Pecan Pie in a Raincoat

I sent this Pecan Pie (this one had 1/4 c. sorghum, 1/4 c. brown rice syrup, 1/8 c. real maple syrup, & 1/8 c. honey) down the street in the rain with my husband the other night. He used it to cement his initiation into the Neighborhood Monthly Poker Game's inner circle of regular players. He came home with two meager slices leftover and explained that it was quickly "destroyed" upon arrival. He also won $1. Glad the pie was a hit!

Current Pie Tally: 158

Christmas Party Pies 2014

My husband and I started throwing an Austrian Christmas Party for much of neighborhood a few years ago. I can't very well host a party without a good helping of pie. This year's pies were two Chocolate Pudding Pies (omit coffee ingredients and use arrowroot starch instead of cornstarch) and two Austrian Apple Pies (of 2012 Takoma Park Apple Pie Contest fame). Nearly all of the Chocolate Pudding Pie was scoffed up, but the Austrian Apple Pies were hardly dented (maybe 1/2 of a pie was eaten). I guess savory pies aren't big crowd-pleasers. Oh well. I'll make something else next year. The Chocolate Pudding Pies might have to become an annual staple of the party though. Not to mention that I carefully hid the leftover 1/4 of Chocolate Pudding Pie in the refrigerator. And ate it all. Myself.

Current Pie Tally: 157

Trio of Thanksgiving Pies 2014

These all came out great. We had Thanksgiving with the neighbors this year and my Chocolate Pudding (omit coffee ingredients and sub arrowroot starch for cornstarch), Pumpkin, and Pecan Pies were all requested. So I made them all. The big reveal here is that I noticed that my mother never dove into the Pumpkin Pie, allegedly her favorite pie of all time. Well, as it turns out, she prefers CANNED Pumpkin Pie. I know! My own flesh and blood! She claims it tastes more pumpkiny. To each their own. In other news, the big neighborhood Christmas party we host is coming up. More pies on the horizon. Maybe Vinegar Chess, Chocolate Pudding, Pecan, and Pumpkin Pies.

Current Pie Tally: 153

Forget-Me-Not Pumpkin Pie

I honestly can not remember anything about this pie. I stumbled upon a photo of it on my computer in the October folder and realized I never posted it. I can surmise that it was up to snuff. The bad ones tend to stick out in the mind. I used my tried and true homemade Pumpkin Pie recipe. First of the season this year! Yum! And I'm up to the 15% mark of my 1,000 or more pie goal. Wooo!

Current Pie Tally: 150

Underdone Apple Pie

Everything about this pie is like hanging my undergarments on a clothesline in full view of all the neighbors. I nearly followed the recipe to a tee, instead of adding any of my own jazziness. I threw it together while my youngest son was napping so that we'd have something nice to eat while my mother-in-law was visiting. And said mother-in-law carved right into it under the radar, so I didn't get a decent picture of it. Instead, you nice readers get a picture of the last 1-2 slices of three-day-old pie. While less than glamorous, it is still a pie and still counts toward the tally. One of the subtle beauties of this blog is that I'm not bashful about posting the flaws as well as the successes. Recipe can be found here. My substitutions are as follows: I used my own crust recipe (the one that involves an entire stick of butter); I used 6 or 7 very large Mutsu apples. I should have baked the pie for a full hour instead of 40-45 min, but I had somewhere to go and couldn't wait around for it to achieve perfection. It still tasted good, even though the apples were a little crunchy.

Current Pie Tally: 149

Baby Shower Chocolate and Berry Pies

While I got out of having to make a pie for the pie contest this year (I was a judge), I signed up to make these beauties for another neighborhood baby shower on the day of the contest. The Chocolate Pudding Pie is the same as I usually make it. (Omit the coffee ingredients.) The Berry Pie was a mix of raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. It was very heavy on the raspberry, in part because most of them were some potent (perhaps a bit sour) ones from the farmer's market. The result was pleasingly tart, but I'd probably add more sugar if I made it again. I would also add another tablespoon of arrowroot starch or substitute 1/4 c. of tapioca instead. Anyway, here's the recipe for the Berry Pie:

Berry Pie (makes one 9" pie)

ingredients:
buttery pastry dough for bottom and top crust
1/2 c. white sugar (and extra for sprinkling on crust)
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 quart strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered (depending on size)
3/4 pint of blueberries
2 pints of red raspberries
4 T. arrowroot starch
juice from one lime

Mix filling ingredients in a large nonreactive bowl. Roll out bottom crust and place in pie dish. Pour filling in. Roll out top crust, cut in strips, and arrange in a lattice on top of pie. Fold crust edges over and crimp to seal. Sprinkle top of crust with white sugar. Freeze pie for 10 minutes. Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and continue to bake for another 40 minutes. Cool and serve.

