When Life Hands You Lemons...

My husband’s all-time favorite pie is Lemon Meringue Pie.  As an alternative to cake and ice cream to celebrate his 33^rd year, this pie adventure lends itself to providing him with another one of his favorites.  The recipe for Week 20’s Lemon Meringue Pie comes from the New Best Recipe cookbook.

Fresh lemons make for tart and refreshing filling

Instead of going with the All-Butter Crust which I use in most of my pies, I decided to follow the recipe provided in the New Best Recipe cookbook.  This crust uses a combination of butter and shortening and for this particular pie, adds crushed graham cracker crumbs as you roll out the crust.  The idea here is that the graham cracker added to the crust will allow the crust to stay firm, after adding the lemon filling.  This proved to be true for the pie I made, as well as providing a subtle and complementary flavor to the crust, not found in the average Lemon Meringue Pie.

For me this pie really makes its mark by the tart lemon filling, using both lemon zest and lemon juice from fresh lemons.  The meringue is pretty amazing as well, but without that refreshingly tart center… well, I just don’t care about the meringue enough. 

Covering the filling with plastic wrap while making the meringue,  reduces the risk of a skin  forming on your filling

Filled graham-cracker rolled pastry crust

Whipping up meringue

Meringue before browning

Perfect Lemon Meringue Pie with nicely browned meringue

This Lemon Meringue Pie was perfect.  The crust, filling, and topping came out as I hoped they would.  My husband was treated to a great example of his all-time favorite pie.  

Bountiful Berry Black-Bottom Pie

Four layers of heavenly goodness: buttery pastry crust, filled with a layer of chocolate, topped with four kinds of berries, and finished off with crumb topping.  The Bountiful Berry Black-Bottom Pie I made for Week 14 was sensational.  The recipe comes from Dani Cone’s Cutie Pies cookbook. 

For the crust I opted to stick with the All-Butter Crust recipe used in the Cutie Pies cookbook.  It is a tasty crust, but seems to lack stability when I fold and crimp the edges.  It may be stable before I place it in the oven, but by the end of baking one side has inevitably slumped into the pie pan or flopped over the edge of the pie pan.  As I work through this crust recipe in the future, I will have to see if I can tweak the recipe a bit to make the edge of the crust more durable.   

The filling was put together very quickly, scattering chocolate chips on the bottom of the crust topping with a layer of sweetened and spiced berries.  The pie could be left open or finished with a crumb topping, but who can resist a crumb topping?  “Not I,” said the avid pie-baker. 

   

The chocolatey base

Four kinds of berries

Sweetening up the deal

Feeling crumby, anyone?

Bountiful Berry Black-Bottom Pie oven-ready!

Our Bountiful Berry Black-Bottom Pie was the finale to an already grand meal with our friend Eric.  It is hard to believe that so many good things could come together so perfectly for a small dinner party, but this was one meal that hit the spot from the first bite into our French dip sandwiches to our last taste of pie licked off our forks.  Perfection.   

At the top of my list of favorites...

I am often asked if I have a top list of pies from my year-long adventure.  Usually my response is indefinite with a pie or two listed between a lot of hemming and hawing because, let’s be honest here, I have made a lot of very tasty pies so far.  However, if I were asked today, Bountiful Berry Black-Bottom Pie is most certainly at the top of that list.  Enough said?

                                                                                                                                             

How Do You Change An Opinion Ever So Firmly Set?

I am not a traditional holiday pie lover.  Pumpkin… pecan… easy for me to pass.  So with Christmas just days ahead I was not entirely sure what direction to take.  The last day for Week 10 happened to fall on the same day that my parents were flying into town, which made me think of my dad and his love for Cherry Pie.  While cherries may not be the typical Christmastime pie, it was going to be red, which I found that appropriate for the season, and Cherry Pies remind me of family, so why not? 

Now my husband is not a fan of Cherry Pie and I thought I might be able to dissuade him of this position if I made the best Cherry Pie.  Where do I go to find the best Cherry Pie?  The New Best Recipe Cookbook, of course! 

