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Cherry Pielets (How to make pie during the weekday)

17 Mar

I dread baking during the work week for one simple reason – dishes.  I love the baking part, but the aftermath is just so overwhelming when all I want to do is call it a night and go to bed. My M.O. each time I’m in the kitchen is to use as few utensils and cookware as humanly possible.  That ceramic ramekin?  It only had grapes in it – clean.  The stainless steel mixing bowl?  It only had some batter in it for like 30 seconds – quick rinse and it’s clean.  The spoons – shoot, they just stirred for all of 10 seconds – swipe them under the faucet and they’re as good as new.  No dishpan hands here.

This week was one where I had a double dose of pie-making during the work week.   Early in the week I needed to make these pielets for my friend – it was her daughter’s birthday on Pi day, so of course she needed to take these pies to her kindergarten class!  Then I signed up for the bake sale at work to raise money for a Liver Walk.  I’m all for healthy livers, so to show my support I of course offered up some more pies.

With a little planning, making pie during a busy work week can be pretty easy and the dishes can be managed in stages – not ending in one big heap at 10pm destined to sit there until Saturday.  Here’s a timeline for how to make these pielets and wow anyone, anytime:

3 days ahead:  Make your dough, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.  Heck, if you’re really good, whip up some dough when the mood strikes and freeze it months ahead of time!

(20 minutes, 4 pieces of a food processor to clean and probably a knife.)

2 days ahead:  Make the filling, cover and refrigerate.

(15 minutes, a pot, a spoon and a couple of measuring spoons to clean)

1 day ahead:  Roll the dough and cut circles.  Place circles on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper, cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator.

(25 minutes, a glass, a rolling pin and a messy countertop to clean).

Go time (the night before serving pies):  Preheat oven, assemble pies and bake!  You should be able to be at the finished product in 30-45 minutes.  While they bake, put on your jammies and clean up the kitchen.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack while you brush your teeth (so you don’t eat any pie).  Cover lightly and go to bed.  Ta-da!  Fancy pies to take to work the next day.

Cherry Pielets, makes 2 dozen

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Sour Cherry Pie recipe

Ingredients

1 double recipe of pie dough of choice or best of both worlds pie dough

2 cans Oregon Sour Cherries canned in WATER (3 cups) Fresh or frozen would be better, but during off season I don’t mind this cheat.

1 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Dash of vanilla powder (optional)

Directions (this is as if you’re doing it all at once)

Preheat oven to 400

Roll dough until it’s about 1/4 inch thick – the same as you would for a pie.  Cut your circles and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  If you are using a 2.5 inch cutter, you should be able to get 26 circles out of one single recipe of dough.  A good roll gets you 16 circles from the first pass.

Place the cut circles in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

Drain 3 cups of cherries (2 cans) and place in a pot or deep saucepan with 3/4 cup of the sugar.  Begin to cook down for 3-4 minutes over over medium heat.  You will see a lot of juice in the pan.

Combine the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with 3T cornstarch in a small bowl.  I keep some vanilla sugar on hand so I used it for the remaining 1/4 cup.  Turn the heat to medium-high and stir until the mixture thickens.  About 1-2 minutes.  If you think you have too much liquid, you can pour a little off.  You will be able to leave streaks through the mixture when it’s thick enough.

Transfer into a bowl to cool completely.

To assemble the pies, place 1-2T of filling on every other row of circles (the others will be the top of the pie).  We love our filling, so I try to get as much in there as possible.

Place a circle on top and seal around the edges.  You can lightly brush the edge of the bottom circle with cold water to help the seal if you want.  Crimp the edges with a fork and place in the freezer for 5 minutes or so – just to snap them back into form.

Remove from freezer and vent each one with a knife.  You can do any design you want – a criss-cross, one vent, whatever you want.  I did a Pi sign on these because it was Pi day.

