Pies
If you love pies as much as I do, today's post is sure to please. Check out the Strawberry Pie, the Chai-Spiced Pear Pie, and the rest of today's yumminess. Enjoy!
CHERRY PIE
This yumminess is from Melissa Clark at The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this recipe, Melissa wrote, "In this classic and adaptable cherry pie recipe, you can use either sour cherries or sweet ones, fresh or frozen. Lemon zest and juice are mixed with the sweet cherries to add brightness and tang. But you can skip this step with sour cherries, which have their own natural acidity. Serve this pie warm or at room temperature, preferably within 24 hours of baking for the flakiest crust. Ice cream or whipped cream are optional, but very nice with the syrupy filling."
Time: About 2 hours, plus at least 3 hours' chilling and cooling; Yield: 8 servings
This was featured in "A Cherry Pie That’s as Sweet (or Sour) as You Want It to Be", and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024323-cherry-pie.
Ingredients
For the Pie Dough
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 to 7 tablespoons ice water, plus more as needed
For the Filling
1/2 to 1 cup granulated sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons instant tapioca
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon or cardamom
2 pounds sour or sweet cherries (about 6 cups), pitted (or 20 ounces pitted frozen cherries)
1 lemon (optional)
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
Preparation
Make the crust: In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a food processor, whisk or pulse together the flour and salt. Add the butter.
If using a bowl, toss with your hands until the butter pieces are well coated with flour. Cut the butter into the flour by pressing the pieces between your fingertips, flattening the cubes into big flakes and continuing to toss them in the flour to recoat the flakes. If using a food processor, pulse butter into the flour until the pieces are about the size of lima beans.
Mix or pulse in 3 tablespoons ice water, tossing it with the flour in the bowl if working by hand. Continue to add ice water, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, pulsing briefly or tossing well, until the dough begins to come together. Press the dough together if working by hand.
Form the dough into two disks about 1-inch thick. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days before using. (It can also be frozen for up to 3 months, then thawed overnight in the refrigerator.)
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place a baking sheet on the bottom rack.
Make the filling: In a bowl of a food processor (you don’t have to wash it out if you used it for the dough), combine sugar (use 1/2 cup for sweet cherries and up to 1 cup for sour cherries), tapioca (use more for a thicker, solid filling, and less for looser, juicier filling), and cinnamon or cardamom. Run the motor until tapioca is finely ground.
Place cherries in a large bowl, and add sugar and tapioca mixture. Toss gently to combine. If using sweet cherries, zest the lemon into the bowl, then squeeze in the juice and toss well. (Sour cherries don’t need the extra acidity, so skip this if using.)
Using a rolling pin, roll out one disk of the dough on a lightly floured surface and into a 12-inch round, about 3/8-inch thick. Fit the dough into a 9-inch pie plate, preferably metal for the crunchiest crust. Roll remaining dough for the top crust into an 11-inch round.
Pour the cherry mixture into the crust and top with the remaining round of dough. Press the edges together, trim the excess dough, and crimp the edges with your fingers or press down with the tines of a fork. Cut a few steam vents in the center of the pie.
Brush the top crust with cream and sprinkle generously with Demerara sugar. Carefully place pie on the hot baking sheet in the oven. Bake until the crust is dark golden brown and the filling bubbles up, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool for at least 2 hours, allowing the filling to set before serving.
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!
BROWNIE PIE
This is from Elizabeth Mervosh at Allrecipes. Elizabeth wrote, "This brownie pie is rich and fudgy with a perfectly crisp crust. Definitely serve with ice cream, whipped cream, and salted caramel."
Prep Time: 30 minutes; Freeze Time: 30 minutes; Cool Time: 1 hour 30 minutes; Bake Time: 55 minutes; Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes; Servings: 6; Yield: 1 brownie pie
To view this online, go to https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/8487044/brownie-pie/.
Ingredients
Crust:
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons ice water, or more as needed
Filling:
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant espresso granules
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
Directions
For the crust, combine flour, sugar, and teaspoon salt in a food processor and pulse about 3 times until combined. Scatter cold butter over flour mixture in food processor. Pulse about 6 times until butter resembles pea-sized pieces. Drizzle 3 tablespoons water over butter mixture. Pulse about 6 times until couscous-like beads of dough form, adding 1 more tablespoon ice water if needed.
