Labor Day Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie

This is me bringing my "A" game to the Takoma Park Farmer's Market Pie Contest. I made this Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie for our neighborhood's Labor Day block party as a trial run for the main event on September 15. All were pleased with the results. Many complained that they weren't able to grab a slice before it was all scoffed up. I do believe I've found a contender for this year's contest title. You'll have to wait to get the recipe. No ingredients will be revealed until after the contest, just in case some evil pie villain is reading this in the hope of sabotaging my chances. In other news, this blog's gonna see some more action soon. I've got pies scheduled for the next two weekends.

Current Pie Tally: 118

Pop's Birthday Cherry-Berry Pie

My father in law loves pie. He loves my pie the best. Even though blueberries were on sale, I forked over a few extra bucks to make this crowd-pleaser for his birthday. This pie was special because it is very low-tech. I made it while on vacation in a beach rental down the street from Lake Michigan. Thankfully, there was a decent pie dish in the house. Lacking a food processor, I bought a cheap pastry blender at the grocery store where I bought the fruit. I used my half-full metal water bottle as a rolling pin and rolled the crust out on a floured counter top. When I have made crust like this in the past, it sticks to the counter and/or falls apart into a bajillion pieces so I mentally prepared myself for that. By some divine intervention, the bottom crust only suffered some minor tearing that I was able to patch up. I avoided disaster with the top crust by doing a lattice top. When you cut the crust into strips, it has far less opportunity to tear when you transfer it to the top of the pie. For the recipe, click here. I baked mine at 400F for 30 min and then at 350F for 40 min.

Current Pie Tally: 117

Housewarming Party Chocolate Pudding Pie

Some friends of mine recently bought their own home in northern Virginia and had a housewarming party to herald the event. Not wanting to show up empty handed, I made a Chocolate Pudding Pie to bring. Unfortunately, the other desserts were also made of chocolate, but that didn't keep people from eating my pie. In retrospect though, I should have sucked it up and made a fruit pie even though they are more work. For the recipe, click here and omit all of the coffee ingredients.

Current Pie Tally: 116

4th of July Pie

Just as the Chocolate Pudding Pie is fast becoming my birthday pie (omit the coffee nonsense), this Cherry Blackberry Pie is quickly becoming my go-to Fourth of July pie. Sometimes I do the lattice-top crust, sometimes not. (I'll let you in on a little pie-makers secret I may have mentioned before: If the top crust starts cracking and falling apart, that's a great time to turn it into strips and do a lattice top.) As usual, it came out great. For the recipe, click here. I baked mine at 400F for 30 min and then at 350F for 40 min.

Current Pie Tally: 115

Sweet Tooth Blueberry Pie

This was the first straight blueberry pie I have ever made. I didn't care for it. It was too sweet. It needed tarter blueberries or a bunch of lemon juice or something. It did, however, set up very nicely.

Blueberry Pie

ingredients:
9" bottom crust and top crust, unbaked
3 pints blueberries
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. tapioca
1/4 t. nutmeg
2 T. maple syrup

Mix all the filling ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into bottom crust. Place top crust over the top, crimp and vent. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 425F for about 18 min. Reduce temperature to 350F and bake for 30 min more. Let cool.

Current Pie Tally: 114

Pies of Summer

I have a lot of catching up to do. I made three pies while at the beach in CT for most of July. The first was a Rhubarb Custard number that came out perfectly.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

ingredients:
9" bottom crust and top crust, unbaked
1 lb. rhubarb, sliced into 1/2" pieces
1.5 c. sugar
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cinnamon
3 eggs

Mix all the filling ingredients, minus the rhubarb, in a large bowl. Fold in the rhubarb. Pour into bottom crust. Place top crust over the top in a lattice design. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400F for about 20 min. Reduce temperature to 350F and bake for 25-30 min more. Let cool.

Current Pie Tally: 113

New Baby Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Strawberries were finally in at the farmer's market this past weekend, so I bought a bunch to make a pie. Fortunately, the local co-op has also been well stocked in rhubarb. Join the two and you get this sweet hot red mess. This is the first pie since my second son was born about a week ago. Not bad output. I credit my mother with making it all possible. If she wasn't here with us a for a few weeks, I surely would not have time to get a pie into the oven. Thanks ma! The first slice is for you!

Results are in: heaped with whipped cream, this one really hit the spot. I feel the need to mention that it "set up nice." The 5T. of arrowroot starch achieved the perfect consistency for the filling. Too little thickener (which I am often guilty of) and the filling is too soupy, which makes the bottom crust all soggy. This batch of filling helped maintain the integrity of the crust. Well, with that, I'll leave you with the recipe while I go pat myself on the back and have another "nursing mother" oversize slice.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

ingredients:
pastry dough sufficient for two pie crusts
1 lb. rhubarb (6 stalks), cut into 1/2" slices
2 quarts of strawberries, hulled and halved (if large)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 t. Penzey's Vietnamese extra fancy cinnamon
5 T. arrowroot starch

Mix all the filling in a large bowl. Roll out bottom crust and place in pie dish. Pour filling in. Roll out upper crust, place on top, cut vent, and crimp to seal edges. Bake at 400F for 25 min, then reduce heat to 350F and bake for another 40-50 min, until crust is golden and fruit goo starts splashing out of the crust vent.

Current Pie Tally: 113