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Cheer Up Pumpkin

Recently, I found myself in what I can only describe as a pit of despair. While residing in the aforementioned pit, I said to myself, "Well, how did I get here?" I said myself, "Am I right or am I wrong?" I said to myself, "My God, what have I done?!"

It was this line of inquiry that lead me to my latest Pie-tastic project: Cheer Up Pumpkin. I needed something comforting, something wholesome, something that will always bring a smile to your face. A great pumpkin pie is just that. It's also simple to make. Pumpkin was the first pie I ever made by myself; I was thirteen and my grandmother and I were alone for thanksgiving, I made 4 and gave 3 of them to my very appreciative friends.

No case of the blues is a match for Cheer Up Pumpkin. This is a great recipe and it rivals any pumpkin pie I've had in a restaurant. The spices and texture are perfect. Trust me, I've sampled a LOT of pumpkin pies in my day.

Recipe
Ingredients

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool.

Purely for cuteness sake, I used a cookie cutter to cut out a little gingerbread-man shape out of pie crust. I placed it in the center of the pie and sprinkled a pinch of ground cloves over the top before baking. Not only did this pie live up to it's name and succeed in putting a smile on my face, it was quickly eaten up by my happy happy housemates.





*Recipe courtesy of Eagle Brand Condensed Milk

Bridal Shower Pocket Pies

Last week was a crazy week of pie baking, so I'll keep it short and sweet and just get to the recipes.... each one is a separate post, just to keep things easily organized, but here's what you're getting....

• Banana-Nutella Empandas
• WP's Beach Peach Pie
• Apple-Blueberry Lattice Pie
• Bridal Shower Pocket Pies
  

Crazy Pie Week Recipe #4
Bridal Shower Pocket Pies

The day before I made these pies, the air-conditioning in my house broke, but I'd already agreed to make them for a friend's bridal shower and had all the materials. I toughed it out, but the house took quite a while to recover from having the oven at 400 degrees for an hour. In addition to the Banana-Nutella Empanadas from above, I also made Mixed Berry pocket pies. I used a Lattice Pocket Pie kit from Williams-Sonoma that I came across a while back with my mom. The lattice part is kind of a pain because you have to fish out all the little crust pieces, so after trying it once I just use the solid crust method. In progress photos are from the first time making this mixture, but it's the same recipe and I wasn't really in a photo mood while sweating profusely. The only photos from this batch are the ones on the rack.

Ingredients
pastry for a 9-inch double crust
2 cups frozen mixed berries
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions 

On the stovetop combine all the ingredients into a small saucepan & cook over medium heat stirring occassionally. Cook for 10-15 minutes until berries defrost & sauce starts to thicken. Break up any large berries or chunks.

Pour mixture in a bowl & place in the refridgerator to cool.
 

Roll out your pie dough & cut out circles with the bottom of the pocket pie kit, or using a 3-inch cookie cutter. Once the mixture has cooled, put 1 spoonful into the center of a circle. 

Moisten the edges of the circle with water & place another circle on top. Press down to seal & crimp with the mold, or using your fingers to seal & a fork to crimp the edges.

Place the pocket pies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper & freeze for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Credit:
Me, with a little help from that pocket pie mold

Apple-Blueberry Lattice Pie

Last week was a crazy week of pie baking, so I'll keep it short and sweet and just get to the recipes.... each one is a separate post, just to keep things easily organized, but here's what you're getting....

• Banana-Nutella Empandas
• WP's Beach Peach Pie
• Apple-Blueberry Lattice Pie
• Bridal Shower Pocket Pies

Crazy Pie Week Recipe #3 

Apple-Blueberry Lattice Pie

This one was a specific request from my husband and a first attempt at a lattice top crust. I watched a quick video demo online for making a lattice top crust and was amazed at how simple it was! The woman in the video used a homemade crust and I just used the store bought roll out kind, and it worked great. I cut the strips with a pizza cutter and made my strips a little thinner than the video. The quarter turn totally did the trick and it was a lot easier than I expected.

Ingredients

pastry for a 9-inch double crust
5 cups fresh apples
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter 

Directions

Preheat your oven to 425°F

In a bowl mix your sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Mix together well.

Toss your apples, blueberries, lemon juice in a larger bowl and pour dry ingredients over top. Carefully mix together well.

Grab your pie crust.

