Monday, April 23, 2012

Fresh Strawberry Pie (5 stars)

44
Fresh Strawberry Pie
4/23/12

I'm a little late with this pie. I ended up at the State Republican Convention all day on Saturday and I do mean all day. It was my first time at the convention and what an experience. I think everyone should have the opportunity to go and see what it is like.I was looking through the Lion House Pie book and this recipe looked patriotic with red strawberries, white whipped cream, and blueberries. So in keeping with the convention, here it is.



Fresh Strawberries
Crust: Single buttermilk pie

Filling:
4 cups diced ripe strawberries
2 cups sugar
1/t teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest


2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups halved strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries, divided
Whipped cream

Place diced strawberries in a gallon-sized zipper lock bag; seal well and knead bag to crush berries. Pour crushed berries into a large saucepan and combine with sugar and salt. Remove 1 cup of this mixture and blend with cornstarch in a small bowl; pour back into saucepan. Cook and stir strawberry mixture over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to stir and scrape the bottom of the pan until thick and clear. Stir in lemon zest. Place in a chilled, medium sized bowl and cool in refrigerator, about 1 hour. Stir in lemon juice.

Place halved strawberries and 1/4 cup of the blueberries in bottom of baked pie shell. Spoon chilled glaze over berries. Garnish whit whipped cream and remaining blueberries.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Black Bottom Key Lime (5 stars)

43
Black Bottom Key Lime Pie
4/14/12

Key Lime is one of my favorite pies, but not the fake one with green food coloring. This is a recipe from Crisco and is a little twist on the simple Key Lime. It uses a fudge bottom layer, macadamias, and then a key lime - sour cream layer. I've discovered that the key to pies with sour cream is to add the sour cream after the filling has cooled to room temperature.


Fudge Layer

Crust: Single Buttermilk Crust

Filling:
1/2 cup chocolate fudge ice cream topping
2/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

1 cup milk
Crushed Macadamia
3 egg yolks lightly beaten
1/3 cup key lime juice
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup sour cream



Topping
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
Chocolate shavings

Bake bottom pie shell at 425 F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned, cool completely.

Spread fudge topping over bottom of cooled pie crust. Sprinkle with nuts. In a separate bowl, stir gelatin with boiling water until completely dissolved.

Combine sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan. Stir in milk until smooth. Sir in egg yolks and key lime juice. Add shortening. Cook on medium heat stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in gelatin mixture slowly. Pour into a large bowl and chill for 40 to 50 minutes. Fold in sour cream and pour into pie crust over the fudge and macadamia nuts. Chill two hours.

Combine cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Beat until stiff, spoon on top of pie, garnish with chocolate shavings.


Natalie and Pie

Slice of Heaven


Saturday, April 7, 2012

Lemon Swirl Cream Cheese Pie (3 stars)

42
Lemon Swirl Cream Cheese Pie
4/7/12


We got together for our traditional Easter egg coloring. Savannah and Sage were in town and kept us all laughing. We also have a traditional Easter dinner on Sunday with spiral ham, funeral potatoes, and dinner rolls. I couldn't think of a traditional Easter pie so I went to the Crisco website which has a lot of great ideas. Lemon must be one of our favorite flavors because we seem to make a lot of them.


Baked Crust
Crust:
1-1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
3/4 cup ground almonds, toasted
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
7 teaspoons butter, melted

Lemon Curd:
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
Adding Cream Cheese Mixture
3 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, cubed

Cheesecake:
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Adding Swirl
Topping:
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
12 to 15 fresh raspberries
1 lemon thinly sliced and quartered




Whisk together sugar, lemon juice and lemon peel in small saucepan. Whisk in eggs. Add butter. Cook over medium-low heat 7 minutes of until thickened, stirring constantly. Transfer lemon curd into bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface to prevent skin from forming. Cool 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 F. Coat a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate with no-stick cooking spray. Stir together crumbs, almonds and lemon peel. Stir in butter. Press mixture onto bottom and sides of pie plate. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool completely on wire rack.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes or until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed until just blended. Measure 1/2 cup prepared lemon curd and set aside. Add remaining lemon curd to cream cheese mixture with sour cream, vanilla and lemon extract. Mix until blended. Pour into prepared crust. Spoon reserved lemon curd by tablespoonfuls over cheesecake filling. Swirl into filling with a sharp knife. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool completely on wire rack. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Beat cream, powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks from. Pipe whipped cream onto pie, along inside edge of crust, creating a decorative boarder. Garnish with raspberries and lemon slices. Chill until ready to serve.











Jeff and Karly

Abby, Sage, and Savannah

Mariel's Collage

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Black Bottom Pie (4 stars)

41
Black Bottom Pie
3/31/12

Each General Conference we gather at my Dad's house after the priesthood session on Saturday night. It's usually modified pot luck so you never know whats for dinner. I really like it because its a chance to catch up with extended family. I made a Black Bottom Pie (Lion House), it takes several steps but is worth it. The gingerbread crust gives it a unique flavor and a little zing. Of course I love ginger snaps with a glass of milk and barely had enough to make the crust.

Crust:
Chocolate Layer
36 gingersnaps
1/2 cup butter

Filling:
3 cups whole milk
4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup cornstarch
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
4 eggs, separated
Finished Pie
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
2 Tablespoons unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
1 cup sigar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons imitation rum flavoring

Garnish:
Whipped cream
Chocolate flakes

Crush gingersnaps (I blended them) mix with melted butter, mold into 10 inch pie plate.

Scald milk; add butter. In a separate bowl mix 1-1/2 cups sugar, and cornstarch; moisten with water to make a past, stir into milk and cook until boiling, stir constantly. Add beaten egg yolks and cook for 2 minutes and add vanilla. Remove 2 cups of custard, add chocolate, beat well, pour into crumb crust and chill. Blend gelatin with cold water, allow to set for a few minutes, fold into remaining hot custard and allow to cool. Beat egg whites, 1 cup sugar, and cream of tartar int a meringue. Add rum flavoring and mix into custard. Pour plain custard onto chilled chocolate custard and chill. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate.

Neil J.
Pie tasting





Black Bottom Pie
Marc


Van

Girls Camp

Each year the young women in our ward hold a dinner and auction to raise funds for the upcoming girls camp. It's a fun night and usually a packed house. You can find just about everything at the auction, Ramon used to donate a Green River fishing trip. You can get boat rides, yard work, jewelry, and lots of baked goods.  The most unique this year were rabbits just in time for spring. Kids were bidding (including Abby) much to the chagrin of their parents. Kerry donates a quilt each year which takes her hours and hours to make but she loves doing it. Eileen always donates her famous pies, this year it was cherry, blueberry, and apple. One day I'm going to see if she will hold a training session so I can get a few tips This year I donated a Sour Cream Lemon pie (Kerry's favorite) and was happy to see Dave and Laraine be the winning bidders. I hope it was okay.