Pie Therapy

Blueberry Pie

2009-02-17T23:29:00.003-05:00

I can't believe in these three-and-a-half years of pie making that I have not yet tried a straight blueberry pie. Well, for a quick dinner with close friends, my daughter (and the friend's daughter) did my first attempt.

This time of the winter always seems to call for frozen berry pies. Sick of apple and not wanting heavy pies, they seem to fit the bill.

Anyhow we used frozen Wyman wild blueberrys and followed a recipe (adapted) from the trusty Farm Journal pie book.

Double crust pie
3 c frozen blueberries (one pack of Wymans)
blueberry juice
water to make 1/2 c combined with juice
3/4 c sugar
2 T tapioca
1 1/2 T cornstarch
1 T lemon juice

The recipe says to thaw berries and drain off the juice. There wasn't any, so I boiled some water in the kettle and poured 1/2 cup through the berries to make it juicy. Stir 'juice' into sugar, tapioca and cornstarch into saucepan. Cook until it is thickened. Add berried and juice to liquid and put in pie shell. Cover with second piece and cut steam vents. Bake at 425 for 30 mins or until nicely browned.

The adults LOVED the pie. The kids didn't really, even my daughter. She said it was too blueberry? I think it is well worth a repeat. It is not too sweet. I served it with whipped cream.

Sour Cherry Apple Pie

2009-01-17T23:44:00.003-05:00

We had a quick dinner party with friends and I had about a pint of pitted sour cherries in the fridge from the summer. That with some apples - sounded like a good pie.

I created my own recipe:

2 crust pie
1 pint sour cherrys (pitted)
3 apples cubed (mix of regular apples)
1 c sugar
2 T flour
1 t almond extract
2 t lemon
2 T butter

Cube & peel the apples. Sprinkle lemon juice over the apples. Add sour cherrys then flour, sugar, flour, extract. Mix. Pour into shell; dot with butter (I always forget to do this). Cover with second crust (I did a lattice) Cook at 400 for 40 mins or until thoroughly cooked.

This combo was magical before. This time, it was good - only one slice was left. However, it needed more sugar - maybe a cup. Luckily I served it with sweetened whipped cream. I have been trying to cut back on sugar as the Farm Journal recipes are just too sweet for me. But this one was too tart - maybe too much lemon too. And maybe super fresh cherries and apples too would improve the combo.

Plum Variations

2008-09-20T19:38:00.000-05:00

My daughter always says she loves plum pies; we have only made them once - last summer. I guess they made a good impression.

As I haven't had time to go to the market lately, I had asked my husband to keep a look out for Italian Plums. So last weekend he came in with a whole bag full - 4 pints!

My daughter and I set to plum pie making. I decided I would do one big one for a party we were having, and four little ones mixed with other fruits.

I did enough crusts for two pies. And for the plum pie, I followed the recipe from the trust Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook - you can read it in a previous post (scroll down for Plum Spice Pie)

Then I made four little pies. As I have written in the past, I like doing these mini pies because I feel more flexibility to experiment.

The large plum pie was a huge hit. The whole thing was eaten at the party. We served the four little ones for a smaller dinner the second night. The variations included:

Red & Purple Plum with Ginger Lime - I added about 1/2 t of ginger a t of lime plus sugar to a mix of purple and red plums.

Cherry Plum - I added a distribution of about 1/4 cherries to plums with organic sugar and nutmeg with the spicy crust.

Plum Apple - I added about a half an apple to the plums and cinnamon and added the spicy crust.

Cherry Apple - I added the other half of the apple to about 1/4 c. of cherries with a 1/4 t of Almond extract and a squirt of lemon.

After we tried all of them, the lime plum was the only failure. The Cherry Apple and Plum Apple were diving though and definitely worth a future big pie.

I used that souther lily white flour because that is all I had. I kind of didn't want to because I think it is over processed. But, truth be told it made a better crust. I was able to mix it without getting tough and it took the water really well.

Making a Sour Cherry Pie

2008-07-20T20:22:00.000-05:00

Sour cherries have such a short life at the market. We wanted to try them out in a pie. My daughter and I bought a couple of pints of sour cherries. They are so pretty, bright red, glossy. The taste though raw is just awful.

We pitted them all together and then the next night made the pie.

Pastry for 2 crust pie
1 c sugar
1/2 c flour
1/8 t of salt
3 drops of almond extract
4 c of pitted sour cherries
2 T butter

Combine sugar, flour and salt. Ad almond extract to cherries and toss with sugar flour mixture. Turn into pie crust. Adjust lattice tops; flute edges. Bake at 425 for 40 minutes.

This pie was divine. Likely the best pie I have ever eaten.

Gooseberry Pies

2008-07-14T20:03:00.003-05:00

During the last months there has been a real dearth of pies in our house. I have been working trying to start a school, so pie making and a lot of other things have suffered. I was able though to take a few hours and make some pies with my daughter. We had bought gooseberries at the market, and I had never made a gooseberry pie.

We had yellow and red, so my daughter and I made three little pies: one yellow, one red and one mixed.

Here is the basic recipe:

3 c. gooseberries
1 1/2 c of sugar
3 T quick-cooking tapioca
1/8 t salt
2 T butter
double crust for 9 in pie

Crush gooseberries and add to sugar, tapioca and salt. Stir in remainder of berries. Let sit while making the crust. Make the crust. Put the gooseberries in the pie, cover with latice. Bake at 425 for 35-45 minutes.

We did one pie of all yellow, one of all red and then for the mixed group we added a streusel topping.

They were all good. The yellow was more tart, less sweet. The best was the mixed with the streusel topping. It was great to discover how to use this summer fruit.

Six Pies Plus - Apple, Pear, Berry & Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T23:30:00.000-05:00

I offered my friend a pie tutorial before Thanksgiving. They were hosting and my friend was making the pie. We were not hosting this year, I was only doing pie - so I thought why not have a pie-making party. Another friend came along too. On the eve of, we made pies for all our three of our Thanksgivings.

We made 3 Pumpkin Pies, an Apple Streusel, and a Pear Streusel. The next day I made a mixed berry pie. I also made three little pies: pear, berry pear & pumpkin - so we would have something left at home (of course they didn't even make it to the day after)

The pumpkin pie recipe was the one straight of the back of the Libby's can. We three girls made all three custards together and we created all butter crusts for each. Over wine & beer I gave pointers on scant ice water, cutting in the butter, and not working the dough too much. They all looked great! One mom went home to tend her baby, pumpkin pie in hand!

Next up we went to work on the fruit pies.

Crust

1 1/2 c flour
7 T iced apple cider
1/2 c lard
1/2 t salt

Pear Pie

5 mixed pears (bosc, anjou, etc)
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 c flour
1/2 lemon
Streusel: 1 t nutmeg, 6 T butter, 3/4 c flour, 1/2 c oats, 1 c brown sugar

Apple Pie

5 mixed cooking apples (stayman, granny smith, etc)
1 T cinnamon
2 T flour
1/2 lemon
Streusel: 1 t cinnamon, 6 T butter, 3/4 c flour, 1/2 c oats, 1 c brown sugar

This time we decided to do lard and used apple cider for the liquid in the crust. As my friend noticed, it was a lot easier to mix and roll. Then we mixed our apples and pears with lemon and spices as the crust was refrigerated. We then mixed chose our spices for the streusel and sprinkled over the crust. This pie baked for 45 mins in a 375 oven.

The next morning I made a butter lattice crust berry pie. I used a package plus a half of frozen berries mixed it with 2 T tapioca and 3/4 c sugar. I also added about 2 t of chopped fresh mint from the garden and a half a lime squeezed in.

The pear was the true winner. Everybody was gaga about it. And the freestyled mini one I just used nutmeg with the pears and cardamom in the streusel. YUM. The pumpkins were good - but just that. The berry was very good, but the mint could have been more, as well as the lime. Neither stood out at all. The mini berry was a real standout though; I combined berry and pear and it was a magical combination - will definitely need to try that soon.

A note - in the picture my friends pumpkin and apple are on the left. Interestingly you can really tell a difference in the use of dark or light brown sugar.

Also I received my first gift pie on Thanksgiving - from a neighbor. It was a sweet potato pie with sweet potatoes from their grandparents farm. It was so lovely to receive a pie too!

3rd Times a Charm - Apple Streusel Pie (lard too)

2007-11-09T17:05:00.000-05:00

I thought I could not go wrong with Apple Streusel pie; boy was I wrong. I took what should be a relatively straightforward pie and buckled under pressure. One recent Saturday morning I needed to make 2 pies. One for a memorial and one for a dinner party. Both of the recipients are definitely connoisseurs so I felt a certain need to perform. That Friday I had stayed out too late with girlfriends so I woke up a bit foggy and got to baking. Then I went to the service, came home a baked the pies. Both pies were delivered and I only tried one late that evening.

What a pie disaster. First of all there was burnt remnant of former pies in the oven. For the first 30 minutes of baking the oven smoked. The pie had a acrid aftertaste, yum The oven was smoking but I had to deliver the pie - so I just kept it in. Wrong. Second the apples weren't cooked through. They were still kinda crunchy. I had baked it at 425 for an hour - I thought it was enough and the crust was going too crunchy. So it just had to come out. Honestly it was just bad. I felt pretty awful and have it my mind to make it up to both parties....

