing Hour
- The Long Way Home
- Defend and Betray
- Madonna and Corpse
- Bone Island 01 - Ghost Shadow
- Bone Island 02 - Ghost Night
- Bone Island 03 - Ghost Moon
- Last Vampire Standing