Current Pie Tally: 148

Block Party Apple Crumb Pie

The Annual Neighborhood Labor Day Block Party is usually my opportunity to test out my recipe for the town's Apple Pie Contest. However, this year I have been selected to be a JUDGE, rather than a contestant. It's the only way to give someone else a chance to win, right? . Despite my promotion to the judges' table, I didn't want to disappoint any pie-starved neighbors, so I whipped up a crowd-pleasing Apple Crumb. It was not completely devoured, which leads me to believe two things: 1) Half of the neighbors were already satiated on pie from the baby shower, and 2) The apples were not the best. I bought a bag of Gingergold apples from a Virginia farm that they had at Whole Foods, and am convinced that they were not as flavorful as the ones I generally buy at the local farmer's market. Oh well. It was still great, just not the usual exceptional. Recipe can be found here. My substitutions are as follows: I used my own crust recipe (the one that involves an entire stick of butter); I used 3 T. of fresh orange juice for the acid/liquid (frozen leftovers); I baked it for 50 minutes (probably should have left it in for the full hour in retrospect). This one capped off a three-pie weekend for me. Whew!

Current Pie Tally: 146

Happy 2nd Baby Peach Crumb Pies

I seized the opportunity to "make good" on some more in-season peaches with a baby shower I hosted recently. Whole Foods had them on sale and the stars aligned for the ripening schedule to work out just right for when I needed to slice 'em up for the pies. They came out at least as good as my mother's 60th birthday version, dare I say better. Truly a hit when paired with the vanilla ice cream one of the thoughtful guests brought. Recipe can be found here.

Current Pie Tally: 145

60th Birthday Peach Crumb Pie

Mom is in the same boat as my husband when it comes to birthday desserts. She'll take pie over cake any day. Her favorite pie is peach, and she has a weakness for crumb topping. So, I made this humdinger with local CT peaches (from Whittles) to celebrate her 60th birthday. She was content to settle for walnuts in the topping, but I had her pick up some pecans special. Using something other than pecans with peaches would have been sacrilegious. I'm sure any true Southerner would back me up on that. After taking the pie out of the oven, I ran back into the house to fetch something and caught her picking a couple pecans out of the steaming pie. She claimed they were just the burnt ones. Here's the recipe; it really does a good in-season peach justice:

Peach Crumb Pie (makes one 9" pie)

ingredients:
buttery pastry dough for bottom crust
1 scant c. white sugar
11 smallish peaches (peeled, pitted, and sliced)
4 heaping T. cornstarch
juice from half of one lemon

crumb topping:
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c. chopped pecans
3 T. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Mix filling ingredients in a large nonreactive bowl. Roll out bottom crust and place in pie dish. Fold and crimp edges. Freeze crust for 10 min. while oven preheats. Pour filling in. Put ingredients for crumb topping in a medium bowl and rub together with your fingers until it is all crumbly. Pile topping onto top of pie. Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and continue to bake for another 35-40 minutes. Cool and serve. Mom likes hers with a generous dollop of Cool Whip.

Current Pie Tally: 143

Cherry Berry Post-Vacation Pie

I ordered a pint of heavy whipping cream from the local dairy, so I was really feeling the pressure to churn out a pie before it went bad. Success! When my husband had a few work friends over, we all dined on warm summer pie and fresh whipped cream. Yum. I will publicly admit that I cut the air vent way off center, but aside from that it was fabulous. Here's the recipe:

Cherry Berry Pie (makes one 9" pie)

ingredients:
buttery pastry dough for bottom and top crust
3/4 c. white sugar
1 bag of cherries, pitted and halved (I did not weigh it; my husband bought them)
1 pint of blueberries
3/4 pint of red raspberries
4 T. arrowroot starch
a splash of fresh orange juice (not from concentrate)
juice from half of one lemon

Mix filling ingredients in a large nonreactive bowl. Roll out bottom crust and place in pie dish. Pour filling in. Roll out top crust and place on top of pie. Cut air vent in middle of top crust. Fold crust edges over and crimp to seal. Freeze pie for 10 minutes. Bake at 400 F for 40 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and continue to bake for another 40 minutes. Cool and serve.

