Chocolate Pudding Pie

I made this pie as a belated birthday present to myself, in hopes of raising the bar from last year's birthday pie attempt. I definitely succeeded. Where last year's pie was dense and dry, this one is sumptuously gooey and fabulous. This is my first go-round with a graham cracker crust. I have to say, I like how easy it is. Throw graham crackers in a the food processor, add some melted butter, and press into a pie dish. Bake for a few minutes and done. Add your puddingy custardy goodness and let it chill. It's nice to not have the oven blasting away for an hour for a change. When you throw some fresh whipped cream on top, it really is pure chocolate awesome. It's almost like S'mores. Hmmm, maybe I could jazz up the whipped topping with some marshmallow. Recipe can be found here. I used regular graham crackers instead of chocolate, arrowroot starch instead of cornstarch, and didn't add any of the espresso to the whipped cream.

Current Pie Tally: 77

When Your Crust Hangs Low

I made dinner for the neighbors a couple weeks ago and threw in a Vinegar Chess Pie for good measure. Since it's a one-crust pie, I decided to make two so I could keep one too. In addition to the crust of one of the pies falling down during cooking (the one I decided to keep), I had another mental lapse on this pie expedition and forgot to add the cream the recipe calls for. I even bought the cream special just to make this pie. Initially, this made me mad. After a taste test though, the pie was still delicious and I decided to use the cream as an excuse to make another pie. A new exciting and very delectable pie. See the next post for more on that.

Current Pie Tally: 76

In-Laws in Town Apple Pie

My husband's parents came to visit for Spring Break this year. Among seeing the famous DC cherry blossoms and visiting a wide array of museums, we managed to find time to celebrate Stepmom Viv's birthday with the above apple pie. It was tasty, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I forgot to add the flour to the filling. The flour serves as the thickener, so the pie didn't end up with any of that "goopy gloppy" goodness that you'd expect. The filling was more like applesauce than syrup. It was good in its own way, and no one else said anything about it, but it almost tasted healthy. When you're ingesting that many calories, the last thing you want is for it to taste healthy. Suffice to say, I was a bit disappointed. It's amazing the toll a toddler can take on one's cognitive ability to process recipes. For more on that, see the next post. The recipe for the apple pie in this post (complete with thickening agents) can be found here. The only change is that I used brown rice syrup instead of molasses in this one.

Current Pie Tally: 74

Valentine's Cupcakes

Although these carrot cake cupcakes are not a pie, I made them from scratch for Valentine's Day and they are delicious. You can find the recipe here. My modifications are that I only made half of the recipe and I turned them into cupcakes instead of a layer cake. As such, the cupcakes only need to bake for 30-35 min.

Current Pie Tally: 73

Quickie Pie

Pecan is definitely my go-to winter pie, mostly because the crust doesn't require pre-baking. It takes about 1.5 hours, start to finish, and about one hour of that involves the pie sitting in the oven while you have a cocktail and get ready for the party you're going to. Normally, I don't adorn my pie with any toppings that might undermine the full-force flavor of the pie, but pecan pie tends to be an exception. I always enjoy my pecan pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if the option presents itself. When I had a slice of the pie from this post, there was a twist. Our party hosts had also put out a small ice cream sundae bar on the dessert table. Our neighbor started talking through the possibilities of the caramel and hot fudge toppings on the pecan pie. Normally, this would piss me off, but I tend to loosen up my pie purism with the pecan pie. I said, "Caramel - no. Hot fudge - definitely go for it." My thoughts turned to black-bottom pecan pie, with a warm chocolate layer dancing with the sweet, nutty pecans in my mouth. It had to be done. When backs were turned, I brought my ice-cream topped slice over to the hot fudge and added a couple dollops myself. Suffice to say, the experience shall be relived. It was heavenly. Now I'm on a mission to find/tweak a Black-Bottom Pecan Pie recipe that is up to snuff. For my go-to Pecan Pie recipe, click here.

Current Pie Tally: 73

Football Apple Crumb

The neighbors invited us over to watch one of the NFL Playoff games this past weekend, so I offered to bring this little delight over. In actuality, my husband secured our invitation with promises of pie and his homemade guacamole. It did not disappoint! My only complaint is that the crumb topping didn't look quite right. It tasted great, but it didn't clump and golden up the way it was supposed to. I suspect it's because I tried mixing up the topping without the nuts first, and then adding in the nuts once it was already pretty well blended. Next time, I'll stick to the instructions. Blend ALL the topping ingredients together with your fingertips.

Football Apple Crumb Pie
filling:
5 large (larger than fist) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, thickly sliced
1 large Stayman apple, peeled, cored, thickly sliced
1/4c. fresh orange juice
1/4 c. white sugar, heaped
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. arrowroot starch
1/4 c. applesauce

topping:
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 c. chopped walnuts
6 T. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 t. salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a pie dish with homemade pie crust. Prick all over with a fork. Stick in the freezer for about 10 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375F. Place pie weights in crust and bake for 12-15 min. Remove pie weights and continue baking for another 12-15 min, until the crust is golden brown.
Mix all filling ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour into pie crust. Using your fingers, blend ALL the topping ingredients together until well-mixed, moist, and crumbly. Heap on top of pie filling. Bake at 350F for about one and a half hours. Crumb topping will be nice and brown, but not burned and apples will be soft when pierced with a fork.

Current Pie Tally: 72

Christmas Crapple Pie

This one is long overdue - a Cranberry Apple Pie I made for Christmas. It is festive and delicious. The cranberries add color and really heighten the flavor, while the apple offsets the tartness of the berries and adds a comfort food feel. I'm still not sure how I feel about the cinnamon-sugar sprinkled crust. It's cute and smells wonderful, but I think I prefer the flavor and texture of a plain crust. It was a little too "fussery bussery" for me. The recipe can be found here. I modified it by using my own pie crust recipe. I also used 3/4c. white sugar to make the cranberry sauce part of the filling. Then I added 3/4c. brown sugar to the apple part of the filling. Also, I think it's easier to say you'll need 2 lbs. tart apples and 1.75 lbs. sweet apples, rather than specify certain types of each.

Current Pie Tally: 71