TWD: My Favorite (Boozy) Pecan Pie

Updated to say: I forgot to mention the first time around that this is my December entry to the You Want Pies with That? blog event. This month we were challenged by June at Sweet Therapy to make a "Holiday Spirit Pie", i.e. an alcohol-insprired pie or tart. Thanks June, I thoroughly enjoyed this rummy pecan pie.

With this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe, Pecan Pie, I learned a few new things and confirmed another.

Not being a huge fan of pecans by themselves, I learned that roughly chopping the pecans rather than leaving them whole helps to avoid having a mouthful of nothing but pecans. I also learned that I'm too big a chicken to add chocolate, coffee, and cinnamon to pecan pie... sorry, Dorie!


I confirmed what I thought the first time I made pecan pie, that adding a little dark rum really kicks this dessert up a notch, like up to the stratosphere. I don't think plain old pecan pie will do it for me anymore. A touch of rum goes perfectly with the slightly bitter pecans and the sweet filling. (I discovered the rum/pecan pie connection when I made Wayne Harley Brachman's recipe, which you can find here.)

I reduced the recipe and made it in a single 4" tart shell. I had already baked the shell previously, so it did end up getting quite brown. I used sweet tart dough, which I really liked with the pecan pie filling. About a tablespoon of dark rum for a full recipe is just right.

I think I forgot to mention that this pie was awesome. Not too sweet, like Dorie said.

OK, one more week until the big day, Christmas! Merry Christmas to everyone and we'll see you next week!

Thanks so much to Beth of Someone’s in the Kitchen with Brina for the excellent pick this week. Please check out Beth's site for the recipe, or Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking From my Home to Yours".

Cranberry Almond Tartlettes (with Pistachio Crust)

I got to pick the theme for this month's "You Want Pies with That?" blog event. (Oooh, the pressure! )

I had a handful of ideas, but in the end it came down to either a nut-themed pie, or a no-bake pie. I tend to shy away from nuts, so I figured this would force me to step out of my comfort zone. That, and the fact that it's been an unusually cool summer here in our neck of the woods (pausing to say a prayer of thanks), so turning on the oven hasn't been the torture it normally is during the dog days of summer.

So, nuts it was!


I fondly remembered the French Pear Tart that was made for Tuesday's with Dorie and decided to make a modified version. (I love, love, LOVED that tart.) This time around, I made Dorie's Sweet Tart Dough with Nuts, using ground pistachios in place of some of the flour. I made the almond cream as-is, but I subbed cranberries in place of the pears. I was trying for a sort of Christmas theme, but the shell didn't have a green tint like I had hoped.

I filled the partially baked shells with almond cream and then pushed some frozen, thawed cranberries into the almond cream.


So, how was it, you ask? First off, I thought the shell was awesome with the pistachios. I couldn't really detect the taste of the nuts, but somehow the crust tasted richer and had a beautiful sandy texture, while still holding up well. The almond filling was still delish, but honestly, I think the pears are slightly better than the cranberries. It was still good, though.

If I made this again, I'd probably use more cranberries and maybe sprinkle some sanding sugar on top.

If you'd like to see the recipe, you can find it -----> here, at Dorie Greenspan's site. For the tart dough with nuts, reduce the flour to 1 1/4 cup and add 1/4 cup ground nuts (almonds, pistachios, etc.). Dorie mentions that you can change up the fruit (obviously, I used cranberries). Oh, and one last thing, for these 4" tarts, I reduced the baking time of the crusts to about 20 minutes, and the tarts to about 45 minutes.

OK, over and out until next month!

Fresh Fruit Tart

Wow, time to post again already?!! (Methinks I'm having a hard time keeping up these days.)

Coming in just under the wire, here is my entry for the monthly You Want Pies With That? blogging event. For July we were charged with coming up with a "Taste of Summer" pie. Thanks to Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake and Mary at alpineberry for this totally appropriate theme.

Our pie was to answer the question, "What does summer mean to you?" Whew! when I was thinking of what pie to make, I wondered how to wrap all of the following up into a pie:

- enjoying being able to sleep in a little
- wondering how to keep the kids far, far away from the dreaded "I'm booooored"
- my own efforts at trying to mimic our old family friends and their completely awesome strawberry patch
- appreciation of days at the perfect temperature
- irritation at days that are much higher than the perfect temperature
- hiking, play dates, playground visits, swimming lessons, sunburns, baseball.


