Good 'ole Peach Pie

This was really nice to do, since Peaches are in season they were really wonderful. Fruit pies are really excellent especially when they are in season.
For the holidays I was planning on making a Spiced Pear Pie, which sounds amazing... I wanted to do it now but unfortunately pears aren't in season.. darn those seasons.. :)

So this pie was actually a good chance to use my great grandmothers crust recipe. That's the coolest thing when you can pass down a recipe like that. I mean you hear about all of those diners (like on diners drive-ins and dives) where the key recipes have all been passed down from generation to generation. I love things like that. It's like you're getting to be in a part of your families history and bring it to the present.

The crust recipe I guess was a vinegar crust? All I know was it was very flaky. It worked really well with the peaches, sort of like a cobbler. It was extremely easy, especially with a pastry blender (why they give it the name associated with an actual blender I have no idea) but that was a real plus with me. I had difficulty with my last crust and I was kind of worried about making another, but this was so easy and fun it was great. I'll post both recipes later.

The peaches themselves were incredible especially with the sugary syrup that goes with them. One of my coworkers said it wasn't too sweet which was a plus for him, but I thought it was maybe not very sweet but sweet enough. I loved it so that wasn't an issue.

More fruit pies sure to come...

MB

Coconut Cream Pie

I was finally able to make this pie! This is unusual but ever since I ate at Ryans and had a slice of their coconut cream pie, I've loved it ever since. And now I finally got to make it.

It was an interesting process, especially the main part, I guess the custard/cream. It usually works just fine if I don't have a double boiler, but a recipe calls for it. I just use a regular pot and I'm ok. But with the milk last night I was worried. Milk is a very fragile liquid, if you know what I mean. But it looked fine, albeit odd, and apparently tasted just fine.

It's always nice when it turns out good like that. I'm going to try and see if there are any pieces left, so that I can take one home. Besides the fact that I've got to get a picture of the inside.

Oh and the Meringue was fun last night as well. I think it was much better working this time. It took less time, but still took a while, and it looked much stiffer than before. I'm not sure what made it work better: the chilled bowl, or the faster speed. Every time I use that mixer I feel like I'm building a deck. It sounds exactly like a power tool and slow speed is fast on the older ones, so that's why I never went to fast on it.

Deep Dish Plum and Almond Pie

This actually looked really good, and it was. I was really excited about it too because it seemed like one of those pies you cook over the holidays and share with the family over a really nicely decorated table.

One thing that was sort of a puzzle were the plums. I bought them at Food Lion and I thought they were plums, but it turns out (well by one person) that they didn't taste like plums. And one of the 'plums' was really red as opposed to all of the others which were yellow. I tried the one that you would have thought was ripe and that was why it was so dark, but it was awful. I have to say I'm not really a plum eater, but this just wasn't good at all, and then I tried one of the yellow inside one and it tasted wonderful. So I just didn't use the red one.

7/14/2010
I finally figured out that I used Pluots. Which act much better than plums. They are firmer, less juicy, and still taste wonderful. The crust, by the way, is the toughest crust I have ever had to deal with. Doing the pie for the second time, and with ideas on how to make it better, it still didn't work. :(

It called for 3/4 of a pound of plums but that was so little that I used almost the whole batch of 10 plums. It looked soo good. So you should definitely watch out for that. I used a 9" maybe 9 1/2" spring form pan and it wasn't enough for it.

The crust was the worst part. It was so difficult to spread out in the spring form pan. I tried to use wax paper, but it tore and it made lines in the crust. I think my downfall was that I didn't use a food processor. I used my mixer. It seemed to work just fine but it wasn't crumbly it was smooth and sticky a little. It turned so hard and thick, so I would definitely either use a food processor or make sure that the crust thickness is perfect all around.

So I hope the crust goes well for other people. Enjoy!

