Category Archives: Lots O’ Butter Pies

Lemon Macaroon Pie

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The is before piping. For this one I wasn't going for presentation. It was really tasty.

Lemon Macaroon Pie before piping. Low quality presentation, high quality taste.

Happy Day-After Thanksgiving:) I hope everyone who wanted to be with family and friends enjoyed their holiday. I wanted to post this earlier than today but didn’t have my to-do list organized well enough to bake the pie until the morning of turkey day.  This is the recipe for a Lemon Macaroon pie. It is attributed to the Bon Appetit Dessert Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild and was done almost to the letter (as best I could). I wanted to do something besides the traditional pie fare, but I baked 3 pumpkin pies too.

The Crust:

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

t tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

8 tbsp. butter

3 tbsp. water

Blend the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add the butter, using on/off turns until the mix resembles a coarse meal. Add the water and blend until moist clumps form. Remove from processor, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Set oven to 350F. Place rack in bottom third of oven.

Remove dough from fridge and roll to 12 inch circle. Place in 9 inch pie dish and trim so there’s half-inch of overhang. Fold under and crimp the edges. Or not. I wasn’t in it for presentation at this particular outing. Freeze for 15 minutes.

Remove from freezer, line bottom with foil and add beans or pie weights. Place in oven for 20 minutes or until edges or golden brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool, remove weights and foil. Set aside. Leave oven at temperature.

The Filling:

3 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups sweetened flake coconut

1/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp. melted butter

2 tsp. grated lemon peel

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs, egg yolks and salt in a large bowl. Add sugar and beat until thick and fluffy. Beat in coconut, whipping cream, lemon juice, lemon peel, butter and vanilla and almond extracts. Pour filling into crust.

Bake until filling is golden and set, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven, cool completely and then chill in fridge until cool. About 3 hours.

The Topping:

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tsp. powdered sugar

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

8 thin lemon slices (optional – I didn’t use them)

Using your electric mixer, beat the cream, sugar and vanilla in a small mixing bowl until  stiff peaks form (please note this will take a while, even on whip setting). Fill a pastry bag with a star tip (or plastic bag with corner cut) and pipe around the edges of your pie.

The pie is yummy and the lemon flavor is outstanding. There was one tiny slice left this morning and that was my breakfast. Olivia wants 4 of them for her upcoming 14th birthday. I’ll probably just make 2.

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Mixed Berry Pie with Oatmeal Lattice Crust

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2nd place on the least presentable list.

2nd place on the least presentable list.

 

The 4th of July has come and gone. We are half way through the year and it’s fairly hot in the state of Texas. Not 2011 hot mind you, but still very hot. It’s strange days when you consider the upper 90’s not-so-hot.

We went to friends for the 4th and had dinner and made our own fireworks show in their front yard. Dinner consisted of hamburgers, potato salad, beer or margaritas, and a bit of pie. Not necessarily in that order. This recipe was pulled from Epicurious circa 1997.  You don’t need a national holiday to make or eat this one. But it is certainly worthy of baking for such a day.

The crust!

4 1/2 tbsp. ice water

1 large egg yolk

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup old-fashioned oats

1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1 tbsp. grated lemon peel

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into piece

Grease your pie plate. Whisk 4 1/2 tablespoons ice water and yolk in small bowl to blend. Blend flour, oats, brown sugar, lemon peel and salt in processor. Add butter and process until coarse meal forms. Add yolk mixture and process using on/off turns until moist clumps form. Gather dough together and divide into 2 pieces, 1 slightly larger than the other. Flatten into disks; wrap each in plastic and chill 1 hour or up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Roll out larger dough disk on floured surface (I use a floured baking cloth to make it easier to transfer to plate) to 12-inch round. Transfer dough to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold overhang under (if you have any). Crimp edges.

Line your crust with foil. Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake 10 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Continue to bake until crust is set, about 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Roll out remaining dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips.

