Showing posts with label pie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pie. Show all posts
Lemon Meringue Pie from Scratch
1/28/11: Lemon Meringue Pie
Last Friday my younger sister and I were trying to figure out a dessert to make for dinner. We chose a rather risky one: Lemon Meringue Pie. Because this pie is such a classic (it is right beside chocolate chip cookies, pound cake, and blueberry muffins in the realm of baking in my opinion), you would think that it is an easy recipe to execute. Not so. Especially for a person who has failed in the past with the meringue part!
We used Annemarie's Betty Crocker cookbook for the crust, the filling, as well as the meringue topping. The filling and meringue recipes worked out well, but we weren't happy at all with the crust recipe. There just wasn't enough dough to work with and we actually had to go back and make another batch. Next time I should use our traditional go-to recipe for a double pie crust and simply cut the recipe in half.
Now for the filling and meringue part:
Lemon Meringue Pie
Yield: Two 9" pies (my family likes their pie!)
Ingredients:
Two 9" pie shells that have been blind baked
3 cups sugar
2/3 cup cornstarch
3 cups hot water
6 egg yolks, slightly beaten
6 tbsp. butter
8 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. grated lemon rind
Meringue:
6 egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
12 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. flavoring (optional)
Directions:
In a saucepan, mix together the sugar, cornstarch, and hot water. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil 1 minute. Beat a little of the hot mixture into the egg yolks to temper them. Then move warmed egg yolks to the cornstarch mixture. Boil 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Continue stirring until smooth. Blend in butter, lemon juice, and lemon peel.
Onto the meringue! In a large, clean bowl, beat white with cream of tartar until frothy. Gradually beat in sugar, a little at a time. Continue beating until stiff and glossy.
Now to assemble the pie. Pour filling into the pre-baked pie shells and smooth top. Spoon the meringue on top of filling in large dollops. Try to smooth out--while not disturbing the filling below--and make fun swirls or peaks with your spoon.
Move pies to a 400F preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.
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So that's the recipe but I do want to write here some things I would change next time. First off, Papa and Annemarie said that they would like more meringue on top as well as a stronger lemon flavor. So for next time, I will maybe use 5 eggs per pie and add the extra yolks to the filling; Annemarie said that the extra yolks won't harm the recipe. All they will do is make the filling slightly thicker. She's made this pie before so she should know!
And I will add a couple more lemons to the mix to get a real pucker sensation!
You may notice here that this meringue is darker than what you are used to. That is way my family likes it even if it causes "weeping."
My Old Kentucky Pie
1/07/11: Kentucky Pie
This recipe came from the Holiday Baking 2009 Issue of Cooking with Paula Deen. I, by no means, had the intention of baking this pie when I was browsing the magazine. I was much more interested in the buttermilk pie that was featured on the same page. But it so happened that a) I wanted to bake a pie that day, b) I wanted something chocolate-ly, and c), I wanted something with nuts. So that is how I gravitated towards this pie recipe, which I never heard of before.
Kentucky Pie has a truck load of nuts and chocolate--and then some. I should know about the nuts because me and my sister had to crack all of them by hand. What a job! Pecans are not that easy to crack, there is a required skill for sure. The best way to crack them we found was to crack both the top and the bottom off first, then crack the nut lengthwise. But you need to make sure you crack it BETWEEN the two inner pecan halves. Otherwise, you break the halves into a million and one pieces. :)
As you can see, this pie is not for the faint of heart:
Get a load of all that chocolate! I think I've died and gone to heaven. Here is some more cocoa goodness coming your way:
Oliver's "Twist" on Apple Pie
2/14/10: Cheesy Stuffed Meatballs and Appleberry Pie
Meal details: For the main course I made meatballs stuffed with mozzarella cheese to be served on top of spaghetti. And for dessert I made two apple pies, one with blueberries and orange added.
Defining moments: First time for me to make meatballs, an apple pie with additional fruit, and an apple pie made with frozen apples. Frozen apples? Learn more about me freezing Gravenstein apples here.
Recipe sources: The meatball recipe came from the cookbook, Ciao Italia - Five Ingredient Favorites by Mary Ann Esposito, the host of the Ciao Italia t.v. show. The appleberry pie recipe came from Jamie Oliver's website. Jamie Oliver is the host of The Naked Chef, Jamie's Kitchen, and Jamie at Home on the Food Network channel. I chose this appleberry pie because I am part of the FNCCC (Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge), being hosted by the writer of the I Thank My Mother blog.
I don't often see Jamie on Food Network now, and I only watched one episode of Jamie at Home. So he is one of the few chefs from Food Network that I haven't watched much!
What I learned: Hmm. . . Let me think. First off, I learned that I should take a shopping cart to the freezer when gathering the ingredients. :) You should have seen the load of freezer containers I brought up for this meal! A package of ground beef, two quarts of spaghetti sauce, three quarts of frozen apples, a quart of blueberries. . . What an armload.
Secondly, I learned that moving the ground beef to the fridge on Friday morning gives just the right amount of thawing time. I had no problem forming the meatballs.
Another thing I learned is that these pies love to spill their juices over during the baking process. I needed to place cookie sheets on the bottom rack to catch the falling juices from the two 'geysers' on the second level. :) And once the collected juices started to steam and later smoke. . . Well, you can guess the rest. Exhaust fan on full blast!
Any modifications? I made one modification to the meatball recipe. Instead of using the recommended ground chuck and sirloin, I used all ground chuck. Sirloin is a bit too expensive so that's why I made the change.
And I also made some changes to the pie recipe. To better explain what I did, here is my ingredient list: (Note: I am including cup equivalents to the gram weights and American lingo to the British lingo.)
For the pastry:
For the filling:
The appleberry pie and Gravenstein pie were both very tasty. The appleberry pie kind of surprised me because the major flavor is orange. I thought the blueberries would be the primary fruit in this pie, but it was that one orange I used! Go figure. I'm not a big orange fan so I was kind of disappointed by this. I'm glad I only used one orange instead of the suggested two, or boy, that would have been a very orange-y pie for sure. Next time I think I will either eliminate the orange altogether or just add orange juice. But for those who do like orange, go for a whole orange here.
The appleberry pie had a good amount of juice on the bottom, but from what I can tell from the recipe's picture, this is normal. It didn't affect the 'mucho' crust at all. The crust for this pie was flaky.
The Gravenstein pie was surprisingly good. The frozen apple slices I used held up well and had a good texture. Initially, I thought this pie would have applesauce for a filling; thank goodness I was wrong. The crust was less flaky than the appleberry pie but was more tender. So the addition of shortening and subtraction of butter did make a difference. Gosh, Alton Brown was right. ;)
How about a 2nd time? Yes, to both recipes. But maybe next time I'll add onions to the meatballs (I love onions, hehe) and omit the orange from the pie.
As you can see, there is a bit of juice on the bottom of the pie.
Meal details: For the main course I made meatballs stuffed with mozzarella cheese to be served on top of spaghetti. And for dessert I made two apple pies, one with blueberries and orange added.
Defining moments: First time for me to make meatballs, an apple pie with additional fruit, and an apple pie made with frozen apples. Frozen apples? Learn more about me freezing Gravenstein apples here.
Recipe sources: The meatball recipe came from the cookbook, Ciao Italia - Five Ingredient Favorites by Mary Ann Esposito, the host of the Ciao Italia t.v. show. The appleberry pie recipe came from Jamie Oliver's website. Jamie Oliver is the host of The Naked Chef, Jamie's Kitchen, and Jamie at Home on the Food Network channel. I chose this appleberry pie because I am part of the FNCCC (Food Network Chef Cooking Challenge), being hosted by the writer of the I Thank My Mother blog.
I don't often see Jamie on Food Network now, and I only watched one episode of Jamie at Home. So he is one of the few chefs from Food Network that I haven't watched much!
What I learned: Hmm. . . Let me think. First off, I learned that I should take a shopping cart to the freezer when gathering the ingredients. :) You should have seen the load of freezer containers I brought up for this meal! A package of ground beef, two quarts of spaghetti sauce, three quarts of frozen apples, a quart of blueberries. . . What an armload.
