Pie #12: Peach Preserves and Applesauce Strudel Pie

So when you think of pie don’t you usually think of something round in a pie plate? Yeah I know so do I! Well in this case I did not use a pie plate instead I used a cookie sheet. Before I go into how I made it I will say I was really busy that morning (it was the morning of our Annual Easter Egg hunt at church). I am not sure what I was thinking to bake this for breakfast but I did.  I do that sometimes, thinking, “Oh, I got time so hey let’s make a pie!”

This pie called for a tender Cream Cheese Pasty crust. This type of crust was hard for me to work with. I prepped the crust a day before knowing that it needed to harden up. I let it set in the fridge for a day and overnight and the dough was still sticky. While working with the dough, I found out that the heat in the kitchen made the dough stickier and the kitchen was warm from the oven warming it up. I tried to roll out the dough in a nice rectangle but the dough kept sticking to the roller, so I ended up having to pound it out like play doh.  I did figure out that you need to work fast with this particular type of crust, I found this out real quick. 

Now here is the cool thing, the filling is only two things: 1 cup of peach preserves and ½ a cup of sweetened applesauce. That’s IT just two ingredients. If I could get the crust down I would be able to make this in a snap.  After pounding out the dough to a so called rectangle I spread the ingredients over half of the dough and then folded it over, it ended up looking like a calzone.

So the recipe says to heat the oven to 400, but then it says to turn it down to 375, well I was readying this AFTER I put it in the oven.  So I had to rush over there and turn it down to 375, so it was saved. Once again, read the entire recipe more than once all the way through. Someday I will be heeding my own advice.  READ ALL THE RECIPE BEFORE YOU START!

As you see below it was not one of my best looking “pies” but it tasted pretty good.

Hello Results: Cream cheese crust is a hard curst to make but the taste is well worth it.  I ate a lot of it and Joshua enjoyed the rest. I would fix this again if I could get the hang of the crust. Brings a quote to mind.. “If at first you don’t succeeded try, try again.” That really rings true in this case…. 288 pies to go!

Pie 11: Bev's Brownie Pie

When I read this title of a pie I was hooked without even reading the ingredients, who would not want a pie that had the word brownie in it, I mean come on… but I was curious of one thing who is Bev? Well Bev is the name of Ken Haedrich, the author’s, wife.  Apparently she has a real weakness for rich brownies. Call me sappy but I think that would be the coolest thing to have your hubby name a pie after you, to me that is a top honor. 

I had the privilege of making this pie with a dear friend of mine, Jessica Ihams. My family and her family got together at their house, as we made the pie the guys grilled out hamburgers. It was a great time; all I really did was the crust on this pie. Jessica did most of the filling and did this wonderfully. 

One thing I figured out after the fact was that this particular crust we were NOT supposes pre bake, all we needed to do was refrigerate the pie crust till the filling was ready. The crust was a Graham Cracker Crust, and I will say this is one of the easy crusts with little effort. Like I have said in many blogs before, it is crucial to read all the instructions FIRST then start making the pie.  I know someday I will learn this lesson.

As for the filling it was pretty easy. I got to use my double boiler, which I love by the way, to melt the chocolate. The rest of the filling was pretty easy, I am glad Jessica had  standing mixer, because there was a lot of mixing to be done.  One interesting thing about this pie is that after we poured the filling it called for confectioners’ sugar to be put on top. Jessica and I both thought it would sink in the filling while baking. After taking the pie out of the oven the sugar was still on top.

After letting it sit out for about 45 minutes, we could not take it any longer we had to dig in.

Let me just tell you it was some brownie goodness. It was amazing; it tasted great with ice cream too! It was rich warm and like a dazzling brownie in a pie plate.

Hello Results: I loved to be able to use a double boiler that is a GREAT invention for sure.  I think we could have waiting a tad bit longer to cut into the pie, but it was just too hard to wait. Again it would be a great idea to read all the instructions before starting the pie. Now this would be a fabulous idea, someday I will learn, someday I will learn.  So yeah, 11 pies down and 289 to go!

Pie #10: Rockin Apple Pie

Okay so pie 10! I wanted to make a pie but did not want to go the store, so off I went into the kitchen to see what I could find. Lucky me I found some apples and some yummy spices.

