Apricot - Strawberry Pie (3 star)

6
8/28/11
This is a unique combination of fruit but it works well. I usually don't like cooked strawberries so I don't include them in my Jumbleberry Pie. I modified the original recipe to use tapioca instead of cornstarch.


Fresh Apricot - Strawberry Pie
(Pie, Ken Haedrich, Harvard Common Press)


Filling
3 cups pitted and sliced fresh apricots, unpeeled
1/3 cup plus 3 tablesppons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup tapioca
1-1/2 cups hulled and sliced fresh strawberries

Crust
Double Crust Buttermilk Crust

Combine apricots, 1/3 cup sugar, and lemon juice in a bowl. Set aside to juice 30 minutes.Add strawberries, tapioca, and remaining sugar. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes then reduce heat to 375 degrees, rotate pie 180 degrees and bake about 30 minutes until juices bubble thickly through steam vents.

Fresh Plum Pie (4 star)

5
8/21/11
Yesterday I noticed our plums were ready. I've never tried a plum pie before so I turned to my favorite book: "Pie" by Ken Haedrich and sure enough I found plum pie recipes. The only variation I made was to use our homemade grape juice instead of ruby port. I really liked it, very tangy but a good flavor. We topped it with vanilla ice cream and it was just right. To make it even better Nicole and Katie were here from Pennsylvania and Miles and Stacey and their family were here from Indiana. We all gathered at Dad's for dinner and tested the pie.

Fresh Plum Pie
(Pie, Ken Haedrich, Harvard Common Press)

1/2 cup unsweetened grape juice
7 cups pitted and sliced plums, unpeeled
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca
2 tablespoons raspberry preserves
1 tablespoon  fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400 F. Quarter plums, remove pits, add sugar, and grape juice. Stir in tapioca, raspberry, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Turn the filling into the chilled pie shell, cook for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F. and rotate pie 180 degrees. Bake for another 15 - 30 minutes until filling bubbles.

Buttermilk Pie Crust

Balaton Cherry Pie (5 star)

4
8/14/11
After a meeting at work Robert took us to his Orchards in Santaquin to see his operation. It was very impressive from the harvesting, coolling, washing, pitting, and final preparation. He told us about a new variety of pie cherries, Balaton, they are growing. The Balaton is a European favorite named for a like in its native Hungary. It has the tangy tast of a sour cherry, but the smooth satisfying flavor of a sweet cherry, and a deep burgundy color. Of course, I had to try some. I bought one package which turned out to be about 4 cups worth. They are great cherries, the best I have tasted. I turned to the "Pie" book and sure enough it had a Balaton Pie recipe.



Balaton Cherry Pie
(Pie, Ken Haedrich, Harvard Common Press)

4 cups fresh Balaton cherries, stemmed and pitted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Buttermilk Pie Crust
(Lion House Pies, Deseret Book)

3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup buttermilk

Apricot Pineapple Pie (4 star)

3
8/7/11
Apricots are on and we have a lot of them. We usually dry them and make lots of jam. Kerry also made some great ham roll-ups with an apricot sauce. We decided to use them in a pie, the Lion House Pie Book has a great recipe, we modified it slightly and it turned out good but it had too much pineapple for my taste.

Filling
4 cups fresh apricot halves
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple tidbits
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Crust
Lion House Pie Crust

Pit and quarter apricots, mix Add pineapple and 1 cup pineapple juice. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt; pour on top of fruit and mix with spatula. Pour into pie shell, add top crust and seal, brush with buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown.

Raisin Pie (5 star)

2
7/31/11
My Grandma Anna made lots of pies at Thanksgiving but her Raisin Pie is what I remember. We've tried other raisin recipes but I like this one the best. It turned out really well with a good flavor and plump raisins.We also like raisin-filled cookies and whenever we are in the area we stop at the Lehi Bakery for their raisin-filled cookies. One day Abby, Deward, and I stopped at the Lehi Bakery and I found out Deward liked the cookies too - in fact we didn't have any left by the time we got home.

Raisin Pie
(Lion House Pies, Deseret Book)
1-1/2 cup raisins
1-1/2 cups water
1/4 cup pineapple juice, or 1/4 cup more water
1/2 cup teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lemon juice

In small sausepan, combine raisins, water, pineapple juice, and vanilla. Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes. Pour micture through strainer. Set raisins aside, reserving liquid.

Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt; add hot raisin liquid, beating with wire whip. Continue cooking ans stirring until thick, about 5 minutes. Add raisins and lemon juice; pour into unbaked pie shell. Cover with crust, seal and crimp. Bake at 375 degrees F. for about 50 minutes or to the desired brownness.

Pecan Pie (3 star)

1
7/24/11
Abby had been asking for a pecan pie for quite a while, but I have never been a big fan of the pie. When Kerry's "Cooks Country" came in the mail it had a recipe for Old Fashioned Pecan Pie so we decided to give it a try. It is very rich, too rich for my taste. We did substitute the Maple Syrup with artificial syrup but I think it came off okay.


Old Fashioned Pecan Pie
(Cook's Country Magazine, No. 38)

1 cup maple syrup
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon molasses
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups pecans, toasted and chopped

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat syrup, sugar, cream, and molasses in saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes. Whisk butter and salt into syrup mixture until combined. Wisk in egg yolks until incorporated.

Arrange pecans in bottom of pie shell. Pour filling evenly on top of pecans, place in hot oven, immediately turn down heat to 325 degrees bake until filling is set and center jiggles slightly when gently shaken, 45 to 60 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Lion House Pie Crust
(Lion House Pies, Deseret Book)

Makes two shells
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup lard
1/4 cup margarine
1/3 cup shortening
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk
1-1/2 cups pastry flour
1-1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold water