5 posts tagged “pie”

Ok, I admitting this now. It’s a secret I’ve held to myself for quite some time now, but I think I’m ready to come out with it: I’m a crustophobe. Yes—it’s true…I’m terrifed of baking pie crust from scratch. Pie crust made from scratch is like the Olympics of baking. Who cares how perfect spiced the filling is or how juicy the cherries are, if you’ve got a soggy crust, the game is over…at least for the baker. For the eater, like my husband, it’s a win-win scenario.

I suppose my phobia was born when one year I attempted to make a “healthy” pie crust with margarine. Needless to say, the dumpster ate that pie while my family and I reached for the emergency Entenmann’s. 

As the years progressed, my determination became more and more fervent while my results became less and less stellar. Soggy crusts, flat crusts, burnt crusts…you name it, I baked it. But then, I received a God-send and from there, the miracles began.

I received a pie recipe book for Christmas last year (ok, hint taken!). In it were loads of recipes for delicious pies that I could not wait to try, but not only were there pie recipes, there was pie trouble-shooting articles and a whole chapter dedicated to successful pie-making tools one of which is the pie bird.

Yes, a pie bird. They are little ceramic funnels that let out the steam from a fruit pie with a top crust, thus enabling the top crust to bake until tender and flaky; not sodden and flimsy.  It also doesn’t hurt that these birds are absolutely adorable and therefore had become another addition to my list of obsessive collections that are slowly taking over my house. Pie birds come in all shapes and sizes ranging from classic black birds with yellow beaks to grey geese to white elephants to modern functioning funnels. They are rare to find and therefore are gaining in their value. I found some on ebay for close to $100. Obviously, my collection is a very slow-growing one.

There are now two pie crust recipes that are “go-to” doughs for me: one is a flaky, cake-like recipe from Ina Garten (perfect for making a fruit crostata as previously featured in Mangia!) and the other is from legendary baking diva and culinary columnisy Dorie Greenspan. Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours was another one of those God-send cookbooks that I believe will very well change my life once again (hint, hint, Santa!). But I suppose I’ll just have to wait and see until after the holidays before I can attest to such things (::cough:: get me this for Christmas ::cough::).

The following dough recipe is fast and easy to make and if I can bake them successfully, anybody can! I chose to make a galette with this dough which is like a free-form pie. Filled with apples and fresh cranberries and it’s the perfect warm winter treat. Enjoy!

Apple Cranberry Galette

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Crust

1.5 c. all purpose flour

2 Tblsp sugar

¾ tsp salt

10 Tblsp (1 ¼ sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes.

2 Tblsp chilled vegetable shortening, cut into ½ inch cubes

2 Tblsp (or more) ice water

Filling

3 Red Delicious apples (peeled, cored, cut into small chunks)

2 Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored, cut into small chunks)

1 ½ - 2 c. fresh cranberries

4 Tblsp sugar, divided

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

Directions

Crust

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor.  Add butter and shortening; pulse until course meal forms. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dry.  Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk and wrap in plastic.  Chill two hours.

Filling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix apples, cranberries, 3 tablespoons of sugar and spices in a large bowl to coat.

Roll crust out between two large sheets of waxed paper to 13 inch round. Place sheet of parchment on baking sheet; spray parchment with nonstick spray. Remove top sheet of waxed paper from crust. Invert crust onto parchment, then peel off second sheet of waxed paper. Spoon filling onto crust, leaving 2 inch border around edges. Fold crust border up and over filling, folding and pleating occasionally.

Brush edges lightly with water. Sprinkle damp crust lightly with remaining sugar.

Bake galette for 50 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees. Loosely cover filling with small sheet of foil. Bake until crust is deep golden and filling is tender, about 20 minutes.

Slide knife or offset spatula under galette to loosen from parchment. Cool galette slightly on sheet on rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature with some homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

I was always one of those kids who demanded the crusts cut off her sandwich bread because I just wanted to get to the good stuff. Fast forward a few years, and I’ve hardly changed. I still eat pumpkin pies from the inside out, leave my pizza crusts behind and eat the center out of the loaves of fresh Italian bread every Sunday at my mother’s house.

Every year I love to fill my kitchen (and my mouth) with fresh homemade pies from apple to pumpkin. This year I thought I’d change things up a bit and make those same delicious desserts sans crust. The result? A predictable amount of dust collecting in my pie pans!

Nothing beats a hot dinner waiting for you when you come in from a crisp fall day. My husband and I love to dig in to a juicy pork loin seasoned with lots of garlic, fresh rosemary and fennel. And of course, what goes better with pork than a big scoop of chunky homemade applesauce fresh from the oven? This recipe for homemade applesauce is like eating the best part of apple pie. Make a big batch of this sauce and it will keep in the fridge for a few weeks. Pack it for the kids’ lunches, serve as an after school snack, side dish or dessert. The best part about eating this homemade apple sauce is that it’s cooked right at home without the addition of any artificial ingredients you find in stores. After one mouthful, you’ll never go jarred again!

