Pies

By now, you may be aware that I love pies. They're definitely one of my favorite dessert groups. That said, here are six yummy pie recipes to help you through the day, including Dulce de Leche Banana Pie and Blueberry Sour Cream Pie. Enjoy!

STRAWBERRY PIE



Several summers ago, my daughter and I checked out a local fruit stand and came away with a quart of strawberries. They were on sale for $3 for a quart, so how could we pass them up?

Of course, then we had to decide what to do with all these yummy strawberries. And what better use for them than in a pie? So, here goes what I made.



Ingredients

1 quart strawberries

1 C sugar

3 Tablespoons corn start

3/4 cup hot water

1 pie crust

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place pie crust in an ungreased pie pan. Using a fork, pierce crust a couple of times (though don't go overboard), and bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or until lightly brown.

Note: If you're using a store-bought pie crust, bake until brown according to the package directions.

Wash strawberries. Cut up half of the berries (about 1 pint) and arrange in pie crust. You don't need to cut the strawberries too small; maybe in half or, for larger strawberries, in fourths.

Mash the remaining berries and place in a medium saucepan. Pour sugar over the strawberries in the pan and combine. Cook over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

In a small bowl, whisk hot water and cornstarch together, then stir into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat, then simmer until mixture has thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour thickened mixture over berries in pie crust. Chill for several hours before serving. Oh, and be sure to share!

MINI CHERRY PIES

This is from Anne Thornton on the Food Network.

Prep Time: 30 minutes; Inactive Time: 1 hour; Cook Time: 30 minutes; Total Time: 2 hours; Yield: 24 mini pies; Level: Intermediate

To view this online, go to https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-thornton/mini-cherry-pies-recipe-2047351.

Ingredients

Pie Crust:

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for bench and cutters

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

4 tablespoons ice water, plus more as needed

Filling:

4 cups fresh pitted cherries

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest

Cooking spray

Special equipment: 1-1/2-inch and 2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutters

Directions

For the crust: In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, salt and butter. Pulse the processor until the mixture resembles fine sand. Remove the lid and add the ice water to the mixture. Run the processor just until the mixture rolls itself into a little ball. If the mixture is a bit dry, add more ice water by the tablespoonful until it comes together. Gather the dough into a ball. With a bench scraper or knife, divide the mixture evenly in half. Shape each half into a disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill at least 30 minutes.

Cook's Note: At this point you can keep the wrapped dough in the refrigerator for a few days or freeze for later use.

For the filling: In a saucepan, combine the pitted cherries and 1 cup water over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cornstarch. Using a whisk, swirl the ingredients together, making sure that there aren't any lumps in the cornstarch. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and lemon zest to the cherries. Cook the cherry mixture until it comes to a rolling boil. Cook 1 minute more, until thickened. Allow the cherry filling to cool slightly while you prepare the crust.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a 24 cup mini muffin tin or 2 (12 cup) mini muffin tins with cooking spray.

Roll the dough disks out into 10-inch rounds on a well-floured work surface. With a 1-1/2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, edge lightly dipped in flour, cut 24 rounds from the first rolled out disk. With a 2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, edge lightly dipped in flour, cut 24 rounds from the second rolled out disk. You should have a total of 24 (1-1/2-inch) rounds and 24 (2-inch) rounds for matching top and bottom crusts.

Gently fit the 2-inch dough rounds into the bottom of the prepared mini muffin tin. Make sure to pat down the bottom and the excess coming up the sides. Spoon about 1 heaping tablespoon cooled pie filling into each crust-lined cup. Fit the top of each mini pie with a 1-1/2-inch dough round, pushing down gently and sealing the bottom crust and top crust by crimping the edges together with a fork. With a sharp paring knife, make 3 small incisions on the top crust, to allow the steam to escape.

Bake until the edges are golden brown and the filling is bubbly, about 12 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack, and then remove from the muffin tin.

NO-BAKE YOGURT AND COOL WHIP PIE

This is from Jolinda Hackett on The Spruce Eats. She wrote, "If you're looking for an easy no-bake dessert, this Cool Whip pie recipe is the one to try. It will be a welcome treat on a hot summer evening and can be the prettiest dessert at the next cookout; it's also the perfect recipe to get the kids involved as there is no stovetop or oven required. This pie is completely customizable since you can choose the yogurt flavor, matching it to whatever fruit happens to be in season. Consider strawberry or peach slices, cherry halves, mandarin orange segments, or whole blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries. It's also a healthier dessert option so you can enjoy a piece of pie without all of the guilt.

"This recipe comes together quickly, calling for just a container of Cool Whip, flavored yogurt, a ready-made graham cracker crust, and some fresh fruit. Just keep in mind the pie will have to firm up in the freezer for about 2 hours before serving."

Prep Time: 5 minutes; Cook Time: 0 minutes; Freeze Time: 2 hours; Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes; Makes 8 servings

To view this online, go to https://www.thespruceeats.com/cool-whip-pie-recipe-3376704.

Ingredients

8 ounces whipped topping

18 ounces yogurt, any flavor

1 prepared graham cracker crust

Fresh fruit (e.g., berries, peaches, oranges), for garnish

Directions

Gather the ingredients.

In a mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the Cool Whip and yogurt until smooth.