So introducing Rockin Apple Pie, why the name, well I did not go by a recipe at all, I “created” it all by myself.  So what better name than Rockin Apple Pie! Right?

In this pie I made a Basic Flakey Pie Double crust, without looking at the recipe, seems I have this pie crust down.  See below for the bottom crust.

You may be wondering why there is so much over hang on the bottom crust. Well let me enlighten you. The reason why is, you want to have and overhang so you can attach the top crust later, allowing for some room to mess with the crust allowing you to have what they call an Upstanding Ridge crust if you would like.

 After this I peeled some Gala apples and put in some sugar and corn starch and cinnamon and then the apples; then pouring the mixture in the pie dish.

After that I rolled out the top crust and put the top crust on, spread some milk over the top of the pie crust (this helps you get a good browning on top of the crust), then sprinkled some sugar on top. Since I had some wiggle room with the crust I decided to use what I will call the fork technique. To do this, you use a fork, (imagine that), with the fork you go around the edge of the curst and press the fork into the crust, this makes for a cool design; I will refer to as the fork print. 

Then I put the pie in the oven for 30-45 minutes. While the pie was in the oven I used the left over crust to make some cinnamon and sugar squares. These squares remind me of home. How my mom use to make them, oh the memories… Oh, these squares were a huge hit with my boys.

After the pie was in the oven for about 45 minutes I took it out and let it set for a while. 

Was there an occasions for this pie? Funny you should ask that, actually. I did this pie for a Woman’s Bible study; I was supposed to bring a dessert that night. So I thought I would surprise them with a homemade apple pie. Well as it turns out the meeting was cancelled and Joshua and the boys and I got to eat some yummo pie. So that worked out for our favor for sure!

Hello Results: I would have loved to share this pie with my gal pals but I know there will be another chance to do so. My boys, including my hubby, loved the pie and the cinnamon sugar squares. I strive to get to the point where I can walk in a kitchen and put some things in a pie crust and say … “There you go, the best pie you will ever have!”  What can I say I dream BIG.

10 pies down and 290 to go!

Update on my Pie Blogs

Some of you have been inquiring about my pie making and if I am still making pies. And I hope you are checking in every once in a while. Things have been crazy around here, I am still making pies, but the blogs are not getting done as fast as I would like to. My goal is to get them up really soon! I am working on getting the blogs up within two weeks.  Stay tuned, thanks for checking in!

Pie #9: Frozen White Chocolate Pie with Raspberry Sauce

Just the name of this pie has my mouth watering and the funny thing is that I’m not the biggest fan of raspberries.  So, once again, I did this pie in a rush. So much of a rush that I made it during my lunch break, which I would not suggest. I was kind of on edge with the time crunch, as my husband can testify; but, that was the only time I had to get the pie done before our life group.

The crust for this pie is a chocolate wafer crumb crust. It called for 20 chocolate wafers, some brown sugar and some butter all mixed up in my handy food processor.  The preparation of the crust was really a cinch, just mix, press in the pan and done!

The filling was another story. Let me just say that I look forward to pies where I get the filling ready without the stove.  This recipe called for a double boiler and I have not yet purchased a double boiler, so, I had to improvise again. So, I filled up the pasta pan we had and put in a little stainless silver bowl to float in the water. I put the milk and white chocolate chips in it and then played the waiting game. (Remember I have an hour to do all of this... so yeah, the waiting game is more like torture) Finally the white chocolate chips started melting and it was time to take the floating bowl out of the boiling water. Well neither I, nor my hubby, knew how to get the bowl out. My hubby tried getting it out with some tongs and he tipped it over into the water. Now the main part of the filling was ruined, diluted in the water. We were running out of time and we needed to make another batch super quick. WAIT! We do not have enough white chocolate chips left, oh no. So, hubby ran to the store to get some more chips. Needless to say, I was a little stressed.  When he got back from the store we got it going again and this time he successfully got the bowl out without getting any water in it or spilling any of it out.

After that little fiasco, we moved on to the next step of the filling which was whipping everything together. I only have a handheld beater and it takes a while to whip something. I dream that someday I will have a standalone mixer like the pros, hint hint.  I whipped, and whipped and whipped it good; finally after about 10 minutes it finally got to the consistency that I was looking for: peaking.  I added the vanilla at the end and wah-la the filling was done.

