On a clear spring morning last week, an auburn-haired woman wearing big white sunglasses and an earth-toned linen dress rang the doorbell of Margaret and Bill Beavers' white-columned brick home in Lilburn.

"Hi, I'm Anne Quatrano," she said, holding out a bouquet of daffodils she'd picked before leaving her farm in Cartersville for work.

Special (ENLARGE)

CHARLOTTE B. TEAGLE / Staff Margaret Beavers (left) says of Anne Quatrano's take on her mom's pie: 'If it had been peaches instead of apricots, there wouldn't have been any doubt.'

Joey Ivansco/Staff (ENLARGE)

Quatrano's exuberantly billowy meringues gain stability by dint of a generous proportion of sugar.

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That wasn't all she brought. In her other hand was a brown cardboard bakery box. Inside was the dried fruit custard pie she was thinking of offering at the bakery of Star Provisions, the cafe and takeout shop in the same complex as Bacchanalia and Quinones, the award-winning restaurants in northwest Atlanta that she owns with chef husband Clifford Harrison.

But first she wanted the Beavers' seal of approval.

The pie, you see, was made according to the recipe that had once belonged to Mrs. Beavers' mother, Chloie Mabry, who "would be 113 this year if she were still alive."

Quatrano selected it from a batch of a half-dozen or so similar pies submitted to our Southern Recipe Restoration Project from readers as one she wanted to try. Though they went by different names — Fruit and Custard Pie, Poppa Pie, Four-Story Pie — all dated back several generations to a time when an abundance of fruits from the orchard were dried in the summer sun and then later used in a variety of ways. On the family farm in Brookhaven, Mrs. Beavers' mother spread them out in tin pans and covered them with netting to keep the flies away.

Quatrano had never heard of it, but it aroused her curiosity, especially since she has been experimenting with dried fruits lately. The recipe called for peaches, but Quatrano used apricots since she happened to have them on hand.

The Beavers led her to their tidy kitchen. She set the box down on the island and opened the lid.

"Oh, my land, it's beautiful!" Mrs. Beavers exclaimed. "And look at that meringue — I want to learn how to do that."

The meringue, an enormous cloud of confection covered all over with small, spiky peaks, was the one part of the recipe Quatrano altered — strictly for drama, she said. She demonstrated for Mrs. Beavers the quick sweeping hand motion she makes with a small spoon to create the distinctive surface.

Mrs. Beavers put a pot of coffee on and pulled out some china plates. "I hope it's set," Quatrano said with a note of worry in her voice, as she cut into the pie. "I just pulled it out of the oven before I came."

She frowned slightly as the first slice flopped off the end of her knife. She cut another and, though a little more wiggly than she would have liked, it managed to hold its shape on the plate. Quatrano watched as Mrs. Beavers took the first bite. "This is delicious!" she exclaimed.

Quatrano took a bite as well, commenting on how she liked the contrast between the tartness of the reconstituted fruit and the creamy richness of the custard.

But did it taste like the pie she remembered from her childhood? "If it had been peaches instead of apricots," Mrs. Beavers said, "there wouldn't have been any doubt."

The contributor: Margaret Beavers, who lives in Lilburn with her second husband, Bill. She has four stepchildren and four stepgrandchildren, "and I love them all dearly." She worked as the fashions buyer for the Southeast regional office of Woolworth's for 47 years. Still an avid baker — poundcakes are her specialty — she remains active in her garden club and Peachtree Baptist Church, where she sang in the choir and taught Sunday School for 51 years.

The story: "My mother, Chloie Mabry Wright, was a wonderful cook, and even though she is no longer living, our family of eight children remembers the wonderful meals she prepared every day — breakfast, lunch and dinner. When we were growing up, our entire family had our meals together.

"Mother was reared in Brookhaven, a suburb of Atlanta, on Mabry Road, named after her father. Granddaddy had a large farm with many fruit trees. Every year they dried peaches, apples, plums, etc., and we enjoyed pies, cobblers and cakes year-round.

"I am not the cook my mother was, but my love of cooking I owe to her. This recipe for dried peach custard pie is one she served, and when I want to serve a dessert that friends have not known about, I choose this one."

Chloie Wright's Dried Peach Custard Pie

16 servings (2 pies)
Hands on: 20 minutes
Total time: 1 1/2-2 hours

"The tartness of the dried fruit, reconstituted and baked with the rich, sweet custard, makes an amazing and simple dessert to enjoy well past peach season," said Anne Quatrano. "Dried apricots, apples or other dried fruit could be substituted."

For the pie:
1 pound dried peaches
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided use
2 pie shells, unbaked
5 eggs, separated (reserve 3 whites for meringue)
2 cups scalded milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter

For the meringue:
3 egg whites (from eggs used for pie)
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar

To make the pie: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine peaches, 1/4 cup sugar (or to taste) and water just to cover. Simmer for 30 minutes. Drain off any excess water and puree in a food processor. Let cool. (You should have about 2 cups puree.)

Spread 1 cup puree in bottom of each pie shell. Beat egg yolks and remaining cup sugar together slightly. Add scalded milk and vanilla and pour over peaches. Dot with butter and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until custard is just set but still jiggly. (For Quatrano, this took 55 minutes.)

To make the meringue: Lower heat to 300 degrees. With an electric mixer, beat egg whites, lemon juice, cream of tartar and salt until foamy. Add sugar and beat until soft, glossy peaks form. Top each pie with meringue and bake until meringue is brown, about 10 minutes.

Per serving: 293 calories (percent of calories from fat, 29), 6 grams protein, 48 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 10 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 65 milligrams cholesterol, 214 milligrams sodium.

Anne Quatrano's Mile-High Meringue

Makes enough meringue for 1 or 2 pies
Hands on: 25 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes

For a more dramatic effect, Quatrano more than doubles the usual amount of meringue and increases the ratio of sugar to egg to stabilize it. "We just can't resist billowing meringues," she said.

8 egg whites
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

In a bowl over a double boiler, whisk egg whites and sugar constantly for 4 minutes, or until mixture feels warm to the touch. Transfer to bowl of electric mixer and add cream of tartar and pinch of salt. Mix on high speed until soft, glossy peaks form. Pile meringue on pie and create peaks all over with the back of a spoon. Bake 10 for 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Per serving (1/8 recipe): 70 calories, 4 grams protein, 27 grams carbohydrates, no fiber, trace fat, no cholesterol, 20 milligrams sodium.