'I Tried Jennifer Garner's Favorite Childhood Pie and It's a True Slice of Heaven'
Jennifer Garner is known for a lot of things: her cheery Capital One commercials, the very best rom-com of the 2000s (13 Going on 30), and her “Pretend Cooking Show” on Instagram.
This past week, Garner posted the cutest video of herself with her mother, Pat, making an old childhood favorite—chiffon pie—in matching sweaters (that don Pat’s quote “I’m hardly ever without buttermilk,” nonetheless). Noting the pie to have an "irresistible chew:crunch ratio," I knew I had to grab the simple ingredients and head to the kitchen to try the super-easy summer dessert out for myself.
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What is chiffon pie?
The chiffon pie—which Garner and her mother pulled out one of their old favorite cookbooks for (the Southern Living 1989 Annual Recipes cookbook)—is a fluffy, lightly sweetened pie with whipped cream and ripe summer fruit. It's then gently spread in a baked meringue crust and dotted with pecans and cracker crumbs. And apparently, both the pie and the collaborative effort between mother and daughter have made Garner's fans excited to give it a try.
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How to make chiffon pie
Although Garner and her mom know the recipe by heart, they still use the original well-loved recipe as a reference. The ingredients include egg whites, cream, sugar, pecans, Saltine cracker crumbs, vanilla extract, baking powder and your fruit of choice. Though Garner and her mom used strawberries, I stuck to the original recipe and used juicy, ripe nectarines from the farm stand since they looked too good to not take home. You're free to use whatever fruit looks good to you for this recipe, however.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
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Preheat your oven to 325°F and grease a 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray or butter. Beat the egg whites with a hand mixer or stand mixer until foamy and hold a stiff peak. Next, fold in the baking powder, cracker crumbs, chopped pecans and vanilla with a rubber spatula before dolloping into the pie dish and spreading out so it’s evenly distributed. Bake for 30 minutes and let cool before filling.
While the crust is baking, you can use this time to make the filling. In a cold bowl, whip your cream until it starts to hold its shape, gradually adding sugar and a splash of vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Take your rubber spatula and fold in the sliced fruit. Spoon the whipped cream and fruit mixture into the cooled pie crust and chill before serving.
My honest review of the chiffon pie
A true home chef knows that vintage recipes can range anywhere from the classic (pot roast, anyone?) to the inedible (tuna and Jell-O), but this one is a true winner. And Garner and her mom were right when they said this pie was kind of like an Eton Mess (an English dessert containing berries, meringue and whipped cream), because this pie had all of those components and more.
It was light and sweet from the nectarines that were mixed with the whipped cream and offered up a lovely chewiness from the saltine and nut-laced meringue crust. It reminded me of meringue cookies—except not as sweet and way more complex since there were chopped pecans and salty cracker crumbs mixed in. A genius combination, if you ask me!
Each bite was light-as-air and not overly sweet with a chew from the baked meringue and a fruity fluffiness of the whipped cream that kept me going back for more. And honestly, it'll probably have you doing the same.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Tips for making the chiffon pie even better
Make sure your fruit is perfectly ripe. Since you’re not cooking your fruit or coating it in sugar, you want to make sure you’ve got the best-tasting fruit possible.
Don't overwhip the cream. If you’ve got a handle on that, you can make this pie. And if you mess it up, just turn your over-whipped cream into a homemade compound butter and start over.
Be sure to chill your bowl. Pat has a point when she says she chills a metal bowl before making the whipped cream; it helps it along if everything is chilled.
Make it your own. Just as Garner switches it up with the fruit, feel free to use what you have, or try a combination out. The mother-daughter duo also decorated the top with more strawberries, but feel free to skip this step or even decorate with more chopped pecans for presentation purposes.