This recipe was exciting for me for two reasons:

1.       I would be making a lattice-top, which I had never tried before due to utter intimidation.

2.       I might be able to forever change my husband’s grudge against the Cherry Pie.

Sugar, Morello cherries, almond extract, salt, and flour.

Right away I was surprised to discover that the lattice-top was actually constructed first, and then placed on the top of the pie.  I had always assumed that the lattice had to be made on top of the pie and I had only ever made Grandma’s oil crust (which is very soft), so I could not fathom how to create the lattice effect without it ripping apart.  Another trick I learned was the use of the freezer for making the lattice firm enough to form the desired shape without ripping apart, as I had originally feared.  So with these breakthroughs in mind, the lattice was constructed with ease and I would gladly try it on another pie.  Intimidation factor denounced.

The filling for this pie uses jarred Morello cherries, which I purchased from a local Trader Joe’s store.  As I drained the juice from these cherries I wondered if one of the reasons my husband has turned his nose up at cherry pies was that all cherry pies he has had in the past have been made with the sticky cherry pie filling found in most baking aisles at grocery stores across the United States.  Again the challenge to dissuade my husband’s stance on Cherry Pie made me anxious to get this delight in the oven, so I could serve him a new perspective. 

Cherries ready for my previously made lattice top 

Placing the lattice top on the cherries

Oven-ready!

I am pleased to say that everyone enjoyed their first bites of this Cherry Pie.  The pie not only looked amazing, but tasted fabulous, too.  Unfortunately, after the first bites my husband had had enough.  I had not changed his mind about Cherry Pie.  He did, however, comment that it was the best he had tried.  While I may not have won that challenge, my parents and I slicked up the rest of that pie over the next three days without any trouble. 

Beautiful finished product!

                                                                                                                                                                 

When Healthier Does Not Mean Better

When blackberries go on sale in the middle of winter, at $0.88 per container, it is time to make Blackberry Pie.  So during week 9, that is what I set out to do.  My recipe for Blackberry Pie came from Berry Fruit Pie recipe from  the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. 

I had loads of blackberries on hand and all of the other ingredients I needed.  Or so I thought.  I mixed up my blackberries with sugar, flour, and lemon zest.  My filling was ready.  I started to mix up my double crust, using Grandma’s oil crust, and sure enough my flour was going to only be able to make a single crust pie.  Rather than frogging the whole pie, I pulled out my whole wheat flour, thinking that I might be able to make a tasty (and healthier) pie by using whole wheat flour for half of the desired flour. 

Blackberries, sugar, flour, and lemon zest

Half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour crust

Bottom crust filled

The pie looked delicious going in and coming out of the oven.  The crust formed nicely and browned evenly.  The filling bubbled just so as I set it on the cooling rack.  Whole wheat crust?  No problem, I thought.  This pie was going to be delicious. 

What looked like a delicious pie... do not be decieved!

Wrong.

I LOVE berry pies, particularly blackberry.  This pie was ruined by its crust.  I am certain there are others out there that can manage a whole wheat crust that actually tastes nice, but this was the antithesis of what pie is about.  Perhaps Grandma’s oil crust is not meant for healthy pie.  Perhaps blackberries and whole wheat flour should not be combined.  Whatever it was… I do not want to repeat it. 

Lesson learned:  when you run out of all-purpose white flour, get up and go to the store and buy more before making a Blackberry Pie.

Don't Judge a Pie by Its Photo

The Festive Cranberry Apricot Pie was one that I had seen pictured in the Better Homes and Gardens 75^th Anniversary Edition Cookbook.  The picture showed a beautiful pie with leaves cut out of crust decorating the crust edge and a nice display of more leaf cut outs in the center of the pie.  The picture had me hooked.  I was not particularly interested in the contents of this pie as much as trying out a pie that could just look pretty because of its adornments.  Didn’t my mom always tell me not to judge a book by its cover?  Should the same be true for pies?    

Ingredients

The recipe for this pie calls for a double pastry crust, although the top crust is not used in the traditional way.  The bottom crust I rolled out and then lined my pie plate.  The top crust I rolled out and then used a small, leaf-shaped cookie cutter to cut out several dozen leaf shapes. 