Brush lightly with an egg wash (1 egg and 1 T water) and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.  Bake in the oven for 19 minutes or until golden brown.  The baking time can vary depending on humidity and other conditions, so watch carefully around 18 minutes.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product because, well, it was the workweek and I had to get them baked and out the door.  Here is a picture from another batch I did a while ago.

Now, go forward and make some pie!

As American As They Come Apple Pie

23 Jan

What better to commemorate National Pie Day then a big, deep-dish,  double-crust, packed to the brim, all-American apple pie?  And a darn right perfect one at that!  Yep, let’s just skip to the end – I did it and it was awesome.

Week after week, I sit here behind my keyboard and espouse my latest pietifications.  I’ve conquered fruit pies, lattice crusts, mini pies and butter crusts. Cream pies and custard pies – shoot, they ain’t got nothin’ on me.  Crimped edges?  Crispy bottom crust?  Bring it.  But there is one pie I have steered clear of.  One pie that threatens to topple all of the pie skills I have acquired over this past year.  The one, the only… DOUBLE CRUST APPLE PIE.  As if getting one crust right isn’t hard enough, this monstrosity demands perfection on the top and bottom!  I haven’t had the courage to take it on until now.  But a pie holiday calls for the most serious pie I can make.

This recipe is the collision of Grandma Ople’s tried and true and the America’s Test Kitchen 2006 scientific experiment.  I figured old school meets new school would be a good mash up.  Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie is one of the highest rated on Allrecipes.com.  If you know me, then you know that I swear by the four and five star recipes on that site.  On the rare occasion that I cook, you can pretty much bet that I found it on Allrecipes.  I also LOVE America’s Test Kitchen because really, why do your own experimenting when someone has already done it for you?

From Grandma Ople, I adopted her technique of making a caramel sauce to toss with the apples instead of the usual sugar/brown sugar mixture.  I also adopted the suggestion of saving some of that sauce and brushing the top crust with it.  America’s Test Kitchen confirmed what I had begun to notice about apple pie – cooking the apples first ensures that they don’t shrink away from the top crust and that you minimize the moisture that threatens to make your bottom crust soggy.  Voila – my perfect apple pie!

As American As They Come Apple Pie

Ingredients

1 double crust recipe of Best of Both Worlds pie crust.  Follow this link for the recipe and instructions.  Refrigerate the discs of dough for at least one hour or up to two days.

10 apples or about 5 pounds (6 Granny Smith, 4 Braeburn or Fuji)

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

3 Tablespoons flour

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 egg white, slightly beaten (for bottom crust)

Directions

Roll one disc of dough into a 13 inch circle.  Place into a 91/2 inch deep dish pie plate.  Trim dough to leave a 1/2 inch overhang.  Return to refrigerator to chill.  Next, roll the other disc of dough into a 13 inch circle and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and return to the refrigerator.

Place a baking sheet on the lowest rack of the oven.  Preheat oven to 425 (or 400 convection).

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.

 

Peel and slice apples into 1/4 inch thick slices.  You can cut some of the slices in half so that the apples lay more compactly.  Toss with sugar/spice mixture and 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest.  Place in a large dutch oven (or large skillet) and cook, covered, over medium heat for about 15 minutes.  Stir often and remove from heat when apples are soft but still hold their shape.  Place apples into a colander over a bowl to remove excess moisture.  Let cool to room temperature.

While apples are cooling, prepare caramel sauce.  In a medium saucepan, melt 4 Tablespoons of butter.  Once melted, add the flour and cornstarch to make a paste.  Add water, 1/2 cup brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup of sugar.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Once the mixture reaches a boil, lower the heat and simmer for three minutes.  Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Toss apples with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice then add 2/3 of the caramel mixture.  Reserve some of the sauce to glaze the top crust.  Remove pie plate from refrigerator and brush bottom crust with slightly beaten egg white.  Pour apples into chilled pie shell and arrange so that they lay compactly.

I could have used more apples!