Pour the yogurt and Cool Whip mixture into the pie crust. Freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

Remove the pie from the freezer approximately 20 minutes before serving.

Slice the fruit if necessary and top the pie with the fruit.

Cover and refrigerate any leftover pie, or freeze for later.

Tips

Cool Whip is sold frozen and will need to be defrosted beforehand. This can be done in the refrigerator, microwave, or in cold water. Thawing in the refrigerator will take some planning as it needs to sit in the fridge for about 5 hours (or overnight). The microwave method is simple, but you will need to pay close attention; remove the lid and microwave on the defrost setting for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until smooth. A third method is to place the tub in a bowl filled with cold water and let it sit for 30 to 40 minutes.

To give the pie a more sophisticated look, arrange the fruit slices on top before you fully freeze the pie. Depending on the weight of the fruit, you might want to freeze the pie for an hour before adding the slices or whole fruit so they don't sink into the yogurt mixture.

What Is Cool Whip Made Of?

Cool Whip is made from water, hydrogenated vegetable oil, corn syrup, skimmed milk, and natural and artificial flavors, as well as other additives. If you'd rather not use this whipped topping, you can substitute with whipped cream.

Recipe Variations

Although a store-bought graham cracker crust is convenient, it is easy to make your own graham cracker crust or a sugar-free graham cracker crust.

Instead of a graham cracker crust, you can use a cookie crust. Vanilla cookies go nicely with a lemon yogurt filling, or a chocolate cookie crust pairs well with coconut flavored yogurt topped with coconut flakes.

This light pie is fairly low in calories for a dessert, but if you'd like to reduce the fat and calories, this recipe can be made with reduced-fat or no-sugar varieties of Cool Whip, yogurt, and graham crackers.

DULCE DE LECHE BANANA PIE

This is from Old El Paso, and begins, "A flaky homemade pie crust complements a caramel and banana cream filling." If that doesn't sound absolutely yummy, I don't know what does!

Prep Time: 20 minutes; Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes; Makes 8 servings

To view this online, go to https://www.oldelpaso.com/recipes/dulce-de-leche-banana-pie.

Ingredients

1 cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening

2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

1 can (13.4 oz) dulce de leche

3 ripe medium bananas

1 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Preparation

Heat oven to 450°F. In medium bowl, mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and dough almost leaves side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).

On lightly floured surface, shape dough into a ball. Flatten ball to 1/2-inch thickness, rounding and smoothing edges. With floured rolling pin, roll dough into 11-inch round, rolling from center to edge. Fold dough in half; place in 9-inch glass pie plate. Unfold; gently press in bottom and up side of plate, being careful not to stretch dough.

Fold and roll edge of dough under, even with plate; flute edge. Prick bottom and side of dough generously with fork. Bake 9 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Spoon contents of can of dulce de leche into center of cooled crust; gently spread to edge. Thinly slice bananas; arrange over dulce de leche.

In medium bowl, beat whipping cream and powdered sugar with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Spread over bananas.

In small resealable freezer plastic bag, place chocolate chips and oil; seal bag. Microwave on High 30 seconds; knead bag to mix melted chips and unmelted chips. Microwave 15 to 30 seconds longer or until all chips are melted and smooth. Snip off tiny corner of bag. Pipe melted chocolate mixture over whipped cream. Store pie in refrigerator.

MISSISSIPPI MUD PIE

This is from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list.

Ingredients

1 prepared 9-inch chocolate crumb pie crust

1 cup Powdered sugar

1 cup (6 oz.) NESTLÉ ® TOLL HOUSE ® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, cut up

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped nuts, divided (optional)

2 pints coffee ice cream, softened slightly, divided

1 garnish of whipped cream (optional)

Directions

Heat sugar, morsels, butter, cream & corn syrup in small, heavy-duty saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted & mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract. Cool until slightly warm.

Drizzle 1/3 cup chocolate sauce in bottom of crust; sprinkle with 1/4 cup nuts. Layer 1 pint ice cream, scooping thin slices with a large spoon; freeze for 1 hour. Repeat with 1/3 cup sauce, 1/4 cup nuts and remaining ice cream. Drizzle with remaining sauce; top with remaining nuts. Freeze for 2 hours or until firm. Top with whipped cream before serving.

BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM PIE

Another yummy pie from that infamous long-since-forgotten-emailing list.

Ingredients

Crust:

1-1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 tablespoons sugar

Pinch of salt

4 tablespoons (about) ice water

Filling:

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup sugar

2-1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 egg, beaten to blend

3/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

2-1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Topping:

6 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/3 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

For Crust: Blend flour, butter, sugar and salt in processor until coarse meal forms. With machine running, add water by tablespoonfuls until clumps form. Gather into ball. Flatten to disk. Wrap inplastic; chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out dough on floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch glass pie plate. Trim edge to 1/2-inch overhang. Fold edge under and crimp. Freeze 10 minutes. Line crustwith foil; fill with beans or pie weights. Bake until sides are set, about 12 minutes. Remove foil and beans.

For Filling: Mix first 6 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Mix in blueberries. Spoon into crust. Bake until filling is just set, about 25 minutes.

For Topping: Using fingertips, mix flour and butter in medium bowl until small clumps form. Mix in pecans and sugar. Spoon topping over pie. Bake until topping browns lightly, about 12 minutes. Cool pie to room temperature.

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