Secondly, I learned that moving the ground beef to the fridge on Friday morning gives just the right amount of thawing time. I had no problem forming the meatballs.
Another thing I learned is that these pies love to spill their juices over during the baking process. I needed to place cookie sheets on the bottom rack to catch the falling juices from the two 'geysers' on the second level. :) And once the collected juices started to steam and later smoke. . . Well, you can guess the rest. Exhaust fan on full blast!
Any modifications? I made one modification to the meatball recipe. Instead of using the recommended ground chuck and sirloin, I used all ground chuck. Sirloin is a bit too expensive so that's why I made the change.
And I also made some changes to the pie recipe. To better explain what I did, here is my ingredient list: (Note: I am including cup equivalents to the gram weights and American lingo to the British lingo.)
For the pastry:
- 500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting (4 cups All-Purpose flour)
- 100g icing sugar (3/4 cup powdered sugar)
- a pinch of salt
- 250g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes (2 sticks) -- For the Gravenstein apple pie I made, I used half butter and half shortening. Wanted to try out this ratio because Alton Brown mentioned it on Good Eats last year.
- 2 large eggs
- a splash of milk
For the filling:
- 10 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and halved, 3 sliced -- I used Calville Blanc variety of apple for the appleberry pie and Gravenstein apples for the 100% apple pie. I didn't prepare the apples like he states here, I sliced all the apples. Why? The apples I chose don't cook down as much as Granny Smith and my family is used to slices.
- juice and zest of 2 oranges -- I used one orange.
- 7 heaped tablespoons caster sugar (granulated sugar) -- I used 5 tablespoons.
- 400g huckleberries or blueberries (2 3/4 cup) -- I used blueberries.
- 1 heaped tablespoon plain flour (All-Purpose flour)
- 1 large egg
- A small handful of demerara sugar -- I didn't use this sugar, never seen it before. I read from an internet source that this sugar is used in sweetening tea and coffee.
The appleberry pie and Gravenstein pie were both very tasty. The appleberry pie kind of surprised me because the major flavor is orange. I thought the blueberries would be the primary fruit in this pie, but it was that one orange I used! Go figure. I'm not a big orange fan so I was kind of disappointed by this. I'm glad I only used one orange instead of the suggested two, or boy, that would have been a very orange-y pie for sure. Next time I think I will either eliminate the orange altogether or just add orange juice. But for those who do like orange, go for a whole orange here.
The appleberry pie had a good amount of juice on the bottom, but from what I can tell from the recipe's picture, this is normal. It didn't affect the 'mucho' crust at all. The crust for this pie was flaky.
The Gravenstein pie was surprisingly good. The frozen apple slices I used held up well and had a good texture. Initially, I thought this pie would have applesauce for a filling; thank goodness I was wrong. The crust was less flaky than the appleberry pie but was more tender. So the addition of shortening and subtraction of butter did make a difference. Gosh, Alton Brown was right. ;)
How about a 2nd time? Yes, to both recipes. But maybe next time I'll add onions to the meatballs (I love onions, hehe) and omit the orange from the pie.
As you can see, there is a bit of juice on the bottom of the pie.
Not My Best Showing
11/15/09: Pizza and Apple Pie from Scratch
Meal details: For the main course I made three different types of pizzas: Broccoli and Parmesan, BBQ Chicken, and Traditional. For dessert I made two apple pies, one with Gravenstein apples and the other using apples picked from a wild apple tree growing on our farm.
Defining moments: This would be my first time making apple pie! Can you believe that one?
Recipe sources: I came up with the pizza toppings but I used a recipe created by Cat Cora for the dough. Check it out here. I chose this recipe because I am part of the Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Blame My Mother blog. (Learn more about this fun challenge by visiting this page.)
For the pie now. I made the pie crust using the following recipe that came from The New Antoinette Pope School Cookbook, but I did shorten the instructions significantly.
