Pies

I've always loved Pies. To that end, here are six pie recipes to help you through the day, including Chai-Spiced Pear Pie and Dulce de Leche Banana Pie. Enjoy!

SHEET-PAN SWEET POTATO, PECAN AND PUMPKIN PIE

This is from Jocelyn Delk Adams on the Today website. It begins, "This is a fun recipe that will please everyone, even the pickiest people, on holidays! You can have three different flavors of pie all in one, so everyone is satisfied.

"Swap option: You can use canned sweet potato and canned pumpkin. Also puff pastry is a fun sub for refrigerated pie dough."

Prep Time: 60 minutes; Cook Time: 60 minutes; Servings: 16

To view this online, go to https://www.today.com/recipes/sheet-pan-sweet-potato-pecan-pumpkin-pie-recipe-t200661.

Ingredients

Crust

2 boxes refrigerated rolled pie crust (4 crusts total)

1 egg plus 1 teaspoon water, whisked together

Pumpkin Pie Filling

1-1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 large egg, room temperature

Pecan Pie Filling

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch kosher salt

2 cups pecans, roasted and roughly chopped

Sweet Potato Filling

2/3 cup granulated sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 2/3 sweet potato, fully cooked and mashed

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup evaporated milk

Preparation

For the crusts:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Unroll 3 of the pie crusts on a lightly floured work surface. Stack them on top of each other. Roll out the thick, layered dough to a 15- by 21-inch rectangle. Press into a rimmed baking sheet so that the crust comes up the sides and hangs over slightly. This will be the bottom crust.

Chill until ready to use, at least 30 minutes.

For the pumpkin pie filling:

Whisk together the pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice and the egg in a medium bowl until smooth. Cover and set aside.

For the pecan pie filling:

Whisk together the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, eggs, vanilla and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fold in the pecans, cover and set aside.

For the sweet potato pie filling:

Using a handheld mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy, then carefully mix in the egg and vanilla. Once combined, add mashed sweet potato, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. As the mixture begins to smooth out, gradually pour in the evaporated milk. Mix until fully incorporated, cover and set aside.

To assemble:

Remove the prepared baking sheet with dough from the refrigerator. Using a fork, poke the pie crust about a dozen times, going all around the dough (except for the crust).

Using a large spatula, carefully scoop, spread and smooth each filling onto the crust. On the left side, start with the sweet potato and allow it to only take up 1/3 of the pan. Next, scoop out the pumpkin pie filling on the opposite right side leaving just the center open then add the pecan filling to the center (because there is a bit more liquid in the pecan mixture, it will spread a bit, do your best to control it by quickly scooping, spreading and smoothing).

Finally, decorate the outside pie dough that is hanging over and brush the outside of the pie crust with your egg wash.

Bake until all pies are set and the crust is golden-brown and crisp, about 50-60 minutes.

Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to completely cool, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Tightly cover the top with nonstick aluminum foil (or plastic wrap) and transfer to the refrigerator to set for at least 4 hours. Overnight is best.

Allow the pie to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before serving. Slice, serve and enjoy!

APPLE PIE

I got the original recipe for this from an old Betty Crocker Cookbook, years ago. I've tweaked the recipe quite a bit; the original called for butter, which mine doesn't, while I add apple cider or apple juice, which isn't in the original. I also added several other changes to this, changing it to the way my family loves it. Here's the tweaked version of apple pie.





Ingredients

Crust for a 9-inch two-crust pie

3/4 + 1 tablespoon cup sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (do not use self-rising flour, but if you must use it, omit salt)

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

dash salt

6 to 7 cups apples (6 to 8 apples), peeled and thinly sliced

1/4 cup apple cider or apple juice

Directions

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare crust and line pie pan with bottom crust.

Placed cut up apples in large bowl. Add sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and (lastly) apple cider or juice. Mix apples and additions with hands, then pour apples and additions into crust-lined pie pan.

Cover with top crust, cut slits into top crust, then seal edges of crusts. (Note: You can replace top crust with a lattice crust.) Cover top of pie with aluminum foil to prevent excess browning; remove foil last 15 minutes of baking.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.

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.

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!

CRANBERRY-CHERRY LATTICE PIE

This is from the November/December 2007 issue of Vegetarian Times, page 67. It begins, “Because cranberries are naturally high in pectin, the fruit fiber that sets jams and jellies, there's no need to add a thickener to this filling. If you prefer a sweeter dessert, use refrigerated sugar cookie dough to craft the crust and lattice top.” Serves 8.

To view this online, go to http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/cranberry-cherry-lattice-pie/.

Ingredients

3 cups fresh cranberries, divided

1-1/2 cups sugar, plus extra for sprinkling, divided

1 medium orange, for zest and juice (1 tsp. grated zest; 1/3 cup juice)

1 cup dried sweet cherries

Refrigerated pastry for 2-crust pie (plain or whole wheat), or double recipe Perfect Every Time Piecrust (recipe follows this one)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheet with foil, and coat 9-inch pie dish with cooking spray.

Place 1-1/2 cups cranberries, 1/2 cup sugar, orange zest, and cherries in food processor, and pulse until berries are coarsely chopped. Transfer to bowl, and stir in remaining 1-1/2 cups cranberries, remaining 1 cup sugar, and orange juice.

Roll 1 piecrust into 10-inch disc. Press into prepared pan. Spoon in cranberry mixture, and brush edges with water.

Roll second piecrust into 10-inch disc. Cut dough into 1-inch-wide strips using knife or fluted pastry wheel. Lay strips in lattice pattern over top of pie, pressing edges to seal. Trim off any excess from strips. Sprinkle lattice with sugar, and bake on prepared baking sheet 55 minutes, or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden. Cool on wire rack.

nutritional information Per Slice: Calories: 356; Protein: 7 g; Total Fat: 1.5 g; Saturated Fat: 0 g; Carbohydrates: 79 g; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Sodium: 155 mg; Fiber: 5 g; Sugar: 53 g

PERFECT EVERY TIME PIECRUST

This is also from the November/December 2007 issue of Vegetarian Times, page 71. It begins, “For a vegan variation on this crust, omit egg and use 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. Water.” Serves 8 (makes 1 9-inch crust)

To view this online, go to http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/perfect-every-time-piecrust/.

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbs. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, or nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces

1 egg yolk, optional

Directions

Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in food processor several times to combine. Add butter, and pulse 5 times, or until mixture resembles coarse sand.

Beat egg yolk and 1/4 cup ice water in bowl with fork. Add liquid to flour mixture in food processor. Pulse until dough just comes together. Transfer to large piece of plastic wrap or wax paper and press into flat disk. Wrap tightly, and chill 1 hour, or overnight. Roll out to desired size on well-floured work surface and bake according to recipe directions.

nutritional information Per SERVING: Calories: 382; Protein: 4 g; Total Fat: 31 g; Saturated Fat: 19.5 g; Carbohydrates: 24 g;Cholesterol: 114 mg; Sodium: 199 mg; Fiber: 1 g; Sugar: 3 g

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