MB

Here's the recipe:

Deep Dish Plum and Almond Pie

Prep Time:30 min
Inactive Prep Time:1 hr 0 min
Cook Time:1 hr 30 min
Level:Intermediate
Serves:8 servings

Ingredients
Crust:

* 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons anise seeds, optional
* 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced, at room temperature (1 1/4 sticks)
* 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

* 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, with skin, plus 1/4 cup for top
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced and at room temperature
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 large egg
* 3/4 pound firm-ripe Italian, prune or Angeleno plums (about 10), pitted and halved or quartered

* Serving suggestions: Ice cream or whipped cream
* Special equipment: 9-inch springform pan

Crust: If using the anise seeds, lightly toast them in skillet over medium heat until aromatic, 2 minutes. Grind in a spice mill or mortar and pestle until fine.

Combine the butter and sugar in a food processor until creamy. Add the egg, anise seed if using, vanilla and salt and pulse to combine. (This may look rough and curdy, but don't worry, it all comes back together.) Add about half of the flour and pulse quickly 3 to 4 times to incorporate. Scrape down the edges of the processor and add the remaining flour. Pulse just enough to make a coarse, crumbly dough.

Press dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan to form a thin, even layer, using waxed paper to smooth. Freeze crust while you prepare the filling.

Filling: Pulse 1 1/2 cups almonds in a food processor until very finely ground (take care not to overprocess the nuts or they can get oily). Transfer nuts to a bowl. In the same processor, combine the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the cinnamon and continue to pulse until evenly combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and pulse in the egg. Add the reserved almonds and pulse until just blended.

Arrange the plums cut side down, over the crust. Spread the filling on top and smooth with a small offset spatula. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup almonds and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake pie until the filling puffs and is golden but still slightly soft in the center, 1 hour 15 minutes for a glass bottomed pan, or 1 hour 30 minutes for an aluminum pan. If the crust begins to overbrown, cover the pie with foil during the last 15 minutes of cooking. When pie is done, turn off the oven and prop door open. Cool pie in the oven for 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Serve at room temperature with ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream.
Make ahead:

- Pie can be assembled and frozen up to 2 weeks in advance. Bake frozen pie for about 1 1/2 hours.

- Baked pie can be tightly wrapped and refrigerated for up to 2 days, or frozen for up to 2 weeks. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Cream Cheese Crust

Now I haven't tried it yet, but it smelled delicious when I made it last night at 11 o'clock last night. I was so afraid that it wasn't turning out right. I had mixed the butter and cream cheese, and then put the flour in it and tried to mix it with a spatula, but that wasn't working, so I had to mix it with my hands and I was trying to mix it without 'messing it up' too much. I heard that if you knead dough to much it will get tougher, but I don't think that that's the case with this. It doesn't seem to be affected, but we'll see when I bake it tonight.

There were a couple things about this recipe that bugged me. First, I didn't realize that it was for 48 servings instead of 8, so I made a ton (6 crusts), and then it doesn't have a baking time or temperature. How not cool is that? I'm pretty sure you are supposed to bake it because people kept saying that it was flaky, and it doesn't become flaky until it's baked. So I'm just going to have to guesstimate; which will be tons of fun.

But other than that, I should be making my 4th pie tonight. Well 4th pie for work. It's called 'Strawberry Oasis' Pie. It's basically a layer of chocolate and then strawberry yumminess... Then we have to wait a grueling 2 days for it to chill. Which is one of the reasons I'm doing it this early in the week. So it will be ready before too long.

I'm making a pie for fourth of July, probably some variation of the blueberry lemon pie, since it can be made to have all of the colors of the fourth.

Well until tonight!

MB

Fruit Tart a la creme de la creme

Ok so it doesn't have cream in it at all except for whipped cream but it looks like it should have 'creme de la creme' associated with it.

So I realize that I said tomorrow in my last blog and here it is two days later, but hey it's done now, and it looks amazing. When I was cutting it I got to taste the little crumbs and it was delicious, and Tart. It's definitely got enough lemon in it. And I got to use my new pie cutter. I know that seems a little silly, but it's awful when you cut a pie into all sorts of shapes and sizes and give it to people. So now, perfect sized pieces and a new gadget for my ever shrinking kitchen.