Current Pie Tally: 142

4th of July 2014 Pie

This one is becoming a yearly tradition for the 4th of July. One of the perks of a rain day at the beach is that it gives you more time to make pie! A sumptuous berry delight as usual. Here is the recipe. I used lime juice instead of lemon and baked mine at 400 for 30 min, and then 350 for about another hour if I remember correctly. Enjoy!

Current Pie Tally: 141

Berrybarb Vacation Pie

I called the last one a Rhuberry Pie, so this one shall be named Berrybarb since it's slightly different. This is the first of the two pies I have to show for my recent 3-week vacation with family in CT. It came out great. Here's the recipe:

Berrybarb Pie (makes one 9" pie)

ingredients:
buttery pastry dough for bottom and top crust
1 c. white sugar
4 - 6 large stalks of rhubarb (about 1 lb.)
1 pint of blueberries
1 quart strawberries
4 T. arrowroot starch
a splash of fresh orange juice (not from concentrate)
juice from half of one lemon

Mix filling ingredients in a large nonreactive bowl. Roll out bottom crust and place in pie dish. Pour filling in. Roll out top crust and place on top of pie. Cut air vent in middle of top crust. Fold crust edges over and crimp to seal. Freeze pie for 10 minutes. Bake at 400 F for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and continue to bake for another 40-50 minutes. Cool and serve.

Current Pie Tally: 140

Rhuberry Pie Tastes Like Summer

The rhubarb I bought for a pie a week ago was starting to get mushy in my fridge, raspberries and blueberries were on sale, and my oldest son wanted to pick mulberries. So I present you all with this humdinger of a pie. It was sensational, dare I say PERFECT. My husband and I had no problem eating the entire thing ourselves every night until it was gone. And now that it is gone, I wish there was more. Might have to go restock on the ingredients! And now for the tantalizing recipe:

Rhuberry Pie (makes one 9" pie)

ingredients:
buttery pastry dough for bottom and top crust
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
4 - 6 large stalks of rhubarb (about 1 lb.)
1 pint of blueberries
1/2 pint (6 oz) red raspberries
1/2 pint wild mulberries
1/4 c. arrowroot starch
a splash of orange juice (not from concentrate)
juice from 1 lime wedge
small amount of white sugar to sprinkle on top crust

Mix filling ingredients in a large nonreactive bowl. Roll out bottom crust and place in pie dish. Pour filling in. Roll out top crust and place on top of pie. Cut air vent in middle of top crust. Fold crust edges over and crimp to seal. Sprinkle top crust with a small amount of sugar. Freeze pie for 10 minutes. Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and continue to bake for another 40 minutes. Cool and serve.

Current Pie Tally: 139

Academic Party Pie

I made this for my husband's department picnic about a month ago. It only took making another pie this past weekend to finally get my butt in gear and get my pie tally up to date. So, this Rhubarb Custard Pie was good, but not my best work. The edges of the crust burned (I should have put some tin foil around them) and the filling was just a shade underdone in the middle. I should have also taken the time to look up the post about the cooking adjustments I have made in the past. But hey, I made a pie and eventually posted about it with two little kids in the house! Steamroll forward, I say. Here's a link to the right way to make the pie.

Current Pie Tally: 138

Belated Pi Day Pie

This Strawberry Rhubarb Pie didn't come together until the day AFTER Pi Day. Oh well. Life with two kids - I need a weekend. What else can I say? I managed to get out to the store to get the pie ingredients on Pi Day, so that counts for something. I was a bit short on the rhubarb (maybe 1/2lb. under) and my son and I pilfered three strawberries from the quart before the pie came to fruition. As a result, I used one of my smallest pie dishes and used scant cupfulls of the sugars. It was drunkenly sliced into and enjoyed on the first date night my husband and I have had in about six months. I also should mention that I scored some major tacky points by then bringing said sliced-into pie over to our friends' house for dinner the next night. It's OK; they have kids too. They understand. For the recipe, click here. My only substitutions are that I used my own crust recipe and arrowroot starch instead of cornstarch. I also did not futz with any of that egg-glazed crust nonsense.

