Mini Pumpkin Pies

I can't believe I am about to say this, but Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I feel like summer barely ended, and we are halfway through November. But that's ok, because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is the best food (and family time) around and I can't wait for all the festivities to start. So, I got started a little early, with some yummy mini pumpkin pies with a graham cracker crust.

Crust:
12 graham crackers
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
3 tbsp of light brown sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 375. Line muffin tins with paper liners and spray lightly with non-stick. In a food processor, blend graham crackers until you have crumbs with no large chunks. Add salt, cinnamon and brown sugar and pulse to combine. With processor running, stream in the butter and mix until incorporated. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of 18 muffin liners. Bake until just fragrant and slightly toasted, about 5 minutes.

Filling:
1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree
1 can of evaporated milk
3/4 cup of light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tbsp of corn starch
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of ginger
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1/4 tsp of ground cloves

Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees. In a large bowl mix all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin tins, a little less than 1/4 cup per muffin. Bake until set but slightly wobbley in the center, about 25 minutes. Rotate once half way through. Let cook and then refrigerate overnight or until firm. (adapted from Martha)

Happy Eating.

Deep Dish Berry Pie

Have I expressed my love of summer enough on here? Probably, but yet I can't seem to stop doing it. Maybe it's because my garden is in full bloom, and the veggies are budding, which means garden fresh deliciousness is right around the corner. Or maybe it's because the farmers markets are open, and the grocery stores have the most beautiful and cheap local produce. My once "expensive berry habbit" (as the boyfriend likes to call it) is now extrememly economical, so I decided to make a pie. A deep dish pie, so full of berries, they were literally oozing out the sides, bottom, and center. Yum.

Crust:
2 1/4 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp of sugar
2 sticks of butter, in pieces and chilled
1/4 cup of cold water

Filling
1 pint of blueberries
2 small containers of blackberries (12 oz)
2 cups of strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 lemon, juiced
3 tbsp of flour
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 egg
1 tbsp of half and half

In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar and salt until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture is crumbley. With processor running, add water and mix until a dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured piece of partchment paper and form into a disk, refridgerate for 30 minutes, in the mean time make filling: In a large bowl, mix the berries, sugar, lemon juice, flour and cinnamon until combined. When dough is chilled, roll out into a large circle, about 18 inches. Line an 9 inch spring form pan, or a deep dish pie tin with the dough leaving the overhang. Pour the filling into the crust and then fold the overhang back over the pie, leaving a small cirlce exposed in the middle. Refridergate pie until firm, about 30 minutes. Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees, and position rack in the bottom third of the oven.Whisk together the egg and half and half. Brush the exposed crust of the pie with mixture. Place tin on a cookie sheet coated in foil to prevent a mess. Bake until crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and continue baking until juices are bubbling up, about 35 minutes more. Let cool before serving. If you used a spring form pan, run a knife around the edge of the pie to loosen, before releasing spring. (adapted from Martha)

Happy Eating.

Blueberry Coconut Pie

Usually when I think of Passover desserts I think of stuffing my face with fruit salad and my uncle's wonderful merainge cookies (they are seriously my favorite cookie ever) and avoiding all the other desserts for fear of the matzah-mealy taste. This year there was no reason too, in fact I barely had room on my plate for the cookies (the fruit didn't even cross my mind until I was too full to move). With all the improvements in gluten free baking, Passover simulataneously gets a boost. There were a ton of desserts this year and I would happily eat any of them any time of year (including the chocolate indulgence cookies). I would (and probably will) take this blueberry-coconut pie anywhere, anytime of year (assuming I can get fresh blueberries). It's not Passover good, it's just plain delicious.

Blueberry Coconut Pie:
Crust:
1 10 oz container of coconut macaroons (approx. 20 cookies)
1/2 stick (4 tbsp) of butter, melted
1/2 tsp of salt

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Pulse cookies in a food processor until smooth. Add salt and butter and pulse until incorporated. Press into a 10 inch pie pan to create crust. Bake until edges have lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Filling:
6 cups of blueberries, divided
1 lemon, juiced and zested
2 tbsp + 1 tsp of minute tapioca
1/2 cup of water, divided
2/3 cups of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of cinnamon

In a large skillet, bring 2 cups of blueberries and 1/4 cup of water to a steady simmer. Add sugar and cook until berries break open and sugar dissolves. Mix tapioca with remaining 1/4 cup of water and add to the blueberries. Mash with a potato masher to break up tapioca and blueberries. Add lemon juice, zest, salt, cinnamon and 3 cups of blueberries. Simmer until the berries have started to break apart. Pour into prepared pie crust and top with remaining cup of fresh blueberries. Refridgerate until chilled or overnight.

