Tag Archives: Pie

Pie #51 – Home Made Pumpkin Pie

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This has been a pretty lazy weekend. The only item of note is that myself and my wife are now volunteers with Austin Pets Alive! We have the t-shirts to prove it:) We’re looking at a couple of different areas to help out, but we’re pretty interested in fostering some cats. She would also like to do

It’s homemade. So much better.

the kitten bottle feeding thing with the kids. They will probably love that. Onward toward something new…

We’re pretty close to Thanksgiving so I decided this would be a good weekend to make pie number 51, homemade pumpkin pie. I made the pumpkin purée from scratch. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and, besides some minor spillage drama, it went well. If you are so inclined, I highly recommend this one…

The crust!:

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

10 tbsp. (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

3 tbsp. cold water

In a food processor, mix the flour, sugar and salt. Add butter and blend using on/off turns. Process until coarse meal forms. Add water and blend using on/off turns. Add water by teaspoon if dough seems dry. Gather dough into a ball, flatten and chill for at least one hour.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a 13 inch diameter circle. Transfer to a 9 inch pie dish. Trim the edges to 1/2 inch off side. Fold the extra dough under the edge and flute or crimp your edge. Chill at least an hour.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F. Line the crust with foil and place dried beans or pie weights. Bake 20 minutes. Remove the foil and beans. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the crust is a light brown. Set aside to cool.

While the crust cools its jets, you can make your pie filling.

The filling!:

1 medium size pumpkin that should yield one cup of purée

2 tbsp. corn syrup

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1-1/2  tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour

2 eggs, separated

1 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup milk (1%, 2%, or whole, your choice)

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tbsp. Captain Morgan Coconut Rum, pouring liberally (because I’m liberal, if you’re conservative, you can pour conservatively)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

To make the purée, Cut your pumpkin in half.  Clean seeds and string at core. Fill microwave safe dish with 1/2 to 1 cup water and place your halved pumpkins in the dish, with core facing up. Cover in plastic wrap and microwave on “Vegetable” setting. Approximately 7 minutes or until very tender. Remove from microwave and, using a spoon, separate the meat from the rind. Put immediately into a large bowl and using a mixer, blend until smooth.

In a small bowl, beat egg whites until foamy.

In the mixing bowl with the purée, combine all ingredients except the egg whites.

Blend mixture for one minute.  Fold in the egg whites and pour into the pie shell.  Bake for 10 minutes then  reduce heat to 350 degrees.  Bake an extra 30 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

This pie is so good. Fresh pumpkin is so much better than canned. It also got a big thumbs up from the kids. A friend was here to sample the pie as well. He wants to make it for the Thanksgiving dinner we’ll be hosting here at the house. I’m more than happy to have someone else carry that torch:) I still need to make one more. One more!!! And that one will be a simpler version of something that my friend over at Summer of Pie has done. You’ll have to guess which one.

To the finish line…

Pie #50 – Mocha Bavarian Cream Pie

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Pie 50 is chocolate, Mmmmm, chocolate.

Welcome to the Holiday Season. Only 2 months until Xmas. Olivia is diligently loading Christmas music to her iPod as I type. She wants to hear it but no one else in the house has that enthusiasm. I also hear at least one friend already has the tree up and most of the holiday shopping done. The shopping thing is pretty smart. As long as you don’t keep shopping. The tree, I hope you enjoy.

Pie 50 is a selection from my wife, who went old-skool and pulled this from a cookbook on our bookshelf. It’s from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. It’s 1996 new. It’s a no-bake, cream pie in the Bavarian tradition. Meaning something with chocolate in it.

The crust!:

2 cups walnut, pecans or almonds (I used all 3)
3 tbsp. sugar
2 slightly beaten egg whites

Pre-heat oven to 375F. In a food processor, blend nuts and sugar until fine. Add egg whites and blend until joined. Pour mixture into 9 inch pie plate and using a spatula, press into bottom and up sides. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust appears dry. Set aside to cool.

The filling!:

1/2 cup sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 cups milk
2 oz. unsweetened bakers chocolate, chopped
2 tsp. instant coffee crystals
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup whipping cream

In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar and gelatine, stir in milk. Add chocolate and coffee crystals. Cook over medium heat until gelatin dissolves and chocolate melts.

In a mixing bowl, slightly beat egg yolks. Gradually, stir in half the gelatin mixture into egg yolks. Pour yolk mixture back into saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Chill gelatin mixture for 30 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form. Fold into your gelatin mixture. Continue to chill until filling mounds when spooned. Transfer filling to pie crust. Garnish with chocolate shavings if desired.

Cover and chill for at least 8 hours or until set. Or until you can’t take waiting anymore. Hopefully, for at least 3 hours.