Cover gently with the top crust and trim the edges to 1/2 inch overhang.  To achieve an even edge, fold the edge of the top crust and tuck it under the edge of the bottom crust so that the smooth, folded edge is flush with the pie plate.  Create a decorative edge and then use a knife to cut four vents into the top.  Brush crust lightly with reserved caramel sauce and sprinkle with turbinado sugar if desired.

Place pie on baking sheet and bake for 35 – 45 minutes or until golden brown and juices bubble.

Use a pie shield or foil if crust begins to brown before pie is done.  Enjoy with ice cream, by itself, for breakfast, for a snack or all of the above!

 

 

Pear Eggnog Winter Pie

5 Jan

It’s 2012 and the best thing to do for a new year is to come clean and start fresh.  Don’t get excited – there’s nothing juicy here like sordid affairs, slipping my kids Benadryl so they will sleep, or a problem with shop lifting.  My confessions are rather mundane, but they are mine and blogging about them makes me feel like I can bless and release them, then move on.

I don’t recycle if the item is upstairs, in the kids’ room, in the bathroom, or anywhere really but the kitchen. And this is a step towards a greener me.

I feel guilty that I don’t feel guilty for being a working Mom.  I’ve felt like this for a while and am waiting for some type of guilt to set in for working full time and liking it.  But I’m fine.  So instead, I feel guilty that I don’t feel guilty.

I did karaoke just before Christmas in a bar full of strangers.  On a Wednesday. Sober.  My husband and I also have our own personal library of karaoke songs – nearly 1,000.  And we do karaoke.  Sober.  On any day.

This blog didn’t start entirely because of pie and I didn’t tell you the whole story.  I was totally into pie, so that part is true. The rest of the truth is that this blog came into being because I needed a distraction from a miscarriage that I had over the summer.  My husband and I finally got the nerve to try for a third child, succeeded for a brief moment, and lost the pregnancy.  This was my fourth miscarriage (three before my first son) and I was looking for a way to distract myself from the disappointment.  While I think I cope with my miscarriages pretty darn well, I do tend to do something slightly drastic after each one.

#1 – adopted two cats.

#2 – Painted every room downstairs in one night

#3 – Moved to Portland, Oregon (for a minute – found out I was pregnant (again) three weeks after I got there, quit my job and moved back to Cleveland.  That was the now 5 year old.)

Having a fourth miscarriage in the midst of raising two boys, a dog, a cat (left over from the first miscarriage), and a harder job left me with slim pickings for drastic change.  So instead of moving across the country, I started baking even more pie and blogging about it.  In those first weeks, I was making pie three or four times a week.  Pie is about precision and paying attention – especially when you’re new at it.  I found that the process of making pie cleared my head and prevented my mind from wandering and over-analyzing the summer’s events.  The rolling, the shaping, the baking, the eating – pie raised up my let down spirits and provided comfort.  And since we’re confessing here, it also added a few more pounds.

I love making pie.  I love giving it to people.  I didn’t know it at the time, but this funny little hobby has given me so much more than just a distraction.  It’s given me some space in my life to practice the art of gratitude and acceptance.  And that’s what I never had before – I always had to react, to make sense of things, make a plan, move on, go, go, go.  Who knew pie would teach me how to just be still and enjoy the slice of life that is mine?

Pear Eggnog Winter Pie

Adapted from Vegetarian Times

My coworker sent me a recipe for a Pear Eggnog Pie from Vegetarian Times a couple of weeks ago.  One look at this pie and I knew it was my next suspect!  There were some things about it that I wanted to tweak, so I used the recipe as my base and developed what I think is a pretty awesome winter pie.

Ingredients

1 recipe of pie dough for a 9 inch crust

10 gingersnaps (pulsed into fine crumbs)

3 medium pears (peeled and sliced about 1/4 -1/2 inch thick)

1 Tablespoon crushed or minced fresh ginger (in the jar if you’re lazy like me)

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 can evaporated milk

2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon rum

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

Ahead of time:

Make pie dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to two days.