So, a week or so later I started out again. And this time I wanted to try lard. So here is the recipe:

Single Crust:

1/2 c lard
1 1/2 c flour
6 T apple cider (iced)
1/2 t salt

Pie

6 mixed cooking apples (stayman, winesap, etc - no granny smith)
1/2 lemon
cinnamon sugar

Streusel

6 T butter
3/4 c brown sugar
2/3 c flour
1/2 c rolled oats
1/4 t salt
3/4 t grated nutmeg

Make the crust by cutting the lard into the flour + salt. Then add in the apple cider. Start with 5 T. Mix with a fork. Add more as necessary. Lard mixes in MUCH easier then butter, but still don't overmix. Then ball it together and set in fridge.

Peel and slice apples into slim wedges. Squirt lemon and mix over it. Sprinkle with cinnimon sugar, maybe 2 T. Mix the streusel and pour on top.

Cook at 375 for approximately an hour or until the apples are cooked through.

This pie was seriously the best apple pie my husband or I had ever had. WOW. The lard taste wasn't porky. It was lovely. And the apples were perfect! I had squirted lemon usually (but not in the previous encounter) to keep the apples from going brown. But I learned in my Cooks Illustrated baking book that it helps break down the apples. Well, I'll never leave that out again!

Goopy Galette

2007-10-23T17:11:00.000-05:00

I know this title doesn't sound too appetizing. We were having a dinner party with some of hubby's old friends, and something inspired me to do a galette instead of a pie. A galette is basically a pie with free form dough wrapped around the fruit - no pie plate. Before I embarked on this whole pie thing, I did mostly galettes. For this occasion it seemed easier, I was going to need to do 2 crusts for the fruit pie if I didn't do a galette and I was limited on time.

Galette crust (from Deborah Madison)

2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
12 T butter
1/3 to 1/2 c ice water as necessary

You mix this crust like a regular crust, mix the dry, cut in the butter, mix with water. However, then you roll it out in a rough circular shape.

I made this a plum apple galette. I took about 3 apples and a pint of italian plum, mixed it with 3/4 c sugar and 1/4 c flour and 1 t cinammon. Then I placed it in the middle of the galette circle and wrapped the edges. I then cooked it for about 45 mins in a 400 oven.

I call it goopy galette because the fruit juices burst through the crust, ran off my edgeless cookie sheet and COATED the oven in goop. The end result was very tasty. However the galette crust itself was not as easy as imagined. I definitely want to try it more often.

Plums and Grapes - Pies for new Babies

2007-09-23T16:15:00.000-05:00

We have 2 new baby boys on the block. I had a ridiculous sweet tooth while I was pregnant and afterwards I thought, hmm pie. And everyone gives dinners, so why not give something yummy!

Hubby went to the farmer's market with instructions to get whatever was looking good. He came back with quite a bounty - plums, concord grapes, asian pears, apples, pears - all good in a pie.

Concord Grapes though and Italian Plum Prunes are really best suited for a pie. Concord Grapes have really bitter skins and seeds when eaten of the vine. Italian Plums really don't have much taste. So as both were gifts. I decided to make 2 little ones in addition to the 2 big ones, so the family could taste them too. My three year old helped make them and was so excited to make the little ones and have them for breakfast.

I took both recipes from my trusty, Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook. (See other recipe posting on Concord Grape Pie.) The only modifications I made was making more streusel than they called for, in both cases, and for the extra little pies. I didn't have enough plums so I added a couple of peaches. Mods are shown below.

Streusel Concord Grape Pie

Unbaked Pie Shell (see crust recipe)
4 1/2 c Concord Grapes (I use about a quart container)
1 c. sugar (-2T)
1/4 c. flour (+ 2T- it seemed too runny to me, probable from extra lemon)
2 tsp Lemon Juice (I put in 2 T)
1/8 t salt

Oat Streusel

1/2 c quick cooking oats (I used regular and about 3/4)
1/2 c brown sugar (I used 3/4 c)
1/4 c flour (+ 2T)
1/4 c butter (+2T)

Wash grapes and seperate skins from the pulp. Basically squeeze at the back and the pulp pops right out. Place pulp in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for a few minutes until the pulp is soft. Mix pulp with skins. Stir in sugar, flour, lemon juice and salt. Make the Oat streusel by cutting everything together. Pour grape mixture into pie plate sprinkle with streusel.

Hubby really like this. He said he did like the more delicate version, without the oats and brown sugar better - more refined with the taste. My daughter LOVED it. It is a fairly sweet and very unique pie.

Purple Plum Pie

Unbaked Pie Shell
4 cups pitted purple plums (1 pint plus 2 peaches - blanched, peeled & sliced)
1/2 c sugar
1/4c flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon
1 T lemon juice

Spicy Topping

1/2 c flour (3/4 c)
1/2 c sugar (3/4 c)
1/4 t cinn. (1/2)
1/4 t nutmeg (1/2 fresh grated)
1/4 c butter (+2 T)

Remove pits and quarter plums. Combine with sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon and lemon juice. Put in pie shell and sprinkle with topping.

Bake both at 425 for 45 minutes. (you can cook in brown paper bag to keep from burning)

I really like this pie. It is more adult tasting with the nutmeg and subtler plum favorite. I am looking forward to trying the purple plums again.

Ginger Lime Peach Pie

2007-08-19T07:44:00.000-05:00

Now that I am back on the pie kick, peaches is the thing at the local market. And, hubby wanted a peach pie.

After such a long pie hiatus, I remember now why I do this. It is a really simple way to be creative, complete something, and show you care.

Double Crust
6 Peaches
3/4 Cups sugar
1/4 c tapioca
1 t powdered ginger
juice from 1 lime
1/4 cup candy ginger nuggets
Extra pats of butter
2 T sugar with one t of ginger

I started my recipe from Saveur and modified to what was in house. I unfortunately didn't have any fresh ginger so I used powdered and those crystal nuggets. I got 5 very large and one little peach. I blanched them. I don't think they were as ripe as they could be as the skin didn't peel off very easily on a few.

Overall the pie was good. The peaches could have been peachier and the ginger fresher. It was nowhere near as good as last years Peachy Pie. And, the crust wasn't nearly as good as last weeks. To be honest, it was a Me 'n You pie though, so it was a little overworked by the three-year-old. Hubby did like it though, and I am happy to explore the ginger peach combo a little more.

Back in the Saddle - Strawberry Blackberry Pie

2007-08-14T16:56:00.000-05:00

I hadn't made any pies in 6 months. It could have been wanting to loose weight, or likely just that I have been swamped with my daughter, business and starting a school. Anyways, I had been on a pie hiatus, much to the chagrin of my husband.

The hiatus was broken with a mixed berry pie. We had a bunch of strawberries reaching the end of their rope so I combined them with other blackberries from the market into this pie.

Blackberry Strawberry Pie

Double Crust (2 times this recipe)
3 c strawberry
1 pint blackberries
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c tapioca

Mix the berries with all the other ingredients and put in the bottom shell, fold over the top shell. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes until bubbles.

Hubby, my daughter, my next door neighbor and my M-I-L are shared in the pie and expressed their happiness that I was back in the pie business. It thought it was pretty good too. And this time I refrigerated the crust while I did the berries and it seemed to make the process much smoother; it was the best crust in a while.

Bunk in the Trunk Pie

2007-02-28T16:46:00.000-05:00

You may have read in previous posts, that I keep trying to create this lemon slice pie. Well I tried it again. And it didn't work again. My mother in law had bought myer lemons and I wanted something to do with them. So I tried to make another lemon slice pie. The recipe (which I won't share) didn't work for me and in fact the custard never jelled.

So, my mother-in-law showed up and helped out by making it into a chiffon. And we served it for her birthday. It looked fine in the end. But it was bunk in trunk - no one had seconds. And to add insult to injury. The crust was bad too! I had some lovely British friends staying and they gave me the fantastic name for the pie - it fit. I don't think I will tackle this one again.

Valentines Day Berry Pie

2007-02-14T17:07:00.000-05:00

As their are so many berry pie recipes, I will not repeat these, it's basically berries, sugar and tapioca. This Valentines Day pie was no different, except for the little heart adornment. And I sprinkled the top of the pie with sugar.

Nothing shows love like a pie :)

Trash Pie - An Experiment Gone Wrong

2007-01-15T23:44:00.000-05:00

I made my first pie disaster. It actually ended up in the trash. Luckily it was only for my family; no one else had to suffer.

I have lots of lemons (like in October, 2005 - see first lemon slice pie attempt) and decided to experiment. I like the idea of the lemon slice pie, because it is so easy, so I thought I would try a variation. This time I decided to put the lemons through the food processor. Before you think I am crazy. James Beard in American Cookery actually suggests this. It turns out AWFUL. I also had some Steen's Cane Syrup from New Orleans. It is more like a light molasses than the Tate and Lyle syrup.

This is the pie that I made - DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT try this at home...

Pie:

1 and a little cup of chopped lemon. Around 3.
1 1/2 c water
2 cups of Steen's Cane Syrup
3 egg yolks
7 tablespoons flour
1/4 t salt
2 T butter

Meringue:

3 whites
1 t cream of tartar
6 T sugar

Bake a 1 crust pie shell and have it cool. Simmer the lemons in the water for 10 minutes until the rind is soft. Add 1 c syrup and let it simmer. Mix the rest of the syrup with the egg yolks, flour and salt. Stir some of the lemon mixture into the yolk mixture. Then pour all the yolk mixture in the simmering pan. Cook over low heat until clear. Add the butter and cool to room temp. Pour into the crust.

