Bright and tangy lemon flavor meets luscious Southern chess pie goodness in Edna Lewis’s Tyler Pie. Stir it together in a jiffy, and then celebrate Chef Lewis’s culinary genius with pie-loving family and friends! Custard meets chess meets lemonade, with luscious results sure to win you all the praise!
What is Tyler Pie?
Tyler pie hails from the traditional Southern baking canon, in the category that cross from egg custard over to chess pie. Both lean on eggs, sugar, and butter for their rich and irresistible essence, and while some chess pies get along fine without milk or cream, this one includes a good splash of dairy for custardy goodness. Tyler pie has a splash of lemon extract, a treasured luxury for home bakers back in the day.

Who was President Tyler?
The tenth president of the USA, VP John Tyler became president in the 1840’s after the death-in-office of President William Henry Harrison. A native of the central Virginia region where this version of chess pie has its roots, Tyler is one of numerous famous folks honored posthumously by having a dish associated with their name.
Why does he have a namesake pie?
The culinary connection? Non-existent, but people like to do it — it’s an antique version of naming a post office or a bridge after a person of note.
Edna Lewis grew up in central Virginia region where this fine pie remains a favorite, and included it in her cookbooks as a salute to the ladies of her community, and because it is elegant, do-able, and delicious.

What goes into a Tyler Pie?
Here’s all you need: Eggs, butter, sugar, milk, flour, salt, lemon extract, and vanilla, with a pie shell to bring it all together in golden goodnes.

Oven-ready!

The surface turns caramel-brown, and develops a delicate thin and crackly crust, while the filling itself becomes velvety-smooth and imbued with a sour-lemony kick and a plush sweet smooth finish. So much going on for such an everyday amalgam of ingredients.
Who was Edna Lewis?
Edna Lewis was a chef, restaurateur, culinary historian, and author of four cookbooks. Her writing, teaching, work as a chef, and presence in the Southern culinary world throughout her lifetime opened our eyes to the treasure that is the Southern culinary repertoire.

Mrs. Lewis championed the principles of using local ingredients, fresh and in season, while respecting the work and creations of the ancestors, long before these practices were a given. Her life’s work passionately and eloquently showed us the unique beauty and meaning of the cuisine of the American South.

Why does this regional recipe endure?
Because Edna Lewis lauded it. Tyler pie is an old-school pie, still known and loved in its original home of central Virginia where its namesake, President Tyler, was born and raised. Whether he actually loved it, or ate it, there or elsewhere, is something we cannot know.
But we know this simple yet splendid Southern dessert because Edna Lewis tells us about it in her magnificent first 1977 cookbook, “The Taste of Country Cooking”, still in print and cherished today.
My introduction to the classic dessert took place in the city of Richmond, Virginia, a few years ago.
What was my first encounter with Tyler Pie?
During a Southern Foodways Alliance conference, Real Richmond Food Tours led attendees on a walking tour. my favorite kind which covers bakeries, neighborhood cafes, historic churchyards, and more. That is how I ended up strolling around this fascinating city and having my first up close and personal encounter with Tyler Pie.

My first Tyler Pie awaited me among a wide and inviting array of freshly baked goodies at one of two locations for WPA Bakery

I loved “WPA Bakery”, WPA standing for Well-Made Pastry Alliance, scenes above and below right here, and wish I could be a frequent visitor.



This beauty was truly ready for its close up, and identified with a hand-written ceramic name-plate. It was simply and yet extraordinarily delicious, inspiring me to head back home, find out about this oddly-named pie, and make it myself.

My First Tyler Pie
Following the recipe in her first cookbook, “The Taste of Country Cooking”, I made Edna Lewis’s Tyler Pie and was thrilled with how wonderfully it came out. It’s been in my go-to pie repertoire ever since, and I’ve been pleased to share the recipe as well as pieces of the pie.