Pre-bake the crust:

Preheat oven to 400.  Roll dough into a 12 inch circle and place into a 9 inch pie plate.  You will want to leave a one-inch over hang by cutting the dough to even it out.  Tuck edges under and sculpt an upstanding ridge if desired.  Place pie plate in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Partially bake the crust by lining the pie with foil filled with rice, beans or pie weights.  You want enough to keep the crust from puffing up while baking.  Place the pie on the center rack and bake for 25 minutes.  Carefully remove the foil (save the rice for next time!), and using a fork, poke several holes into the bottom of the crust – particularly in the parts that have puffed. Bake for another 8 minutes until just barely starting to brown.  Remove from oven and let cool while you make the filling. * Cover the edges with foil or a pie shield if browning too fast.

Make the filling:

Keep oven at 400.  Using a food processor or mini-chopper (or a ziploc bag and a rolling pin) turn the ginersnaps into fine crumbs.  Line the baked, cooled crust with a thin layer of gingersnap crumbs.

Peel and slice pears.  Toss together with lemon juice and ginger in a medium bowl.  Arrange the pears in rows, standing on edge along the bottom of the crust.  Place pie plate on a baking sheet.

Whisk the sugar and eggs together until well blended.  Add in the evaporated milk.  Continuing to whisk well, add the vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and rum.  Pour mixture over pears into the prepared pie shell.

Place pie on the center rack of the oven and cook for 15 minutes at 400.  Lower the temperature to 350 and cook for another 35-40 minutes until the middle is set.  Ovens will vary, so begin watching it after 30 minutes.  Enjoy with ice cream or fresh whipped cream!

Caramel Apple Mini Pies

11 Dec

Do you ever have those weeks where you feel like you’re trying way too hard?  For some reason, you have deliberately complicated your days with too many tasks and too many commitments all in the name of proving to yourself you can do it all? That was my week.

I blame it on kindergarten.  If they were grading me, my report card would be full of “NI” (Needs Improvement).  I keep hearing my husband’s words when I suggested that I’d rather feed my kids cereal for dinner than buy Market Day fundraiser food.   “We can’t be THOSE parents.  We have to be involved.” Look, I’m a joiner.  I’m a helper.  Need something?  I’m your girl.  I’m Miss Involvement….usually.

I made the rookie mistake of agreeing to the very first thing the PTO asked me to do.  It was going to be nearly impossible with such short notice, but my husband’s words were haunting me.  I was asked to bake a breakfast casserole and provide muffins and bread for a teacher appreciation breakfast and deliver them to the coordinator’s home that night.  Here’s what I was up against: I had to work late, my husband had to work late, and my kids (and dog) were being dropped at my in-laws until I could go get them.  Somewhere in there I had to make  breakfast casserole, get some muffins and bread and deliver them at a reasonable hour. Oh, and put my kids to bed.

So I did what any hard working, multitasking Mom would do…totally forgot I was supposed to do it.

(more…)

Cranberry Apple Holiday Pie

4 Dec

The calendar need only read December 1st and visions of orange zest, nutmeg, clove and spice start swirling in my head.  How quickly I break up with pumpkin pie and move on to the warm, intoxicating smells of the winter holidays.

December is a month that I spend in my kitchen trying to recreate the traditions that made my childhood holidays so special.  My Hungarian Grandma Foris would arrive at our house for Christmas with tins of Kiflis (Kee-Flees), nut roll and poppy seed roll. My Grandpa Brandeberry would spend weeks making candy to give as gifts. I can still see the white boxes with red bows piled high on top of his washer and dryer in the back room.  If I came to his house on the right day, he would let me sit at his kitchen table and squish mounds of caramel between pecans while he dipped them in chocolate.

I like to think that my love of baking comes from a long line of proud cooks.  I usually wear my Grandma’s apron and think about what life in the kitchen was like for her and her mother when they were in Hungary.

