Summer Berry Pie

I never want to actually make anything with fruit because I prefer to eat it on its own or in cereal or with yogurt. But around this time, when its prime berry season, I can justify getting more berries to use in desserts. Fruit desserts are my favorite kind of dessert anyway, especially in the summer.

I made this for a party that our HOA threw for the 4th of July, except it was on the 1st since a lot of people would be going out of town. Most of the people that live in our condominium complex are empty-nesters or single, older people with grandchildren around my age. It's kind of like living with a bunch of grandparents because they're all really nice and want to talk to us all the time. They also loved this pie. Given the plethora of desserts on the table, I thought I would be taking a lot of this home, but I only had about a 1/3 of it left. Everyone wanted to know what made up the filling. The filling is pureed berries, strained, and then cooked with cornstarch to thicken it. It sets up beautifully in the refrigerator, and a lot of people guessed that it was jam. The other nice thing about this pie is that it isn't too sweet, just very refreshing for a hot summer evening.

Summer Berry Pie
source: Annie's Eats

Ingredients
For the crust:
5 oz. graham crackers (approx. 9 crackers), broken into rough pieces
2 tbsp. sugar
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and warm

For the filling:
2 cups raspberries (about 9 oz.)
2 cups blackberries (about 11 oz.)
2 cups blueberries (about 10 oz.)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp. strawberry jam

Preparation
To make the crust, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, process the graham crackers into fine, even crumbs (you should have about 1 cup of crumbs). Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a small mixing bowl and toss with a fork until all the crumbs are moistened. Transfer the crumbs to a 9-inch glass pie plate. Use the bottom of a ramekin or measuring cup to press the crumbs evenly into the bottom and up the sides, forming a crust. Bake in the preheated oven until it is fragrant and beginning to brown, 15-18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely while making the filling.

For the filling, combine the berries in a large colander and gently rinse (taking care not to bruise them). Spread the berries on a paper towel-lined rimmed baking sheet and gently pat dry with additional paper towels.
In a food processor, puree 2 1/2 cups of the mixed berries until smooth and fully pureed, about 1 minute. Strain the puree through a fine mesh sieve into a small nonreactive saucepan, scraping and pressing on the seeds to extract as much puree as possible (you should have 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups). Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a small bowl to combine, then whisk the mixture into the puree. Bring the puree to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon; when the mixture reaches a boil and is thickened to the consistency of pudding, remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice, and set aside to cool slightly.

While the puree is cooling, place the remaining berries in a medium bowl. Warm the jelly (or jam) briefly in the microwave to melt it slightly. Add the warmed jelly to the bowl of mixed berries and toss very gently so that all the berries are coated. Pour the berry puree into the cooled crust and smooth with a rubber spatula. Evenly distribute the glazed berries over the puree and gently press into the surface. Loosely cover the pie with plastic wrap; refrigerate until chilled and the puree has set, about 3 hours (or up to 1 day). Slice with a hot, dry knife and serve.

Mile-High Lemon Meringue Pie

You know that rule about how you're supposed to make things that you've made before when planning a dinner for guests? Yeah, I routinely break it. Last year for Easter, this meant a trifle that tasted way too much like chemicals. This year, I left it up to Cook's Country. Joe had suggested a lemon meringue pie, gesturing with his hands just how tall he wanted the meringue to be. I had never made meringue. Or lemon curd. But that didn't stop me.

Like everything in the America's Test Kitchen vein, this lemon meringue pie tastes like a lemon meringue pie should. Lots of lemon juice gives it a great, puckery lemon flavor, and the meringue is silky and light. I don't have a stand mixer, so I just used a hand-held, which took slightly longer than the times indicated in the recipe.

Mile-High Lemon Meringue Pie
source: Cook's Country

Ingredients

1 (9-inch) pie shell. fully baked and cooled
FOR THE LEMON FILLING:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup of lemon juice (from 6 lemons)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
8 large egg yolks (reserve 4 whites for meringue later)
2 tbsp. grated lemon zest
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces

FOR THE MERINGUE:
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
4 egg whites
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preparation

TO MAKE THE FILLING:
Whisk sugar, lemon juice, water, cornstarch and salt together in a large non-reactive saucepan until cornstarch is dissolved. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking occasionally until mixture is translucent and begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.

Whisk in yolks until combined. Stir in zest and butter. Bring to a simmer and stir constantly until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes.

Strain through fine mesh strainer into the baked and cooled pie shell and scrape off filling from the bottom of strainer. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the filling and refrigerate until set and well chilled, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

WHEN READY TO MAKE THE MERINGUE:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine water and sugar in saucepan. Bring to a vigorous boil over medium high heat. Once syrup comes to a rolling boil, cook for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside while beating egg whites.

With electric mixer beat whites in large bowl at medium low speed until frothy, about 1 minute. Add salt and cream of tartar and beat gradually increasing speed to medium high, until whites hold soft peaks, about 2 minutes. With mixer running, slowly pour hot syrup into the whites. Add vanilla and beat until meringue has cooled and becomes shiny and thick, 5-9 minutes.

Using a rubber spatula, mound meringue over filling making sure meringue touches the edges of the crust. Use spatula to create peaks all over the pie.

Bake until peaks turn golden brown about 6 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature and serve.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Poor Joe has been practically begging me to make a pecan pie ever since this summer, but it just didn't feel quite right in the summer heat to be eating pecan pie. And, to be fair, I'm not that big of a fan of regular pecan pie. Because I know how many calories are in it, I've found that it isn't really worth it on most occasions.

But this, this is different. I knew Joe would go for the bourbon flavor, and I liked the addition of the chocolate. I altered the amounts and the method based on the comments and reviews of the recipe, and those changes are reflected below. Joe said he would've liked a stronger bourbon flavor, but since I didn't know how our other guests would feel about it, I reduced it.