DOUBLE PIE CRUST
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour -- sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening (we use butter flavored Crisco)
7 tablespoons cold milk (about)
Sift together dry ingredients and with pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add enough milk until dough appears moist but not wet. Try not to use more than 7 tablespoons unless necessary to hold dough together. Turn dough out and knead for a few seconds to hold mixture together. Handle as little as possible. Roll out using your favorite technique.
I didn't follow a recipe for the apple pie filling, I just did what Annemarie usually does. Which is...
Apple Pie Filling:
2 tablespoons flour
8 cups of apple slices *
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
Directions:
Place bottom crust in pan and dust with the flour. Add the apple slices and sprinkle sugar on top, no need to mix. Dot apples with butter. That's all there is to it! No cooking whatsoever.
* I used Gravenstein and a wild apple for my pies this time. For those who are interested in making their own, I suggest using the following varieties: Northern Spy, Idared, Jonathan, and Empire.
What I learned: It was difficult for me to make six, 10" sized pizzas using Cat Cora's pizza dough recipe. There just was not enough dough to work with, and because of this I had to break out a box of pizza dough mix. So if you are going to do this recipe, expect four, 10" sized pizzas or six, 6" sized pizzas. The dough is lovely to work with by the way!
I learned something invaluable this week and that is to bake my apple pies for a longer time! I've only done one type of fruit pie before and that was peach. With a peach pie it is easy to tell when it is done because you just wait until the peach juice bubbles. But this is not so with apple pie. So I was having a hard time deciding when to grab my potholders and I ended up under baking. Oops! :( Next time I will bake them at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and no less.
Any modifications? No, I followed the pizza dough recipe exactly.
How it tasted? The pizza dough was delicious and I liked how thin I rolled it out. Everyone liked the Broccoli and Parmesan pizza the most; the BBQ Chicken came in second.
The pies were just OK namely because of me under baking them. I was really disappointed by that! The wild apple didn't impart enough flavor; won't be using them again.
How about a 2nd time? I will be using the pizza dough recipe again but will double the recipe or just make one large one.
The Broccoli and Parmesan Pizza. I simply brushed the dough with olive oil, pre-baked it for two minutes, added the vegetables and cheese, then placed it back into the oven for 20 minutes at 375.
This is the BBQ Chicken version. I pre-baked the crust for two minutes, added the BBQ sauce, chicken, and mozzarella, then placed it back into the oven.
This is the Traditional Pizza. It is larger than the others and the dough was made using a boxed mix and some of Cat Cora's dough. The toppings are store bought pizza sauce, chicken, and a Monterey Jack/Colby cheese mix.
Mr. Apple Pie, I hope our next meeting shall be more pleasant.
Meal details: For the main course I made three different types of pizzas: Broccoli and Parmesan, BBQ Chicken, and Traditional. For dessert I made two apple pies, one with Gravenstein apples and the other using apples picked from a wild apple tree growing on our farm.
Defining moments: This would be my first time making apple pie! Can you believe that one?
Recipe sources: I came up with the pizza toppings but I used a recipe created by Cat Cora for the dough. Check it out here. I chose this recipe because I am part of the Food Network Chefs Cooking Challenge that is being hosted by the writer of the I Blame My Mother blog. (Learn more about this fun challenge by visiting this page.)
For the pie now. I made the pie crust using the following recipe that came from The New Antoinette Pope School Cookbook, but I did shorten the instructions significantly.
DOUBLE PIE CRUST
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour -- sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening (we use butter flavored Crisco)
7 tablespoons cold milk (about)
Sift together dry ingredients and with pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add enough milk until dough appears moist but not wet. Try not to use more than 7 tablespoons unless necessary to hold dough together. Turn dough out and knead for a few seconds to hold mixture together. Handle as little as possible. Roll out using your favorite technique.
I didn't follow a recipe for the apple pie filling, I just did what Annemarie usually does. Which is...
Apple Pie Filling:
2 tablespoons flour
8 cups of apple slices *
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
Directions:
Place bottom crust in pan and dust with the flour. Add the apple slices and sprinkle sugar on top, no need to mix. Dot apples with butter. That's all there is to it! No cooking whatsoever.