My Grandma Foris (R) with her younger sister Marika

Me (L) and my younger sister, Elizabeth channeling our inner Hungarian and attmpeting some of our first Kiflis

I think about my Grandfather and how, like me, he loved to give away what he made and how happy people were to receive the special candy crafted by hand just for them.  But my Grandfather had more baking experience then I realized.  My Dad came across this picture taken when my Grandfather was in the Army during World War II.  He was a Master Sargent with the Artillery in the Philippines, but apparently he had some kitchen duty too!

This picture hangs in my kitchen with the ones above.  Now I have some company watching over me when I make my pies. I also have some inspiration to find whatever genetic link I have to baking so I can make the best pie ever!

My Grandpa Brandeberry baking in the Army

(more…)

Oh My, Sweet Potato Pie

20 Nov

According to me, you get total pie street credit if you’re from the South.  If you have an accent and hail from any of the states below Ohio, I automatically assume that you are harboring your Great Grandma’s family pie recipe and that you know some worldly secrets about great pie making.  After all, don’t you Southerners learn to make pie just after you learn to pour yourself a bowl of cereal?  But alas, this is just a dream as I have never been to the Deep South and therefore never had the chance to taste what real southern pie is all about.

Like the saying goes, if you can’t go South, go to Whole Foods!  I have never tasted sweet potato pie and have always been drawn to the sheer comfort of the idea.  With Greater Cleveland being slim on the pickings for pie, I figured Whole Foods was my best bet for one that would at least be close to the real thing.  And there they were!  Displayed with a photograph of a lovely employee whose recipe was so good that Whole Foods adopted it for their stores in the Midwest.  Jackpot!  I enjoyed this sweet potato pie, but the crust was very soft and mushy making the dish taste more like pudding – no texture combination of the snap of a crisp crust followed by the smooth, creamy filling.  So once again, I set out to do better.  And I did.  This pie puts the OH! in sweet potato.

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

1 recipe pie dough of choice for a 9 inch crust (I use Best of Both Worlds)

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (about 2-3)

4T butter, softened

2 eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup milk

1T flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder (optional if you don’t have any)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Ahead of time:  make dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to two days

Roll dough into a 13 inch circle and place into a 9 inch pie plate.  You will want to leave a one-inch over hang by cutting the dough to even it out.  Tuck edges under and sculpt an upstanding ridge if desired.

Refrigerate the crust for at least 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400.

Partially bake the crust and cool completely.  For details on blind baking a crust, see this caramel pumpkin pie post.

While crust is cooling, reduce oven temperature to 350.

Using a fork, poke holes into uncooked sweet potatoes.  Wrap potatoes in a dish cloth and microwave for 10-12 minutes until soft.  The skin will peel right off!

In a large bowl, whip together sweet potatoes and butter using a hand held or stand mixer.  Once smooth, add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.  Add sugars, flour, salt, baking soda, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  With mixer on low, add milk and mix until blended.

Pour contents into pie shell and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until the middle is set and a fork comes out clean.  Enjoy with some fresh whipped cream!

Caramel Pecan Handpies

6 Nov

I don’t have a lot of enthusiasm in my heart for the other big “P” of the Thanksgiving table.  Pecan pie.  I’ve always put it into the category of Stuff My Dad Eats: Pickled beets, spinach with vinegar, chicken livers, cole slaw… food that I’m convinced takes a heavy dose of testosterone to palate.  I usually put it in the corner with the other marginal food, and leave it to be eaten by the grown men.

But this year I’m having a change of heart.  It’s not you dear pecan, it’s that Karo Syrup you insist on hanging out with.  Why are you so intent on burying your best qualities  in a sea of gelatinous, sugary mess?  Can’t you get some new friends like caramel, chocolate and espresso?  Yes he can. And oh yes, I did.

Enter Caramel Pecan Hand Pies.  I was inspired to try these by an article in this month’s Food and Wine magazine.  They scoured the country for Fall’s best pies and one of the features was a Caramel Pecan Hand Pie from Seattle’s High 5 Pie shop.  Like the pumpkin pie recipe from last week, the addition of homemade caramel made me think twice, and the crust to filling ratio of a hand pie was much better than the overload of pecan filling in a pie.