Transfer dough to a work surface, and press into a single mass. Shape and flatten dough into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
Unwrap dough and place on a lightly floured work surface. Let dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften. Dust top of dough with flour. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll disk into a 12-inch circle. Place in a 9-inch pie plate, pressing into bottom and up sides of pie plate. Fold edges under, and crimp as desired. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place parchment paper over dough in pie plate; fill with pie weights or dried beans.
Bake in the preheated oven until crust is starting to set, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove pie plate from oven and take off parchment paper and pie weights. Return pie plate to oven, and bake until pie crust is light golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.
Whisk together melted butter, sugar, eggs, egg yolk, canola oil, and vanilla extract in a bowl until blended and smooth. Whisk in cocoa, flour, instant espresso, and salt just until combined. Stir in nuts and 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Scrape mixture into cooled crust, and smooth top with a small offset spatula. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top of the pie.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes, covering the crust with aluminum foil if it gets too dark. Let cool 20 minutes before serving.
GINGER-LEMON-BLUEBERRY PIE
This is from Pillsbury, and begins, "Directions for this luscious pie specify cooling two hours before slicing, which gives the filling time to firm up a little for neater cutting. If you absolutely can't wait, serve the pie in shallow soup bowls and be ready with a large spoon to ladle up every last bit of the filling!"
Prep Time: 20 minutes; Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes; Makes 8 servings
To view this online, click here.
Ingredients
Crust
1 box (14.1 oz) refrigerated Pillsbury™ Pie Crusts (2 Count), softened as directed on box
6 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon half-and-half
Filling
5 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Directions
Heat oven to 400°F. Remove 1 pie crust from pouch; place flat on work surface. Sprinkle top of crust with 1-1/2 teaspoons of the sugar. With rolling pin, roll crust lightly to coat with sugar. Continue to make pie crust, sugared side up, as directed on box for Two-Crust Pie using 9-inch glass pie pan.
In large bowl, mix filling ingredients. Spoon into crust-lined pan. Top with second crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust. Brush top crust with half-and-half; sprinkle with remaining 4 1/2 teaspoons sugar.
Place foil or cookie sheet on oven rack below middle rack to catch any spills. Place pie on middle oven rack; bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. After 15 to 20 minutes of baking, cover crust edge with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning. Cool at least 2 hours before serving. Serve warm or cold.
CHAI-SPICED PEAR PIE
This is from Audra, otherwise known as The Baker Chick. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you might remember me posting quite a few recipes from Audra (although it’s been a while). Her blog rocks! If you haven’t checked it out, you really should. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
This recipe begins, “I can’t possibly let you enter Thanksgiving week without another pie recipe. As the person in charge of desserts in my family, I’m always looking to make something classic with a twist and this gorgeous pie is just that apples get all the attention in the fall, but baking with firm, sweet pears is in my opinion just as good but way more unique and impressive.
“This pear pie is tossed with warm chai spices like cardamon, cinnamon, ginger and even a crack of black pepper. The result is just a bit more kick than what you’re probably used to with apple pie, but that same warm, melt-in-your-mouth goodness just waiting for a scoop of vanilla.”
Yield: 1 9-inch pie
To view this online on Audra’s blog, click here.
Ingredients
2 – 3 single layers of Pie Crust (see note)
10 cups of peeled, thinly sliced pears (from about 8-10 pears depending on size, use something firm like bosc)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3-4 twists of freshly ground black pepper (1/8 teaspoon, optional)
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
Keep crust chilling in the fridge while you prep the pears.
In a large pot or dutch oven, toss together the pears, brown sugar, flour, and spices. Stir in water and dot with the butter.
Cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, tossing everything around to par-cook the pears a bit. Keep checking to see when a pear slice is "bendy" and slightly tender, but for me I cooked them for 10-15 minutes.
Allow pears to cool while you prep your dough. If you are doing a lattice or braided crust, roll some of the dough out now, form the braids, and freeze them until pie is ready to be assembled. If you are just doing a double crust- wait until the pears are mostly cool.
Roll out one layer of crust and drape over the bottom of a 9- inch pie pan leaving a bit of overhang. Pour the cooled pears into the crust and top with another sheet of pie crust, a lattice top, or the braids.
Trim and crimp edge of crust and pop the whole thing in the freezer for 10-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425.F. Place pie onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes, then reducing the heat to 350F and baking for another 45-50 minutes. If the crust seems to be getting too dark you can drape some foil on top for the remainder of the baking.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Notes
*If you want a little extra pie dough to work with for a decorative crust, I like to have a bit extra and usually make 3 batches of crust. If you are just doing a classic top, two single layers is fine!