It was also difficult to find a 9" tart pan. I wasn't even able to find one exactly 9", but the wonderful guy at the kitchen store had an excellent point. Once the crumbs are put in for the crust it will probably be 9". And good thing I got a 9 1/2" pan because I would have had jello goo all over the place. As it was, I had to clean some off the sides and had to catch some from dripping even more. I added a note to my recipe, when it says chill until you can mound the jello, I thought that when it came out jiggling that it was fine, but alas it was not. So now I know to actually keep it in longer. I think that would have saved the counter from getting jello all over it.

And I realized also last night that hand picked blueberries are Great.... until you have to clean them. All of the sticks and greens that have clung to their fellow compatriots need to go, and they make sure that you have difficulty finding them.

I had a lot of frustration with this tart last night, which was unfortunate, but the tart turned out fine. Sometimes your emotions cripple your baking, but it didn't happen. Speaking of which has anyone seen "The Ramen Girl". I don't think it came out to theatres, but it wasn't too bad. Anyway she cooked a batch of ramen finally and ended up crying in it, so when people at it they started crying. Ok so not entirely realistic but sometimes true.

I had to clean the oven, from my last fiasco with dripping stuff in the oven, but it works just fine, no fire alarm going off.

There are two pieces left in the breakroom last I checked on Friday, so I might be taking some home with me. I actually had my own piece that day, Thursday I think it was. It was good, and not actually as Tart as I thought it would have been. Which was interesting. So I'll see if that's just me or not.

Anyway now to think of my next pie to make!

MB


Ps: Finally used the food chopper for the Nilla wafer crust, and boy was that sooo much faster than a spoon and a plastic baggy.

Fruit Tart a la Creme a.k.a Blueberry Refrigerator Pie

So I made this tart again and tried to rearrange the ingredients so that I could make it more 4th of July appropriate.

I added raspberries, and strawberries, plus the blueberries. Blueberries on the bottom, strawberries mixed in with the jello/whipped cream mix. Then raspberries sprinkled on top for decoration.

Instead of having the lemon flavored jello, I bought some regular unflavored gelatin and tried adding vanilla and sugar. It was quite an adventure and there was some heartache that came with it. The recipe called for 3 oz of Jello, but then getting the gelatin I didn't know how much I needed so I bought 3 oz of regular gelatin not realizing that the ratio isn't the same. I tried one packet at first and then that didn't work, not at all...

I thought that it didn't work because it didn't have enough gelatin and it needed more so we tried putting another packet in, and that didn't work because after the gelatin gets jelloey, it doesn't mix well.

So after a little discussion with the cooking queen I decided to do it again, even though they thought everyone thought it wasn't a good idea. So because I thought that I needed more gelatin I put two packets together, and made it the wrong way, but incidentally it worked. And then I realized I added too much gelatin, but thank goodness it didn't make it like a brick of gelatin. Also I added maybe a 1/4 cup of sugar (I didn't really measure it... it was that frantic), and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, abouts. So it actually turned out good.

Also the different fruits made it realllly good. So many different flavors with the vanilla and what not.

So here is the revised recipe:

Blueberry Refrigerator Pie

prep time: 30 min

total time: 4 hr 30 min

makes: 10 servings

What You Need!

7 Tbsp. butter, divided

50 NILLA Wafers, finely crushed (about 1-1/2 cups)

1 - 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 - 1/2 cups fresh strawberries
1 cup raspberries

1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided

3/4 cup cold water, divided

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Zest and juice of 1 lemon, divided

3/4 cup boiling water

1 pkg regular unflavored gelatin

ice cubes

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

Make It!

HEAT oven to 350°F.

RESERVE 1 Tbsp. butter. Melt remaining butter; mix with wafer crumbs. Press onto bottom and up side of 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Bake 10 min. or until golden brown.