OK, that's a tall order and one my pea-brain is not equipped to handle. So, taking the easy way out, I settled on the strawberry patch, added a few other fruits for variety, and went the route of "I don't feel like thinking too hard".

This is a perfect "no-recipe" type of recipe, or at least one that you can whip up as long as you've got the Internet and/or a few good cookbooks.

First, you search for "sweet pastry" or "pate sucre(e)" and make a batch of that. Blind bake as directed, or if there are no baking instructions, use 400 degrees and start checking at around 15 minutes in. You're going for "golden brown".


Next, search for "pastry cream" and make that. Chill until set, probably at least 4 hours. Then spread a healthy layer in your cool tart shell.


Next up, a layer of jam that compliments your fresh fruit. Stir it well to loosen it up and then spread on top of the pastry cream. I went thin with the jam, but it's up to you.



Last step, start sprinkling on your fresh fruit. Mix it up or go with one type.




Keep going until it looks right.


You can brush the fruit with apricot jam thinned with a tiny bit of water, or just warmed a bit, if you want. Or not. The jam adds a shiny, glossy look. (I skipped the jam glaze.)

And voila! A fairly simple and totally delicious summer tart... and you can change up the fruit to suit the season and your tastes.

Here are the recipes I used...

Pate Sucre recipe - click here... I would add slightly more than 2 Tbsp. cream next time as the crust was dry upon mixing and crumbly once baked.

Pastry Cream recipe - click here - I would chill overnight next time.

(Whew! made it by midnight!) OK, signing off for now, folks! Thanks for stopping by :)

Cherry Turnovers

Oops, I'm supposed to be posting this week's Tuesday's with Dorie recipe. Well, you see, I accidentally spent way too much time watching Stevie Nicks videos on YouTube during my only free time for baking this week. Then the old "I want to be Steve Nicks when I grow up" fantasy took over, and, well, you know...

I made my You Want Pies with That? entry recently, so I'll share that instead.

Well, I can't really share these, since they're long gone. (Can you blame me? Yum!)


This month, Ellen at Kittymama, challenged us to bake a pie or tart that was inspired by a favorite childhood memory.

It didn't take me long to recall one of my very favorite ways to spend my baby-sitting money... Hostess cherry pies. I loved those things!


When I was a kid and I'd go to the grocery store with my mom, there was no contest when we hit the Hostess display. Twinkies? Ding Dongs? No thanks, I'll take the humble cherry pie.

Fastforward to today...

I haven't had a Hostess pie in eons.

Of course, I had to buy one for comparison.


Really, there is no comparison between the two. Look how light and flaky the pastry is (see my cheater peach-version recipe below).



These were so good, I had to hurry up and ship them off to the neighbors before I devoured them myself. I loved how they were so portable too. I can see why they've earned the name "hand pies".

Thanks go out to Kittymama for inspiring me to try these. They were fantastic!

Once again, I chose a recipe from The Pie and Pastry Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I took excerpts from the recipe that apply to the cherry turnovers. If you want a boatload of variations for both fillings and pastry for Fruit Turnovers, please pick up a copy of this book. You won't be disappointed, I promise!

CHERRY TURNOVERS
Taken from the Pie and Pastry Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum. Reprinted with permission.

Rose says: Turnovers are for those who adore pie dough, because this pastry contains the highest proportion of flaky golden crust to fruit filling. For this reason as well, I prefer to keep them small in size; in fact, for me, the miniatures offered below as a variation are perfect. I also like to roll the dough as thin as possible. Sprinkling the top of the dough with sugar makes it crackly/crunchy.

In a turnover, I prefer a cream cheese or basic flaky pie crust to puff pastry. Not only is there a better proportion of filling to crust, but no matter how you seal and vent the puff pastry, it always opens at some point along the seam, spewing out some of the filling. I asked one of my favorite pastry chefs how she managed to keep the fruit in the puff pastry turnover she served me. Her answer: "Are you kidding? It always leaks out - I spooned it back in!" It's always great to know you're not alone.

Jacque says: I have a few comments here and there, denoted in italics with an asterisk (*).

EQUIPMENT

A 17- by 12-inch baking sheet (half-size sheet pan) lined with aluminum foil or parchment (*I used the non-stick side of non-stick aluminum foil and that was a mistake... my turnovers were sliding around like skaters on a skating rink.)