Whip the eggs until they form soft peaks. Whip in the cream of tartar. Whip to peaks. Slowly whip in the sugar.

Put the meringue on.

Okay my second mistake, after chopping the lemons, was that I refrigerated the pie. It made the meringue shrink and weep. It looked horrible. I still tried to eat it. It tasted horrible too. It was brown and goopy. When you bit into it you inevitably bit into some sour, bitter rind. Or if you were luckier a seed. Terrible. Thank goodness it wasn't for a dinner party. I threw it out with the trash.

Seriously Rich Chocolate Pie

2006-12-09T23:29:00.000-05:00

We were bringing dinner to a friend's house who had recently had a baby. Hubby made a yummy soup. The new mom then informed me it was her birthday - ack! Besides being a new mom, she is also a chocolate lover. I made a chocolate pie from Baking Illustrated. The thing about Baking Illustrated is that they try everything and tell you why to do different things - what chocolate, how much cornstarch and so forth. It is interesting, but sometimes a bit too much information. A pie should be simple.

Anyhow I had this super expensive chocolate - Vahlrona - from France, that I got from sister-in-law so I decided to use that. It was 70% and it had just the right amount of chocolate, so I used it instead of following the instructions about chocolate from the cookbook.

This recipe is a serious artery clogger, beware!

Chocolate Cream Pie with my additions

Crust

16 Newman's oreo type cookies
2 T butter

Crush the cookies finely. I use a rolling pin and plastic back. Mix in the butter melted. Press it into a pie plate. Cook it in a 350 oven for 10 minutes, until you can smell the chocolate.

Pie

2 1/2 c. hal-and-half
1/3 c sugar
1Pinch salt
2 T cornstarch
6 large egg yolks at room temp
6 T butter
7 ounces Vahlrona 70% dark chocolate
1 t vanilla (I use mexican vanilla)

Whipped Cream Topping

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 T sugar
1/2 t Vanilla

Bring the half-and-half, salt and 3 T of the sugar to a simmer over mediium-high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to disolve sugar. Stir together the remaining sugar and cornstarch. Whisk the yolks in another bowl until slightly thickened. Sprinkle in the cornstarch mixture and whisk until it turns glossy and sugar starts to dissolve. When the half-and-half mixture reaches a suimmer, drizzle 1/2 c over the yolks whisking constantly to temper. Then whisk the egg yolk mixture into the half-and-half. retrun to a summer, whisking constantly until 3 or 4 bubbles burst on the surface.

Take the pan off the heat and mix in the butter. And the chocolates and whisk until melted. Stir in the Vanilla. Pour into the cooled crust. Put plastic wrap on the custard and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Make the whip cream topping and spread decorately over the pie.

Yum. This was AMAZINGLY good, but soo rich. I could only eat a small bite as could the dad. But the true chocolate lovers, hubby and the mom went in for seconds.

Pineapple Strawberry Pie

2006-11-27T22:52:00.000-05:00

My sister asked for a pie for her birthday. She gave me my Farm Journal pie book for Xmas last year, and wanted to pick a pie from it. We had actually been fighting beforehand. A decade and a country are between us and sometimes the differences turn acid.

Strangely, it made it hard to make a pie when I was mad. But I pushed through. The idea of strawberry and pineapple, and cooked strawberry, didn't sound appealing. But then it wasn't my pie. So I made it anyway.

Strawberry Pineapple Pie with my mods, from Farm Journal's

Double Crust
1 c sugar
4 T cornstarch
1/2 t salt
2 c strawberry
2 c pineapple
2 T butter

Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir in strawberries and pineapple. Put in bottom crust, dot with butter. Put on the top crust, I did lattice. Bake at 400 50 minutes.

It actually was pretty good. Not too sweet; it didn't need ice cream. It was more like a tart. And, I have moved back to all butter crusts. After a number of crusts using shortening, I just decided butter was better.

5 Pie Thanksgiving including Key Lime Slice

2006-11-25T19:31:00.000-05:00

We decided to do Thanksgiving at our house this year. It started out at 16 and quickly moved to 18, then 21. Cooking is shared among hubby's family members, very nice - and makes the event much less of a massive endeavor.

We decided to put together both our dining room tables and use all - I mean all - of the china and silver. The table looked GREAT, thanks to the limoges, wedgewood, Will's sister's table decoration, and Will's cousins napkin design and handmade place cards.

As one Aunt does the turkey and fixings, we decided to focus on before and after. Hubby smoked, and of course, I did pie. I decided to go all out and do 5 pies: 2 pumpkin, one apple, one pecan and a new concoction, key lime slice.

I am not going to place all the recipes for this one. Many of them are repeats. My pecan pie recipe is my standard with british cane syrup instead of Karo - yum. The pumpkin, truth be told, I used the Libby's on-the-can recipe. But with one I sprinkled about a 1/2 c. of candied ginger on top. With the Apple, I did a double crust and used cider instead of water in the crust.

The experiment was a new recipe -

Key Lime Slice pie with a Ginger crust

Crust:

A box of Ananas ginger cookies from Ikea
A stick of butter

Pie:

1 cup of thinly sliced key limes. Around 15 or one package.
1 1/2 c water
2 cups of sugar
3 egg yolks
7 tablespoons flour
1/4 t salt
2 T butter

Meringue

3 whites
1 t cream of tartar
6 T sugar

Simmer the limes in the water for 10 minutes until the rind is soft. Add 1 c sugar and let it simmer. Mix the rest of the sugar, with the egg yolks, flour and salt. Stir some of the lemon mixture into the yolk mixture. Then pour all the yolk mixture in the simmering pan. Cook over low heat until clear. Add the butter and cool to room temp. Pour into the crust.

Whip the eggs until they form soft peaks. Whip in the cream of tartar. Whip to stiff peaks. Slowly whip in the sugar.

Put the meringue on.

The pumpkins were good as was the pecan but not amazing. My crust on the pecan was a little tough. The apple was good, and the cider did give a subtle yum to the crust. The lime was a clear winner. Hubby loved it, definitely good use for key lime. He thought though that the lime rind was too tough. I thought it was interesting.

Mary's Asian Pear Pie

2006-11-21T23:58:00.000-05:00

I wanted to experiment with an asian pear pie. None of my cookbooks broached the asian pear. Online I could only find one recipe from Sunset. But it was overdone with caramel toppings and so forth. What I was really worried about was the consistency of the pie; asian pears seem like they have a lot of water. The Sunset article recommended 6 T of flour, so that is what I went with.

Mary's Asian Pear Pie

6 asian pears (a mix of hosui, shinseki, olympic)
3/4 c sugar
6 T flour
1/2 cup of candied ginger
half a lemon squeezed
2 T butter

Mix all the above and put it in a double crust pie. Dot 2 T of butter underneath the crust. Bake at 425 for 50 minutes.

Again, I forgot to put on the butter under the crust and had to delicately reopen it. I also used the Gourmet crust recipe again (see last post).

The taste was fantastic. The asian pear flavor shined through. The ginger and lemon accented it well. It probably could have used a bit more lemon. And, it tasted better the second day once the flavors had time to develop.

Party Pie Comparison - Double Crust Apple

2006-11-20T20:24:00.000-05:00

Hubby and I were invited to a pot-luck pre-thanksgiving party at a friend's house. About 30 of the hosts friends were going to be there. Hubby brought smoked salmon, and I brought a pie. I decided to tackle my first double crust pie. I also decided after all the streusel toppings, I wanted to do a more simple pie that would let the apple taste shine. I used a slightly tampered with recipe from my trusty Farm Journal's Complete Pie Book for Old-Fashioned Apple Pie.

3/4 c sugar
2 T flour
3/4 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
6 c apples (about 5 or 6)

Combine sugar, flour cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix lightly and thoroughly with Apples. Heap in bottom crust. Dot with butter. Adjust top crust. Cut steam vents. Bake in hot oven 425 for 60 minutes.

I also have some organic non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening so I decided to try Gourmet's pie crust recipe, to try it out. (for a double crust)

2 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 sticks butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 t salt
9 T water

You make it like all other crust. Cut the fat into the salt and flour. Mix in the water a few T at a time.

I forgot to put the butter on the pie. So I had to remove the top crust and dot the butter on. And, it was a little crumbly anyhow. I also sprinkled the crust with cinammon sugar. It wasn't as pretty as I had hoped. But it smelled great.

So, we brought it to the party. And, boy was there a lot of pie competition. There was a peach - apple, a pumpkin, and a pecan. The pumpkin and pecan were store bought - I could tell. But I was worried about the peach-apple. It looked SOOO beautiful compared to mine, perfect actually.

But the truth was in the pudding - an old name for pies. The store boughts were from Whole Foods. The pecan was sickly sweet and soggy, not at all worth the calories. The pumkin was boring. The crusts were bland and store bought. And according to the Post Food section this Wednesday, Whole Foods makes the best of the store boughts.

Then I tried the peach-apple. I had actually asked the maked how he made his beatiful crust, half butter crisco and half regular. And, boy did it taste like it. The crust was beautiful, but it tasted yuck, just like crisco. Can't beat butter. And he used granny smith and canned peaches. It was pretty underwhelming.