MEANWHILE, combine 1-1/2 cups blueberries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp. cold water in saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Dissolve cornstarch in 3 Tbsp. of the remaining cold water; whisk into blueberry mixture. Simmer on low heat 2 min. or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add reserved butter; stir until melted. Reserve 1/2 tsp. lemon zest and 1 tsp. juice; stir remaining zest and juice into blueberry mixture. Pour into crust.

ADD boiling water to gelatin mix in medium bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to remaining 1/2 cup cold water to measure 1 cup. Add to gelatin; stir until slightly thickened. Remove any unmelted ice. Whisk 1 cup COOL WHIP into gelatin. Refrigerate 15 min. or until mixture is thick enough to mound. Stir in the strawberries; spoon over layer in crust.

REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until firm. Top with remaining COOL WHIP. Top whipped cream with raspberries.

(I didn't do this with the raspberries but this is what it says to do with the blueberries when they were on top: Toss blueberries with reserved lemon zest, juice and sugar; spoon over pie.)

For tomorrow ... hopefully

So I am probably going to make my next pie tonight. I have decided that a fruit pie is just the thing for this hot summer week. My dad has grown a garden in his backyard, and before that we had an assortment of fruit bushes/trees. There's an apple tree (though I don't think we've ever eaten much from it), a cherry tree (aka a bird buffet), some blueberry bushes, and I think some blackberry bushes. We also had a plum tree at one point, and I think a peach tree, but I don't know if they are still producing anything or not. Like I said the birds love them.

We picked a whole slew of blueberries from the garden and I brought them home with me. Gee look, I have fruit, what in the world should I do with all of those blueberries. Ok so a little much on the sarcasm, but indeed I have all of those blueberries and indeed I will make a blueberry pie. I actually like blueberry pie usually. I'm just worried that I won't have enough. I can always buy some from the store, but I'm hoping I have enough. I had some last night with some cherries (a little fruit salad) and it was really good. Most of them aren't tart, which is good, and they are mostly all fat and juicy as well.

I can't wait to have a yard of my own so I can have fruit trees/bushes. I just think having fresh fruit like that is the greatest thing. I went on a cruise a couple years back and they always had fresh fruit on tables for anyone to eat. That's the first time I had Real passion fruit, and boy was it good. So yeah, fresh fruit like that is to die for. I'm more into the citrus fruits as well, so I've got to find someplace that you can grow those well, because I'm pretty sure they don't grow that well down here... or I'm just missing them.

So Blueberry pie next, with a lattice top crust. Fun, fun!

MB

Fathers Day Pie

I came home this afternoon and finally got to see everyone. I'm celebrating Fathers day with both of my dads on Saturday and Sunday. As soon as I got home I stopped by the grocery store and picked up a few things for the.. wait for it...

Frozen Grasshopper pie

It was really fun to make. I got to show my mother my new mixer and she thought it was great.. just like a power tool. Hey it's a different kind of power tool but it's still incredibly useful. My mother and I had and interesting debate about the pieces of candy and chocolate that we put into the pie. It's basically a chocolate mint pie. So to make it extra yummy and minty we put pieces of Junior Mints and slivers and shavings of bars of dark chocolate. I said that it would be best to have smaller pieces, so that you could eat it easily. It sucks when you try and cut into a slice of pie and have a sliver of chocolate messing up half of the piece because it's being pushed up and down by the knife and what not... ok well I'm not really explaining it right but there you go. Anyway she said that it's better to have bigger pieces so you don't just have everything mushed up into one thing. It's good to have different textures. There was something in there about the practices of Ben and Jerry's and their cherry garcia ice cream.

So we compromised and put a bit of both sizes in it, with shavings sprinkled on the top. It was really pretty. It called for mint extract, which we added, but then we added just a bit of Creme de Minthe; which should shake things up tomorrow morning. Then we added green food coloring, so it looked kind of minty. Then more whip cream on top, with a chocolate graham cracker crust. Unfortunately they didn't have any Oreo crust, but plain old chocolate will do just fine.

I've recently found out that they sell the graham cracker crumbs in a box, so you don't have to chop them yourself, you just mix them with whatever you're doing. It's really nice and convenient. I remember I had to crush the graham crackers with a spoon in a little zip lock baggy when the blender only powdered them. It's called graham cracker crumb crust for a reason.

