Caramel Apple-Pecan Pie (5 stars)

52
Caramel Apple-Pecan Pie
6/18/12

Well, its hard to believe we have reached the end of 52 pies. I think the family is pretty sick of pies but they were good to humor me since last June. We learned many things along the way: I think our crusts have improved; we have a double boiler; we learned to use the bottom rack in the oven; and we have discovered some good taste combinations and some that we really don't like.

We were stumped when it came to the last pie. We considered many recipes, asked for suggestions, but in the end we turned to the "Pie" recipe book by Ken Haedrich that Nathan and Nicole gave me a couple of years ago. It has 300 recipes! And one Caramel - Apple - Pecan Recipe.

I heard somewhere that the king of candy used to be caramel until Milton Hershey developed a cheaper way to make milk chocolate for mass-production. After this recipe however, we might need to reconsider caramel. It really is a good combination.

Thanks to Kerry for putting up with my crazy idea and for tasting every single pie.  From now on we can make our favorite pies when we feel like it. Hopefully we will try a new recipe now and then.

Thanks for reading the blog everyone.

Cutting apples

Kerry cutting apples

Crust: Buttermilk Bottom Crust

Kerry and Reed

Filling: 
10 Caramels cut into quarters
7 cups peeled, cored, and sliced Golden Delicious apples
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pecan Crumb Topping:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup pecan halves

Pie 52

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Caramel and Garnish
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon water
30 caramels
Large handful of pecan halves
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Prepare bottom crust and sprinkle 10 quartered caramels in the pie shell, put into freezer until ready to use. Combine apples, brown sugar, lemon juice in a bowl, mix well. Mix add granulated sugar and cornstarch together. Mix into apples, add cinnamon and vanilla then mix.Pour into pie shell and bake in preheated oven at 400 F for 30 minutes.

Make crumb topping by combining flour, pecan halves, granulated sugar, salt and pulse in a food processor. Add chopped butter and pulse again. Remove pie from oven, reduce temperature to 375 F and add crumb topping. Tamp down lightly. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, tent with foil for the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning. Cool for one hour

Prepare caramel by placing 30 caramels, water, and butter in a double boiler, melt and stir together. drizzle over cooled pie sprinkle chopped pecans and pecan halves on top of the drizzled pie. Let cool for another hour.

Last Pie

Natalie, Spencer and Pie: 5 days before the wedding

Nicole, Katie, and Nathan

Caramel Apple Pie (5 stars)

Caramel Apple Pie
51
6/9/12

Jim slicing apples

In the oven

In the Oven

 After a year and a half of planning we held the stake Aaronic Priesthood Encampment down at Escalante, Utah. It went really well. We had activities: Zip Line (ask about the rubber chickens), Canoeing, Challenge Course, Frisbee Golf, Iron Man, Top Shot, and Man Skills. We had hikes: Egypt 1, Egypt 2 (300 foot rappel), Pine Box/Death Hollow, etc. Some of us went down early on Friday and Saturday to get ready for the event that started on Tuesday. Saturday night we made a pie in a dutch oven. We have done it once before, we use a 14 inch oven and put a pie tin upside down on the bottom and then the pie on top of the inverted tin. We made the crust at home and carried it in a cooler but the top crust cracked so much we just crumbled it on top. In this recipe we used Granny Smith apples and then drizzled Caramel topping on top of each slice. It worked very well.

Jim, Reed, and Nate

Reed and pie

Out of the oven

Crust: Double Buttermillk Crust

Filling:

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1./2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
8 Granny Smith apples
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons cream

Topping: Smuckers caramel topping.

Prepare crust and keep in the refrigerator until ready to fill. Peel and core apples, cut into chunks. Mix dry ingredients then mix with apples and vanilla. Pour into prepared shell, cover with top crust. Cook at 375 F for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes then drizzle topping over warm pie.

Slice of Pie

Well set-up

Bumbleberry Pie (4 stars)

46
Bumbleberry Pie
5/6/12


We love Zions National Park and have been there many times. As you pass through the small community of Spingdale, Utah, just outside of the Park, there is a hotel called The Bumbleberry Inn, home of the famous Bumbleberry Pie!. I've never stopped but I will some day. On their website they have this description: "According to Grandpa, bumbleberries are burple and binkel berries that grow on giggle bushes, so named because they giggle when the berries ripen and the bush begins to quake, and at the precise moment that they ripen, they giggle. If you were to eat a berry while it was giggling, you would spend the rest of your life giggling!." 

Cutting the pie

Natalie asked what is the difference between bumbleberry and jumbleberry pie. Our jumbleberry is usually a combination of two or three berries where bumbleberry has a lot more. The Pie book has a couple of bumbleberry variations and here's our own. 


Crust: Buttermilk Double Crust


Filling:
1 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries

Bumbleberry

1 cup cherries (if canned, don't use 
   the pie filling kind in heavy syrup)
1 cup strawberries
1 pear, diced


1 Granny Smith apple, diced
1 Teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Bishop and pie

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 Tablespoons butter, in small pieces


Prepare crust and chill. Combine fruit, lemon juice in large bowl. Combine cornstarch and sugar, mix and tehn add to fruit mixture. Stir well but avoid crushing fruit. Turn filling into pie shell, dot with butter, add top. Brush with cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at preheated oven at 40 F for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 F and rotate pie 180 degrees. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the steam vents bubble thickly.