Now that the filling was done, I reached for the pie crust and then realized that I had skipped a step. I forgot to put the crust in the fridge to cool! So, I put the crust in the freezer for about 10 minutes to cool it down quickly.  While the crust was in the freezer I made the raspberry sauce which was really pretty easy with my food processor.  (You know, I know I should give my food processor a name, any suggestions?)  The recipe for the raspberry sauce was frozen raspberries with no syrup, sugar and some lemon. I blended all the ingredients together and there you go, raspberry sauce, and it was yummy.

Once the pie crust was cold, I put the filling in the pie and then sent the pie off to freezerland for about 5 hours.

We stopped at the store on the way to our life group to buy some fresh raspberries for garnish which added a lot of flavor. As we were getting ready to serve the pie we noticed it was not frozen all the way through. In retrospect, I should have done this the night before so the pie could have frozen overnight.  Here is the final product and it tasted just as good as it looks.

Hello Results: Due to the debacle with the rigged double boiler we wound of purchasing a real one so we don’t have that problem again. I will not try to make a pie hours before I need it.  I also started Weight Watchers so I am going to start putting points on my pies for those of you that might wonder. This pie with the sauce was 14 points a slice, and worth every point!  The number is getting lower!! 292 to go!

Pie #8: Classic Chocolate Cream Pie

I chose to make a pie for a life group that I attend each week since it was my week to bring sweets. I thought it would be a great opportunity to share a pie! My next pie to make was Classic Chocolate Cream Pie, doesn’t that just sound yummy? When I hear the words “chocolate” and “pie”, I think of my Mammaw because she used to make the BEST chocolate pie. So, I was nervous before I even started making this pie because I doubted this one could live up to the memories I had of her pies…

I was really tired when I started making this pie so I knew I would need some help. I asked my husband, Joshua, to be my sous-chef for this pie. Thankfully, he was happy to help, thanks babe!

The pie called for an Oreo pie crust, which is just smashed up Oreos and butter. Joshua did a great job in assembling this pie crust. He can smash things real well, like the Hulk… “Hulk Smash!” he says…

While my helper was working on the pie crust, I began to get the ingredients ready. As I was getting everything in order I came to the egg part. On a side note, we only had 5 eggs in the house and the recipe called for 4 egg YOLKS. When I read this I saw 4 egg WHITES since that’s what the recipes have been calling for lately. So, the first egg yolk I dumped right into the sink and Joshua was asking me what I was doing. Now, as the “head chef”, I thought to myself “I know you are not watching me make my pies, and don’t even think about telling me what I’m doing wrong!” So, I looked at him and said, “What? I am getting the egg whites!” Joshua gave a weird look and then said, “Umm, you might want to look at the recipe again…” Well, yeah, it called for 4 egg YOLKS not egg whites… So, I guess I’m lucky that Joshua caught that; it might have made a world of difference on how the pie turned out.

After the Oreo crust set in the freezer, we put it in the oven for a few minutes. When the time was up I was getting it out of the oven and I said, “No worries I got it!” Well, while taking the pie pan out of the oven IT SLIPPED from my hands, I did not drop it; but, it was a CLOSE call for sure.

I have noticed in my pie making journey that if it requires anything to be cooked on the stove for some reason I become a little nervous. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s all the stirring till you get the right consistency, and not knowing what I’m looking for that can be a tad bit nerve racking. So, while the pie crust was cooling we worked on the filling. I was so glad Joshua was there to help with the stirring part; it became quite difficult as the filling got thicker. The filling was supposed to take 5-7 minutes to melt on the stove. Well, five minutes past and then seven minutes passed and the filling took about fifteen minutes to get to the consistency that we needed. Once we got the cream consistency we were looking for, we had to work fast. We took the sauce pan off the burner and Joshua continued to stir as I added the rest of the ingredients. The filling got thick pretty fast, which is a good thing because that is what we were looking for.

After pouring the filling into the pie crust, the recipe said to cover the pie filling with a non-stick plastic cover to block out all the air. So, we used Glad Wrap Press and Seal and the first attempt to cover the pie did not work out very well; thankfully there was enough to try it one more time which seemed to work. After wrapping the pie we needed to let it cool again. So, I left it out for a while and then put in the refrigerator to let it set overnight.