And it tastes... Very Minty!

So it's not so much a mint chocolate chip pie as it is a Mint pie with chocolate candy in it. So I have resolved to add more chocolate the next time I make it. I'm sure that it will do just fine with some melted chocolate or some such like that. Or at least chocolate cookie crumbs instead of bits of Junior mint. It felt like I was eating breath mint after breath mint. Oh well, as least I have an alternative to after dinner mints. :)


MB

Frozen Grasshopper Pie (Very Minty)

prep time: 10 min
total time: 4 hr 10 min
makes: 8 servings

what you need
1 jar (7 oz.) JET-PUFFED Marshmallow Creme
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP LITE Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 tsp. mint extract
4 to 6 drops green food coloring
15 thin chocolate mint wafers, chopped (about 1/2 cup) [I would use just chocolate wafers if you want the pie to be more chocolaty]
1 OREO Pie Crust (6 oz.)

Make It

BEAT marshmallow creme and 2 cups of the whipped topping in large bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Add mint extract and food coloring; mix well. Gently stir in chopped wafers.

SPOON into pie crust.

FREEZE at least 4 hours or until firm. (Pie will be firm, but not frozen solid.) Top with remaining whipped topping just before serving. Store leftover pie in freezer.

The Crust....

So unfortunately I am here to report that my crust didn't turn out as perfect as I would have liked. It was flaky and wonderful in a texture sense, but then the taste was a little off. It tasted like some baking powder like substance in it; what I mean is it was kind of bitter. I put an egg glaze on the top 9 think that's what it's called) so that it could brown and what not instead of butter. Maybe I'll try butter next time. One problem I did have was when I was rolling it out I needed to use flour to keep it from sticking and I think I just used too much flour so it gave it a bitter aftertaste. My grandparents seemed to like it so that was a good thing. I left them with most of the pie, but they insisted I take a chunk back with me, so I have a chunk of apple pie in my fridge. So much dessert. One of my coworkers said something the other day that speaks to this. If you eat any more of that "you'll be big as the side of a house". Hopefully I got that right, but you get the gist. I'll be going exercising tonight with my roommate. I don't think I can skip that anymore if I continue to do this. :)

I also have a piece of the leftover cheesecake in my freezer saved aside for my mother. She says she doesn't much like cheesecake, but especially the dense kind, so I'm glad she's willing to try the fluffy kind!

Anyway, a new post coming up... a surprise!


MB

2 am Pie

So I just got done with the apple pie for my grandparents tomorrow (lots of running around at the last minute for groceries and gas). It smells wonderful; the whole apartment smells like the holidays and apples. Mmmmmm. Unfortunately the wonderful apple goo bubbled over onto the bottom of the oven, so I'll have to figure out a clever way to clean that up tomorrow. And I made my own dough tonight! I'm not sure it was the best but at least I jumped that hurtle when I came to it.

Every pie that I've done, I've picked up something new. Besides the new recipes and ways to cook things, I have learned to make sure that the recipe actually has the cups, teaspoons, etc beside it. Otherwise you have a fraction and no measurement to go by... very disconcerting. So tonight I looked over the whole thing and got out all of the ingredients and made sure everything was labeled and whatnot. This recipe also had an ingredient missing. Who knew all of these people would forget these kinds of things? It wasn't major so it was alright. But next pie I do, I will put a pan underneath the pie to catch any drippings. Yay for learning from your mistakes!


MB

crossing fingers for dough to turn out right!

Cheesecake!!

I just finished my humongous piece of cheesecake and boy was it amazingly fluffy. It's got that mousse texture almost. Though it didn't have much flavor, which incidentally was because I had to leave out the amaretto liquor because of my coworker with the nut allergy. I had some Kahlua in the freezer but I didn't want to make it taste like coffee. I mean it would have probably been good, but....

There was a lot of cheesecake still left when I left work. I think that Mondays are bad days to bring it in, because everyone is so busy getting everything started for the rest of the week.