Happy Eating.

Pumpkin Pie

I love pie. In fact, I am pie obsessed. It's my favorite dessert. I have been on quite a pie kick for the past year. In fact, that Red Velvet Cake I made a few weeks ago was the first (what I like to call) fancy cake I had made in a few years, because of how pie obsessed I've become. Pie is so versatile, but I am usually a fruit pie kind of gal. My absolute favorite is cherry, I think that is because it's the only kind I don't make myself (the thought of pitting all those cherries is really daunting). But, as it is the season for all things Pumpkin and spice, and a special request was made, I decided to make a lovely, delicious pumpkin pie. For the crust, I went back to my favorite the Williams-Sonoma basic pie dough, this is an all butter, absolutely heavenly crust. Because I had 2 different 10 inch pies to make (the other pie will be coming soon, and it is a fruit-tastic pie), I tripled the recipe and I had a little dough leftover. You can use the leftover dough to make yourself little pie-let snacks (so yum!).



Pumpkin Pie:
1 1/2 cups of canned pumpkin
4 large eggs
1 tbsp of heavy cream
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tbsp of cornstarch
1 tsp of salt
2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of ground cloves
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of evaporated milk

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Roll out a pie crust and fit to a 10 inch pie pan. Fill pie with dried beans or pie weights. Whisk together 1 egg and the heavy cream. Brush the exposed areas of the crust with the cream mixture. Bake the pie for 15 minutes, remove beans and bake until golden, about another 15 minutes. Let pie crust cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together pumpkin, sugar and 3 eggs until well combined. Add in te cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, vanilla and milk until smooth and incorporated. Pour into the cooled pie shell and bake until just set in the middle, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely before serving, or refrigerated and serve chilled. (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Happy Eating.

Maple Apple Pie

It has been awhile since I made a pie, and with the changing of the seasons it seemed like a perfect opportunity to make an apple pie. Now that the orchards are back open and the super market is stocked with 12 kinds of apples, at least, it is apple baking season. It's also almost crafting season, so to ease back into that cool weather hobby, I decided to do a little cooking-crafting combo, by replacing the usual lattice top, with leaf cut outs. I made the cut outs from card stock and then "traced" them onto the rolled out pie dough with a sharp knife. And voilà, you have a leaf-topped Maple Apple pie.

Don't forget to check out my entry for Project Food Blog and vote for me!



Pie Crust (makes 2 crusts, or one double crust:
2 1/2 cups of flour,
2 sticks of unsalted, cold
1 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of sugar
1/4 cup of vodka, cold
1/8 cup of water, cold

In a large bowl or food processor mix together flour, salt and sugar. Cut butter into pieces and add to the flour. Toss so the butter is coated. Either pulse in the food processor or rub the butter into the flour with your fingers, until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Add vodka and water and pulse until a dough forms, or mix with your hands until a dough forms. Separate the dough in half and roll each half into a ball. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Roll out and fit to a pie pan, Add excess to the ball for the top half, roll out and cut into shapes, or lattice and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (Adapted from Cook's Illustrated)


Maple Apple Filling:
3 lbs of apples (granny smith), peeled and cored
1/4 cup of flour
1 tbsp of corn starch
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1/4 of brown sugar
2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of salt
3 tbsp of butter
1 egg

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees, put the oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Dice apples and put in a large bowl. Add flour, corn starch, sugar, syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, toss to combine. Pour mixture into the bottom pie crust and pat down. Cut the butter into little pieces and sprinkle over the top. Beat egg in a small bowl. Brush the lattice strips or cut outs with egg wash and top the pie with them. Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees, bake until the filling is bubbling and pie is golden, about an hour. If the pie starts to brown to quickly cover with foil and continue backing. Also, the pie filling may bubble over a bit, so place tray underneath while baking. Let cool, serve and enjoy.

The pie, about to go into the oven:



Fresh out of the oven:



Happy Eating.

Lattice Topped

I love pie. It is my favorite dessert to eat and to make. Why? Because it is a challenge. Cookies, cake cupcakes, not problem. Follow the recipe (even with some changes) and you are golden, even if you don't it's most likely fine. But, pie. Pie is different. Even a fantastic recipe does not guarantee success. The middle can be too runny, the crust to dense or mushy or cracked. There is also no obvious way to sample and check to see if it is party worthy. You just have to slice in and hope for the best.