CHERRY TURNOVERS

Cherry Filling, cooled (see below)
Basic Flaky Pie Crust, for a 2-crust pie (see below)
1/2 large egg white, lightly beaten (1 Tbsp. or 0.5 ounce or 14 grams)
Optional Glaze (1 large egg, lightly beaten & approx. 2 tsp. sugar)

Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces (1.75 ounces/50 grams each) (*I divided mine into 16 equal pieces.)


Using a floured pastry cloth and sleeve or two sheets of lightly floured plastic wrap, roll out one piece of dough slightly less than 1/8 inch thick and large enough to cut out a 6-inch circle. Using a cardboard template and a sharp knife, cut out the circle. Transfer it to the bottom end of a 9-inch-long piece of plastic wrap. Brush the bottom half of it with the egg white. Spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons of the fruit onto this section, leaving a 1-inch border (* I used about 2 tablespoons). Using the plastic wrap if the dough is at all sticky, fold the top part of the dough over the fruit, so that the edges are flush. With your fingers, firmly press the 1-inch border to seal it. Fold the edge up over itself, pressing again to seal it. Cover the turnover with the top section of the plastic wrap and lift the turnover onto the foil-lined sheet. Repeat with the remaining turnovers. Refrigerate them for 1 hour or freeze them for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. at least 20 minutes before baking. Set the oven rack in the lowest position and place a baking stone or large cookie or baking sheet on it before preheating.

Unwrap the turnovers and space them evenly on the foil-lined sheet. If desired, brush them lightly with the egg glaze and sprinkle lightly with the sugar. Use a small sharp knife to cut 3 steam vents through the dough into the top of each turnover.


Place the sheet directly on the stone and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the filling is bubbling thickly out of the vents and the pastry is golden. Remove the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool for 20 to 30 minutes. These are best eaten warm.

CHERRY FILLING

14 ounces cherries (2 1/2 cups or 400 grams)
2/3 C. sugar (4.6 ounces or 132 grams)
1 Tbsp. + 2 1/4 tsp. cornstarch (16.5 grams)
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp. almond extract or 1 tsp. Kirsch

(*Rose gives two methods for making the filling - I am including the method I chose here. Note that the cornstarch varies slightly if using the other method.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and salt. Add the fruit and lemon juice and, using a rubber spatula, toss together gently to coat the fruit. Allow it to sit for at least 30 minutes.

Transfer the berries and their juices to a saucepan. Stir the lemon zest and cornstarch into the fruit until the cornstarch is dissolved and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring gently. Allow it to boil for 30 seconds to a minute, until the juices become clear and very thick. Gently stir in the Kirsch or extract. Empty the mixture into a bowl and allow it to cool completely, without stirring.

BASIC FLAKY PIE CRUST FOR A TWO-CRUST 9-INCH PIE

14 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter (7 ounces or 200 grams)
2 1/4 C. + 2 Tbsp. pastry flour or 2-1/4 C bleached all-purpose flour (11.25 ounces or 320 grams)
1/4 + 1/8 tsp. salt*
optional: 1/4 teaspoon baking powder (if not using, double the salt)
5 to 7 Tbsp. ice water (2.6 to 3.6 ounces or 74 to 103 grams)
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar (0.5 ounce or 14 grams)

* for savory recipes, use 1-1/2 times the salt.

Divide the butter into two parts, about two thirds to one third:
4.5 ounces and 2.5 ounces (9 tablespoons and 5 tablespoons)

Cut the butter into 3/4-inch cubes. Wrap each portion of butter with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the larger amount and freeze the smaller for at least 30 minutes. Place the flour, salt, and optional baking powder in a reclosable gallon-size freezer bag and freeze for at least 30 minutes.

Food Processor Method

Place the flour mixture in a food processor with the metal blade and process for a few seconds to combine. Set the bag aside.

Add the larger amount of butter cubes to the flour and process for about 20 seconds or until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the remaining frozen butter cubes and pulse until all of the frozen butter is the size of peas. (Toss with a fork to see it better.)

Add the lowest amount of the ice water and the vinegar and pulse 6 times. Pinch a small amount of the mixture together between your fingers. If it does not hold together, add half the remaining water and pulse 3 times. Try pinching the mixture again. If necessary, add the remaining water, pulsing 3 times to incorporate it. The mixture will be in particles and will not hold together without being pinched.

Spoon the mixture into the plastic bag. (For a double-crust pie, it is easiest to divide the mixture in half at this point.)