I have 8 or so weeks of this, and I'm really excited to keep going with these pies. I'm not sure which one I'm going to do next. Maybe the "Strawberry Oasis" pie, or a lemon chess pie, my mother says they are supposed to be really good. I made a list of a whole bunch of pies, oh this one called Peanut Butter Chocolate pie I think it was called. That sounds good too.

At times I think that it's a bit silly what I'm doing, especially if you notice how much pie stuff is. Oh well, like I said I'm hopefully going to get good at this and use this skill eventually, like as gifts and what not, for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Mmmm "Marshmallow Mermaid" pie would be great for Easter :) Another pie from Waitress.


MB

Baby Screamin’ Its Head Off In The Middle of the Night & Ruinin’ My Life Pie



4 8-oz. cream cheese, softened

1 C. unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 C. sour cream

1/2 C heavy whipping cream

1 3/4 C. white sugar

1/8 tsp. cornstarch

1 fl. oz. amaretto liqueur

1 tsp. vanilla extract

5 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 C. chopped pecans

1/2 tsp. nutmeg



1. Bring all ingredients to room temperature. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap outside of 9-inch springform pan with foil. Generously butter inside of pan.

2. In large bowl,beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in sugar and cornstarch. Blend in sour cream and whipping cream. Add amaretto and vanilla. Stir in eggs and egg yolk one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

3. Pour batter into pan. Place pan in another pan at least 1 inch wider and add water to outside pan (prevents cracks). Bake on center rack for 70 minutes.

4. Turn oven off and let cool with door open for 1 hour. Remove cake from water and chill at least 3 hours before removing cake from pan. Top with crushed pecans and dust with nutmeg.



Serves 8.

Another Cheesecake...

So my dad wanted a cheesecake for his fathers day present. So I made him another cheesecake and this time added the almond flavoring. And by the way, for any of you thinking that a fl. oz is anything close to a tablespoon it isn't.

1 fl. oz = 6 teaspoons or = 2 tbsp

But more than likely if you are not using, the amaretto liquor, for instance, and you want to use almond extract instead, there is a definite difference between the potency of the two. So that's why I only used a teaspoon of almond extract for the cheesecake recipe. It was even a little too much, so you may want to use 1/4 or 1/2 tsp.

It was good all the same I guess, but I'm still having a problem with the top browning... it just keeps getting worse. I'm going to have to sit down and actually research why this is happening. I have this Bake Wise book from my mother that I borrowed and it didn't have anything in there about the top browning on a cheesecake, so we'll see.

MB

Anniversary Pie

My grandparents are having their 49th anniversary and so I'm going to make them a pie. My grandmother is a cooking fanatic you could say, and she's really good at it. She makes some of the best southern food I have ever tasted. So when I posed the idea of making a pie for their anniversary she seemed excited.

Unfortunately I lost my really good apple pie recipe, hopefully I'll find it again. On that note I've got to find a better filing system since I'm actually doing this recipe thing, and I should really keep track. But I found one on a recipe website and it sounds good; people also thought it was good, so we'll see if they like it. It even has it's own crust recipe. I'll have to see how that works. It's always good to find a good crust recipe.

My cheesecake is finished, still in the pan because it has to set for another hour, but it smells good. The top is a little more brown than I would have liked but I'm not sure how or what made it do that, so I'll have to look into that. I had this crazy idea that I would cut the browned top off, but realized that it would probably mess it up beyond repair (or make it look awful afterward) so I'm just going to put the nut toppings on and keep on going.

