Last weekend, I returned to the scene of the Walnut Crunch Pumpkin Pie fiasco, and all seemed well in my mother's kitchen cupboards.

The great Martinson family mystery of the Walnut Crunch Pumpkin Pie has been solved: The reason the finished product was awash in salt back in Thanksgiving 2001 was that what seemed to be the sugar canister instead contained another white granular ingredient. Click photo for larger image.

Though I tried to hide my fears, some of you may remember the crisis of faith that I suffered for nigh-on four years. The blow to my confidence was a picture-perfect Thanksgiving pie that turned out so wrong that I wondered if I should give up holiday baking.

That year, when the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy were gone, my beautiful pumpkin pie was cut. As eager eaters took a bite, they experienced a salting so pervasive that even an ocean would recoil. Some of my family, toothsome lovers of sweets, wondered if I'd played a prank of perverse proportions. One look at my pursed lips and they knew this putrid pie was no joke.

Several theories surfaced that Turkey Day on the farm in Michigan. Granulated sugar gone saline with age? A baker blinded by the lovely smell of yeast bread on the rise? Senility?

Somehow, we all surmised the salting must have had some connection to the homemade ice cream, which was being put together in the same kitchen at the same time. Ice cream requires cups of salt to melt the ice; a pie only needs a teaspoon. Salt for brining the turkey was also implicated.

It was only last month that the truth emerged. Early one morning a snazzy e-mail arrived. When I opened the computerized message, the top border featured a fancy filigreed "ANNOUNCEMENT."

You are not losing it, the attached note said. The canister was filled with salt, not sugar. It was signed, Love, Mom.

I'm not sure if she mentioned the great pumpkin pie mystery or not.

To learn from your mother that you're not bonkers is a good thing, but I still felt wracked with holiday guilt. I knew I needed to test my mettle with a return to the scene of the crime, and I knew the Memorial Day weekend was my chance at restitution.

It is a rule of the farm, after all, that when one falls from a horse, she gets right back on. Not to do so engenders a scared-silly rider and spoiled horse.

My challenge was to create a cake for my mother and my husband, Ace, whose birthdays are one day apart, that tasted as good as it looked.

The cavalry that rode in to rescue me was a recipe from a delightful cookbook called "The All-American Cowboy Grill" by none other than Roy Rogers's daughter, Cheryl Rogers-Barnett, and Ken Becky and Jim Clark. With Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and even John Wayne riding herd, how could I fail?

The chocolate cake recipe with strawberry topping calls for 1 1/2 cups sugar, but only 1/2 teaspoon salt. But could I do it? Revisiting the cupboard, I noticed what I had not seen on that ill-fated Turkey Day four years ago: Of the four canisters in the cupboard, the canister that was filled with salt was third in size. Now, most everybody knows that the largest canister is for flour, the second largest is for white sugar, the third is for coffee (some use it for brown sugar -- that I would have noticed) and the fourth is for tea. Never have I seen a canister for salt!

So as not to mar the beautiful wood finish, Mother's canisters were unlabeled, leaving the unknowing, the hurried, the goofball, at risk for sodium overload. On that fateful day four years ago, I grabbed a canister filled with white granules, and we all paid the price.

Things would be different last weekend, I vowed. Knowledge is the antidote to ignorance. Any cook worth her salt knows that, Sugah.

The big challenge was finding strawberries, which were not in season in Michigan. We were lucky to find a box of cut strawberries, some of which were actually red in the middle.

The cake couldn't have been simpler to make (it's a good summer project for children). However, the singing of "Happy Birthday" required additional problem-solving because two of the three people at the table were celebrating a birthday. But I was feeling cocky and announced the solution:

"Mom will sing to Ace, Ace will sing to Mom, and I will sing to both of you."

A happy B-day cake of the sweetest kind was enjoyed by all. Looking at the top of that naughty canister, I hope that the new masking tape that Mom scrawled with the word SALT never falls off. There is a lesson for us all -- when disaster strikes, be it falling off a horse or ruining a recipe, just jump back on.

PG tested

Cookie's Chocolate Cake With Strawberry Topping

This recipe comes from a cookbook that is filled with black-and-white photos of cowboy and cowgirl stars of stage, screen, TV and rodeos. The recipes are as fun as they are home-on-the-range. It's not every day you find this many hunks -- and horses -- in a cookbook. There is a bevy of hard-riding cowgirls, too.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
  
• 1/2 cup cocoa
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 2/3 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
  
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
  
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  
• 2 cups cold coffee
  
• Cinnamon and sugar mixture
  
• Confectioners' sugar
  
• Strawberries, hulled and sliced in half
  
• Chocolate syrup (we used Hershey's)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt together with a wire whisk. Then add the oil, vinegar, vanilla and coffee.

Pour the mixture into a 8-by-12-inch baking pan (we used a 9-by-13 glass dish) and spread batter evenly. Sprinkle the top with about 1/3 cup cinnamon sugar (we used 1 tablespoon cinnamon and enough sugar to make 1/3 cup). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool. Sprinkle with the confectioners' sugar. Put the strawberry halves on top, and then drizzle the chocolate syrup over the entire top of the cake.

Note: This is also good with vanilla ice cream, caramel or whipped cream. This cake keeps for several days in the refrigerator if sealed with plastic wrap.

Makes about 9 servings (very generous servings).

Terri "Cookie" Doty, "The All-American Cowboy Grill" (Rutledge Hall Press, $16.99)

Walnut Crunch Pumpkin Pie

• 1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie shell
  
• 1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
  
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
  
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  
• 12-ounce can evaporated milk
  
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine nuts and brown sugar in small bowl. Sprinkle 3/4 cup nut-sugar mixture on bottom of pie shell. Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, granulated sugar, eggs, spice and salt in medium bowl. Pour into pie shell.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Combine butter and remaining nut-sugar mixture; stir until moistened. Sprinkle over cooled pie. Broil for 2 to 3 minutes or until bubbly. Cool before serving.

Makes 8 servings.

Nestle USA