The filling!:

1 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar

2 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. grated orange peel

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 3/4 cups fresh raspberries

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

3/4 cup fresh blackberries

1/4 cup blueberry preserves

1 egg, beaten to blend (for glaze)

Whipped cream (optional)

Mix 1 cup sugar, cornstarch, orange peel and nutmeg in large bowl. Add all berries and preserves and toss to blend. Pour filling into crust. Place dough strips atop pie, forming lattice; trim excess. Gently press strip ends to crust. Brush lattice with egg glaze. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Place pie on baking sheet. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling bubbles thickly in center, covering edges with foil collar if browning too quickly, about 1 hour. Cool on rack. Serve lukewarm or at room temperature, with or without whipped cream.

I scorched the crust as you can see but the sugar, glaze and berry mix did a nice job of taking that away . It was a bit messy to serve up but tasted very good and was a good way to end the evening. Onward to Labor Day…

Pie #48 – Baby Screamin’ Its Head Off In The Middle of the Night and Ruinin’ My Life Pie

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I’ve never seen the movie The Waitress. But I came across a boat load of recipes from the movie and thought the titles really great. Pie number 48 is not so much a pie as a cheesecake and I am ready to make one. I had to make one modification to the recipe, adding Bauchant in place of Amaretto. Bauchant is an orange liqueur but, after tasting, agreed with my wife that it would do the trick. Maybe I’ll do another of the recipes somewhere down the road but I don’t think it’s going to happen in the next 4 weeks. You can find all recipes here.

baby-screamin-its-head-off-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-ruinin-my-life-pie

The crust!:

No crust!

The filling!:

4 8-oz. cream cheese, softened (I used non-fat as I need to watch my girlish figure)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sour cream (I didn’t use low-fat as I keep forgetting that such a thing exists)

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 3/4 cup white sugar

1/8 cup cornstarch

1 fl. oz. Bauchant liqueur (used in place of Amaretto)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

5 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Bring all ingredients to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap outside of 9-inch springform pan with foil.

Butter inside of pan and don’t skimp. In large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in sugar and cornstarch. Blend in sour cream and whipping cream. Add Bauchant and vanilla. Stir in eggs and egg yolk one or two at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition. Pour batter into pan. Place pan in another pan at least 1 inch wider and add at least one inch of water to outside pan (prevents cracks in sides). Bake on center rack for 70 minutes. Turn oven off and let cool with door open for 1 hour. Remove cake from water and chill at least 3 hours before removing cake from pan.

Top with crushed pecans and dust with nutmeg…

OMG this has just toppled the coconut cream pie as my favorite.  It’s probably because it’s more of a cheesecake and I love cheesecake. It’s creamy and has a whipped texture that just melts in your mouth. It is sooooooo gooooood. Easy to make, highly recommended.

Pie #19 – ZTejas Ancho Chili Fudge Pie

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Epilogue on the Shoo Fly Pie, it is NOT as good cold as it is warm. My first epilogue on a pie. It was also the first pie to end up in the trash. And I made two!  Blah. I hadn’t heard of the pie until my late 4o’s. Another first. I won’t be doing this one again in this lifetime…the last…did I say blah?

Which brings us to a very good-in-an-evil-way kind of pie,  ZTejas Ancho Chili fudge pie. I was having a conversation with Candy (a colleague from work) and she kindly asked how the pie adventure was going. I gave her the high notes and she suggested the pie I’m doing this week. I was told it’s very tasty and the menu is simple. Thank you to jaeleepoms of Mason, Ohio for this one. It comes from grouprecipes.com.

The recipe!

2 teaspoons pureed ancho chilies (*)

1/2 lb butter ( I had to do a double take at this, a half pound!)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

9 in. unbaked pastry shell

For Ancho Chili Puree – Remove the seeds and stem from one ancho chile pepper, place in a small saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer until ancho is tender. *Go old school by mashing it through a strainer with a wood spoon. Or use a food processor.

Pre-heat oven to 325°F.  Toast the chopped nuts until lightly brown.

Melt the butter and let cool to warm. Beat eggs well and then add sugars and flour. Beat until smooth. Add warm butter to the batter and mix well (it is important for butter to be warm so chocolate chips will melt some).

Add chile puree.

Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

Pour filling into pastry shell and bake for 45 to 60 minutes at 325°F until done. To see if its done, stick a toothpick into center of the pie. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

My wife and I tried it when it was still warm. It was like eating a big gooey cookie! We didn’t get a lot of the ancho chili taste though. Still, it’s really good.