Week Three - Pumpkin Prailine Pie

Of the numerous pumpkin pies in the pie bible (Lion House Pies), my wife picked this as the first to try.  She's a lover of the pumpkin pie and told me that she wanted one all for herself.  Sharing is overrated.

Pie Crust

1/2 c butter

1/3 c lard (Yes, lard - it's in the meat department)

1/3 cup shortening

1 T sugar

1/2 t baking powder

1 t salt

1 T Nonfat dry milk

3 c flour

1/2 c cold water

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut the lard, butter, and shortening into the flour mix until just blended.  Set aside. 

Mix the nonfat dry milk into the water and slowly add to the other mixture until just blended. 

Refridgerate for 15 minutes. 

Separate into 2-3 chunks.  Roll out dough chunks on a floured surface.  Fold the dough over your hand and slide onto pie pan.  Knock the pan on the counter a few times to help set the dough into the pan.  Use the palm of your hand to press the dough against the sides of the pie tin, cutting off the excess dough.  Makes 2-3 shells.

Pumpkin Prailine Pie

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c butter, softened

1/3 c finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 c canned pumpkin

1/2 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground nutmeg

1/4 t ginger

1/4 t allspice

1/2 c sugar

1/3 c brown sugar

1 t salt

1 1/2 T cornstarch

2 eggs

1 c evaporated milk

1 c water 

Whipped cream to top

I know what you are thinking - holy shiz man that's a lot of ingredients!  The reality is that you just have to throw them all together so the pie really is easy.

Beat brown sugar and softened butter until creamy and stir in pecans.  Spread on the bottom of an unbaked pie shell.

Place pumpkin in a bowl and set aside.  Mix all dry ingredients together and add to pumpkin.  Mix well.  Add eggs and evaporated milk and mix well.  Add water and mix well.  Pour over first mixture. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  I ended up baking for closer to 70 minutes to get the knife to come out clean and my pie wasn't overcooked.

Do the dishes.

Since I was not allowed to partake of my wife's pie, I cannot rate this one.  However, she did pretty much eat the entire pie and loved every bite!

Week Two - Caramel Apple Pie

This time I decided to go with an all-American classic - an apple pie.  We're making a roast for our neighbors and this is the dessert.  I picked this recipe partly because I know our neighbors like the double-crust, but that also makes me a little nervous since that means I'm making pie dough.  Thank you Lion House Pie instructional DVD!

Caramel Apple Pie
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c flour
1 t cinnamon (plus more for dusting)
1/2 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg
8 apples, peeled, cored, sliced
1 T vanilla
2 T unsalted butter
2 T cream

First off, I bought 8 large apples which I found out was actually enough to make 2 pies so choose your apples wisely. 

Mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.  Peel, core, and slice apples, placing them in the biggest bowl you own or else you will end up dividing the apples amoung two bowls and mixing each of the separately. 

I used one of those apple corer things which cut my apples into large slices.  I was a little worried about that but it actually turned out perfectly.  Anyway, pour dry mixture over apples and add vanilla.  Stir.  Stir the mixture every 15 minutes while you are preparing the crust. 







Double-crust pie dough
2 1/2 c flour
1/4 c sugar
1/2 t salt
1 c butter flavored shortening
1 egg
1 T vinegar
1/4 c cold water

Mix together flour, sugar, and salt.  Cut in the shortening.  Beat egg and stir into flour mixture.  Stir in vinegar and then slowly add water - I accidentally reversed these two ingredients (dumped in the water and then slowly added the vinegar) and it turned out fine.  Refridgerate while making the pie filling.

Shape pie dough into 2 balls.  Roll one ball flat for the bottom.  Fold the dough in half over one hand and lift into pie tin.  Drop the pie tin a few times on the counter to shape the dough into the tin and trim the edges. Fill with pie filling and brush edges with water to seal dough together. 

Roll the other dough ball flat.  Fold in half and cut 3 slits in the middle.  Fold the dough back over (so that dough is flat again) then fold it over your hand and lift it onto the pie.  Apparently you are not supposed to stretch the dough, but that was pretty much impossible.  As you can see from the photo, the apple babies inside of the pregnant pie were trying to escape so I sort of had to try and contain them. 
Trim around the edges and also gently press edges together to seal the top and bottom crust together.  Brush cream over the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil.  Bake at 375 degrees for 80 minutes as follows:  30 minutes with foil around the edges, 30 minutes without any covering, and 20 minutes completely covered in aluminum foil.  I didn't take any pictures of the pie with foil around the edge because it looked stupid and I don't know what that means anyway...