Empty your apple blueberry mixture into your pie shell. Don't forget to dot your filing with your butter.

Cover up your beautiful filling with your top crust, following the directions in the video. Pinch your edges together and form a crust.

Vent to your liking and place in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes and lower temperature to 350. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or until brown.

Credit (with some modifications):
http://www.pieaday.com/2009/may/may_18th-23rd/apple_blueberry.html

WP's Beach Peach Pie

Last week was a crazy week of pie baking, so I'll keep it short and sweet and just get to the recipes.... each one is a separate post, just to keep things easily organized, but here's what you're getting....

• Banana-Nutella Empandas
• WP's Beach Peach Pie
• Apple-Blueberry Lattice Pie
• Bridal Shower Pocket Pies

Crazy Pie Week Recipe #2

WP's Beach Peach Pie

One of the founders of the company that I work for has a beach house on Fenwick Island, DE and brought back some farm stand peaches on his trip back. When he found out that I've been making pies, he brought them in and asked me to make his favorite - peach pie. I supplemented with a few grocery store peaches to make sure there were enough, but the real stars were the ripe farm stand peaches. My first made-to-order pie... felt weird because I didn't get to eat any of it.

Ingredients
pastry for a double-crust 9-inch pie
5 cups fresh peaches, sliced
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar


Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Stir together flour, 1 cup sugar, and cinnamon and set aside. Wash, peel, and slice fresh peaches.

Mix together peaches with the combined dry ingredients. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan and dot with butter.

Cover with top crust, cut slits in it, seal the edges. Sprinkle top with 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Cover the edges with foil to prevent over browning; remove foil for the last 15 minutes of baking. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through the slits in the crust.

Credit:
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Simple-Peach-Pie-128494

Banana-Nutella Empanadas

Last week was a crazy week of pie baking, so I'll keep it short and sweet and just get to the recipes.... each one is a separate post, just to keep things easily organized, but here's what you're getting....

• Banana-Nutella Empandas
• WP's Beach Peach Pie 
• Apple-Blueberry Lattice Pie
• Bridal Shower Pocket Pies

Crazy Pie Week Recipe #1

Banana-Nutella Empandas

This one just sounded too good to pass up.  My family is a big group of Nutella fans (except Dad), so I think i just started looking up "Nutella pie" on the internet, to see what I could come up with and then came across this one. I've made this one twice, both times the nutella started oozing out while baking... with and without venting, so it's just part of the experience and you should go with it. Just break off any burnt spillage pieces before you serve them.

I really was amazed at how simple the filling is... take one banana cut into small pieces, smash together with Nutella and you're good to go.

Ingredients

1 large ripe banana, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes

1 cup Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread

2 refrigerated 9-inch pie crusts or favorite from-scratch pie dough (enough for two 9-inch pie crusts)

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

cinnamon ice cream, powdered sugar or whipped cream, for serving (optional)

Directions

In small bowl, mix banana and Nutella until combined (it will thicken and become stiff). Set aside.

Divide dough in half. Roll out each half to a 14 x 8-inch rectangle, 1/4-inch thick. Using square or round 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out 8 pieces per half. (I used a pocket pie maker from Williams-Sonoma)

Place 1 heaping teaspoon Nutella-banana mixture on each dough cutout. Brush outer perimeter with water and fold dough to make a closed pocket. Press edges together with fork.

Brush with water and sprinkle with sugar. Freeze on parchment paper or foil-lined baking sheets for at least 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 400F and bake empanadas until golden, about 20 minutes.

Serve warm with cinnamon ice cream, whipped cream, or sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

 
Credit:

http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Banana-Nutella-Empanadas-Empanadas-De-Platanos-Y-Chocolate-155937

Bon Voyage Pie

I made this apple black berry pie before I left for London. To be festive I carved a Union Jack design into the crust It was a real crowd pleaser. As soon as it was finished, my uncle handed me a 20 and commanded me to go make more, and as I am not one to turn down a baking opportunity I hit the grocery store in search of more blackberries and pie crust (I use the Pillsbury roll out kind, it's perfect) and had the new pie ready for desert.

Here's the recipe

Ingredients

* 1 pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
* 1 cup white sugar
* 4 teaspoons tapioca
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 cups fresh blackberries
* 2 cups apples - peeled, cored and sliced
* 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
combine berries, apples, tapioca, cinnamon, and sugar in a bowl. Toss gently until the fruit is coated evenly. Place fruit in pie crust. Top with butter pieces. Place top crust on pie and poke holes for ventilation. cover edges and bake for 45-50 minutes at 375 degrees. Uncover edges halfway through baking.