Current Pie Tally: 137

Snow Day Poker Pie

I made this tasty crustacean on one of our more recent snow days (probably about a month ago - shame shame negligent blogger). My husband was home from work to run interference with the children. The fact that we had some dudes coming over for poker that night added some extra motivation. It's always nice to have a few extra mouths to help eat a big pie. A pie is occasionally too much of an edible commitment when you only have two pie eaters in the house. I made the extra buttery crust again with this one - soooooooo good. And the topping came out crispity crunchety (that's a technical term). I also got to sit in for a few rounds of poker; my straight flush took a nice pot of money on one hand. Apple Crumb Pie - it's a win every time! Click here for the recipe. My substitutions are as follows: I used my own crust recipe (the one that involves an entire stick of butter); I used 3 T. of a mixture of fresh orange and lemon juice for the acid/liquid (frozen leftovers from the last one of these pies I made); I baked it for an hour and 10 minutes, because I used a large deep dish.

Current Pie Tally: 136

NFL Consolation Chocolate Pecan Pie

According to my husband, this pie was good because it was "all chocolaty and gooey." Amen. I made this one to eat while watching the Patriots lose the NFL Playoffs. Oh well, at least there was pie! The texture of this one was spot on - like chocolate caramel. Also, I used light brown sugar instead of dark and was a bit short on the nuts. I didn't have time to run out to the store to get more, so it used more like 1.5 cups of pecans instead of the full 2 cups. Maybe that allowed the caramel texture to really take center stage? Anywho, here is the link to the recipe.

Current Pie Tally: 135

Golden Slumbers Apple Crumb Pie

I am really hitting my stride with this pie. I try to use Goldrush, Gingergold, or Granny Smith apples (about 8-10). This particular pie got me through the week of sleep training that followed the ringing in of the New Year. If you are curious, yes, the first phase of sleep training seems to have worked. We are down to waking up once in the middle of the night now. I figure I'll tolerate another week or so of that and then we'll wean down to zero feedings in the night. Eek! I might need another pie for that. Recipe can be found here. My substitutions are as follows: I used my own crust recipe (the one that involves an entire stick of butter); I used 3 T. of a mixture of fresh orange and lemon juice for the acid/liquid; I think I baked it for an hour and 10 minutes, because I used a large deep dish; and I used dark brown sugar for the crumb topping, which I think made it pleasantly crustier (think creme brulee).

Current Pie Tally: 134

Christmas Pecan Pie

I had wanted to make an Apple Crumb Pie for Christmas, but time for that slipped away before I even realized it was gone. It has come to my attention that with two kids underfoot, a fruit pie is probably going to be a two-day endeavor for a while. Oh well. In the meantime, we'll eat Pecan Pie because it's fast, easy, and oh so sweet. I left the orange zest out of this one, because my mother doesn't care for it. I also used dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar, thinking the difference would be unnoticeable. Surprise, it isn't. There is a definite molasses tang to the dark brown sugar, which also became apparent when I used it to make cinnamon buns for New Year's. Either is fine in the Pecan Pie, depending on whether you feel like you want a molasses bite or not. But definitely use the light brown sugar for the cinnamon buns. The dark brown tasted off in the cinnamon buns and caramelized all funny.

Current Pie Tally: 133

Tastes Like Christmas

This one was the sugar plum dancing in my head this holiday season. I made this for a rockin' Festivas party down the street a couple weeks ago. I needed something fast with easily obtainable ingredients and I wanted it to be downright festive. This one fit the bill. I lament that I could not find chocolate graham crackers for the crust though, so I used regular honey grahams (the crust from my Chocolate Pudding Pie). I also felt there should have been more crushed candy canes on top. And now for my slam-dunk recipe:

Peppermint Bark Pie (makes one deep dish 10" pie)

ingredients:
cooked graham cracker crust
1/3 c. white sugar
1/4 c. arrowroot starch
3.5 c. half n' half
4 large egg yolks
1 bag of white chocolate chips
2 T. unsalted butter
1 t. vanilla extract
whipped cream (1 c. whipping cream + 2 T. powdered sugar)
1 c. mini semisweet chocolate chips
2 candy canes, crushed in the food processor

Whisk sugar and starch in a pan. Whisk in 1 c. of half n' half. Whisk in remaining 2.5 c. half n' half and egg yolks. Whisk over med-hi heat until thickens and boils (about 8 min). Remove from heat. Add chocolate, butter, and vanilla. Whisk to blend and pour into prepared crust. Put plastic wrap on top and chill for about 6 hours. Beat whipped cream and spread on top of pie. Sprinkle liberally with mini chocolate chips and crushed candy cane bits. Serve.

Current Pie Tally: 132