* I used Gravenstein and a wild apple for my pies this time. For those who are interested in making their own, I suggest using the following varieties: Northern Spy, Idared, Jonathan, and Empire.
What I learned: It was difficult for me to make six, 10" sized pizzas using Cat Cora's pizza dough recipe. There just was not enough dough to work with, and because of this I had to break out a box of pizza dough mix. So if you are going to do this recipe, expect four, 10" sized pizzas or six, 6" sized pizzas. The dough is lovely to work with by the way!
I learned something invaluable this week and that is to bake my apple pies for a longer time! I've only done one type of fruit pie before and that was peach. With a peach pie it is easy to tell when it is done because you just wait until the peach juice bubbles. But this is not so with apple pie. So I was having a hard time deciding when to grab my potholders and I ended up under baking. Oops! :( Next time I will bake them at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and no less.
Any modifications? No, I followed the pizza dough recipe exactly.
How it tasted? The pizza dough was delicious and I liked how thin I rolled it out. Everyone liked the Broccoli and Parmesan pizza the most; the BBQ Chicken came in second.
The pies were just OK namely because of me under baking them. I was really disappointed by that! The wild apple didn't impart enough flavor; won't be using them again.
How about a 2nd time? I will be using the pizza dough recipe again but will double the recipe or just make one large one.
The Broccoli and Parmesan Pizza. I simply brushed the dough with olive oil, pre-baked it for two minutes, added the vegetables and cheese, then placed it back into the oven for 20 minutes at 375.
This is the BBQ Chicken version. I pre-baked the crust for two minutes, added the BBQ sauce, chicken, and mozzarella, then placed it back into the oven.
This is the Traditional Pizza. It is larger than the others and the dough was made using a boxed mix and some of Cat Cora's dough. The toppings are store bought pizza sauce, chicken, and a Monterey Jack/Colby cheese mix.
Mr. Apple Pie, I hope our next meeting shall be more pleasant.
August Means Fresh Peaches!
8/20/09: Fresh Peach Pie
On Thursday, August 20th, I made two peach pies that were full of fresh, Red Haven peaches, straight from our peach trees. They were scrumptious! Here is the recipe I used:
Fresh Peach Pie
2 pounds peaches, peeled and sliced
3/4 - 1 cup granulated sugar(depends on how sweet you like your pie)
3 tablespoons cornstarch diluted with 1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Prepare glaze by mixing sugar, cornstarch mixture, salt and almond extract in a pot. Cook until thick and clear, stirring constantly. After mixture comes to a boil, cook a few minutes more. Pour hot glaze over peaches, mix gently and allow to cool.
While peaches are cooling, prepare favorite pie crust recipe (ours is below) and prepare pie plate with bottom crust. Add peaches. Top peaches with remaining crust. Cut slits into top crust before baking to allow steam to escape.
Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until crust is nicely browned.
DOUBLE PIE CRUST
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour -- sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening (we use butter flavored Crisco)
7 tablespoons cold milk (about)
Sift together dry ingredients and with pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add enough milk until dough appears moist but not wet. Try not to use more than 7 tablespoons unless necessary to hold dough together. Turn dough out and knead for a few seconds to hold mixture together. Handle as little as possible. Roll out using your favorite technique.
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I had some trouble getting the glaze to the right consistency, so much so, that I had to make two batches. My first attempt was a failure: the glaze came out hard and sticky. I most likely cooked it for too long because I kept on waiting until the glaze was clear. My tip is NOT to worry about a clear glaze but just wait until it comes to a boil. Once it does, take it off the heat and pour it over the peaches. It may appear too runny/watery, but that's OK, it will thicken as it cools. When the peach pies came out of the oven and we cut into them a few hours later, the peach filling wasn't runny at all!
On Thursday, August 20th, I made two peach pies that were full of fresh, Red Haven peaches, straight from our peach trees. They were scrumptious! Here is the recipe I used:
Fresh Peach Pie
2 pounds peaches, peeled and sliced
3/4 - 1 cup granulated sugar(depends on how sweet you like your pie)
3 tablespoons cornstarch diluted with 1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Prepare glaze by mixing sugar, cornstarch mixture, salt and almond extract in a pot. Cook until thick and clear, stirring constantly. After mixture comes to a boil, cook a few minutes more. Pour hot glaze over peaches, mix gently and allow to cool.