Holding both ends of the bag opening with your fingers, knead the mixture by alternately pressing it, from the outside of the bag, with the knuckles and heels of your hands until the mixture holds together in one piece and feels slightly stretchy when pulled.

Wrap the dough with plastic wrap, flatten it into a disc (or discs) and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, preferably overnight.

QUICKIE PEACH VARIATION

(*Take a 15-oz. can of sliced peaches in light syrup and drain the peaches. Cut the slices into about 3 pieces each. Place about 2 slices worth of peaches on a egg-white coated dough circle, sprinkle with about a teaspoon of sugar (or to taste) and give it a shake of cinnamon. Proceed with sealing the turnovers as directed above.)

Open-Faced Designer Apple Pie

It's pie time again!

This month, the "You Want Pies with That?" bakers were challenged by Natalie of Oven Love to create a pie based on a "Family Favorite" dessert. Hmm... time to call mom.


I got on the horn with mom to find out what the family favorites were. The list looked something like this...

- lemon meringue pie (been there, done that, times five)

- chocolate cake (I made chocolate tarts, what? a week ago?)

- apple pie (December's entry)

- rhubarb pie (March's entry)

- chiffon cake (a possibility, but this was for a baby shower, and feeding raw eggs to a pregnant woman? Sorry, I like my sleep at night too much for that.)

- aber skaber (I'm assuming this is a German thing, but I got nowhere on google or my cookbooks trying to figure out what it was)

Turns out, I've already done the family favorites! In fact, it appears my blog is one big ode to family favorites.

So, I turned to one of my baking idols, Rose Levy Berenbaum, and her magnificent book "The Pie and Pastry Bible" for inspiration. That's where I ran across her beautiful Open-Faced Designer Apple Pie and my search was over.


If you want to dazzle a crowd, this pie is it! It's gorgeous, even pre-apricot glaze.

All of that beauty does come at a small sacrifice, however. This pie takes the better part of a day to make from start to finish and is labor intensive. But if you've got time, this is an impressive pie, both in looks and taste. The cream cheese pie pastry is flaky and almost reminded me of puff pastry.

Here's a shot of the pie before baking. I used a combination of Fuji and Granny Smith apples, hence, the variation in apple color.



Allrighty then! Thanks so much for stopping by. If you'd like the RECIPE, run to your nearest library or bookstore and pick up a copy of Rose's book. Or, click on the link above (the name of the pie).

Take care of yourselves!

Raspberry Almond Tartlets

I participate in a monthly pie-making blog event called "You Want Pies With That?". Each month, a theme is chosen and members make a pie following the theme. Then, by popular vote, a favorite pie is chosen and the winner chooses the following month's theme.

This month's theme was "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and we were to base our pie on a famous person.

For my famous person, I chose Benjamin Franklin. I've always wondered what it would be like if I could bring Ben to our time (you know, with the time machine I'm stowing in the shed out back). I wonder if he would be delighted or disgusted at the changes that have transpired since he lived, 200 plus years ago. Probably a little of both.


I figured I'd do a little research, so I read a few books about Ben. I was hoping to find out if, by chance, he had a favorite dessert. As luck would have it, Ben wasn't very particular about what he ate. According to "Ben Franklin, America's Original Entrepreneur" (where author Blaine McCormick was nice enough to translate Franklin's autobiography "for modern times" so folks like me could make heads or tails out of 1700's English), Franklin says,

"As a result of my upbringing, I maintain few opinions as to matters of food and remain so unobservant of my meals that I can barely remember what I ate within a few hours of mealtime."

Cool! I figure that means if I bake a pie when Ben visits me (remember, the time machine?), the sky's the limit! He won't remember what I made tomorrow anyway.


But I might as well try something really fabulous. Maybe it would be that one dessert he would remember. Maybe he would say to himself, "you know, I don't care much about food, but there was that one time... those... those, raspberry almond tartlets... yes, that was it."


Raspberry Almond Tartlets
from The Modern Baker, by Nick Malgieri, reprinted with permission

Nick says: Hiding a couple of raspberries under the almond filling prevents them from shriveling while these tartlets are baking, and provides a pleasant surprise when you bite into one. You can adapt this to other types of fruit, such as blueberries, sour cherries, or finely diced plums or mango (use preserves of the same flavor as the fruit - for mango, use apricot). Just be sure to use only a small amount of fruit or else the juices will boil out from under the almond filling while the tartlets are baking.

24 tartlet crusts, unbaked, made from Sweet Tart Dough or Nut Tart Dough with almonds, in tartlet pans set on a jelly-roll pan.