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.
CHERRY PIE
This yumminess is from Melissa Clark at The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this recipe, Melissa wrote, "In this classic and adaptable cherry pie recipe, you can use either sour cherries or sweet ones, fresh or frozen. Lemon zest and juice are mixed with the sweet cherries to add brightness and tang. But you can skip this step with sour cherries, which have their own natural acidity. Serve this pie warm or at room temperature, preferably within 24 hours of baking for the flakiest crust. Ice cream or whipped cream are optional, but very nice with the syrupy filling."
Time: About 2 hours, plus at least 3 hours' chilling and cooling; Yield: 8 servings
This was featured in "A Cherry Pie That’s as Sweet (or Sour) as You Want It to Be", and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024323-cherry-pie.
Ingredients
For the Pie Dough
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 to 7 tablespoons ice water, plus more as needed
For the Filling
1/2 to 1 cup granulated sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons instant tapioca
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon or cardamom
2 pounds sour or sweet cherries (about 6 cups), pitted (or 20 ounces pitted frozen cherries)
1 lemon (optional)
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
Preparation
Make the crust: In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a food processor, whisk or pulse together the flour and salt. Add the butter.
If using a bowl, toss with your hands until the butter pieces are well coated with flour. Cut the butter into the flour by pressing the pieces between your fingertips, flattening the cubes into big flakes and continuing to toss them in the flour to recoat the flakes. If using a food processor, pulse butter into the flour until the pieces are about the size of lima beans.
Mix or pulse in 3 tablespoons ice water, tossing it with the flour in the bowl if working by hand. Continue to add ice water, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, pulsing briefly or tossing well, until the dough begins to come together. Press the dough together if working by hand.
Form the dough into two disks about 1-inch thick. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days before using. (It can also be frozen for up to 3 months, then thawed overnight in the refrigerator.)
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place a baking sheet on the bottom rack.
Make the filling: In a bowl of a food processor (you don’t have to wash it out if you used it for the dough), combine sugar (use 1/2 cup for sweet cherries and up to 1 cup for sour cherries), tapioca (use more for a thicker, solid filling, and less for looser, juicier filling), and cinnamon or cardamom. Run the motor until tapioca is finely ground.
Place cherries in a large bowl, and add sugar and tapioca mixture. Toss gently to combine. If using sweet cherries, zest the lemon into the bowl, then squeeze in the juice and toss well. (Sour cherries don’t need the extra acidity, so skip this if using.)
Using a rolling pin, roll out one disk of the dough on a lightly floured surface and into a 12-inch round, about 3/8-inch thick. Fit the dough into a 9-inch pie plate, preferably metal for the crunchiest crust. Roll remaining dough for the top crust into an 11-inch round.
Pour the cherry mixture into the crust and top with the remaining round of dough. Press the edges together, trim the excess dough, and crimp the edges with your fingers or press down with the tines of a fork. Cut a few steam vents in the center of the pie.
Brush the top crust with cream and sprinkle generously with Demerara sugar. Carefully place pie on the hot baking sheet in the oven. Bake until the crust is dark golden brown and the filling bubbles up, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool for at least 2 hours, allowing the filling to set before serving.
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!
BROWNIE PIE
This is from Elizabeth Mervosh at Allrecipes. Elizabeth wrote, "This brownie pie is rich and fudgy with a perfectly crisp crust. Definitely serve with ice cream, whipped cream, and salted caramel."
Prep Time: 30 minutes; Freeze Time: 30 minutes; Cool Time: 1 hour 30 minutes; Bake Time: 55 minutes; Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes; Servings: 6; Yield: 1 brownie pie
To view this online, go to https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/8487044/brownie-pie/.
Ingredients
Crust:
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons ice water, or more as needed
Filling:
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant espresso granules
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
Directions
For the crust, combine flour, sugar, and teaspoon salt in a food processor and pulse about 3 times until combined. Scatter cold butter over flour mixture in food processor. Pulse about 6 times until butter resembles pea-sized pieces. Drizzle 3 tablespoons water over butter mixture. Pulse about 6 times until couscous-like beads of dough form, adding 1 more tablespoon ice water if needed.
Transfer dough to a work surface, and press into a single mass. Shape and flatten dough into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.