What the Old-Fashioned Pie lacked in beauty, it made up for in taste. It was fantastic. You could taste the different apples as I had intended and the crust was crispy and delicate. Hubby was very upset to have to leave it behind. And, many others at the party commented on the great taste (even going for seconds).

Not Loving Lard

2006-10-20T22:22:00.000-05:00

My pie hobby has led me to ask many a fellow pie maker about their pies, especially crusts. Once when speaking to my grandmother (Tutu is what I call her), she told me about her standard pies. Then she recounted this pie party that she went to where the hostess' crust was the best she had ever tasted. Tutu asked the hostess her secret, but the hostess wouldn't give it up. Tutu suspected it was lard. She said when shortening came into being, people just used it; lard was on the decline in popularity.

My M-I-L also has fond memories of lard, as do others. So I decided to dig into the lard mystique. I asked my pig farmer at the farmer's market about it. He said he brings lard, but I would have to render it. Hmm boiling pig fat, not something that sounds too appetizing. My husband renders duck fat for confit, and although I love confit, the process is gross and stinks up the house (usually my M-I-L luckily.

So, I discussed this with my mom and she sent me some recipes and articles on lard. She then ended up buying 10lbs of the stuff from a farmer in PA. (She lives in WA state). So, she then ended up bringing some to DC on her latest trip.

I decided to tackle lard. None of my pie books really went into lard. So, I decided to just replace the fat amount with lard. Both my moms and my crust recipes require the same amount of fat. So, it was

1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c lard
1 t salt
5 - 7 T of water

I also decided that because lard was likely more like shortening the amount of water wasn't going to be as critical as it is with butter. Then I dug in. First off, it smelled like pig fat. Cutting it in, mixing it, rolling it - it all smelled meaty to me. While I am not a vegitarian, I was for 7 years, and I still don't cook meat. And as a teenager, when I lived in England which had particularly smelly and gruesome butchers, I refused to go into the shops because of the smell. In all fairness, you could say I am sensitive.

Then we made my mom's apple pie recipe with farmer's market apples. She doesn't measure anything, but it goes something like this. Cut a whole lot of apples, like 6 into slices. Pile them into a pie dish. Sprinkle a cinnamon sugar recipe (my guess 1 cup to 1 T) over the apples as they go in. Thenk sprinkle the whole mound with a streusel topping of butter and sugar (my guess 1/4c and 1 c).

We cooked it at 350 for almost 2 hours. I think the temp could have been raised to 400 and the cooking time to one hour.

The result, it was not my favorite pie. I could still taste pig fat. The rest of the family said I was crazy. But it also wasn't that flaky or better textured. I will try it again as mom left 2 of those lbs with me, and maybe mixed with butter. Although after this experience, I am not really loving lard.

Concord Grape Pie - Where it all began

2006-10-02T00:48:00.000-05:00

My whole pie fascination started just under a year ago. I had a bunch of Concord Grapes. And, I wanted to try my friend's fabulous tart recipe but it had too many steps and involved marcarpone, which I didn't have. And it required that you pit each grape, which is an incredibly labourious and acidic task.

So, I found this recipe on Cooks.com. I made it once, then twice, then three times. We had a lot of people through the house over the two weeks. My husband kept complaining that he wasn't getting enough. So, I kept making more.

It is sweet and tart and crunch and super yummy. This time around we couldn't even wait until it cooled to eat some. It is really one of the best pies there is.

1 1/2 lbs. (4 c.) Concord grapes
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp. butter, melted
1 unbaked 9 inch pastry shell
Crumb Topping

Slip skins from grapes; set skins aside. Bring pulp to boiling; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Press pulp through sieve to remove seeds. Add skins to pulp. Combine sugar, flour and salt.

Add lemon juice, butter and grape pulp. Pour into unbaked pastry shell.

CRUMB TOPPING
Combine:
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
6 T butter

Cut butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over pie. Bake in hot oven (400) about 40 minutes.

Plum Lavender - Experimental Pie

2006-09-24T21:38:00.000-05:00

I have been baking a lot of pies from a lot of recipes. Generally though they are recipes from pre-1970, and they are often too sweet. I wanted to update the tastes and flavor and cut down on the sweet.

I bought a bunch of duarte plums. They are purple-black on the outside and yellow on the inside. The skin is tart and the inside is mellow sweet.

I decided to try this press in crust recipe with plums and my updates.

Press-in-pan pastry

1 1/2 c flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/2 c soft butter
1 egg
1/3 c sugar
1/8 t salt

Filling

2 lbs duarte plums quartered and pitted
3 T sugar
1 T lemon juice
1 T butter
2 T fresh lavender chopped

Pastry - Beat egg until frothy, add sugar and salt; beat until thickens. Blend butter into dry ingredients. Add egg mixture to flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Press dough into a 9" - greased - pie plate. Put in the refrigerator.

Pit and quarter the plums and arrange them on the pie plate. Sprinkle with remaining ingredients.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45 minutes longer.

The pie was beautiful. The crust was something between cake, crust and cookie. It enveloped the pie. The lavender was great. The lemon juice though was too tangy - and it wasn't sweet enough. A very adult pie.

Hubby liked the experimental idea - but thought it was too tart - ice cream was must. But it is worth some tweaks and a try again.

Peachy Praline Pie

2006-09-08T21:32:00.000-05:00

My friend was having a birthday, she requested a pie. Anything she said, fruit definitely. At the market, the peaches were on the wane, so I tried Peachy Praline Pie.

Unbaked 9" pie shell
3/4 c granulated sugar
4 c sliced peaches
1 1/2 t lemon juice
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c flour
1/2 c chopped pecans
3 T butter

Combine granulated sugar and 3 T flour in a large bowl. Add peaches and lemon juice. Combine brown sugar, 1/4 c flour & pecans in small bowl. Mix in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle one third of pecan mixture over bottom of pie shell. Cover with peach mixture and sprinkle remaining pecan mixture over peaches. Bake in 400 oven until peaches are tender about 40 minutes.

This pie was good. But the peaches weren't nearly as good as the previous peach pie - clearly the peaches matter. I liked the idea of the pralines, but it wasn't as carmely as I had hoped. Good but not perfect.

Plum Spice Pie

2006-09-07T21:01:00.000-05:00

This time of the year, there are always a lot of plums at the market - duarte, satsuma, black, red, yellow, and more. I wanted to try a plum pie. I purchased a mix of purple colored plums at the market with the intent of pie.

I used a recipe from, yes the Farm Journal, for Purple Plum Pie.

Unbaked 9" pie shell
4 c sliced pitted purple plums
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon
1 T lemon juice

Spicy Topping
1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/4 t cinnmon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 c butter

Remove pits and cut plums in quarters. Combine with sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Turn into pie shell and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Combine dry spicy topping ingredients and cut in butter. Springkly it over the pie.

Place pie in heavy brown paper bag. Flod over open end twice to close and fasten with clips. Bake 1 hour at 425. Remove from over, let rest a few minutes beofre removing pei from paper bag. Partially cool on rack.

This pie was fab. Maybe could've cut back on the sugar a bit. But it was super tasty. I was skeptical of the brown paper bag, but it kept the plum juicy and the crust crunchy. I made this one just for home. So we actually ate it the night of. It probably could've set longer - but hubby loved it. And, I shared with M-I-L and our neighbor. They both enjoyed it for breakfast.

According to the book, it is "best faintly warm with nippy cheese (what is that?) slices or scoops of ice cream. I actually thoug it stood well on its own.

Def a keeper.

Deep Dishin' Peach Plum Pie

2006-09-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

"Even the inexperienced cook excels with these pies. She need not blush over a soggy undercrust," quoted my fantabulous Complete Pie Cookbook.

The deep dish pie is an interesting animal. It is essentially 1/2 the pie crust with double the fruit. The crust is much simpler, you just roll it out, plop it on top of a flat caserole typ dish and cut a few steam vents.

My friend was having a bbq, so I decided to try Peach-Plum (deep dish) Pie.

Pastry for a 1-crust pie
2 c sliced peeled peaches
2 c quartered red plums
1 c sugar
1 c sugar
1/4 c flour
1/2 t cinnamon
2 T butter

Place fruits in an 8x8x2 pan (I used a 10x6x2 oval). Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon, sprinkle over fruits. Dot with butter. Roll the dough over the size of the dish. Trim the edges and place on top of dish. Fold edge of crust under and prest against inside of pan. Cut steam vents. bake 35-40 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

I didn't cut enough vents and it broke through the sides and bubbled over. I brought it to the party and warmed it up once it was dessert time. I served it with ice cream and was able to stretch what was meant to serve 6 to serve 11 small portions.

Hubby loved it. And 4 of the men at the party made a point to come by and say how great it was. The hostess commented that it was good but too sweet for her. (sometimes she is a little too honest). I thought it was fairly good. The inside was also a nice color. I just felt like I was cheating a little with the deep dish.

Peach Perfect

2006-08-30T20:56:00.000-05:00

Ever since peaches started arriving at our local market, my husband has been asking for a peach pie. This week I finally made one. I have to say I wasn't too excited about the idea of peach pie. Our peaches have been so perfect that I truthfully didn't want to ruin them by putting them in pie. And we were eating them so fast that I never really had enough to make a pie.