ALMOND FILLING
4 ounces (100 grams/about 1/2 cup) canned almond paste, cut into 1/2-inch (1-cm) cubes
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

RASPBERRIES
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry preserves
24 to 48 fresh raspberries, depending on their size
1/2 cup (about 2 ounces/50 grams) sliced almonds
Confectioners' sugar for finishing

DIRECTIONS
1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

2. For the almond filling, combine the almond paste, sugar, and egg yolk in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.


Pulse to mix until smooth. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Add the vanilla, butter, and the egg and pulse again to mix - you might have to stop and scrape again to get everything to mix together smoothly. Once the mixture is smooth, add the flour, pulse, scrape, and pulse several times more until the filling is perfectly smooth.

3. Remove the bowl from the food processor and lift out the blade. Use a spatula to clean off any filling stuck to it, and let the filling fall back into the bowl.

4. Put a dab of the preserves (about 1/4 teaspoon) in the bottom of each tartlet crust. Follow with a raspberry or two, depending on their size - the berries should not protrude near the top of the crust or there won't be enough room for the almond filling.

5. Using a small offset metal spatula, evenly spread 1 scant teaspoon of the filling per tartlet (a bit of the berry might poke through).

6. Top the filling in each tartlet with a pinch or two of the sliced almonds, covering the filling entirely.


7. Bake the tartlets until the dough is baked through and the filling is set and golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool the tartlets in the pans on a rack. Remove them from the pans while they are still slightly warm, inverting the pans one at a time onto the palm of your hand - they unmold more easily when slightly warm than when completely cooled.

8. Immediately before serving, dust the tartlets with confectioners sugar.

SERVING: These are a good after-dinner pastry to serve with coffee, or are excellent at teatime.
STORAGE: Keep the tartlets loosely covered with plastic wrap at room temperature on the day they are baked. Wrap and freeze for longer storage. Defrost, reheat at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 5 minutes, and cool before serving.


Baking notes: I somehow forgot to pick up raspberries at the store, so I used frozen. I thawed them slightly. They seemed to work just fine. I baked maybe 5 minutes longer.

I used mini muffin pans and fit 2 teaspoons of filling per tartlet.

P.S. these really were fabulous. I'm quite certain Ben would have remembered these.

Martha's Rhubarb Tart with Lemon-Yogurt Mousse

Happy National Pi Day!! Yep, it's official, today, March 14 is National Pi Day, in honor of the lowly number, pi (you know, 3.14 etc., etc.... get it? 3/14 is March 14?). For those of you that might have replaced this little tidbit of information with something more useful, pi is used when calculating the area of a circle.

But since calculating areas of circles is booooor-ing, let's talk about something more fun... like P.I.E., pie!

It was love at first sight when I saw the Rhubarb Tart with Lemon-Yogurt Mousse in last month's Martha Stewart Living magazine. And when I saw that the recipe called for peppercorns along with salt and cinnamon, well, I figured it more than qualified for this month's "You Want Pies with That?" theme. For this month we were to emphasize herbs and spices in our choice of pie. (Thanks to Elizabeth of Cake or Death for chosing the theme.)

As for the tart, I'll spare you all the gory details, but let's just say the rhubarb component bombed... twice. The recipe calls for cooking a sugar water solution to a light amber color and *twice* I ended up with a pan full of nasty sugar crystals.

You know the old saying "fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me". I was not about to try this recipe (and waste another 2 cups of sugar) a third time. On to plan "B".

I ended up winging the rhubarb part, pulling ideas from various recipes. Happily, it turned out delicious and I was able to use the same spice blend.

The cornmeal crust was good and went together without incident. Also, the lemon yogurt mousse... no problems there.


Well, except when I tasted my little sampler tart (I had a little extra of each part and so made a little mini tart in a ramekin), I thought the yogurt mousse overwhelmed the rhubarb topping. And since I absolutely adore rhubarb, I removed about half of the mousse from the crust.


Mmmm, my favorite part. The rhubarb...


Smooth it out, and all that's left is the tasting.


Aaaaand, I'm here to report that it was divine. The yogurt mouse was mellow and creamy, perfect for the just slightly chunky, tart-sweet rhubarb. I really enjoyed the cornmeal crust too, it was almost cookie like and just a little sandy textured. I'm glad I halved the mousse, it was just the right amount, in my opinion.