But, the recipe sill seemed to rely too much on corn syrup, so I made some adjustments including infusing a little Dorie Greenspan and adding some bittersweet chocolate, espresso powder and subbing brown sugar for the corn syrup.  The results?  This is not your Father’s pecan pie!  You MUST try this – they are worth the time and will blow your mind!

Caramel Pecan Hand Pies (adapted from High 5 Pie)

All butter pastry crust

4 cups all purpose flour (cold!)

2 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons sugar

4 sticks unsalted butter cut into cubes (frozen)

3/4 cup ice water

If you have a 12-cup food processor, you can do this recipe all at once.  If you’re like me and have a smaller one, then you will need to half it and make two smaller recipes of dough.

Place dry ingredients into food processor and pulse a few times to distribute the salt and sugar.  Scatter frozen cubes of butter on top of the flour.

I slice the entire stick into fours and then cube it

Pulse in processor for about 1 second each time until the mixture looks like coarse meal.  You can take a knife and fluff it around to be sure no large chunks are under the blade.  This should be about 7-9 pulses.  I learned the hard way that you need to be sure the butter is small – you want flecks, but not large chunks or you’ll have a pool of butter on the baking sheet.  Once the butter is cut in, add the ice water through the chute about a tablespoon at a time while you continue short pulses.  The mixture will not look like cookie dough – it will probably look a little crumbly.  Periodically check to see if the dough pinches together.  When the dough begins to hold together, turn it out onto saran wrap, form into a ball, wrap and press it into a disc.  If you did one large batch, separate the dough into two discs.  Refrigerate for an hour or up to two days.

Filling

1 1/2 cups pecans (6 oz)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup half and half

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

Salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

4 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 375. Toast pecans on a baking sheet for 8 minutes until brown and fragrant.  Coarsely chop them (not too fine – chunks are good).

Make your caramel.  In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, place one cup of sugar and 1/2 cup water.  Cook on the stove until is begins to thicken and caramelize.  When the mixture begins to turn color, swirl it occasionally and stand guard until it is a light to medium amber color.

Just starting to thicken and color - needs a little longer

CAUTION – this step is easy to mess up.  I did and had to start over.

When the caramel has reached the right color, reduce the heat to low and add the butter while whisking.  As soon as the butter is incorporated, add the half and half a little bit at a time, then 1 teaspoon of the vanilla and a pinch of salt.  Whisk until smooth.  Remove from heat and pour 1 cup of the caramel and set the rest aside.

OOPS. Removed from heat and added it to the half and half and butter all at once.

Second try. Much better - a creamy caramel sauce.

Let the sauce cool for a few minutes and then add the chocolate, espresso powder, brown sugar, corn syrup and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Once incorporated, add the eggs and whisk until smooth.  Fold in pecans and a pinch of salt.

Coat a 9 x 13 baking pan with non-stick spray.  Spread the pecan mixture into the pan and bake at 375 for about 25 minutes or until puffed and set.  Gently stir to recombine and pour in additional caramel sauce. Cool completely in the refrigerator.

Looks like my Grandma's date pudding

While the filling is cooling, remove dough from fridge and let rest for about 5 minutes.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough as you would for a pie – about 1/8 inch thick.  Using a 5 inch round cutter (can, glass…), cut circles and place on parchment lined baking sheets.  Return to the refrigerator until filling is cool.

Assembly

Remove dough circles from fridge and lightly brush with a beaten egg.  Place about 2-3T of filling in the middle of each circle.  Experiment to see how much you can put in without a disaster.  Fold the circle in half and seal edges with the tines of a fork.  Place in the freezer while you do the other tray.  When both trays have been filled and chilled again, lightly brush each hand pie with beaten egg.  Cut a slit in each one to vent and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown in the middle and lower third of the oven.  Rotate baking sheets half way through.  Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy warm with a cup of coffee.  Will keep in the refrigerator for three days and you can warm before eating.

No one puts baby in a corner anymore!

