Blueberry Pie

I've always had fun going blueberry picking and found it to be one of my summer rituals.  The only problem with this blueberry picking was that I didn't like to eat the blueberries, just liked to pluck them off the bush.  When I was a senior in high school, I did the pie eating contest for my class- it was blueberry pie, and I actually realized that I liked blueberry pie.  I've only made a couple in my life, but I've always enjoyed them.

My sister, on the other hand, LOVES blueberry pie and in fact, for her birthday a few years ago, my mom made her a blueberry pie and now every year, she asks for another.  Her birthday was a week ago and I know she won't get to eat this pie that I made, but I wanted to make her the blueberry pie that she wanted for her birthday.  This pie is so good, I can say that I LOVE it too.  The crust is what makes this pie.  Take anything you hate or love and roll it up in this crust and it's like a little piece of heaven in your mouth- seriously!  Even though my sister can't have a slice of my pie, she can use the recipe to make her own and be assured it's dangerously good!

Top it with some homemade ice cream, and just try to eat one slice, just try!

Blueberry pie:

Oven:  425'

Crust:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups crisco (use crisco not butter)
1 egg
1 TBSP white vinegar
5 TBSP cold water
1 tsp salt

Filling:
2 pints blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 TBSP lemon juice

1) For the crust, using a pastry blender if you have it (or if you're kind of lazy like me, your kitchen aid with the dough hook attached), cut the crisco into the flour until it is crumbly like sand.

2) Crack the egg into a bowl, whisk it, then add it to the flour mix until it is incorporated and mixture is clumpy.  Slowly add the 5 TBSP of cold water, the white vinegar, and the salt and mix until incorporated and dough forms a sticky ball.

3) Divide dough into 3 equal sized balls.  Place each ball on a piece of plastic wrap, flatten into a small disk, wrap in the plastic, and freeze for 15 minutes.  If you forget and leave it in longer, just let it thaw on the counter for a few minutes.

4) Lightly flour the counter and rolling pin.  Gently roll the dough into a round that is slightly wider than your pie pan- flip and reflour frequently so dough does not stick to counter.  Using the rolling pin, transfer the dough into the pie pan.

5) Prepare the filling:  Rinse the berries in a colander.  In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and lemon juice.  Add the blueberries in and stir until coated.  Pour the filling into the pie pan.

6) Roll out the top crust- if you want to do a lattice like I did, lay out a piece of parchment paper, cut out the strips of dough with a pastry cutter, or a crinkle cutter, or just a pizza cutter for a straight edge.  Then weave the strips in and out of each other on the parchment paper.  If you are patient, refrigerate it for about 10 minutes to solidify the lattice- or if you are like me and not patient, just quickly flip the parchment paper with the lattice on top of the filled pie to transfer the lattice on.  Press the edges together and roll the excess under to give a nice high crust.

7) Bake the pie for 20-30 minutes until crust is golden- at this point, you can put foil around the edges to prevent burning, then cook an additional 15-20 minutes until filling is bubbly. (40-50 minutes total cook time)

8) Let cool before cutting and serving.

Source:
Filling:  Fine cooking magazine June/July 2012
Pie Crust:  Pioneer Woman

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie

Happy National Pi Day!  Yes, I am nerdy enough to know that today, 3/14, is a celebration of the infamous math symbol pi (3.14).  Yay for math being an excuse to make pie!

The good thing is that two weeks ago, I stumbled across a new blog, Love and Olive Oil, that I liked so much, I scrolled through 1 year of her recipes, and stopped when I found this recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cream Pie.  HELLO??!!  She is even writing a cookbook completely filled with recipes that ALL have to do with cookie dough!!

I wasn't sure that anything could ever beat the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes that I love so much, but this... there may be a tie.  My son told me this was the BEST dessert I have ever made!

The day I found the recipe was the day I made it and decided this had to be the pie I post in honor of pi day.  I'm not  terribly proud of the pictures I took (I hope you cut me some slack, I had a sick kid in the house and my husband has been away for 10 days now).  I was trying to use natural sunlight to take the pictures, and I'm not complaining that it was 79' on March 14, but it was 79' and the whipped cream started to melt.  When I went to cut the slice out of the pie, it flung off the spatula and landed on top of the opposite side of the pie.  I tried to doctor it as best I could, but seriously, pictures aside, this is something you have to try if you're a fan of cookie dough.

You start off with a crushed chocolate cookie crust.  Top it with a thick layer of raw cookie dough.   Fill it with a brown sugar/cookie dough pudding.  Cover it with a thick smooth layer of homemade whipped cream!  Garnished on top with cookies, are you sold?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie:

Crust:
7 oz. chocolate wafer cookies, finely ground (1 1/2 cups) (I used teddy grahams)
6 TBSP melted butter

Cookie Dough Layer:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/8 cup sugar
3/8 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 TBSP milk
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Pudding layer:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups whole milk
3 egg yolks
1 TBSP unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Whipped Cream Topping:
1 cup heavy cream
3 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

1) Preheat oven to 350'. Using food processor, grind up the cookies.  Melt butter, then mix with cookie crumbs.  Press into a pie pan, make sure the edges rise up about 1-2 inches.  Bake in oven, 8 minutes, until set.  Set aside to cool.