Last week though I bought 6lbs of yellow and white peaches and nectarines with the intent of pie. And, I like that my hubby is into the pies, so I definitely wanted to try it. I consulted my trusty 1965 Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook (a very well considered present from my sis) and James Beard's American Cooking. Hubby wanted a simple peach pie, so I went with this one:

Old Fashioned Peach Pie

Pastry for a 2-crust pie
3/4 c. sugar
3 T flour
1/4 t cinammon or nutmeg
1/8 t of salt
5 c sliced fresh peaches
1 t lemon juice
1/8 t almond extract
2 T butter

Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add to peaches. (I blanched and peeled them). Sprinkle on the lemon juice and almond extract. Pour into pastry-lined 9" pie pan. Dot with butter.

Bake in hot oven (425 degrees) 40-45 minutes or until peaches are tender and crust is browned.

I added a bit extra lemon and almond extract. And I used all yellow peaches, and one white because I ran out.

I made it for a dinner with friends; it was very well received. The flavor was really wonderfully peachy. A good peach does make a good pie. Hubby loved it, it was exactly what he was hoping for. "It was the perfect American peach pie."

Strawberry Daquiri Party Pie

2006-08-03T23:12:00.000-05:00

A good friend was having a birthday party and serving Thai food. I offered to bring a pie. I wanted to make something fun, festive, fruity and frozen. Strawberry Daquiri Pie seemed to fit the bill.

The August issue of Gourmet actually features pie (or truthfully crumble) on the cover, there is a whole article on pies and more.

Ruth Reichl waxes poetic about making a pie; in her Letter from the Editor she does three paragraphs of pie as sex: "feel the butter as it slips, tiny hesitation of the flour, gently coaxing, final massage" and so forth. She goes on to say that it is truly the ultimate test of the cook.

The magazine provide seven recipes that really miss the point of pie. They are too complicated, as is the way of new millennium cooking, and many aren't even pies - crumble tart, chiffon pie, mini pies, deep dish, galette and hand pies. C'mon Ruth, pie is a simple crust with a focus on a simple filling. The beauty of it, is its simple elegance that lets the flavors of the season shine. (Ruth would probably agree with me here)

All of that being said, they had a cool recipe for a Strawberry Margarita Pie which I adapted to my party pie, Strawberry Daquiri Pie.

Crust

1 1/4 c. graham cracker crumbs (basically one pack from a box)
5 T butter melted

Filling

1 lb strawberries
1 T finely grated fresh lime zest
1/4 c fresh lime juice
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2 T rum
1 1/2 cups chilled cream

Mix the graham crackers and the butter. I crush the crackers with the rolling pin in a plastic ziploc bag. Then press the crust in the pie placte and cook it for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Puree the strawberries, zest, lime juice, condensed milk and rum in a blender. Beat cream until it has stiff peaks. Fold one third of the cream into the strawberry mixture. Then fold in the remainder in 2 batches.

Pour filling into crust, mounding it slightly and freeze until firm, overnight. Remove from freezer and left soften in refrigerator, about 40 minutes before serving.

The pie was perfect for a summer party. And it was SUPER simple to make.

Key Lime Pie

2006-07-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

This June I went to the Keys with a friend and her daughter. I kept meaning to try Key Lime pie while we were there. But somehow, even though they have shops dedicated to the desert, I didn't. Later in the month though, while in St. John, I did get try a piece at a lovely little restaurant called Miss Lucy's. It was smooth and limey and tastefully, yet it didn't knock my socks off.

A few weeks later, my M-I-L bought me some key limes, and ever since they have been waiting to be made into a key lime pie. We are having a dinner party tomorrow night. The poor key limes were on their last leg, but I juiced them (not an easy task). And, I made the following recipe from Cooks.com:

CRUST:

1 1/4 c. crushed graham crackers (one package)
1/3 c. melted butter

PIE:

1 can sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
1/2 c. key lime juice
6 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

CRUST: Mix together and press into pie pan.

PIE FILLING: Beat 1 egg white stiff and fold into mixture of condensed milk, 4 egg yolks and key lime juice. Pour this entire mixture into bottom of pie plate.

PIE TOPPING: In another bowl, beat 3 remaining egg whites and gradually add 6 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar. Spread this meringue over the filling. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

This is my first graham cracker crust. It was remarkably easy. And the pie looks beautiful. After it chills, we'll be able to determine how it tastes!

We served the pie with Thai food. It was a good accompaniement. I would say the middle was more tart than I expected, you might want to add a little sugar. But it was offset by the sweet merengue and crust. Hubby thought it was quite excellent. Limey without being too sweet.

Me 'n you Pie

2006-05-12T21:27:00.000-05:00

My latest pies were forays into berry. Summer is around the corner and I was sick of heavy pies. One evening we were having friends over. While my husband and the male dinner guest were preparing savory sauces, I entreated the little girls to pie making.

My friend's four-year-old, my 2-year-old and I set about to make a berry pie. We made my regular crust and added 2 cups of frozen berries, 1/4 c of tapioca and a cup of sugar. The girls poured in the ingredients, helped me stir and roll out the dough. We also made little cinnamon triangles with the leftover dough. And, placed a P in the middle as it is the first initial of our little friend.

The pie came out magnificently. Even the non-sweet eaters gobbled it down.

The following weekend, I asked my daughter to help me make another pie. This time it was with fresh blackberries, mixed with frozen. She helped me measure and put in all the ingredients, and even helped with the counting. This time we brought the pie to a party. And unfortunately, although tasty, it was watery as all get out, even though I took water out after it baked. Bummer.

It looks like now my daughter is hooked too. The following week she said, "Come on mom, me 'n you pie." Translation - let's make a pie together.

Revisiting Raisin Pie - Working with the Master

2006-04-16T20:39:00.000-05:00

My mom was in town. What an opportunity to learn from the PIE MASTER! The big question was what pie to make. We discussed our many possibilities - pecan, apple, something wacky. We decided to do sour cream raisin pie.

Why sour cream raisin? When I was about 5 we went to the Amana colonies in Iowa. We were on our way to visit Mark Twains house and we stopped off at an Amana colony restaurant. The Amana's are like the Amish, except a wee bit more liberal. They make, but do no use, the ranges and kitchen equipment of the same name.

I had a tremendous, almost famous, apetite when I was a kid. My parents always let me order from the adult menu. And, I always ordered a desert. At the restaurant and after my lunch, I ordered sour cream raisin pie. My mother commented, "You won't like it." Out of spite, or adventure, I ordered it anyway. I claimed it was a great pie. So, from that time on, my mom tried to make it. She probably tried about 5 versions, but we never hit it.

So, we decided to try it again. The first thing I wanted to make with her was the crust. She is a crust master. But she uses shortening. So we tried her way but with my fat - butter. She added the water all at once and added, 13 T. I couldn't believe it. But the crust came out smooth and rolled EASY. I was impressed.

And then we made the pie. We researched it a bit. And choose a recipe from the Farm Journal book.

Fresno Raisin-Nut Pie

Baked 8" pie shell
3/4 c sugar
2 T cornstartch
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cloves
4 eggs, separated
1 c sour cream
1 c raisins
2 t lemon juice
1/2 c chopped pecans
Meringue with 4 egg whites

Pre bake the pie crust. Roll it out and fork it completely. Bake for 15 minutes at 425. Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and spices. Blend in 2 egg yolks. Add sour cream, raisins and lemon juice. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constonatly, until mixture thickens. Cool. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie shell. Beat 4 egg whites with 1/4 t cream of tartar and 4 t sugar. Top with meringue. Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes until meringue is browned.

The pie looked beautiful. The inside was pretty good. I think it was pretty close to what I had originally had. It was a little too thick though. Maybe less cooking on the stove top, or more lemon juice. The crust unfortunately was really tough. Bummer, I thought I had found my solution. Water is really the key with butter. Arrrgh, I am still battling with the butter. The next morning the pie tasted better, as seems to be the case often.

The real fun though was making the pie with my mom. She is the pie master.

The 38th Pineapple

2006-04-05T20:10:00.000-05:00

Shocking as it might sound, I made a pie for my husband's birthday. My almost two-year-old daughter now says birthday pie, not cake.

I felt kind of guilty because I hadn't really planned a party for him. I had planned a weekend away, but not a real party. And, intended or not, I had felt a little sadness coming from the soon to be 38-year-old. So, we ordered Thai food, and I made a pineapple pie.

I made the Fresh Pineapple Pie recipe, from the Farm Journal's Complete Pie Book. I substituted lime for lemon.

Fresh Pineapple Pie

Pastry for 2 crust pie
1 medium pineapple
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 T flour
2 T lime juice
1/8 t salt

Cut peeled and cored pineapple in bite sized chunks; you should have 3 c of fruit. Place eggs in a bowl and beat sugar, flour, lime and salt. Turn into pastry lined 9" pan. I did a lattice with a cute little 38 on top.

Bake in hot oven at 425 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust is browned.

The pie turned out fine the first night. Hubby and M-I-L had it with ice cream. I thought that was too much. The ice cream was overwhelming. The next morning it was much better. But I still felt bad about the lack of birthday celebration. It did go well with Thai food.

The one consolation was our employee loved the pie; he is from Ecuador and said it reminded him of pies from there.

Pineapple Chess Pie

2006-03-26T22:42:00.002-05:00

Winter is over, well mostly, I am still wearing a winter coat. The cherry blossoms are popping. The daffs are up. I even saw my first tulip at a friend's house today.

The friends hosted the first picnic of the season this still slightly chilly sunday. It was at a beautiful spot, under a great big old cherry tree and on a hill overlooking Washington. We saw an eagle, a hawk, and hardly any people.

I got up at 6am this morning, with my lovely daughter, who I do wish would sleep a little longer. And, after sometime, I was inspired to make a pie. I have been honestly bored with apples and pecan, pumpkin and pear. All the winter pies have had me down. But the spring and summer fruits aren't here yet.

I had two pineapples so I thought, Pineapple Pie! Why not. Pineapples are summery, and picnics need pie.

My sister got me the Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook for Christmas. It has no less than 4 recipes for Pineapple pie, one doesn't even have pineapple in it. The one I had the ingredients for was Pineapple Chess Pie.

1 cup plus of chopped pineapple (the recipe called for a 13.5 oz can drained)
1 T flour
1/2 c butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
3 eggs
1/2 c sour cream

I trimmed and and cored the pineapple. And chopped up about 1/3 of it into chunks. The Whitehouse cookbook I mentioned, says to trim and cut the pineapple with different knives - and it won't hurt your mouth. (I think it works) So, I did this too and my daughter and I snacked on the pineapple. Make a pie shell and bake it at 425 for 5 minutes.

Add the flour to the pineapple. Cream the butter, sugars, vanilla and salt. Beat in the eggs individually. Stir in the sour cream and pinapple and pour it into the pie shell. It said to bake it at 325 for 50 to 60 minutes. I baked it for an hour and twenty and it still should have gone longer. I would bake it until almost the whole pie is set.

I didn't know this until today, but Chess pies are of English descent and are what evolved into Pecan Pies. They are rich and have a jelly like consistency.

This one was tasty, but could've used even more pineapple and definitely needed to cook longer and at a higher heat. But it was eaten and enjoyed.

Berry Pies - If at first you don't succeed

2006-02-04T23:20:00.000-05:00

I have braved the next step of pie making. Lattice crusts. I was shying away from the double crust, because, to be honest my crusts are still hit or miss. And, it is just a lot of extra trouble. I needed pies though for a couple of dinners we were hosting, though so I thought I would do mom's trusty berry pie.

Mom's Berry Pie

Approx. 1 package of frozen berries
1/4 cup of tapioca
1/2 to 3/4c of sugar

Mix all together and put in a pie crust with a lattice top. My first attempt was with a mix of balckberries and strawberries I had frozen in the fridge. There was too much tapioca and not enought sugar, and potentially overcooked. The texture was a little too close to gummy bear. It was okay but not stellar. People ate it. And smothered in ice cream, well it was fine.

Try two. I added more berries (using a bag plus of mixed berries), put in less tapioca and added more sugar. I also decided to try a shortening crust with White Lilly flour.

Pie two was uglier but tastier. The consistency was right. Unfortunately the crust wasn't so great. I learned that shortening is much easier to work with. But I could REALLY taste the shortening. It was flakier, but greasier and defintely less tasty. The white lilly flour is a little easier to work with and somehow more delicate. But I almost want the pie to have the more rustic feel. Hubby loved pie too. Definitely worth a repeat. But I must work on that lattice!

Egg Pie - a.k.a Quiche Lorraine

2006-01-23T00:30:00.000-05:00

With all the previous posts focussing on sweet, it is time to take a jaunt down savory lane. I received this fab new pie plate from my friends for Christmas. The brand name is Emile Henry. It is a beautiful ceramic green and even came with a matching towel. Very chic - but its French; I wondered, could it work?

So, I took it on trial run with it a quiche. I had made bacon for breakfast; the yummiest ever. It was from the farmers market. Thick and smoky. So, with seven slices left and some Emmenthaler in the fridge (and not much else) quiche ended up on the menu.

First I looked up recipes. Mark Bittman had one, in How to Cook Everything. But I have YET choose a recipe from him that works. You may know how to cook everything, Mark, but none of it tastes good. My trusty 1970's James Beard's American Cookery had nothing. No surprise, it is quiche afterall; a french dish that didn't hit its zenith until the late eighties. I also looked it up in the Farm Journals pie book. Amazing resource, also an Xmas present, but no quiches. It is from the sixties. More on that book later.

So I called mom. Here is the recipe I used. Her recipe called for four eggs. Bitman's called for six. So I split the difference at five.

1 T flour
1/2 a red onion (this is all I had - the recipe called for 2 medium onions)
1 1/2 c grated Emmenthaler (I also added a smidge of Comte)
5 eggs
1 c milk
1 c cream (recipe called for 2 cups half-and-half)
7 pieces cooked bacon
1 t salt

Cook the onion in bacon fat. Yum. Crumble up the bacon and mix it with the onion. Put it on top of the pie shell. Mix the flour with the cheese. Sprinkle it over the bacon and onion.

Lightly beat the eggs. Mix in the milk and cream. add the salt. Pour it over the the cheese and bacon. Bake for an hour at 350. You want the knife inserted to come out relatively clean. And just a little jiggle in the middle.

The new pie plate was AWESOME. First of all the built in flutes make it much easier to just plop in the crust. And, it cooked the crust perfectly. Bacon, cheesy, oniony EGG PIE loveliness.

Lemon Meringue and Pecan Pie Shower

2006-01-22T22:45:00.000-05:00

I was hosting a baby shower. Luckily my cohost was making all the food except for the deserts. I, of course decided on pie.

Showers are weird. Everybody gets together to give gifts to the honoree. It seems really overt. I actually prefer the all girl event. It at least seems beyond just gifts, more about sharing experiences, talking about girly stuff. This was particular shower was a coed event. No games, no advice. But great food.

The cohost, as well as the two showerees are chefs. Murphys law with a bunch of chefs to please, the pies weren't my best by a long shot.

I tried Lemon Meringue and Pecan - with maple this time.

Lemon Meringue Pie

3 egg yolks
3 T cornstarch
2 t lemon rind
1/3 c lemon juice
3 T flour
dash salt
1 1/2c water
2 T butter

Meringue

5 egg whites
10 t sugar
1/2 t cream of tartar

In a medium sauce pan combine sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt. Gradually stir in water and cook over medium heat until thinkch and bubbly. Reduce heat and cook and stir two minutes more.

Seperate eggs and whites. Beat eggs slightly and stir 1 c hot mix in. Put all back into the saucepan. Bring the whole lot to a boil. Cook and stir two miuntes more. Stir in butter and lemon peel Gradually stir in lemon juice. Pour into a baked pie crust.

Mix the sugar and cream of tartar. Beat the egg whites. Gradually add the sugar mix. Beat until stiff. Spread in a peak like fashion over the lemon mixture. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes until brown.

This is my mom's recipe. She makes a great lemon pie. Mine wasn't so hot. It looked beautiful. But unfortunately the pie crust could've been more cooked. And the filling was a bit runny. It tasted good, but it wasn't great. I had added more lemon than she had said, but it still could have been more lemony.

My mom also gave me a great tip. She said to avoid uhaving to use pie weights when baking an empty crust, poke it ALL over with a fork. Make sure you have ample overhang. If the pie starts puffing while baking pop it down.

The chefs were kind, they said the pies were good. I think it was performance anxiety. They were okay, but not great.

To make the pecan, I substituted maple syrup for the karo and used white sugar. Unfortunately the crust didn't come out well. It was tough. The maple syrup was more subtle than I had thought. Then two days later I read a maple syrup pecan pie in Gourmet - ARRRGHH! It was with lemon. Next time.

NOLA New Year's with Chocolate Bourbon and Traditional Pecan Pie

2006-01-02T11:57:00.000-05:00

We spent Christmas in New Orleans. The trip was an emotional rollercoaster. Fun in the french quarter, devastation in the ninth ward, lovely celebrations with friends and family, and a mud-colored water line marking the whole city.

Inspired by the trip, we decided to hold a New Orleans themed New Year's party. Good friends joined in the celebration and brought 'nawlins yummies.

I decided to try southern pies, which of course means pecan. In my family (which has plenty of southerners) we say pacawn. My husband's family says peeecan. Either way I tried two (both slightly modified) - Jack Daniel's Bourbon Pecan Pie, with a recipe from Cooks.com and a traditional version from my James Beard cookbook.

Jack Daniels Bourbon Pecan Pie

2 eggs slightly beaten
1/8 c molasses
1/8 c light karo syrup
4 t corn startch
3/4 c sugar
8 t butter
1/4 c Jack Daniels bourbon
6 oz. hershey semi-sweet chocolate
1.5 c pecan halves

Melt the chocolate and butter. Add the bourbon and cool. Beat eggs. Add the karo and molasses. Mix corn starch and sugar and add to mixture. Combine the chocolate with the sugars mixture. Beat together in mixer on slow speed. Stir in pecans. Pour into a nine inch pie plate. (I added the molasses). Bake at 350 for 1 hour until firm in the center.

Pecan Pie

1.5 c pecans
2 eggs
1 c sugar cane syrup
3/4 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
4 T butter

Sprinkle the nuts over the nine inch pie crust. Beat the eggs. Add the sugar, syrup, vanilla and salt. Pour over th pecans. Pour over nuts. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Reduce temp to 350 bake for 25 minutes until firm in the center.

You might be asking what are those weird things in the middle of the pie. One was meant to be a champagne bottle. The other is '06. They didn't really convey.

The pies however were tasty. I thought for sure the bourbon pie would be the true winner. It was like a pecan brownie with a hint of bourbon. But no, the traditional pecan was the best ever, as hubby said. It was velvetty, not too sweet, exactly what you imagine pecan pie to be. The brown sugar, butter and especially the cane sugar syrup really made a difference. I served the pies with whipped cream of course. YUM.