Unwrap dough and place on a lightly floured work surface. Let dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften. Dust top of dough with flour. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll disk into a 12-inch circle. Place in a 9-inch pie plate, pressing into bottom and up sides of pie plate. Fold edges under, and crimp as desired. Cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place parchment paper over dough in pie plate; fill with pie weights or dried beans.
Bake in the preheated oven until crust is starting to set, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove pie plate from oven and take off parchment paper and pie weights. Return pie plate to oven, and bake until pie crust is light golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.
Whisk together melted butter, sugar, eggs, egg yolk, canola oil, and vanilla extract in a bowl until blended and smooth. Whisk in cocoa, flour, instant espresso, and salt just until combined. Stir in nuts and 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Scrape mixture into cooled crust, and smooth top with a small offset spatula. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top of the pie.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes, covering the crust with aluminum foil if it gets too dark. Let cool 20 minutes before serving.
GINGER-LEMON-BLUEBERRY PIE
This is from Pillsbury, and begins, "Directions for this luscious pie specify cooling two hours before slicing, which gives the filling time to firm up a little for neater cutting. If you absolutely can't wait, serve the pie in shallow soup bowls and be ready with a large spoon to ladle up every last bit of the filling!"
Prep Time: 20 minutes; Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes; Makes 8 servings
To view this online, click here.
Ingredients
Crust
1 box (14.1 oz) refrigerated Pillsbury™ Pie Crusts (2 Count), softened as directed on box
6 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon half-and-half
Filling
5 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Directions
Heat oven to 400°F. Remove 1 pie crust from pouch; place flat on work surface. Sprinkle top of crust with 1-1/2 teaspoons of the sugar. With rolling pin, roll crust lightly to coat with sugar. Continue to make pie crust, sugared side up, as directed on box for Two-Crust Pie using 9-inch glass pie pan.
In large bowl, mix filling ingredients. Spoon into crust-lined pan. Top with second crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust. Brush top crust with half-and-half; sprinkle with remaining 4 1/2 teaspoons sugar.
Place foil or cookie sheet on oven rack below middle rack to catch any spills. Place pie on middle oven rack; bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. After 15 to 20 minutes of baking, cover crust edge with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning. Cool at least 2 hours before serving. Serve warm or cold.
CHAI-SPICED PEAR PIE
This is from Audra, otherwise known as The Baker Chick. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you might remember me posting quite a few recipes from Audra (although it’s been a while). Her blog rocks! If you haven’t checked it out, you really should. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
This recipe begins, “I can’t possibly let you enter Thanksgiving week without another pie recipe. As the person in charge of desserts in my family, I’m always looking to make something classic with a twist and this gorgeous pie is just that apples get all the attention in the fall, but baking with firm, sweet pears is in my opinion just as good but way more unique and impressive.
“This pear pie is tossed with warm chai spices like cardamon, cinnamon, ginger and even a crack of black pepper. The result is just a bit more kick than what you’re probably used to with apple pie, but that same warm, melt-in-your-mouth goodness just waiting for a scoop of vanilla.”
Yield: 1 9-inch pie
To view this online on Audra’s blog, click here.
Ingredients
2 – 3 single layers of Pie Crust (see note)
10 cups of peeled, thinly sliced pears (from about 8-10 pears depending on size, use something firm like bosc)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3-4 twists of freshly ground black pepper (1/8 teaspoon, optional)
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
Keep crust chilling in the fridge while you prep the pears.
In a large pot or dutch oven, toss together the pears, brown sugar, flour, and spices. Stir in water and dot with the butter.
Cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, tossing everything around to par-cook the pears a bit. Keep checking to see when a pear slice is "bendy" and slightly tender, but for me I cooked them for 10-15 minutes.
Allow pears to cool while you prep your dough. If you are doing a lattice or braided crust, roll some of the dough out now, form the braids, and freeze them until pie is ready to be assembled. If you are just doing a double crust- wait until the pears are mostly cool.
Roll out one layer of crust and drape over the bottom of a 9- inch pie pan leaving a bit of overhang. Pour the cooled pears into the crust and top with another sheet of pie crust, a lattice top, or the braids.
Trim and crimp edge of crust and pop the whole thing in the freezer for 10-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425.F. Place pie onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes, then reducing the heat to 350F and baking for another 45-50 minutes. If the crust seems to be getting too dark you can drape some foil on top for the remainder of the baking.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Notes
*If you want a little extra pie dough to work with for a decorative crust, I like to have a bit extra and usually make 3 batches of crust. If you are just doing a classic top, two single layers is fine!
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.
Comments
Post a Comment