Make sure to let the pie cool so it can thicken.

Peach Raspberry a.k.a. "Overtime Breakfast Pie"

Another good one. 

I'm really a fan of the fruit pies in general and not one of them has failed to please so far. This one gets a fun nickname from right when I was about to put the pie in the oven...

My husband, key pie taste tester, is a police officer and works the evening shift - usually getting off work around 10 or 11 at night. I work a normal 9-to-5 type of job, but I've gotten adjusted to cooking and baking in the mid-late evenings. It was about 9:30pm when I was about to put the pie into the oven, just about perfect timing for it to be done and cooling when he got home.... then he called to tell me that he'd picked up a midnight shift of overtime to cover for a friend and wouldn't be coming home until 7am the next morning. After he declined my pie delivery service offer, I looked down at the pie and said, "Well, I guess you get a good breakfast." So, that's where the nickname came from.

On top of the great taste of the fruit pies, I'm continually amazed at how easy they are to make. Since it's mid-June, I was a little concerned about how ripe the peaches would be, but it turned out great. For this recipe, you peel and slice the fresh peaches (removing the pits) and mix them with fresh raspberries. The peeling gets a little sticky, but it not too bad. You want peaches that are a little firm, but not too much. If they're too soft, then they can be a little hard to peel or slice. 

Almost nothing is too difficult for my monkey peeler!

Once you've got 4.5 cups of peaches sliced (about 5-6 medium peaches), combine them with 1.5 cups of fresh raspberries and a tablespoon of lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon - then toss it with the fruit until lightly coated. Pour the filling into a pan with bottom pie crust, dot with butter and top with upper pie crust with vents cut for steam to escape. 

When the timer went off for this pie, I walked upstairs to the kitchen and almost passed out from the delicious smell permeating the room. It came out looking delicious and I could barely wait to try it. A little vanilla ice cream to top it and a couple of fresh raspberries. Really good warm, but just as awesome cold.

Here's the recipe...

Peach Raspberry Pie

1 1/2 c. raspberries
4 1/2 c. peaches (pitted, peeled and sliced)
3 heaping tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. butter

Prepare favorite pastry for double crust 9" pie. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

To make filling; mix together dry ingredients. Toss with fruit and lemon juice.

Turn into pastry lined pie plate. Dot with butter. Make several slits in top crust. Cover pie with pastry; seal and flute edge.

Bake at 425 degrees for 40 minutes or until crust is browned.

Serves 8.

Note: Most of my recipes are found online with a little added improvisation, and I make no claim to their ownership. After this one I'll do a better job of giving credit to where they came from... since I'm now keeping track.

Improper English Cottage Pie

In all my years as an eater, I have never come across a suitable explanation for the phenomenon known as the "meat pie." Last week I decided to sort this mystery out myself, and embarked on a meat pie mission.
My Mission, if I chose to accept it, was to master the Proper English Cottage Pie. Proper English Cottage Pie a 3 layered dish composed of ground beef, mashed potatoes, and cheese. As a vegetarian the whole beef thing was a wee problem. So here's what makes my pie improper, instead of beef, I used Boca Bites (the veg version of ground beef) and Smartfood Steak Strips (veg). The Smartfood strips have their own flavor, I'd really recommend them.

Spoiler Alert, it was tasty! It was simple, cheap, and delicious; something I'd definitely make again.

Here's what I did:
I cut up half an onion, browned it a bit, and tossed the ground "meat" into the pan with a handful of peas and carrots, 2tablespoon flower, a pinch of cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce. I sauteed until the onion was browned and the "meat" and veggies were heated. then I added garlic powder, salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon fresh basil, 1 tsp fresh oregano, 1 tsp fresh thyme, and 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley. In a mixing bowl, I combined 1 tablespoon tomato paste (ketchup works as well) and 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth. I added the broth to the meat mixture and simmered for 15 minutes. once I was done I scooped it into a 9 inch pie plate.

While the mixture was simmering I cut up, boiled, and mashed 4 potatoes (I recommend russet). I used 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup milk for fluffy potatoes. As a time saver, try boxed potatoes, this dish is meant to be a simple meal of convenience.