I had a slice and found that the crust overpowers the filling. For me it’s not chocolatey enough. But I do like the pudding texture of the pie and the taste of the crust. I’d add some sweetened chocolate if I were to do it again.

As an aside, last Friday we welcomed a new, feline member to our family. King Solomon, the 3 legged Lynx Siamese, I say hello again to you. Solomon was found through Austin Siamese Rescue as a courtesy listing from O’Malley Alley Cat Rescue of Nacogdoches, Texas. I did an online foster through Save A Pet on Facebook and after a time just decided he would be well-tended to in our home. My wife and the kids agreed. Solomon, you will be loved but you need some company…

Pie #49 – Halloween Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

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Our annual Halloween party is happening Friday. Each year, the Agency has a party with pumpkin carving, a bake-off, and costume contest. I’ve been a purple monster, a bunny with a black eye, a cow, and this year, my favorite animated character, Snoopy. I also baked a pie for the bake-off. Pie 49 is a Halloween Pumpkin Cheesecake pie. This recipe comes courtesy of You Want Pies With That? on blogspot. The creator of this recipe is Branny of Branny Boils Over. She won a pie contest with this recipe and I’m hoping to win as well. I’m hearing there’s nifty prizes:)

The crust!:

And the holiday season is here...

8 oz. Chocolate Teddy Grahams

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Blend the Teddy Grahams in a food processor until fine. Add the butter and blend until joined. Pour into a 9.5 inch pie pan and, working from the center out, press along bottom and up sides of pan. Refrigerate until you’re ready to add the filling and cheesecake.
The filling!:

1 15oz. can packed pumpkin puree (I ended up using about 2 cans as there wasn’t enough for a 9.5 in. dish)

1/2 cup evaporated milk

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

4 eggs

For the cheesecake (you’re going to have some leftover):

8 oz. cream cheese

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup white sugar

To make the pumpkin filling, beat the eggs and sugar. Add the spices, puree pumpkin, and evaporated milk. Whisk to combine.

To make the cheesecake filling, beat cream cheese with a mixer until softened. Add sugar and blend in egg. Add vanilla. Blend until smooth.

To assemble the pie: pour pumpkin filling into graham cracker crust. Pour cheesecake filling into a zip top bag and snip off end. Or if you have a piping kit, you can use that as well. To make the spider web design, lightly pipe concentric circles of cheesecake into the pumpkin filling. Using a clean knife, drag the blade of a knife from the outer edge of the pie towards the center, wiping the knife between drags.

Bake in a 300 degree oven for 60 minutes.

The pie looks good but I won’t be tasting this tonight.  It will wait unti the  finished product is presented at the bake-off. It’s a gamble. I’ll let you know if it worked out.

Until number 50…

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 #47 – Chicken and Greek Yogurt Quiche

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It must be brunch time. Or lupper...

I’m feeling fairly productive today. I started out at 9am by making pie 47, a chicken and greek yogurt Quiché. I would qualify Quiché as a pie, mainly because it has to bake in a crust. I’ve seen so-called Quiché without crust but I think it’s more of an omelette. This one was relatively quick and easy; all told it took an hour and 20 minutes to make. Prep was 20 minutes and bake time was about an hour, give or take 5 minutes.

The Quiché inspiration comes from allrecipes.com with a few mods. The one I made called for sour cream but I didn’t have any so I used greek yogurt. Also, based on one of the comments for the recipe, I made sure to add more salt.

The Quiché!:

1 (9 inch) frozen pie crust, thawed

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

2 cups chopped spinach

1 tbsp. cake flour

1 cup chopped, cooked chicken breast

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

2 eggs, slightly beaten

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup greek yogurt

1 tbsp. chives (for garnish)

1 tbsp. sweet basil (also for garnish)

Preheat oven to 400F. Pull your ready-made pie crust from fridge to thaw.

Section your chicken breast into small squares. In medium frying pan, heat some spray oil on medium high. Add your chicken. Stir until cooked. Set aside.

In medium frying pan, heat olive oil on medium-high. Add onion, green pepper and spinach. Cook three minutes, stirring frequently. Add cake flour and cook for two minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in chicken, salt, nutmeg and pepper. Spread this mixture over bottom of unbaked pie shell and top with Cheddar and Mozzarella cheese.

Combine eggs, milk and greek yogurt, mix until smooth. Pour over chicken mixture. Garnish top with Basil and Chives. Or use whatever spices you like as garnish.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 400F for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350F and bake 30 to 35 minutes until inserted knife comes out clean.

After I finished baking, I went outside and cut the yard while waiting for this to cool. Productive:) I had a big slice after finishing the yard and it really hit the spot as a breakfast option. It was moist and tasty. It held together really well too.

And just in case you’re curious about what you’re putting into your gullet… Amount Per Serving Calories: 380| Total Fat: 26.7g | Cholesterol: 117mg. Until next week…