Cool on the rack for an hour - make caramel sause while pie is cooking and cooling.

Caramel Sauce

1/4 c butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 c heavy cream
2 T corn syrup
1 t vanilla

Caution: This recipe makes enough caramel sauce for at least 2 pies.  In a heavy saucepan, melt butter on high heat.  Add brown sugar, heavy cream, and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Reduce heat to medium until sauce slightly thickens (5-7 minutes).  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Cool for 15 minutes and drizzle over pie.  I totally fudged this part up so no pictures of the caramel sauce!

This pie was so good!  Amazing really.  I was worried about the large chunks of apple, but seriously it was sooo good.  I wouldn't consider myself an apple pie fan, but this one changed my mind.  It wasn't as good reheated, but it was still pretty good.  Since I don't know much about crusts, I had to ask the neighbors.  They said the pie was awesome and the crust was perfect.  I would definitely do this one again.

Week One - Lemon Truffle Pie

I am a little worried about starting out with a pie requiring a traditional pastry crust.  I need to break myself in a little first. 

I picked this one that has a graham cracker crust because that sounded a lot easier than a pastry crust.  Also, this pie is intended for Sunday dinner with my side of the family and my mom specifically requested something to use up her cream cheese.  Beggars can be choosers. 

Graham Cracker Crust

16 graham cracker squares, crushed

3 T sugar

1/3 c butter

Basically, mix all ingredients and press into a 9 inch pie pan. 

Bake at 375 for 12 minutes.

My graham cracker crust burned.  The nice thing is that even though it was a little burned it still tasted ok which is another great reason to start with this crust.  Note: my oven cooks fast.

Lemon Truffle Pie

3T Cornstarch
1/3 c sugar
1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c water
Zest from 2 lemons
Juice from 1 lemon (about 5T)
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 T butter
1 c white choc chips
16 oz cream cheese, room temp
Whipped cream for topping

 

Stir Together cornstarch, 1/3 c sugar, and water in saucepan.  Add lemon zest and juice.  In a separate bowl, beat egg yolkswith 1/4 c sugar until well mixed.  Pour into saucepan with the first mixture and cook on medium heat stirring constantly until it boils for one minute.

Remove from heat and stir in butter.  Set aside 1 1/2 c of mixture for middle layer.  Add white chocolate chips and stir until melted.  Mix in cream cheese until smooth.

I had a little trouble with the cream cheese.  At first I tried to cube it, but it was too soft so I resorted to the electric mixer.  I mixed the cream cheese by itself first to smooth it out before adding in the lemon mixture.

Pour mixture into 9 in graham cracker pie crust.  Pour the 1 1/2 c of lemon mixture on top of the first layer and chill for 2 hours.  Top with whipped cream.

My mom said that she can't believe this pie had that 2 packages of cream cheese because it wasn't dense at all.  I was actually worried that whipping the cream cheese first was a bad idea since it made the bottom layer so thick, but maybe that's why it was so 'light'?  Would I make it again?  Yes.  It was pretty easy and definitely worth the time.  Maybe next time I'll only use 1 package of cream cheese and see how it turns out.  Then again, why mess with something that I know works?

Why pie?

Before this goes too far or gets real weird, there are a few things I should go ahead and share with the masses.  First off, yes I am a dude and no, I don't know anything about pie.  I love treats and desserts, but I was 19 or 20 the first time I tried pie and let's just say it didn't change my life.  Until that time I had only been exposed to the annual pumpkin pie which I never actually tried.  There was just something weird about eating a decoration from the previous holiday that didn't sit right with me.

Fast forward to 2011, and I feel like it's about time that I learned how to make a pie.  Why?  Well, it seems like pie is hard work.  I like the idea of a traditional dessert that's made from scratch - not from a mix or out of a box.  I've tried to master a few other desserts but haven't been able to find one where the 'from scratch' version so much better than the mix that I end up always making it from scratch. 

With pie, everyone says that the crust is the hard part, but since I have virtually no experience I think this will prove to be difficult from all angles. Besides, for me 2011 is sort of the year for fresh starts and my mom gave me the Lion House Pies book with an instructional DVD.