After letting the pie set all night, during lunch the next day we checked the pie. Taking off the Press and Seal stuff the condensation that accumulated from the pie fell on the top of the pie. With Joshua’s quick thinking we got a paper towel and tipped the pie up on one end and used the paper towel to soak up the water. I started to wonder why it did that. Did the pie need to cool more before putting it in the fridge to cool over night? Should we have pushed down the cling film to the filling part so there would be no air (suggestion from my Mom)? But, if we did that, they when taking off the plastic wrap wouldn’t you lose some of the filling? I even called my Granny, she suggested using a non-stick foil next time and see if that helps. To this day, I still don’t know what I could have done differently. But, I will say this, next time the recipe calls for covering the filling I am going to recall what happened here and try something different. I am open to ideas, if you have any on this.

Per instructions from the Ken Haedrich book “Pie”, it is best not to do the topping till right before serving. So, just before leaving for our life group, where we were taking the pie, I made the topping. It consists of powder sugar and heavy whipping cream. It was easy to make and it turned out really good. I think next time I am going to decorate it in some way using the pastry piping thingy, I think that would be a nice touch.

Hello Results: Everyone loved the pie! It had just the right texture and was a hit! Even my kids loved it. I would love to figure out the plastic wrap vs. non-stick foil issue before I bake another pie like this. I need to make sure to not start a pie when I am already beat. It is great to know I have a wonderful sous-chef to help me! As for how it compared to my Mammaw’s pie, hers had a meringue topping and was baked (obviously a different pie) and this one was whipped and no-bake. I don’t completely remember what hers used to taste like but it made me feel closer to her and brought back wonderful memories. I miss you Mammaw! Only 292 to go! I love seeing that number go down.

Pie #7: Little No Bake Butter Finger Pie

One thing that strikes me as interesting about this “no bake” pie is the first instruction you read is to bake the pie…what’s up with that? So when I read that this pie would be a “no bake pie” I thought there would be no baking required, well, I was wrong. The little pies needed to be baked for five minutes and cooled before the filling could be put into the pies. Why do I say pies? This particular recipe called for little individual pie crusts, the kind you buy from the store all ready to go.

When going over the instructions for the pies I noticed that the recipe called for ½ cup of smooth peanut butter. Being that I am not the biggest fan of peanut butter I was not thrilled to see there would be that much peanut butter in it. I made a decision at the beginning of this pie journey that I would follow the directions to a “t”, so although I thought that a half of cup of PB was way too much, but what do I know, so I put in the ½ a cup of PB it called for. As I read on, I realized that the recipe also calls for an entire package of cream cheese which always seems to make everything okay. I love cream cheese, don’t you?

As I was wrapping up and putting away all of the ingredients for the pies, I read ahead and noticed that the pies were supposed to be in the fridge chilling… oops. So, I made the call to put the pie crusts in the freezer so it would allow the pies to chill faster in the amount of time I had left. I have learned when the recipe calls for something to be chilled, and you do not remember to do so, just stick the ingredients in the freezer for a few minutes and there you go… CHILLED!

I crushed one Butterfinger bar in our granite mortar and pestle grinder, or “medicine crusher” as I like to call it. This made for some nice little crumbs of Butterfinger.

After mixing all of the ingredients that the recipe called for I put some in each of my pie crusts. I had to make sure they were filled to the top and top them off with crushed Butterfinger candy.

After filling each pie and letting them set for at least 3 hours, it was time for topping. I whipped up some whipping cream till it became the consistency of whip cream. The flavor of the whipped cream was okay, not too good by itself, but it tasted great on top of the individual pies.

In the end pies turned out really well. I liked the combination of peanut butter and cream cheese and the constancy of the pies reminded me of custard and they even looked like custard pies, but it was not even close to tasting like it…

I made a total of 6 individual pies. Two of them I gave to our neighbor, one Joshua and I ate, and the other three pies I took to our friends the Fisher’s house.

Hello Results: I will say it was a lot of work for a no bake pie, just sayin... I liked the balance of peanut butter and cream cheese and the crunch the Butterfinger gave the pies. I will say the whipped cream needed something added to it for more flavor, like powdered sugar or something similar. Over all, a hit! 293 pies to go!