This pie will knock your socks off. You will find yourself returning again and again to the pie plate wondering who ate all of the pie until you realize that it was you. The chocolate is marvelously gooey, and the pie has that great caramelized crunchy top. If you make this pie, everyone will love you!


Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
source: Allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 (9 inch) deep-dish pie shell
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp bourbon (If you prefer a stronger bourbon flavor, the original recipe calls for 1/4 cup)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (I didn't measure, just covered the bottom.)
  
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees F).
2. In a small saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, and butter or margarine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until butter or margarine melts and sugar dissolves. Cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl combine eggs, bourbon, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Slowly pour sugar mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly. Stir in pecans. Create a layer of chocolate chips on the bottom of the pie shell and pour mixture over the chocolate chips, into pie shell.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until set and golden. May be served warm or chilled.

Farewell to Summer: Peach Pie Redux

It's that time of year again. I've been in school for a week. The days are getting noticeably shorter. All of the BBQs and county fairs are winding down. It's the end of summer. Despite the heat, summer is my favorite season so I always mourn for a little bit as Labor Day approaches. This weekend I decided that instead of mourning, I would bake my farewell to summer: my last peach pie of the season.

Is there a more beautiful sight in this world than a bowl full of ripe peaches? I think not.

Although this was the same recipe I used here, it didn't turn out quite as well texturally. There must have been more moisture in the peaches than last time because when we cut into the pie, it went everywhere.


Oh well. It's still delicious, especially with some Purity 98% fat-free ice cream on top.

Good-bye peaches. Good-bye summer. See you next year!

Chocolate Chess Pie

On my chess pie entry, Kelly left a comment that I should try her version of chess pie, which is her great-aunt's recipe for chocolate chess pie. Joe seemed particularly excited by this, so since he was on-call Wednesday night, I decided to have it waiting for him on Thursday when he came home. Besides, nothing is better than an older Southern woman's recipes for pie.



Let me tell you, this is an incredibly sexy pie. It has all of the smooth creaminess of the chess pie with the darker flavors of the chocolate. Joe came home and ate a whole quarter of the pie; that's how good it is. It's the kind of pie that will make you moan when you take that first bite. And it still has everything I love about the plain chess pie, namely that great hardening on top, almost like creme brulee.



Kelly's Great-Aunt Jeanne's Chocolate Chess Pie

1 9" single pie crust

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 stick of butter
2 eggs
1 small can of evaporated milk (5-6 oz)
1 tsp of vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Mix cocoa with sugar; add melted (but cooled) butter and stir well. Mix in 2 eggs, then evaporated milk and vanilla. Beat for 5-6 minutes. Pour mixture into pie crust. Bake on 350 for 40 minutes or until set in middle. Let cool and chill until ready to serve. It's best served chilled.

I was a little nervous at first because the filling was really liquid-y, but I had no problems with it setting.

Peach Pie

Last week I was over at my parents' house when my dad came in with a big basket of peaches. My family has a little bit of an obsession about peaches. We won't touch the ones in the grocery store, but if there is a ripe, juicy locally-grown peach, we are there. When we lived in Texas, it was Freestone County peaches. Last summer I bought a small paper bag full of them for $8. Joe thought I was crazy until he had one. Almost every summer, they make my grandma's recipe for homemade peach ice cream, so when my dad walked in with all of those peaches, it immediately popped into my head to make a peach pie.

I had never made a two-crust pie or even a fruit pie. My only pie experience was with pumpkin pie around the holidays. Despite my lack of experience, the pie turned out phenomenally, though I give most of that credit to the peaches being so ripe and tasty.



Ingredients:
- 1 (15 ounce) package pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
- 1 egg, beaten
- 5 cups sliced peeled peaches (about 10 medium-large peaches)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter

Instructions:
-Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C).

-Line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie plate with one of the pie crusts. Brush with some of the beaten egg to keep the dough from becoming soggy later.

-Place the sliced peaches in a large bowl, and sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix gently. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Pour over the peaches, and mix gently. Pour into the pie crust, and dot with butter. Cover with the other pie crust, and fold the edges under. Flute the edges to seal or press the edges with the tines of a fork dipped in egg. Brush the remaining egg over the top crust. Cut several slits in the top crust to vent steam.

- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes, until the crust is brown and the juice begins to bubble through the vents. If the edges brown to fast, cover them with strips of aluminum foil about halfway through baking. Cool before serving. This tastes better warm than hot.

Some of the comments on allrecipes said it was too soggy and needed to cook longer. I didn't have this problem. I took it out of the oven at 32 minutes, and it was perfect. I served it microwaved with a side of Purity 98% Fat-Free Vanilla Ice Cream.

recipe from here

Mom's Quiche

So maybe I was a little harsh in my introduction. My mom did pass down this delicious quiche recipe that meets my fast, cheap, and easy criteria. Joe was wary of it since it didn't have any meat, so this time I fried up a little bacon that I had left over and tossed it in the bottom of the pie crust.



Ingredients:
- 9-inch unbaked pie crust (I use deep dish)
- 10 oz frozen spinach, cooked and drained
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 8 oz swiss cheese cut in 1/2" strips
- 2 tbsp flour
- 3 eggs
- salt and pepper

Instructions:
Scramble eggs and mix with cream. Toss swiss cheese with flour and add to egg and cream mixture. Add spinach and season with salt and pepper. Mix ingredients and pour into pie crust. Bake at 350-degrees for 1 hour.

One of my favorite things about this dish is that it's so versatile. It's just as good hot and gooey as it is slightly cold. It can go with me for lunch or to a potluck dinner. Plus, there are always plenty of leftovers!