Caramel Pumpkin Pie

31 Oct

There is a distinct rank and file to my Thanksgiving table:

1. Pumpkin Pie

2.  Pumpkin Pie

3. Oyster dressing

4. Turkey

Nothing upstages pumpkin pie in my book.  About three weeks before Thanksgiving, I find myself drawn to every magazine at the grocery store.  “Your best Thanksgiving Ever!” (Yes!)  “A Pumpkin Pie to Wow Them!” (Of course!) “The Best of the Best Pie Recipes for Your Table!” (This is the one!).  And every year I set out to find the best pumpkin pie recipe – one that people will talk about for years to come.  It never fails, the chosen recipe tastes like, well…pumpkin pie.  I was starting to feel like Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin to come, each year hoping that the recipe Gods would pick me as the most sincere baker of all.  That is until last year when Dorie Greenspan and her Caramel Pumpkin Pie entered my life.

If you own only one baking cookbook, I say it should be Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.  She’s the author of Baking With Julia (yes, Julia Child) and knows her stuff.  Her technique of caramelizing a portion of the sugar before adding it to the pumpkin mixture gives this pie a depth of flavor that will knock your socks off.  It’s like a pumpkin pie has hit puberty – that soft, sweet, creamy pastry grows up to be a deeper, darker, more mature dessert that means business.  If you’re like me and always looking for that next best thing – this is your year!!  (more…)

Pie it Forward: Norm and Carol – The Market Connection

24 Oct

Sometimes, you only need to look across the street to find some inspiration.  When it was time to choose my Pie it Forward suspect, I knew exactly who was next on my list.

Elliot has signed on as my accomplice

Norm and Carol’s house was the first one we noticed when we bought our new house in the Spring of 2010.  Every weekend we would load the boys in the car for a nap and drive to see our new neighborhood, eager for the day those keys would land in our hands.  During one of our trips, we noticed a sign in front of the house across the street.  It was advertising an open house to come meet local farmers and sample their products.  Somebody pinch me!  Our new neighbors love local food and know farmers!  I could feel my depression from abandoning our beloved North Union Farmer’s Market slipping away.  We wanted to go so bad, be felt weird because we were not “official” yet.

Fast forward to a year later and what I have come to learn about Norm and Carol’s involvement in the local food movement has earned them the honor of getting Pie Eyed. (more…)

King Arthur vs. Queen of Food Blogs vs. Pie Princess: One Big Dough Experiment

20 Oct

“You’re taking something that’s perfect and trying to make it more perfect” said my friend Kelly.  I was trying to convince her that the mini pies she took home a couple of weeks ago were some of my worst – a chocolate pudding pie experiment gone wrong.

And she got me thinking – is there such thing as perfect pie?  Pie elicits such an emotional response in people.  It takes them back to memories of a slice of time when the world was right.  The feelings captured in that memory infuse the taste of the pie they remember, making it nothing short of perfect.  For me, it’s sitting at my Grandmother’s kitchen table eating strawberry rhubarb pie.  In my memory, the pie was amazing and something I would never be able to replicate.  Then I made it and you know what – the crust was awful.  It was a strange recipe that made a soft, cake like crust that was bland and tasteless.  And there were no actual strawberries!  Just rhubarb with strawberry Jell-O.  That was surely not the pie I so fondly remembered, was it?  It was.

What made that pie perfect was our whole family crammed into my Grandparents’ tiny efficiency apartment.  Nowhere to sit but the kitchen table where a spread of pie, kiflis (Key-Fleas), muffins and cookies helped you pass the time until Grandpa took you down the hall to play pool or outside to play shuffleboard.  What made that pie perfect was my Grandmother who in her Hungarian tradition, fed us until we loaded back into our car for the two hour ride home, settling in against our pillows drenched in the smells of meat, potatoes and most importantly…pie.

I am aware that there is no such thing as perfect pie.  But I’m going to make MY perfect pie and I still have some work to do.  I went full steam ahead with a three-way dough experiment this week.  (more…)

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