Birthday Pie

2005-12-12T22:52:00.000-05:00

My mom has the same birthday as me. Every year she sends me a carrot cake. Last year she was a bit melancholy because she was making her own cake.

This year, I am making her a pie. I called under the pretense of Pie blog research. I asked her about pies, why she started making them, who else in her family made them. Most importantly I found out she likes Apple and Pumpkin best. So, I am making her the Triple Ginger Pumpkin. Then I am shipping cross country to arrive on her birthday. This year she won't need to make her cake.

But I did learn some cool stuff too. Turns out my grandma and great-grandmother (on my mom's side) hated to bake. However, my grandfather's mother was a caterer. And she made pies. Ah ha! She catered for the Williamstown, MA elite at the early part of the last century. Including for Teddy Roosevelt. My great-grandfather was the town blacksmith. Teddy took a liking to him and gave him a sheep dog. Like I said, cool.

I have always liked to bake too: cookies, brownies, popcorn balls, candy. The pies are new. But as my mom says, you come to pies later.

Postscript - so I sent the pie. Fedex charged $75. The fedex person said it was likely the most expensive pie ever. Mom was very surprised and said she and my dad enjoyed it.

Crust Confessions

2005-12-05T23:22:00.000-05:00

My friend was going to a pie party. What a cool idea! Everyone brings a pie. Once I hone my skill more, I may have to try this. Anyhow my friend asked me for my crust recipe. Here it is, it is from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cookbook.

1 1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 stick of butter
3-5 T of ice water.

Mix the flour with the salt. Cut in the butter. Gradually add the water. I always need more water, and try to stay to 6 T. But the key is to add just enough water to get it to stay together. And to work it as little as possible. Worse comes to worst, I just pat it in. And if the filling is good, people won't really notice if it isn't perfect, or even bad. But, everyone always notices when it is good.

My mom uses shortening. I generally try to stay away from shortening - trans fats, hydrogenated oils and all that. And, I think butter tastes better. My mom says says shortening makes the crust flakier. Maybe, but I think the butter adds more flavor and seems somehow less greasy.

I tried the Cream Cheese crust for Ginger Pumpkin pie; you can read about it in the Pumpkin Pie Challenge entry; what a disaster.

Many people just use store bought. But as I have discussed with many other people, they are grainy and greasy and just generally blah. And truthfully, it takes maybe 15 minutes more to make the crust.

I had lunch with my pie party friend the other day. We discussed a lot of girly things. As I have hit my thirties, or maybe it is just the era, it is okay - no, even cool to be a girl and do girly things.

Craft fairs are hip. Hipsters knit. Cooking is cool. Of course I told her about my new obsession with pies.

She told me about a recent show on NPR about a new book called Humble Pie. I thought maybe I would find a kindred pie spirit. But the Author, Anne Dimock was more from my mom's generation and had all this fake feminism mumbo jumbo to say. The author discussed how she could tell about a man by the way he ate a pie. And that pie means family, etc.

To me, it is something I can do late at night, that I can finish. It is something everybody loves and it is something unique that shows that I care. It is way that I can be creative in a hands on fashion. I do agree though with Ms. Dimock and the All Things interviewer, that pie is becoming a lost art.

Streusel Pear Pie

2005-12-04T21:38:00.000-05:00

My sister found out about Pie Therapy. We have another blog together, politically oriented. I thought she might feel like I was two-timing her, so I didn't tell her about it. Instead, she thought I was crazy (and she wanted some pie).

We were having friends over to decorate the tree. We had a bunch of pears left from last weeks market, and I wanted to try a pear pie. My mom said that I shouldn't use too ripe pears as it would turn to mush. She was also pretty negative about pear pie in general, not as tasty etc, as apple. But maybe, she thinks I am stepping on her pie toes. She too heard about the pie blog.

I had about 8 (small) Seckel pears that were very ripe so I mixed them with 2 pretty unripe Bosc's.

I have been getting much better at crust. I whipped it together pretty quickly and then got to work on the recipe. It came from Cooks.com I really like it as a resource. You can quickly scour a bunch of recipes to find one that suits your taste, what you've got in the fridge, etc. So, hear it is with my mods:

4 lg. pears
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c flour
1/2 t grated lemon peel
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ginger
a squeeze of lemon juice

Streusel

1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c chopped pecans
1/3 c flour1/4 c. butter1 (9") unbaked pie shell

Core and dice pears. Toss with sugar, 1/3 cup flour, lemon peel, ginger, juice and nutmeg. Combine brown sugar, pecans and 1/3 cup flour. Cut in butter. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of brown sugar mixture over bottom of pie shell. Add pear mixture. Top with remaining sugar mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes until pears are fully cooked.

Everyone loved it. We served it to our friends with half vanilla and half ginger ice cream. We served it for breakfast to M-I-L, she thought it was excellent, especially the crust which managed to say crispy.

My husband thought, after poo pooing the lemon when I first added it, that there could be more lemon, more ginger and hazelnuts would have been better that pecans. But all in all he liked and in fact, hubby thought it have even developed more flavor from the evening before. Then the pie was gone.

Pumpkin Pie Challenge

2005-11-27T22:07:00.000-05:00

We spend Thanksgiving generally with my husband's family, it is a elegant yet fun potluck affair. We responded to the call with a smoked ham and a request to make pies. I however, had some competition, one Aunt called the pies as her territory. I pleaded to make the pumpkin pie, as it is THE Thanksgiving pie. After reading the blog, she acquiesced and let me try my hand.

A triple-threat Ginger Pumpkin Pie was featured in the Post, they called it Trendy. I decided to try that, as well as a tradiitional version. I called my mom, she said she used the one on the back of the Libby's can.
Late Wednesday night, after I put my daughter to bed, and while my husband was out with a friend I began ..... The Pumpkin Pie Challenge.

I started with the traditional version. I made the crust, with butter. It rolled out well. I seemed to remember my mom's used allspice, but anyhow here is Libby's recipe:

3/4 c sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 can Libby pure Pumpkin (15 oz)
1 9" pie shell

I beat the eggs and then stirred in the pumpkin and then the spices which I mixed together. Then I stirred in the evaporated milk. I poured it into the shell and stuck it in the oven. Three minutes in. I started to review the Ginger recipe.

AHHHHH!

I had forgotten the SUGAR! My grandmother did this one thanksgiving, apparently the pie looked beautiful. And, she tried to stir it into the cooked pie; that year the Day went pieless. With my husbands help (he had just arrived home) we whipped it out of the oven poured the batter out and stirred the sugar in. Noone was any the wiser. I cooked it for 15 mintes at 425 and then 45 monutes at 350.

So, back to trendy Ginger.... The differences between the two pies: fresh pumpkin in this one, the spices and I used the homemade pumkin from the soup described in the previous installment.

I started with the cream cheese crust. It was suppose to be easier. What a crock. It was a huge pain. You had to blend in the cream cheese, then refrigerate, then prebake it. I decided to forego the pie weights, because that is a PAIN. And then the crust also SHRUNK. Never again. And, the cream chees crust tastes thick and is greasy (and more full of fat). So I am not even going to provide the recipe.

The custard was great though. A real hit. 3 kinds of Ginger - fresh, powdered and crstallized.

2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peeled and finely grated ginger root
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh pumpkin
1 tablespoon crystallized ginger, finely chopped

(from the post)For the filling: In a large bowl, combine the eggs and brown sugar, whisking until smooth. Add the cream, vanilla extract, grated and ground ginger, cinnamon and salt and continue whisking to combine until smooth. Add the pumpkin and stir until thoroughly combined, then pour into pre-baked pie crust. Bake until the filling is set in the center and the edges are firm (test by giving it a gentle shake), about 45 minutes (at 350). Remove from the oven and sprinkle the crystallized ginger over the center of the pie, if desired. Cool at room temperature for about 1 hour, then cover and refrigerate.

We walked both pies over, and in the baby carriage they got a little banged up. They tasted pretty good.

My husband thought the traditional pie was very good. But the ginger was the true winner. The fresh pumkin has a true depth. But we both thought that there could've been more ginger. The other guests too commented on the ginger being tasty.

Cinderella Story - Pumpkin Pie 1

2005-11-16T00:21:00.000-05:00

We bought this 10 lb blue pumpkin at the farmers market this weekend. It was $10, I kid you not. Seemed a bit much for a pumpkin to me. But, hubby wanted to make a pumpkin soup for a dinner party we had last night.

He baked this 10 pounder. Used some of it in the soup and then used it to serve the soup. It was cauliflower and pumpkin soup with smoked ham and a lime & white wine sour cream garnish. Lovely, truly, but this blog is about pie.

So there was all this pumkin to be used. I rinsed off the soup and discarded the soupy tasting bits. And, then processed the pumpkin. I started out in the blender. Not working, so my mother-in-law suggested the food processor. It worked, and after a couple of batches I had over 6 cups of pureed pumpkin.

I have wanted to try to make a pumpkin pie from scratch. My mom and my mother-in-law say that the canned stuff is just as good. I wanted to prove them wrong. Or at least know for myself. My guess, anyhow, is that my mom has never processed a pumpkin.

We had a beauty, fit for Cinderella herself. It started out a lovely green blue and when cooked the skin turned a palish ghoulish green. And the flesh was just perfect, dense and tasty.