I put the potatoes on top of the meat mixture and topped the potatoes with a layer of cheddar cheese (1/4 lb shredded). I baked it a 400 degrees for 25 minutes. And what do you know, I had a tasty treat even that my "foody" aunt and uncle gobbled up.

Blueberry!

I'm truly amazed at how quickly pie can disappear with a large group. While watching the England/USA World Cup game at my parents house, I contributed a blueberry pie for dessert for a crowd of 11.

This was my second attempt at the blueberry and both have turned out extremely well. It may be my new favorite because it's so easy to make and it's really delicious. It starts out with 5 cups of fresh plump blueberries, which is about 3 of the average size square plastic containers. I'm a very picky produce shopper, so I'll stand there and dig through the display until I find the right ones - evenly sized and plump are usually sweet and hold up really well with this recipe. Other than the blueberries, you just need half a lemon, white sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and pie crusts. It's a great one to make at someone else's house because most people have the cabinet staples and you're really just picking up the produce and pie crusts - which only cost $10 total at my grocery store.

Pie went into the oven a little before halftime and cooked during the rest of the game, while we ate lunch. When it came out to cool, lunch was over and I was hoping people had the patience to wait for it to set up a little more. I probably should have popped it in before the match, but I was running late to the house and a bit of soccer trumped immediate baking on arrival. When I started cutting into it after resting for 30-45 minutes, I was a little afraid we might have pie soup but the berries were mostly intact and while juicy, it stayed together well when served up.

The real treat was the addition of mascarpone cheese that my dad's coworker had picked up at the farmer's market that morning. It had been accidentally left out instead of refrigerated, so the smooth fluffy consistency was a happy accident. The temperature was more tempered to the warm pie and the slight tangy flavor went well with the berries. One of the reasons I like this pie is because it's not too sweet. You get the berries natural sweetness, but not too much more like I've found blueberry pies can be sometimes.

By the time I was scooping out the last few pieces, I had a used empty bowl next to me from my dad wanting a second helping since he missed the mascarpone on the first piece. This coming from the man who didn't even want pie (except cherry) the night before, a testament to it's tastiness. The group killed the whole pie in one fell swoop and it was a crowd pleaser. It probably helped that I made them wait a little bit...

 Here's the recipe...

Blueberry Pie

2 pie crusts

5 cups fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Butter to dot

Sprinkle berries with lemon juice, set aside. Place lower pie crust in pie pan, poking with a fork a few times.

Combine sugar, flour, salt & cinnamon and add to berries, stirring gently. Pour into pie pan & dot with butter. Cover with top pie crust & cut holes to vent.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 15 minutes or until golden. Cover the crust edges with foil, or a crust protector to prevent over browning.

Serves 8
(or 11, if you can make it stretch)

The Great Summer Pie Experiment

Before embarking on what I've dubbed The Great Summer Pie Experiment, I'd only ever made two kinds of pie - Apple & Pumpkin. I'm not exactly what you'd call a master pie baker, but I enjoy cooking, baking, and experimenting in the kitchen, so I figured it would be fun to give it a shot.

I started making pies for my husband on our annual 2nd Thanksgiving tradition (he works most holidays & misses out on the big feast with family, so I started throwing a second feast with friends the week after). He LOVES pie... probably stems from growing up with his mom & grandmother both lactose intolerant and thinking he was until around age 10. He's never really been huge on cakes for birthdays (besides carrot cake), but he loves him some pie... especially his Grandma Rosa's apple pie. That's where my pie adventure first started - apple pie.

I took a recipe inspired by Rosa and combined it with my mom's recipe. It's a combo of tart Granny Smith apples & semi-sweet apples (Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, etc), with a TON of spices. Lots of cinnamon with cloves, ginger, nutmeg, white & brown sugar and more. I'll go into more detail about the apple & pumpkin pies in separate posts, probably when I make them again and there are pictures.

I haven't started experimenting with making my own crust yet, just working on the fillings, so I've been using the store bought roll-out crust - either generic store brand or Betty Crocker. I think they're pretty dang good for the work & prep time saved. I will definitely start experimenting with my own crusts this summer... more on that to come.

Not sure exactly what the plan for this whole blog thing is other than just trying out new combinations, probably starting with fruit pies and then venturing into other stuff. We'll see what happens, and maybe you'll be honored with some guest contributions from others.

Here goes nothing...