If you like the idea of Edna Lewis’s Tyler Pie, you might enjoy checking out my Coconut Custard Pie and my Easy Chocolate Chess Pie, two other old-school desserts which you can stir up quickly and share with pleasure, any time of the year.


What is “The Taste of Country Cooking”?
Falling in love with this splendid cookbook is as easy as pie. In Mrs. Lewis’s landmark book, The Taste of Country Cooking, you will find her thoughtful recipes and luminous reminiscences of her childhood in Freetown, Virginia, in the early part of the 20th century. The link takes you to Indiebound, where you can find out a little about the book and get connected to great independent bookstores near you, which can order it for you if they don’t have it in stock.
Who is this book for?
Edna Lewis’s first book is a treasure, for anyone interested in American culinary history, Southern food, and how food and cooking were woven into daily life in the past. Mrs. Lewis shows us life in her home town, a rural-Virginia community, back when farm-to-table, organic gardening and farming, and eating locally grown and produced food in season were how people lived their lives. Edna Lewis’s Tyler pie is but one recipe among many, arranged in menus which take us with her through a year with her family in Freetown, Viriginia.

Video Time: How to Make Lemon Extract at Home
Baking with lemon extract gives you a vivid tangy citrus boost, beyond what we can get from fresh lemon juice and even lemon zest. You can buy it in grocery stores, next to the vanilla, but making your own is simple, too!