Homemade Apple Sauce

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Ingredients

3lbs McIntosh Apples or Winesap Apples

3lbs Granny Smith

2 oranges, zested and juiced

1 lemon, zested and juiced

½ c. brown sugar

4 Tblsp unsalted butter

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. 

Place the zest and juice of the oranges and lemon in a large bowl. Peel, quarter, and core the apples (reserving the peel of 2 of the red apples) and toss them in the juice.

Pour the apples, reserved apple peel, and juice into a non-reactive Dutch oven or enameled iron pot. Add the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and allspice and cover the pot.

Bake for 1 hour, or until all the apples are soft. Remove and discard the red apple peel.

Mix with a whisk until smooth, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Ok, I do have a penchant for the classics and Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. I could even forgo the turkey, but I need my pumpkin pie. However, if you’re willing to try something new, take it from a traditionalist and definitely go for this pumpkin mousse. If you’re in charge of bringing dessert this year to your Aunt’s house (as I am), this dessert is a great choice to bring (as I will). It’s smooth, creamy and will be gone in minutes. Who needs the crust when you can dive into a sea of luscious pumpkin? Top with crushed ginger snaps and edge the bowl with whipped cream (using a pastry bag and star tip) or create parfaits by alternating pumpkin mousse, crushed ginger snaps and homemade whipped cream into wine glasses or tall glasses.

Pumpkin Mousse

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Ingredients

Can be doubled or tripled based on quantity serving

¼ c. cold water*

1 packet unflavored gelatin powder

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

½ c. granulated sugar

½ brown sugar

2 extra large egg yolks

2 tsp grated orange zest

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ nutmeg

½ tsp kosher salt

1 ½ c. heavy cream

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Pour gelatin into a separate small bowl with the water and let sit for 10 minutes to soften.

Over a double-boiler whisk together pumpkins, sugars, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Put eggs yolks in separate small bowl. Add a ladle full of pumpkin mixture to egg yolks to temper the eggs. Whisk well and add to the rest of pumpkin mixture over double-boiler. Add gelatin and whisk well.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fixed with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream and vanilla on high speed until soft peaks begin to form. Fold whipped cream into pumpkin mixture one cup at a time until all is completely blended.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 4 hours. Present as desired.

*instead of water, add an extra kick by substituting with dark rum!

Nothing is more delicious or comforting after a great summer BBQ than a slice of homemade blueberry pie. Blueberry pie is one of those recipes that's so simple and easy to make, there's hardly a need for a recipe. But if you'd like this one...go ahead!

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Fresh Blueberry Pie

Ingredients

3 pints blueberries

1 cup granulated sugar

Juice from half a lemon

½ tsp of lemon zest

About 3 tablespoons of cornstarch

2 pie crusts (the ready-made roll out works just fine!)

Egg wash (egg and water, blended)

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, pour in your cleaned blueberries (wash and stemmed). To the blueberries add the lemon juice, sugar and zest. Toss well with your hands. Line a 9” pie pan with one crust and pour in blueberry mixture. Top with whatever pie crust design you prefer. Top crusts with egg wash. Bake for 1 hour or until crust is golden brown. TIP: after baking the pie for 45 minutes, cover the edges with either tin foil or one of those handy pie crust covers available at any home goods store.

All my life, I have hated key lime pie.  That was because all my life, the only key lime pies I have ever seen were the jellied kind that are that kind of slimer green color with the spongey meringue on top. Ugh.

But for some reason tonight, I was craving a really good key lime pie...the ones that I have only heard in legend that exist but never actually tasted.  The ingredients were simple and the directions were a breeze so I gave it whirl and the result? Heaven. Absolute heaven. If this is what comes from the Florida Keys, then sign me up!

Key Lime Pie

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Ingredients

1  14oz can of condensed sweet milk

1/2 cup key lime juice

3 egg yolks

1 graham cracker ready-made pie crust

whipped cream topping

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine milk, yolks and juice together and beat well. Pour mixture into pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes.

Let pie cool thoroughly. I know...it's hard!

Mix whipped topping with the vanilla extract and whisk to give it that homemade taste.

Cover pie with topping and DEVOUR!

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I finally got my cute little pie bird a.k.a. pie funnel the other day! It's a little ceramic gadget (very popular in the U.K. apparently) that you stick in your pie before putting on the top layer of the pie crust in order to let the steam out and thus preventing a soggy pie. 'Cause there's nothing cute about a soggy pie.

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I just think they're too cute for words!

And, of course, you know that this most likely means that I will begin a collection of pie funnels and that this little guy will be the first of many more to come!