You can find the original recipe ----> here. If you try it and you get the rhubarb part to work, please let me know how it was. It sounds wonderful and I'm sad it didn't work for me. For my rhubarb topping, see the recipe below.

No-Bake Rhubarb Pie Filling

1-1/2 pounds frozen rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, thawed, drained and liquid reserved
1 C. sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 stick cinnamon
2 shakes of pepper from your pepper shaker
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg or 5-6 passes of whole nutmeg over grater
1 tsp. brandy
1 tsp. vanilla
3-4 Tbsp. cornstarch, depending on how thickened you like your filling. I used 4.

Measure out liquid reserved from thawed rhubarb. If needed, add enough water to measuring cup to make 1/2 cup liquid total. If you have more than 1/2 C. rhubarb liquid, you may want to use additional cornstarch.

Place well thawed rhubarb in bowl and sprinkle sugar over. Let sit for 10 minutes. Sprinkle ground cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and cornstarch over rhubarb and toss gently to mix. Add mixture to a large sauce pot. Add remaining ingredients and stir.

Heat on medium-high heat until bubbling, stirring constantly. Lower the heat to low and cover. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until rhubarb is fork tender and mixture is thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let mixture cool. If you like your topping more chunky, try not to stir after this point.

Remove cinnamon stick and discard.

Place filling in a container and chill until cold. (Overnight is best.) Gently spoon filling on lemon yogurt mousse that has been chilling at least 4 hours, or better yet, overnight. Chill until serving time.

OK, take care folks and happy baking!

P is for Peach

"Peach pie", that is.

This month's "You Want Pies with That?" assignment was to bake a literary-inspired pie and was chosen by Mary of The Food Librarian (what other theme could a librarian possibly chose?). I was all over this as I love, love, LOVE to read.

A bag of frozen peaches has been calling out to me every time I open the freezer, so I knew I wanted to bake a peach pie. It was just a matter of whether to chose the book "James and the Giant Peach" (one of my childhood favorites), or the alphabet inspired murder mystery series by Sue Grafton. Her first book is "A is for Alibi" and she's now up to "T is for Trespass". In the end, I went with Ms. Grafton's books... they take me back to the time when my second baby was born and I sat on my rear-end for pretty much the first three months of his life, reading her entire series and holding my sweet little munchkin while he alternately ate and slept. (I also read Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series during that time.)

So anyway... it's too late to appeal to Ms. Grafton to name her "P" book, "P is for Peach", but I'm running with the theme anyway.

P is also for "polka dots".

My peach pie looked so cute going into the oven (I thought)...

P is also for (slightly) "pathetic" and "pitiful".



Not so pretty coming out, huh? My sad little pie definitely falls into the "only-a-mother-could-love-it" category. I blame it on the convection oven, which I futzed around with the whole time the pie was baking.

(Gee, I wonder if I should pull out the owner's manual and read it? Nah... I think I'll flub up a few more recipes first, just for good measure, LOL.)

But you know what? It tasted awe-some! I served it at our Super Bowl party and got many, many compliments on it. I will definitely make this again.

Pathetic Pitiful Polka-dotted Peach Pie

One double 9-inch unbaked pie crust
5 cups sliced peaches (I used well-thawed frozen peaches, about 2-1/2 pounds)
3/4 C. sugar
4 to 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour (if your peaches are on the dry side, I'd go with 4 tablespoons, but if they're quite juicy, I would use more)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, sliced

This recipe comes from an old family friend that I no longer keep in touch with. All I had was the ingredient list so I had to refer to other cookbooks and basically wing it as I went.

Prepare your pie dough up to the point of rolling it out and laying the bottom crust in your buttered pan and trimming the edges. Refrigerate the crust while you prepare the filling. Roll out and refrigerate your top crust (on a flat surface such as a cutting board) if using.

Gently toss the peaches, sugar, flour, lemon juice, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes, then add the filling to the pan. Dot the top with the butter. At this point, you could top with a lattice top or a full pie crust. Seal the edges and crimp or flute as desired. Make slits in the top if using a full crust. Refrigerate the pie for at least a half hour, or stick it in the freezer if you have less time. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Place the pie on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 35 to 50 minutes or until juices bubble. Cover the edges with aluminum foil or a pie shield if they start over-browning. (FYI... I baked mine for more like and hour and a half total, but that have been because I was messing with my oven the whole time. As a side note, I wonder if a top crust would have kept it from being a little dry on top.)

Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Apple Crumb Pie

For this month's "You Want Pies with That?" recipe, we were to base our pie on our favorite Christmas song. My favorite is O Holy Night.

(Believe me, it was no easy task trying to figure out how to relate a pie to the birth of Jesus.)


As I was running ideas through my head, my mind kept wandering to the part of the Christmas story you rarely hear about... what it was like for Mary. I mean, really like.

The poor girl is "great with child", and what's she doing? Riding a mule (I'm assuming so, anyway). Traveling. Trying to find a place to stay, but finding none. Then there's the small matter of giving birth. Then comes the parade of visitors.


I remember those last few days before my kids were born. All I wanted to do was lay on the couch in my underwear feeling sorry for myself... all achy and big as a house. What if, when the time came to go to the hospital my husband had said "hang on a minute, hon, I gotta go saddle up the mule"?

Did they even have saddles back in Mary's time?


I can't help but think that Mary would have really enjoyed a piece (or two) of this homey, comforting apple crumb pie after baby Jesus had been tucked in, after all of the visitors had laid their heads down to sleep or been sent on their way, and the hubbub finally died down.


This recipe comes from my mom's cousin's good friend, Yvonne Busing. She's is no longer with us, but her memory lives on with this recipe. I did change it up ever so slightly, but I don't think she would have minded.

APPLE CRUMB PIE

Filling
Enough for one standard deep dish pie.

8-9 cups* apples, peeled, cored, quartered, and sliced into 1/8 to 1/4-inch slices (for a regular 9-inch pie pan, use 6 cups apples)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

* I used 2 large Granny Smith, 2 large Pink Lady, 2 small Jonathon, and 2 small Ida Red apples. I felt like I could have used another apple

Crumb Topping
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsalted butter

Pie Crust
Enough for one double crust pie crust or two single crust pies. For this pie, I made the whole recipe and froze half the pie dough.

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, chilled
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled, cut into cubes
1/2 cup shortening, chilled, cut into chunks
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. ice cold water


Directions

Prepare filling - Spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Heat pan over medium heat and add apples. Cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender and just start to break apart, 5-10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients to pan and stir gently, cooking for a minute or so. Remove pan from heat, and using a slotted spoon, remove the apples and place in a large bowl, leaving as much of the liquid in the pan as possible. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, for one minute. Add the liquid to the apples and stir. Set aside to cool while you prepare the pie crust.

Prepare pie crust - this recipe comes from the Joy of Living and directions are shown in this YouTube video.

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and shortening to flour mixture and cut in to flour mixture using a pastry blender until mixture has pea-sized chunks. Add water and stir with a rubber spatula until mixture comes together and forms a ball when squeezed between your fingers. If the dough is too dry to form a ball, add water, 1 tablespoon at a time until it does.
Form dough into a ball. Divide ball in half and form each half into a disk. Cover well in plastic wrap and chill for thirty minutes. Place second disk in the freezer for later use if not using for another pie.

Prepare crumb topping - mix all ingredients together well, using a fork. Once mixed, I used my fingers to clump the topping together into small balls, pea-sized to small gum ball sized. It's OK if not all of the topping is in balls.

Assemble the pie - Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove pie dough from the refrigerator. (If dough has been in the refrigerator longer, you may need to let it sit at room temperature to soften slightly before rolling out, approx. 10 minutes). Roll out pie dough according to directions in video, above. Lay crust in deep dish pie dish and tuck into bottom, making sure not to stretch the pie dough. Trim edges and flute or press with a fork. Add cooled filling to the pie dish.


Cover filling with crumb topping, distributing evenly.


Refrigerate unbaked pie for 30 minutes.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes, covering edges with a pie protector or aluminum foil as needed to prevent over-browning, maybe after first 20 minutes of baking.

Cyndi Lauper's Checkerboard Hair Pie

I know… having the word “hair” in the name of a pie just seems wrong. But, Cyndi Lauper’s 1980's multi-colored buzzed-on-one-side checkerboard hair is what inspired my pie.


Oh wait, let me back up a minute and explain this new blog event called “You Want Pies with That?”. Its in its second month and participants bake a pie that follows a theme. This month’s theme was chosen by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon. Holly chose "Pies as a Fashion Statement" as the theme. In Holly's words "I decided that the theme for November would be all about Fashionable Pies, Outrageous Pies, Colorful Pies, Pies with Texture, Pies that are Haute Cuisine as well as Haute Fashion, Pies that are Decked Out, Embellished, and Over the Top!"