While peaches are cooling, prepare favorite pie crust recipe (ours is below) and prepare pie plate with bottom crust. Add peaches. Top peaches with remaining crust. Cut slits into top crust before baking to allow steam to escape.
Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until crust is nicely browned.
DOUBLE PIE CRUST
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour -- sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening (we use butter flavored Crisco)
7 tablespoons cold milk (about)
Sift together dry ingredients and with pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture looks like coarse meal. Add enough milk until dough appears moist but not wet. Try not to use more than 7 tablespoons unless necessary to hold dough together. Turn dough out and knead for a few seconds to hold mixture together. Handle as little as possible. Roll out using your favorite technique.
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I had some trouble getting the glaze to the right consistency, so much so, that I had to make two batches. My first attempt was a failure: the glaze came out hard and sticky. I most likely cooked it for too long because I kept on waiting until the glaze was clear. My tip is NOT to worry about a clear glaze but just wait until it comes to a boil. Once it does, take it off the heat and pour it over the peaches. It may appear too runny/watery, but that's OK, it will thicken as it cools. When the peach pies came out of the oven and we cut into them a few hours later, the peach filling wasn't runny at all!
What I made for Sunday, August 23rd, will soon be posted, so just sit tight.:)
The Word is "PIE!"
6/10/09: Chicken BBQ Pizza and Peach Pie with Asparagus on the Side
No, June 10th is not a Sunday but it happens to be my youngest sister's birthday. Many months prior to her birthday she was requesting me to make BBQ Pizza and Peach Pie for her birthday supper. Click here and here to see my past experiences with BBQ Pizza and here and here for the peach pie. The asparagus came in later and let me tell you how and why. Back in May my family watched a PBS special called Asparagus: Stalking the American Life (you can learn more about this show by visiting this blog). During the duration of the 53 min. program we learned about a farmer who lives in our area who was combating the foreign trade issue. Later on, around the end of May, this same asparagus farmer stops at our farm market and promises to bring some of his asparagus to us on a later trip. He stayed true to his word and last week he gave us 10 pounds of fresh picked asparagus!
My youngest sister can't seem to get the pie ecstasy out of her system! For the past 6 days she has been constantly saying with much ardor: "PIE!"
No, June 10th is not a Sunday but it happens to be my youngest sister's birthday. Many months prior to her birthday she was requesting me to make BBQ Pizza and Peach Pie for her birthday supper. Click here and here to see my past experiences with BBQ Pizza and here and here for the peach pie. The asparagus came in later and let me tell you how and why. Back in May my family watched a PBS special called Asparagus: Stalking the American Life (you can learn more about this show by visiting this blog). During the duration of the 53 min. program we learned about a farmer who lives in our area who was combating the foreign trade issue. Later on, around the end of May, this same asparagus farmer stops at our farm market and promises to bring some of his asparagus to us on a later trip. He stayed true to his word and last week he gave us 10 pounds of fresh picked asparagus!
The asparagus: (I steamed some and pan-roasted the other half. My family hasn't really tasted asparagus before so we're kind of testing it using light seasoning.)
So here are some photos of the peach pie (1 of 2) made using the canned peaches my family did last year:
My youngest sister can't seem to get the pie ecstasy out of her system! For the past 6 days she has been constantly saying with much ardor: "PIE!"
Peach Pie Revisted
I think I should write down my peach pie recipe here because I used a couple different cook books to figure out the best way to use my canned peaches in a pie. So here it is:
Peach Pie recipe for one 10" pie (made on 2/08/09)
Pie crust ingredients for one 2-crust 10" pie:
Filling ingredients:
Directions:
Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in Crisco with pastry cutter. Pour in water (you can add more if need be). Knead dough for a few seconds. Divide dough so that one portion is slightly larger than other. Take larger portion and roll out to a circle that is about 12" in diameter. Carry dough (using rolling pin method) to pie plate that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Shape dough to plate and trim away excess. Add bread crumbs and pat to adhere.