The crust is generally speaking the real challenge. To get it crisp and flaky but still flavorful. My go to pie crust recipe is the same one I used for my Birthday Pie Recipe. The Williams and Sonoma basic pie dough. I find this to be the most versatile, easy to work with recipe I have found. Just as easy to make ahead and roll out after refrigeration as it is when you make it. Thanks to this recipe, and trying out a variety of methods (Blender, electric mixer, hands, knives) I have become quite proficient at doing the bottom crust. I now can do that part with success and ease. So when I make pies with the crumb topping it is relatively stress free. So that must mean it is time to go on and concur the next stage. The lattice top. Nothing looks so elegant and beautiful as a perfect lattice topped pie. However, this is much easier said than done.

This one turned out pretty well. The pie tasted amazing (it was strawberry rhubarb, by the way), which more than made up for the less-than-perfect lattice topping. I rolled out the dough and started cutting the strips and placing them on as soon as I cut them, this was my first error. Next time I will roll out the dough, cut the strips and refrigerate them until they regain their firmness before covering the pie. This also led to my next mistake, I forget the weaving until I was half way done (oops) so some of it was weaved and some of it was not (this also would have benefited by refrigeration). Lastly the egg wash, I used egg yolk mixed with a little water, which I should have brushed on, but I couldn't find the brush, so i used a paper towel, which was not as good of a substitute as I thought and led to some uneven browning. I also dusted the top with sugar, which was definitely the right move. All and all, the pie turned out wonderful, while not perfect it still looked (and smelled) delicious (which it was) and was impressive enough to win over the Mother's day BBQ crowd.



Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:

1 double recipe of basic pie dough
4 cups of strawberries, cut into quarters
3 cups of rhubarb (4 stalks, about), cut into chunks
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup of corn starch
1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp of salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place rack in the lower third of the oven. Toss the strawberries and rhubarb with all of the above ingredients (except the pie dough). Place is a completely raw prepared pie crust (no pre-baking required), if it looks like its not going to all fit, push down of the topping gently, and kind of mush it in. Top with the lattice top according to your favorite method, or learn from my mistakes above. Brush top with egg wash made from 1 egg yolk and a little water, then dust with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes until crust is looking pretty golden and tasty, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for another hour, if you are going to re-heat it or 1 hour and 20 minutes if you are going to serve it. Cover or tent edges with foil if it is browning too much. To re-heat, just put back into a 350 degree oven for another 20 minutes. Either way let cool a bit before serving. Rhubarb is mostly water, so this pie needs time to thicken. Serve and Enjoy!

Happy Eating.

Birthday Pie

Tuesday was my birthday, so what did I do to prepare. Well I baked a pie, of course! I actually made this same pie for an Easter party on Saturday and made both crusts then and I did slight variations on the recipe for the filling and topping. The pie I made was a mixed berry crumb pie. For both, I started with a recipe for blueberry pie, and used a mix of berries instead. For one I used the exact recipe for the crumb topping and for one, I experimented a little. I loved the changes I made, but if you have time to make two pies, you can decide for yourself. Here is the recipe for the crust. Here is the original pie recipe. And here is my recipe.



Mixed Berry Pie:
1 Pie crust - Pre-dried out and browned slightly (see the original recipe for more details)
3/4 cup + 5 Tbsp flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, divided
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp of cinnamon
1 stick of very cold butter, cut into pieces
3 cups of blueberries
1 cup of raspberries
1 cup of blackberries

Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and pre-heat oven to 375. Then, wash the berries and put them in a large bowl, then add 4 Tbsp of flour and 1/3 cup of brown sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Toss to combine and coat berries. Take pie crust and sprinkle 1 tbsp of flour and 1 tbsp of sugar over the bottom. Pour berry mixture into the pie tin. For the topping you have a few options: food processor, blender, or hand. I tried the hand and blender methods, and both worked great. If using the hand method, combine ingredients in the bowl you used for the fruit, otherwise load into the blender or processor. Combine 3/4 cup of flour, 2/3 cup of brown sugar, salt, and 2 tsp of cinnamon, mix together. Add cold butter and toss so the butter is coated. Then blend (process) together in pulses until it is in delicious clumps. If using the hand method rub flour mixture and butter in your fingers until it is in the same style clumps (this obviously takes longer than the other ways, but less clean up). Spread the topping over the berry mixture. Bake for about an hour, until topping is just bubbling threw in spots and top is lovely and browned. Let cool. Serve and enjoy!

Happy Eating