In honour of Pie Day (3.14) here are some of my favorite pie recipes.
I either make my own crusts (using the recipe on the back of the Tenderflake Lard box) or I use Pillsbury chilled crusts or frozen crusts (depending on my energy level, but I must admit the chilled crusts work just fine most of the time.)
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Apple Pie (King Arthur Flour)
Prepare 6-8 cups thinly sliced, peeled medium apples (Granny Smith, Pink Lady and Gala). Mix with ¾ cup sugar and let the mixture drain in a colander for about 30 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk together 2 Tbsp flour, 2 Tbsp corn starch, 1 tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp salt, ¾ tsp nutmeg, ¼ tsp allspice and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Gently stir in the drained apples.
Lightly butter and flour a glass pie plate.
Line the plate with a bottom crust and layer the apple filling into crust, avoiding large gaps. Dot with about 2 Tbsp butter.
Top with a second crust. Cut vents and crimp crusts to close.
Bake pie at 425 for 20 minutes: continue baking at 375 for 40 minutes.
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Pumpkin Pie (King Arthur Flour)
Mix 2 Tbsp flour, ¾ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and pinch cloves.
Add 1 ½ cup canned pumpkin, ¾ cup brown sugar, 2 Tbsp corn syrup and 1 ½ cups milk (or 12 oz evaporated milk).
Rest mixture 30 minutes on counter or overnight in fridge.
Add 2 beaten eggs and mix until smooth.
Pour into an unbaked 9" crust.
Bake on bottom oven rack at 450 for 15 minutes. Move to middle rack and continue baking at 350 for 35 minutes.
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Gram’s Strawberry Meringue Pie
My grandmother invented this recipe for when she had company but didn't have very many strawberries - just a cup of sliced berries is more than enough for this pie. Eat it all that day (which is very easy to do!)
Beat 3 egg whites until stiff. Stir in approximately 6 Tbsp sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Fold in 1 cup cut-up strawberries.
Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
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Open-face Berry Pie
I developed this recipe to use the blackberries we used to pick -- it also works for peaches and blueberries, or raspberries, or a combination.
Cook approx. 2 cups berries (blackberries or blueberries) or 2 sliced peaches in 1 ½ cups water for 10 minutes.
Mash and drain the fruit through a sieve. Add the juice to 2/3-1 cup sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice and 3 Tbsp moistened corn starch. (Optional: also use pinch of appropriate spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.) Cook a few minutes until you have a clear syrup. Put aside to cool somewhat.
Spread approx. 2 cups fresh berries or sliced peaches or a combination in a baked pie shell or baked tart shells. Pour the warm syrup over the fruit and let the pie cool completely
Serve with whipped cream.
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Heating a Cooked Frozen Pie
Sometimes when we buy a bakery pie I cut it in half and freeze it. But I don't just thaw the pie when I want to eat it, because the crust will be soggy. I heat it from frozen in a hot oven instead, so the extra moisture evaporates and the crust crisps up again.
Freeze a full pie or a half pie well-wrapped, on a metal or foil pie plate.
Heat the frozen pie for about 15 minutes at 425-450, then for an additional 15 minutes at 350-375, until it is warm.
(Follow the same instructions for frozen tarts, though the reheating doesn't take as long.)
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My Banana Split Pie
Why are some recipes so complicated? Today the Washington Post published a recipe for something they call "Banana Split Sundae Pie" and it has 17 ingredients, for heavens sake, with eight different steps you're supposed to do to pull this recipe together. It wants you to cook a caramel sauce, grind pretzels for a crust, soften and re-freeze three batches of ice cream, thin out jam, grate chocolate, find two types of cherries -- the list just goes on and on. Exhausting!
All this for a recipe that is basically Neapolitan ice cream, bananas and sauce.
So here's my version:
Slice a banana and spread it over the bottom of a purchased crumb crust (vanilla, graham, or chocolate). Sprinkle with lemon juice.
Soften several cups of Neapolitan ice cream, swirl to mix the colours and flavours, and scoop the ice cream into the crust over the bananas. Smooth and refreeze.
When ready to serve, slice the frozen pie and add any other toppings you want -- whipped cream, various ice-cream sauces (strawberry, caramel, chocolate), sliced bananas, crushed pineapple, chopped cherries, chopped nuts, sprinkles, etc.
That's it.
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