Here is the recipe:

3 eggs
2 c of strained fresh or canned pumkin (the rest went into the freezer)
1 c brown sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t of ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t cloves
1 t nutmeg (I grated this in)
1 c evaporated milk
pie shell

Beat the eggs until the yolks and whites are incorporated and then add the pumpkin, brown sugar, and spices. Mix. Then add in the milk. Mix again and pour into a pie shell. I made a 9" as usual. This is more than could be held in a nine inch so I put the extra in a ramekin and made a pudding. Cook at a 450 degree oven for 12 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 325 and cook for another 35 or so until the middle only jiggles a bit.

I tried the pudding out of the oven. I think the fresh pumpkin does taste better. This could of course be that it is REALLY late, and I have a case of wishful thinking.

It is smoother and less thick. I would maybe cut back on the spices and sugar to allow the pumpkin to show through abit more. But yum. Will give you the husband's feedback tomorrow morning. And mother-in-law and friend are coming over tomorrow to watch the kiddo while we go out, so I will get their feedback as well.

Apple Pie

2005-11-14T23:12:00.000-05:00

This of course is the quintessential American pie. And, as it is the season, I decided to tackle it. My mom makes an apple pie. That is my standard. Other apple pies generally suck, they are soggy, bland, too sweet, with lousy crusts and not enough apple taste. My moms is good, but I thought there were a few things I would do differently.

I went back to James Beard. I have been doing some other pie research. I have a White House Cookbook from 1897, and that provided some good insight. And I have been reading a few others, but Beard just seems to give the best basis. I will try other versions later.

On Saturday I went to the farmers market. One of the vendors splits their apple versions into eating and cooking at their stand. I inquired into the difference. Staymans, one of my favorite eating apples, is in the cooking category. They are an east coast heirloom apple, very crisp and not too sweet.
The farmer (she is a female who I have discussed pies with before) said that the cooking apples, while can be good for eating, keep their shape while cooked.

Ah hah. This is a key to what I would change to my mom's Apple. I think the apples are too soggy and not apply enough. My mom uses lamo Costco granny smiths, large and with a very lackluster taste.

I bagged a bunch (of both kinds of the farmers apples) but kept them separate: Stayman, Mountaineer, etc. That afternoon, we had a dinner party to attend, so I made the pie.

I chose to do an amalgamation of James Beard, my mother and Deborah Madison (my favorite modern cookbook author).

6 medium sized mixed cooking apples (none Granny Smith) cored and sliced into decent but not too small wedges
3/4 c sugar (I wanted to use brown - but we were out)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 c of butter (1 stick)
1/2 c flour
1/4 cup of oats
1/4 c apple
1/4 t salt
1/2 a lemon

You make the crust (single) . I always do butter only, but will leave that for another day. Then cut up the apples. Place them in the pie crust (I always do 9 inch). Squeeze half a lemon over them. Add the remaining ingredients and cut the butter in. Sprinkle it over the top. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 50 minutes, until the apples are done and the juice is bubbling.

Interestingly I kept thinking the apples weren't done because they weren't as mushy as my mom's version. But it turned out they were. The pie turned out FAB. My addition was the oats and it made it more rustic and crunchy. The apples were excellent and apply.

I think it could have been less sweet. My husband remarked as such. And he said there could've been more lemon, maybe even somezest thrown in.

We brought it over to a friends who had just had a baby (another one, different then the lemon slice recipient). The new mom had made a request. And the pie got rave reviews.

Beard writes that, "So common has apple pie always been in this country that many old American cookbooks did not bother to give a recipe. It was taken for granted that every housewife had her own favorite."

Wow, how times have changed. I wonder how many women even know how to make an apple pie. And certainly none of them would want to be called housewife. As a mother, wife, business owner, MBA and friend I did enjoy the effort. I will continue to tweak the recipe until it is my own.

Lime Angel Pie

2005-10-30T00:43:00.000-05:00

After I got home from my friends, and put my daughter down to sleep, I decided to make my second pie of the day, Lime Angel Pie. Hmm, Friday night for the apres 30 set with young children.

"The most frequently printed of all the pie recipes in sectional cookbooks of the last 60 years."wrote Mr. Beard. Interesting comment; as for me in 2005, I have never heard of an Angel pie.

SHELL

4 egg whites
1/4 t cream of tartar
1 c sugar

FILLING

4 egg yloks
1/2 c sugar
1/4 t salt
1/4 cup lemon / lime juice
2 T grated rind

1 cup of heavy cream whipped.

You make the meringue and then bake it for an hour in a 300 degree oven. Before you put the meringue in the pie plate, grease it with some Pam or oil. Mr. Beard said to heat up the pie plate in the oven and then dribble some oil and wipe it out. I did all this, and the meringue still stuck. The recipe also said to beat the whites to form stiff peaks. And, begin adding the sugar after the cream of tartar and gradually after soft peaks have begun forming To be honest, I couldn't really remember what egg white stiff peaks looked like. I contemplated calling my mother, but decided just to wing it. It was around midnight. After you bake it for an hour (and be sure NOT to open the oven or it will fall) leave the oven door slightly ajar and turn off the oven to let it cool for 30min.

Meanwhile you can make the custard. I chose to use key limes, you can use regular limes (and do half lemon to temper the astringency) or lemons, just double the amount of rind with the lemons. Prep was interesting. If you have ever worked with key limes you will understand what I mean. Grating the rind was nearly impossible, as the little slippery nubules kept slipping out of my hands. And the skin is so thin that it took around 10 limes to get 1 T of rind, and a good portion of that was likely knuckle skin. Then I tried to juice them on my electric citrus juicer. They kept trying to escape so I ended up just squeezing them beneath my fingers.

Add all the remaining ingredients together (except the whipping cream), beat lightly and then cook over a double boiler until it thickens. I don't have a double boiler. Does anyone? I just put a metal bowl over a saucepan filled with boiling water. Then chill to thicken. By this point it was about 1:30am. I was getting tired, but perservered. Then whip the cream fairly stiffly. The meringue will have sunken in the middle by this point. Spread half the cream over bottom then put a layer of the custard, then the remaining cream. I also put a dollop of the custard on top to give it some color. Otherwise it looked really beige. Then it is suppose to chill overnight, but I think it could've been served right away.

By 2am I was exhausted but finished.

The next day I plied the pie off on my mother-in-law (and caterer by trade)but kept a piece for my soon returning husband. She was having my daughter over in the evening to play with her cousins, and to allow me a little RnR with some friends. Thank god, or I might have made another pie.

But I stole a small bite at that point. I understand why it is called Angel. It is super light and airy and it really just melts away in your mouth. The key limes made it special. But I might have prefered the custard folded in with the cream (one option from Beard). It was good but sweet, I think I prefer my pies more substantial.

My M-I-L tried the lemon slice when she came over. She liked it; in fact could barely put it down. "Sophisticated," she said. That was the clear winner. The Angel was just fluff.

Lemon Slice Pie

2005-10-29T00:10:00.000-05:00

I had a lot of citrus in my fridge - around 8 lemons, 12 key limes, and 10 regular limes. Why so much citrus? I habitually buy limes because my husband cooks Thai food. And my mother-in-law habitually shops at Costco for 'deals'; and since she is on her own we end up with the extras.

Whenever I am in a situation where things are starting eek past their prime in the fridge, I find it a personal challenge to find some new wacko way to use them.

So, today I made Lemon Slice Pie (or Fresh Lemon Pie). The recipe is from James Beard's "American Cookery," published in 1972. Said mother-in-law has also provided for a bounty of eclectic cookbooks. I particularly like this one, because the deserts (all I really ever look at) provide a picture of American Life in the past century.

Enough rambling, more pie. Here is the recipe:

1 cup of this slices of unpeeled lemon, or put whole unpeeled lemons throughout the coarse blade of a food processor
1 1/2 c of water
2 c sugar or 1 cup sugar and molasses
3 egg yolks
7 T flour
1/4 t salt
2 T butter
Baked pastry shell or crumb crust for 9 inch pie

Mr. Beard provides a lot of interesting background which I won't go into, and options for making this pie. Basically you simmer the lemons, which I sliced in the food processor in circles, in the water for 10 minutes. Then you add 1 cup of the sugar and keep simmering until the rinds become soft. While this is going on you mix all the other ingredients except the butter. I chose to use Sorghum because I had it, and only a cup of it in place of the molasses.

Then you add some of the hot lemon mixture to the egg mixture and then add it all back into the lemon mixture. Then Mr. Beard says stir it over low heat until clear, and not too long. Well mine never became clear, perhaps because of the sorghum. But once it was thickened quite a bit I turned it off.

Then you add the butter and pour it into the crust. I had made a crust earlier. I don't believe in store bought crusts, there always greasy and why not just make that too. Its not that hard. That being said, it wasn't one of my best crusts. Mr. Beard then says you can either top it with meringue made with three eggs or whipped cream.

I took the pie over to my friends and finished it off with whipped cream (with some sugar). It is a very tart pie, and not too sweet. My friend said it was an adult pie. I agree. It was tasty, but I am not too sure I am so fond of the big pieces of rind throughout.

We were having a mom / baby night with the kids. We dug into the pie and discussed how our dads were jerks, our ridiculously bad educational system, men's faults in general, and just generally caught up. Sliced lemon pie was a perfect accompaniment.

(the pic is a pieced I salvaged and brought home)