So I'll blog to tomorrow on how it went; see what the coworkers think. :)

MB

Perfect Apple Pie




Submitted By: Judy Oudekerk

Prep Time: 25 Minutes
Cook Time: 55 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

Servings: 8


Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
4 tablespoons cold water (I needed a bit more)
FILLING:
7 cups thinly sliced peeled baking apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
A dash of Salt

Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening. Gradually add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing lightly with a fork until dough forms a ball. Chill for 30 minutes. On a floured surface, roll half of dough into 10-in. circle. Place into a 9-in. pie pan.
2. In a bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg; add to apples and toss. Pour into crust; dot with butter. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie; cut slits in top. Place over filling; seal and flute edges. Beat egg yolk and water; brush over pastry. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F; bake 40-45 minutes more or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com

Alright Here It Goes, Pie #2

So today I'm going to make my next pie: a cheescake. Ok so maybe it's not exactly a pie, but it's a dessert and it's pie shaped. I feel like it's going to be really difficult, I don't know maybe because it's one of the most revered desserts in places like NY and Chicago. How can I beat that right? So this is going to be my little Southern Cheescake. It's going to have that southern belle touch and hopefully it's going to knock those other out of the running.

Hehe alright it's not a competition, but it's going to be tasty none the less. 32 oz of cream cheese? How can you go wrong. I have a coworker at work who is allergic to nuts and since it calls for nuts as a topping I'll cut out a little piece for him before I do the nuts. Why should a food allergy deny someone the joy of cheesecake right? So anyway, In a few minutes I'm going to start my first cheesecake. w00t!


MB

Hello!

Hey everybody! This will be a new experience for me: blogging. I was referred to it by two people for two different reasons, as a matter of fact, so I knew I had to check it out.

One of my fathers friends told me that if I wanted to be a writer and publish, that I needed to blog. So here I am attempting to blog. I will be talking about my characters, and essentially seeing what you all think, and seeing if you like it: i.e if there's a market for it.

On the other hand, my mother told me that since I've started on a baking high, I should put it down in a blog and show pictures and put down things I would change for next time, or any other thing like that.

So here I am, a 20 year old female, one more year of college left, and I'm going to see this through. So hello again everyone!

MB

First Custard Pie

So I've been on this... high, you could say. I know that some people sort of obsess about movies sometimes and start trying to emulate something about it, but really and truly this one sparked something inside me to start cooking, and making pies.

Yes I'm talking about Waitress. It was a stellar movie, and I had enjoyed making pies before, but this made it seem so special. Besides, who can honestly say that learning to make pies is a waste of time? That's right; everyone loves a good pie, and for me, making them is the best part. Especially when I cook them with my mother. It's a special thing to cook with a family member.

But my first pie, the "I can't have no affair because it's wrong and I don't want Earl to kill me" pie, was amazing. I guess on one hand it was too sweet for me, but then having accomplished that and it turning out good was such a good feeling. See, I always hate when I make pies and it never gets eaten fast enough, well cause it's just me most of the time, and it goes bad. That is such an awful sight. So I brought the pie to work with me and invited my coworkers to have some. They said it was good, which was a great thing because that would have been terrible if it hadn't turned out. I don't want to give people bad food.

Even though I hadn't had custard pie, it seemed alright; it was the right consistency (I'm pretty sure). And the meringue, even though it actually wasn't whipped long enough, turned out sooo amazingly. It took forever to whip, and I'm not just exaggerating, it was almost 30 minutes or so. I tried not to look, it would have probably made me give up. But it turned out and it went in the oven for a few minutes and browned just the slightest, and it looked great. And the pictures are finally up!



MB

I Can’t Have No Affair Because It’s Wrong & I Don’t Want Earl to Kill Me Pie



2 1/2 C. graham cracker crumbs

1/2 C. brown sugar

1/2 C. melted butter

2 large eggs

1/3 C. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 C. milk, scalded

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 egg whites

1/2 C. white sugar



1. Mix crumbs, brown sugar and butter until well-blended. Press mixture into a 9-inch pan. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Beat eggs slightly in a large bowl. Add sugar and salt. Slowly stir in hot, scalded milk. Add vanilla. Strain mixture into pie crust. Sprinkle top with cinnamon.

3. Bake on lower shelf 25-30 minutes, or until custard is firm.

4. In larger glass mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 C. white sugar, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form.

5. Spread meringue over pie after custard is set, return to oven until meringue is slightly brown. Cool 15 minutes.

Serves 8