Wow! That's a tall order.

My pie comes from a YouTube-sponsored trip down 80's memory lane.

Growing up in Wyoming in the 1970's, you couldn't help but lead a sheltered life. We listened to Top-40's on the radio because that was all there was. All of that changed, however, on August 1, 1981 with the debut of that life-altering new TV station...










MTV opened up a whole new world to me. All of this music, the hair, the clothes, things I had never seen or heard of! Remember Culture Club? When I realized that that shabbily dressed girl was actually a guy? OMG, I still remember being shocked.

Then there was Cyndi Lauper.


Oh, how I loved that girl!! With her wild, mismatched clothes, her day-glo makeup and ever changing hair. Cyndi showed us that it was OK to be different and that different was fun. And she could belt out a tune, that's for sure. I always dug her hair from the video Time after Time. Believe it or not, that hairstyle inspired my pie. Yellow and pinky red... cross hatch...


My original plan was a peach, raspberry, and rhubarb pie with a lattice top. Things were going swimmingly until I added the fruit to the pie pan and saw that my pie was only half full. D'oh!!


I don't know why I veered from my original plan at that point. I wish I would have stuck with peaches, raspberries, and rhubarb, but I didn't. For some reason, I added blueberries. When that still wasn't enough, I added blackberries.


Fortunately, it made for a deee-licious pie. Like triple-berry pie with peaches and rhubarb thrown in for good measure. Plus, the cream cheese pie crust got high marks too.


Look ma! No runny filling!


So there you go, my fashion inspired pie. Reminds me of the good ole' 80's when they actually played music videos on MTV (and remember they had VJ's?). If you're an 80's guy or girl, I know you want to listen to my favorite Cyndi Lauper song, True Colors.

Here is the recipe. Be forewarned, there are a lot of dirty dishes involved.

TRIPLE-BERRY RHUBARB PEACH PIE

Mix together:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar, light or dark
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon instant tapioca
1-1/2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

In one bowl, place:
3 cup frozen sliced peaches, thawed and drained of syrup
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Add half of the sugar mixture and toss, set aside.

In another bowl, place:
1-1/2 cup frozen rhubarb, cut into 1” pieces, thawed
1-1/2 cup frozen raspberries, thawed and drained of syrup

Add the other half of the sugar mixture and toss gently, set aside. My raspberries ended up basically liquefying after this, but it turned out OK.

You guessed it, in another bowl, gently toss until the berries are coated:
1-1/4 cup frozen blackberries, thawed and drained of syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour

Finally, if you have any bowls left, add the following and gently toss until the berries are coated (or just use the blackberry bowl when you’re done with it, place the blueberries on top of the other fruit in the crust)
1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed and drained of syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour

Roll out half of the pie dough (recipe below) and line a 9-inch Pyrex or other pie plate with the crust.

Alternately add spoonfuls of your different fruits to the crust. Don’t stir them together, you want them to be distinct. Keep adding until all fruit is in the crust. Dot the top of the fruit with:
1 tablespoon butter

Roll out the other half of your pie dough. Use a pizza cutter or pastry cutter to cut ½ to 1-inch strips from the dough.

Rather than trying to explain how to weave the lattice, I’ll direct you to a YouTube video that demonstrates how to do this part HERE. Once the lattice is woven, trim the edges evenly, and crimp the edges in whatever manner suits you. I used a fork.

Place the pie in the refrigerator to chill for a half hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F degrees.

Bake at 375°F degrees for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees. I baked mine for about 25 minutes more, and then placed a metal pie shield around the edges to keep the edges from getting too brown. You could also line the edges with strips of aluminum foil. Bake for about 25 minutes more, or until golden brown AND the fruit is bubbling. My pie baked for about 60 minutes total.

Cream Cheese Pie Dough
(recipe from The Baker's Dozen Cookbook (which I highly recommend) and was contributed by Letty Flatt)

This recipe is easy. There's no ice water or cutting-in of butter or shortening involved.

1 cup unsalted butter
8 oz. cream cheese
2-1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

Using a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, mix the butter at medium speed until smooth, approximately for one minute. Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth and combined. Add sugar and salt and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and mix on low just until the flour is incorporated.

Dump the dough onto a clean surface and divide in two. Using a piece of wax paper over top, push each half of dough into a disk. Wrap the dough in the wax paper and refrigerate for one hour or overnight. If chilled overnight, let dough sit on counter for about 10 minutes before rolling out