Edna Lewis's Tyler Pie
Ingredients
- One 9-inch standard piecrust*
- 2 eggs
- 1 cups of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (4 oz. / 1 stick) of melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
Beat the eggs well in a large bowl.
Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a medium bowl and stir to mix well.
Add the sugar mixture to the beaten eggs and mix well.
Add the butter, vanilla, and lemon extract, and stir to mix everything together well.
Add the milk.
After one final stirring, pour the filling into your pie crust pans, dividing it evenly between the two.
Bake in oven preheated to 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, until filling is set and handsomely browned. Makes 2 pies
Notes
Miss Lewis's recipe makes two pies. I've halved the amounts here, but if you know that one will not suffice, double the ingredients and enjoy having plenty to share.
This pie works best in a standard piecrust, not a deep dish piecrust. If you have a deep-dish pie pan, you could double the recipe and fill up the pan for a thicker luscious pie.
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 servings Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 236Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 51mgSodium 196mgCarbohydrates 38gFiber 1gSugar 26gProtein 4g
I first had this pie at my future husband’s grandparents house. It was a staple in his house. After we got married his great aunt gave me the recipe. But she, and now I, use 2 tablespoons of lemon juice instead of extract. No vanilla. And 1 cup of heavy cream instead of milk. Very rich and decadent.
How wonderful that his great aunt shared her recipe with you. I love your adaptations — I’m going to make it your way. Sounds luscious.
Oh my husband will love this custard pie. It’s the old traditional recipes that are always the best. Plus I trust your choice of a recipe. This will be perfect at our dinner table soon. Thanks for all the blog support, the warmth of your friendship and sweet welcome to the #LetsLunch group. Someday soon, I hope we can share a cup of tea, a slice of pie and share lots of stories. Have a great week, Nancie!
Nancie: Nice to “meet” you today! You have a “no-reply” blogger address, so there is no way to email you directly, thus this comment!.
But also, from reading above, I have to say that Edna Lewis is a large part of the reason we came to this area, and also found Fearrington Village. I adored following her in Gourmet in the late 70’s (I think) and also tasted her cooking in NYC at Cafe Nicholson under the 59th St. bridge… But I was absolutely smitten with the images of this magical place near Chapel Hill where she cooked!
Last, I must try Tyler pie. It looks fabulous and just the kind of thing we like.
Maybe we can get together this winter, when Mary James returns!
This looks so delish! And now you have me wanting your recipe for persimmon pie. I’m loving San Francisco summer right now, but when it ends I’ll have persimmons to look forward to– cannot wait.
Many thanks, and I will gladly share it with you. Love San Francisco so much — what a spectacular place on this earth, the beautiful delicious city. Thanks for stopping by, and happy fall…
OH, and third. Will I easily find your recipe for persimmon pie when I look next month? My persimmons are looking promising this year.
Yes, indeed, you certainly will. I adore them and am looking to expand my repertoire, though the pie is wonderful enough, as is old-school persimmon pudding. I read about persimmon cookies ,and why not pound cake? Might be a reason, but I know how to find out. I’ll keep you posted….
Two things.
First: I get a huge shipment of black walnuts sent to me every year by a friend’s mom’s tree in MO. Well, actually she sends them to him but he won’t eat them. Don’t let that story get out, ok? His mom thinks he loves black walnuts.
Second: Another story to keep (from my California friends). I miss the south. I miss sitting on the lawn where everyone can see you… XOGREG
Your secret is safe with me, Sir. I completely adore that story, because it is the perfect resolution, everybody getting what they need, you helping your friend, love expressed between them without letting Black Walnut Affinity/Lack Of get in the way. Come on out here and visit some time. We’ve got lawn, screened in porch, gliders, the works!
This pie looks wonderful. Also it look slike you had a wonderful afternoon!
Many thanks, Adri. We did, indeed, in multiple ways. Hoping it will become an annual event…
Love Edna Lewis’ cookbook and this new-to-me Tyler Pie. Such a lovely setting made even more beautiful by PIE! And I’m very envious of your friend’s lattice crust skills!
Me, too, Lucy. I have fallen in love with that book all over again, finding recipes and essays that I had never noticed before.”Treasure” is the appropriate word, right? And Pie lifts any occasion up, right? That Debbie Moose — she has got that down. I have never done one right — I start and then say Oh Bother! and just lay them out in two layers. I need to barter with her for a how-to session, whereby I bring her some Asian ingredients and she shares that skill…Thanks for reading.
Looks delicious! I couldn’t help but notice “gf” on pie signage. What an unexpected delight! By the way, I just got your Southern Pies as a gift and love it. So much inspiration.
I know, right? I meant to comment on that — it was an extra delight to me, because it shows that they are offering lots of good things for lots of people, and not just one item on the side. Which is a great start, not to knock any generosity that any business can provide. Thank you for your kind words; honored.
What a wonderful post! I love the Pie Brigade (and I’m a fan of Mike’s, too). Simply spectacular….
Thank you, Rebecca, so kind. It was a marvelous day in so many ways, and I’ll be sharing more about it very soon. I just posted his picture of the yeast rolls he made out under the shade trees, and cooked in a dutch oven in the coals, on our @CHOP NC Facebook page. They were unbelievably beautiful and so tasty, and they just came together so fast. One minute he was gathering roll-makers to help shape them, and next minute there they were. Not ‘quick and easy’, but yes, in fact, quick, and easy, and deeply good.
I can just imagine what a day that was. So glad you were there to share in it all. x
You’re right — it was a precious, deep experience, festive, poignant, and inspiring, with a fascinating feast and lively company to ground us all in the ordinary-ness of it. Many of us were murmuring, “They need to do this again!” If they do, I’m so in… Thanks for reading and commenting here.
This looks so good. I haven’t had a pie like this in AGES.
Food Tour!! What an awesome way to spend the day!!
hahahahaha I know, right? Simple old-school goodness in that pie, and such a feast for tummy, eyes, mind, and spirit at that event. Love cooking with people, and cooking-gatherings, and culinary history come to life, and by the way, the food tasted SO GOOD. Thanks for these kind words.
I’ve never had Tyler Pie but now I’ve got to try some! I have to say, you have very lucky friends. I love all the pics of your celebration…wish I could have been there!
We need to get you down here for some cooking and eating, Ms. Tan! One of these days. Many thanks, so kind. I love #LetsLunch and your book, very much.