Leaves ready to be artfully placed

Setting the crust leaves aside, I mixed up my filling and poured it into my pie plate.  Here is where disappointment number 1 begins.  The cranberries and apricots did not fill the 9-inch pie plate, which the recipe specifically mentioned to use.  So rather than a pie full to overflowing with beautiful apricots and cranberries, I had a two-thirds full crust.  I kept hoping I was filling a muffin tin with batter and while baking the pie filling would magically rise to a delightful dome, or at least rise up even with the edge of the crust. No such luck.  After baking, my pie looked even more concave.

Waiting for magic to happen...

My second disappointment may have been tied to my first, as the leaf shapes I had cut out an then placed artfully on the top of my pie, did not brown or firm up.  Ick.  The edge of the crust, lined with leaves, was gorgeous, but it did not follow suit that the leaves placed on the center of the pie were also gorgeous. 

Notice the contrast between the leaf shapes on the edge of the crust and those in the center of the pie.

The final disappointment for this pie was the taste.  While it was no surprise to me that it would taste like a Thanksgiving pie, I secretly hoped it would not taste like Thanksgiving.  Yes, I agree this is a silly disappointment, but I wanted the mild flavor of the apricots and the tangy flavor of the cranberries to shine through and make a bright pie eating experience.  Instead the pumpkin spice seasoning, called for in the recipe, overpowered the fruit. 

Final verdict?  No need to make Festive Cranberry Apricot Pie a second time.  I also need to remember not to choose a pie based on its photograph in a cookbook. 

 

 

Thankful for Pies that Delight

Week 6 happened to fall on Thanksgiving week.  I’ll give you one guess as to who was in charge of pies this year.  Not a brain-buster of an answer here.  With my pie project underway, I was more than happy to volunteer.  I had originally planned to make one of the pies a pumpkin, but when I learned that only one or two people really cared for pumpkin pie, I quickly changed my plans to engage a few more of the family in pie-tasting.  The short order: 1 AppleRaspberry Crumb Pie and 1 Nutter Butter Frozen Peanut Butter Pie.

The Apple Raspberry Crumb Pie recipe comes from the Fall 2007 Betty Crocker Fall Baking magazine (the little magazines sold at the checkout stand at grocery stores).  This was not a new pie for me to make, so I already knew what to expect and I tell you, it did NOT disappoint.  Last Thanksgiving when I made this pie for my family, I used Grandma’s oil crust.  This year to mix it up a little, I used the basic flaky piecrust recipe from Real Simple magazine.

The beginnings of Apple Raspberry Crumb Pie

By using the basic flaky piecrust recipe, I was able to make the crust of the pie the day before Thanksgiving, cover it with plastic wrap and keep it refrigerated overnight, taking some pressure off my time restraints on Thanksgiving Day.  When I got up on Thanksgiving, I sliced up the apples, tossed the apples in some sugar and spice, and was ready to fill my prepared piecrust. 

Sweetened apples... yum!

To fill the pie, I added the sweetened apples as a base layer.  Then, I topped the apples with raspberries.  With the raspberries in place, I crumbled almond paste over the top of the raspberries.  Finally, I capped off the pie by sprinkling a crumb topping, consisting of flour, sugar, butter, and almonds to the top.

Layered goodness: apples, raspberries, almond paste.

Crumb topping mixed and ready

The Nutter Butter Frozen Peanut Butter Pie recipe comes from the 2003 A Taste of Kansas City: Then and Now cookbook.  This was the fastest pie I have made to date (freezing time not included).  The crust consisted of crushed Nutter Butter cookies and melted butter mixed and then pressed into the pie pan.  The filling was peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and whipped topping.  Had I not been taking 

pictures between the various stages, this pie could have been ready to be put in the freezer in ten minutes!

The makings of Nutter Butter Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

Making Nutter Butter crust

 
 

This may look like a crumby crust, but don't be deceived!

How did these two very different pies turn out, you ask?  Divine!  I am not a great fan of peanut butter (nor am I a foe), but the Nutter Butter Frozen Peanut Butter Pie was a delicious peanut butter pie.  The next time I make this pie, I will drizzle a little chocolate on the plate, as the recipe suggested.  The pie was relatively rich, so I would also suggest a cup of coffee or a glass of milk to balance the richness.

