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