From Great Aunt Dorothee, via Grandma, texted from nephew Paul, tuned by Aunt Becky, and captured through Uncle Paul’s hazy memory. One of Aunt Becky’s favorite recipes, tightly tied to memories of summers in Deer Park, but works at any time of the year. Bulk frozen currants bought from restaurant suppliers make this recipe easy.
For the Crust: ½ cup butter ½ cup sugar grated rind of 1 lemon 2 egg yolks 1¼ cup flour ½ cup cornstarch 1 teaspoon baking powder
Beat butter, mix in sugar, lemon rind, and egg yolks. Mix dry ingredients together, then combine with butter etc. Roll out dough to ¼ inch (or less); fit to springform pan. Tart dishes also work well. Keep sides low. Stick with fork; bake at 350 until nicely browned.
For the Top: 2 egg whites + 2 more egg whites (powdered works well) ½ cup sugar 2 tablespoons cornstarch (teaspoons in original) 1 lb red currants, cleaned and dried (2+ cups frozen works great)
Beat egg whites, sugar, and cornstarch until stiff. Fold in currants. (If frozen, do not thaw first.) Fill crust(s), being careful to cover edges. Bake at 325 until set and top is nicely browned.. (15+ minutes for fresh currants; much longer for frozen currants.) Stretching the topping with black raspberries is a Grandma tradition. It’s not a picky recipe.