 

Nutter Butter Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

The Apple Raspberry Crumb Pie was nothing less of superb for me.  Throw a few of my favorite fruits in a pie crust with almonds and we are already on the right track.  Throw in a little almond paste… ooh, need I go on?  This pie was awesome.  

Apple Raspberry Crumb Pie

Peach Pie with Candied Pecan Topping or Bust?

Luther and Laurie, a local pastoral family, were the guinea pigs for the fourth week’s pie: Peach Pie with Candied Pecan Topping from Better Homes and Gardens.  After the previous pie’s lengthy crust process I decided to keep the crust simple by using Grandma’s oil crust, a recipe that I have memorized by rote over the years.  Luther and Laurie had requested a fruit pie, so peach seemed a fitting option, particularly with the candied pecan topping to welcome the cool autumn evening. 

My hopes were high. 

The pie was very simple in its setup.  Roll out a double crust.  Mix peaches with sugar and spice.  Pour sweetened peaches into the pastry lined pie pan.  Top with the upper crust and bake.  Even the topping was uncomplicated.  Mix pecans with brown sugar and butter, pour over the baked pie, then pop it into the oven for a few minutes to firm up.

Sweetening the peaches

Grandma's oil crust

Peaches ready for the upper crust and candied pecan topping

Finished product cooling before guests arrive

Not a complex pie, yet the results were my first big disappointment of my year long adventure (keeping in mind that this was only the fourth pie of fifty-two).  So here are my two main grievances:

1. Although I used Grandma’s oil crust, a recipe I have used and trusted for many years, it did not hold up to the power of the peach.  The first night it fared decently, but the second night it was gummy mush.  Yuck.    

2.  Although divine sounding, the candied pecan topping overpowered the peaches.  The pecans also did not crisp, as I hoped they might.  Rather than a nice crunch to the top of the pie, they created a layer of chewiness that did not suit the pie. 

It is challenging to write about a pie in the negative, because after all is said and done it is still pie that we ate and enjoyed (not to mention having great with whom company to share the experience).  However, as I am onboard to make 52 pies this year, there will be others that get a negative review, as well.  Onward, ho!  

Hello, Good-Pie!

Hello! Today marks the beginning of a year long adventure in the art of pie-making.  For the next year I will be hand-crafting a minimum of one pie each week.  These pies are not limited to dessert pies, but may include non-traditional pies including meal-type pies, ice cream pies, and others that I may unearth in the weeks ahead.

I have had an affinity for pies since childhood, beginning with Grandma Mac's pies at all of our holiday festivities.  Surrounded by family and warmth and laughter, pies have been a part of fond memories and a sense of peace and togetherness in my life.  Now as an adult I want to invite you to journey along with me as I step into the kitchen each week, and hopefully share some of the warmth, peace and togetherness this year brings.  So, hello and welcome!

Now to business...

Each week my goal (this is a key word) is to write a post  before and after making the pie.  This said, I am already off on the wrong foot, because I have made my first pie and did not post what I was going to make and my reasoning for trying the pie!  Again, going back to my note in the first sentence of this paragraph, "goal" is a key word.  This blog and this year long journey is is a work in progress.

The pie this week was Apple-Blueberry and was made as a farewell pie for my friend Jason who is moving to Texas to start and run a new pizza franchise.  I am not particularly fond of straight blueberry pie, but it happens to be Jason's favorite pie, so I compromised and met him in the middle with the Apple-Blueberry pie from Pillsbury Complete Cookbook.

Pastry crust filled with Granny Smith apples, blueberries, sugar and spice.

Finished off with a crumb topping and ready for baking.

Oven-baked to a golden brown and cooling to eat in a few hours.

The consensus after a slice of the Apple-Blueberry pie... delicious!  I may not be fond of straight blueberry pie and I can be a tough critic on many apple pies, but this was a fantastic combination that I would be more than happy to make again.  The four of us gathered around the table Sunday night were seriously holding back from having seconds.  Jason and his wife went home with two slices and the last two my hubby and I cleaned up the following night.

  

Hello, Good-Pie!