To prepare filling: Drain peaches and coat them with cornstarch. Pour into pie plate. Preheat oven to 400°.
To make top layer of crust:
Roll out smaller piece of dough so that it is roughly 10" wide. Place on top of peaches. Tuck top layer's edges under bottom layer's and crimp with fingers. Make slits in top. Bake for 45 minutes.
Peach Pie recipe for one 10" pie (made on 2/08/09)
Pie crust ingredients for one 2-crust 10" pie:
- 2 1/2 c. flour
- 3/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 c baking Crisco
- 6-7 tbsp. water
- 3 tbsp. plain bread crumbs
- Cooking spray
Filling ingredients:
- 1 1/2 qt. canned peaches (I used the Harrow Beauty variety)
- 1/4 c. cornstarch
Directions:
Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in Crisco with pastry cutter. Pour in water (you can add more if need be). Knead dough for a few seconds. Divide dough so that one portion is slightly larger than other. Take larger portion and roll out to a circle that is about 12" in diameter. Carry dough (using rolling pin method) to pie plate that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Shape dough to plate and trim away excess. Add bread crumbs and pat to adhere.
To prepare filling: Drain peaches and coat them with cornstarch. Pour into pie plate. Preheat oven to 400°.
To make top layer of crust:
Roll out smaller piece of dough so that it is roughly 10" wide. Place on top of peaches. Tuck top layer's edges under bottom layer's and crimp with fingers. Make slits in top. Bake for 45 minutes.
Not Your Average Meringue
3/01/09: Spanish Chicken with Pasta and Chocolate Cream Pie
- Sources: For chicken I went to southerngood.about.com and for pie, Antoinette Pope cook book.
- Defining moments: First time for chocolate pie filling and meringue.
- What I learned: I learned that even though I've seen my mom make meringue without one bit of difficulty, that doesn't mean meringue making will be painless. Ok, yes, my meringue went completely wrong and I am still puzzled by what happened. I stayed true to the recipe--the recipe my mom uses--but my meringue still remained in a marshmellow fluff state even though I used the electric beater on it for 1/2 hour! In the end I poured the "marshmallow meringue" on top of my chocolate cream pie and baked it. The pie turned out fine (taste-wise, too) but my older sister was a bit perplexed by the pies' flat meringue surface. "Doesn't meringue pies have peaks or something?" she asked.
- How it tasted: The Spanish chicken was awesome I think and my youngest sister may have to change her birthday meal plan. The chocolate cream pie was good too, and no, the meringue didn't taste like marshmallows--close to it though. And my Papa told me a very funny scenario that happened this morning. When he first went into the kitchen in the early morning he saw that the leftover pie was gone and was very "upset" about it! He didn't know that the pie was placed in grandma's refrigerator. When he discovered that the pie still existed he sighed with relief. :)
- How about a 2nd time? Yes, for both recipes.
Pie Making for the First Time
- Sources: The pie recipe was an offshoot of the Antoinette Pope and Peaches and Other Juicy Fruits cookbooks. The pie crust and use of bread crumbs came from Pope and the amount of peaches and cornstarch came from Peaches.
- Defining moments: First pie I made. Now I can stare right into the face of that customer who was shocked to hear that I never made a pie before! :) It was also a big moment for me because I used homemade canned peaches. Yes, those peaches that took forever to wash, boil, peel, quarter, pack, seal, label, and store away. Funny isn't it? How can you like doing something that requires so much work?
- What I learned: I learned that pie dough is very tricky to handle and requires more liquid (either water or milk) than the recipe calls for. I found this to be true during the winter when it is dry so I will have to wait and see if it changes later when the humidity rises. I also found it to be easier to transport the rolled out dough to the pie dish by rolling it onto the rolling pin like I would do with my Danish Apple Bars.
- How it tasted: The peach pie was as any red blooded Michiganian would expect: delicious. My youngest sister still talks about it to this day and she wants to have it as her birthday dessert. I guess I will save those canned peaches for June then!
- How about a 2nd time? June is planned.
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