Movie Pies

Karly found this fan of the week pie as a tribute to the Hunger Games series. I read the books but I don't think I am interested enough to make a pie about it. But maybe a pie in honor of John Wayne?

Merry Christmas

Cherry Pie with Crumble Top

Jil brought pies to Grandpa Murray's on Christmas evening. They were very good pies: Chocolate Moose; Pecan; Apple with a crumble top; and my favorite Cherry with a crumble top. Jil and my other sisters are great pie makers.

My feelings at Christmas season has changed.Our children are grown and Nathan and Nicole and our two grandchildren were in Chicago this year. So Christmas morning wasn't as exciting as it used to be watching little children open their presents. My highlight is now Christmas eve - having as many of our family with us as possible. We had a wonderful dinner and afterwards played Sleigh Ride (Kerry and Natalie on the piano and the rest of us with bells, clapper, wooden block, and the triangle). We sang Christmas carols, read stories, danced the Merry Christmas Polka, told about Christmas' from the past, and finally read the Christmas story from the Book of Luke. For me Christmas is being with family and remembering Jesus Christ.

God lives and He loves each of us. God so loved the world, that he gave his Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish; but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). The gifts spoken of in the gospel are not material gifts but the gift given to us by Jesus Christ. We celebrate the Savior’s birth and remember that he was born to save. He gave us the greatest gift – he gave his life that we might have eternal life. May you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving Pies

Raspberry Key Lime

We took a well deserved break from pie making and posting. With the holidays, however, we made a few pies for parties. My office employees association has an annual Thanksgiving lunch and I made two pies, both variations on Key Lime. I repeated pie No, 43 Black-bottomed Key Lime (see post on 4/17/12). I also made a Raspberry Key Lime as a variation from the American Pie Council's book "America's Best Pies."

Crust: Store-bought Graham Cracker Crust

Filling:
One 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks (whites not used)
1/2 cup (and a little more) Key Lime Juice

Topping:
6 oz. seedless raspberry preserves
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine condensed milk, egg yolks, key lime juice and blend until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell and bake in pre-heated oven at 350 F for 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Heat raspberry preserves in a pan, add butter and lemon juice and vanilla. Spread over pie then refrigerate. Before serving, top with whipped cream and lime slices.

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner and thought we would have a lot of people so we reserved our church. As it turned out we only had 17 (we were thinking of 50). We made Sour Cream Lemon (see post on 11/23/11)  and Coconut Cream pies (see post on 6/4/12). We forgot that the Coconut Cream recipe is for two pies so Kerry posted on facebook that we had some extra filling. We immediately had Savannah and Sage at our door who took the filling of our hands. We also tried Apple Pie Cookies which tasted okay but were a disaster to make - not recommended.

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