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.

Scottish Apple Pie (4 Stars)

39
Scottish Apple Pie
3/18/12

I wanted to make a pie with a St. Patrick's Day theme but wasn't interested in just adding green food coloring. I remembered this recipe we found back in 2005 on the epicurious.com website. Although its not Irish the Murray's are from Scotland so I thought, close enough. Evelyn Herring posted this explanation: "My mother was raised in Scotland and learned to cook at a time when quality ingredients were hard to come by. She had to be imaginative, often substituting ingredients and improvising recipes." The ginger snaps add the spice and the orange marmalade and zest give it an interesting flavor.

Crust: 2 crust buttermilk

Filling:
6 -7 large Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup gingersnap cookie crumbs
1/3 cup marmalade
1/3 cup golden raisins
1 teaspoon grated orange peel zest

Glaze:
Heavy whipping cream
Coarse sugar












Mix apples, sugar, cookie crumbs, marmalade, raisins, and orange peel in large bowl. Line large pie plate with bottom crust. Pour in filling and top with remaining crust. Brush on whipping cream, cut vents, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in preheated oven at 425 F for 15 minutes. Rotate pie 180 degrees, cover crust edge with foil, bake at 375 F for 40 minutes or until bubbling thickly.

Pear Fig Pie (3 Stars)

38
Pear Fig Pie
3/10/12

We celebrated Karly's birthday yesterday but she declined to have a birthday pie and opted for cake instead. This recipe sounded like an interesting combination,we made a slight variation but I think it turned out well. Kerry had a laughing fit as she watched me juice the tiny tangerines on the orange juicer - it was funny and time consuming.

Embedded pecans

Crust: Double buttermilk crust

Filling:
3 large pears
1 cup diced dried figs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh tangerine juice
1 teaspoon tangerine zest

Filling

2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 cup pecans

Finished Pie

Combine one third of the peeled and sliced pears, figs, sugar, tangerine juice, tangerine zest in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer until the fruit has absorbed most of the liquid. Add remaining pears, honey, lemon juice, 1/2 cup pecans. Roll out bottom crust, line pie plate, add filling. Roll out top crust, sprinkle remaining pecans on crust, gently roll into crust, embedding them deeply. Cover pie with top crust. Brush with cream and sprinkle a little sugar. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 F, rotate pie 180 degrees, reduce heat to 375 and bake for another 35 - 40 minutes until filling is bubbling thickly.

Almond Crunch Blueberry Pie (4 stars)

35
Almond Crunch Blueberry Pie
2/19/12

Here's another pie recipe from Crisco. With all the berries I thought it would be too tart but turned out to have a light blueberry flavor. I liked the crust with the tangerine zest. It caed for tangerine and lemon but we just used tangerine.

Blueberries

Pie Crust

Preparing Filling

Crust: Buttermilk with tangerine
1-1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
3 Tablespoon buttermilk
2 teaspoon tangerine zest
2 teaspoon lemon zest

Before

Filling:
3 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon tangerine zest

Topping:

After

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped almonds

Mariel and Callie the Cat

Prepare crust and refrigerate. Mix eggs, sour cream and zest. Then add sugar, flour and salt, mix well. add blueberries and set aside. Prepare bottom curst and pour in filling. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over filling. Bake at 375 F in a pre-heated oven for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Josh and Sydney

Leftovers

Apple-Raspberry-Cranberry (4 stars)

34

Ready to roll out

Apple-Raspberry-Cranberry
2/11/12




This is another Crisco recipe with a few variations. I like the Apple Raspberry combination but we have never tried cranberries.

Crust: Buttermilk with a substitution of 1/2 cup flour whole-wheat

Rolled out crust

Filling:
3 large Granny Smith Apples
2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cranberries
1 package frozen raspberries (12 oz)
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons Currants
3 Tablespoons tapioca
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Rolling up crust on rolling pin

Preheat oven to 425 F. Combine dry ingredients, add apples, cranberries, and raspberries, almond extract. Mix well. Roll out dough and place in deep dish pie plate. Add filling and cover with top crust. Bake for 15 minutes then rotate pie 180 degrees, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until bubbling thickly.

Bottom crust with filling

Adding top crust

With glaze

Adding top crust

California Raisin Maple Crunch Pie (5 Stars)

32
California Raisin Maple Crunch Pie
1/28/12

Pcan Crunch

Making the crust

Making the filling

I decided to take pie making up a notch so I joined the American Pie Council. Turns out that the Council holds a pie festival and pie championship every year. I just received my first newsletter with some great recipes. This one is by Patricia Lapiezo who won first place in the Amateur Division California Raisin Category in 2009. The picture looks great.

Crust: Pecan Crunch

In the Oven

1-1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons finely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
6 Tablespoons buttermilk

Filling:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

Serving time

1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup of crushed pecan granola bars
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butterscotch flavored chips
1 cup California raisins

For crust, combine dry ingredients and mix. Add shortening then mix until coarse pea-sized chunks. Add buttermilk 1 teaspoon at a time. Chill for 30 minutes.

For filling, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, maple syrup and beat until blended. Add salt, vanilla, and eggs and beat. Add crushed granola bars, pecans, butterscotch chips, and raisins and stir. Turn into crust shell. Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 F and bake for 30 minutes or until filling is set and crust is golden.