2) While crust is baking, prepare cookie dough layer.  Beat sugar, brown sugar, and butter in bowl of mixer with paddle, until light and fluffy.  Scrape down sides, add in vanilla and milk.  Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.  Add to mixer bowl, mix until combined.  Add in chocolate chips, mix, scrape down sides.

3) Put 3 small balls of dough onto a cookie sheet, lightly press down on the tops.  Bake in the oven at 350, 8-10 minutes.  These cookies will be the cookies that will garnish the top of the pie.

4) While the cookies are baking, press the remaining cookie dough into the cooled cookie crust.  Set aside.

5) Prepare the pudding filling by mixing the brown sugar, flour, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Add in 1 cup whole milk, stir constantly over medium heat until mixture reaches a boil.  Let simmer for 2 minutes, then remove pan from heat to cool slightly.

6) Put egg yolks in a small bowl, whisk until smooth, then add in remaining 1 cup milk.  Whisk, set aside.  Once the mixture in the saucepan is slightly cooled (I usually let it sit about 3 minutes), pour a small amount into the bowl with the egg yolks and milk, while whisking.   This is tempering the eggs.  Add a bit more of the mixture from the saucepan to the egg mixture, while whisking.  Then, add all of the egg mixture into the mixture in the saucepan, whisking constantly.

7) Return saucepan to heat, and stir constantly over medium until mixture comes to a boil.  Let simmer 1 minute, then remove from heat- should be the consistency of pudding.  Add in the 1 TBSP butter and 1/2 tsp vanilla now and mix.  Let cool slightly, then pour into the pie pan ontop of the cookie dough, smooth the top with a spatula.

8) Cover pie so pudding does not form a skin.  Refrigerate until the pie is completely cool.  Before serving, make whipped cream topping.  In medium bowl, beat cream until it forms soft peaks.  Mix in sugar and vanilla, beat again until firm peaks form.  Spread whipped cream on top of pie.  If desired, reserve 1/2 - 1 cup whipped cream and pipe it on to form decorative peaks to insert the cookies into.

9) Garnish the pie with the cookies you made earlier and enjoy it!

While I was eating my pie, I noticed a perfect shot of the cookie dough on the inside.  It was dark out, so there was no natural light, but I wanted to take a picture anyways to entice you further:

This pie was taste tester approved.

Here's something I love even more than this pie:
My little girl can walk!  I want to eat her up too!

And just for kicks, 3 years ago, big sister in the same dress :(

Busy Cooking: Red, White, and Blueberries and Cream Pie

Ok, cheesy title I know, but the only pie plate I happen to have until I move into my new house is this reddish one I got out of emergency need one day, and the cream is white.  Perfect title for this dessert the day before the Fourth of July.

I have been looking around trying to find tips on food photography and came across this great one, Taylor Takes a Taste.  It is such a cool blog, loaded with great tips, photos, and recipes.  In his posts, he shows you how he took the shots, and how he set them up.  Sometimes, he provides alternatives to the ones he chose for his post.  It is AWESOME and definitely worth a look.

His recipe for blueberries and cream pie struck me because I am trying to get my kids to be more adventurous eaters and blueberries are something that they are very touch and go with.  We are having a summer challenge (to be posted in a few days) to be more daring and I thought a challenge could be to try new foods, such as blueberry pie.  I wasn't sure how I'd feel about serving it cold, as I usually like my pie hot, but I have to say it was quite delicious.  If you are looking for a pie to serve on a hot hot summer day that won't melt and won't make you hot, this might be just what you're looking for.

Top with whipped cream for even more deliciousness!

Oven:  400'

Pie Crust:  Store bought or your favorite recipe, here's mine, from Pioneer Woman
(I cut her recipe in half, still makes a double crust)
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 egg (I put the egg in a bowl, whisked it and dumped half in the pie crust mix)
2 tsp white vinegar (I didn't have any so I used cider vinegar, couldn't tell the difference)
3/4 cup crisco
2 1/2 TBSP cold water
**this crust is flaky and delicious- it really is perfect!

Filling:
3 cups blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
4 TBSP flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup heavy cream

1) To make the pie crust, mix together flour and salt.  Cut in the crisco with a pastry blender or fork, you can also do it in a food processor with the dough blade or kitchen aid with dough hook.  Add in egg, vinegar, and water.  Mix into a ball.  Place in freezer for 15 minutes- roll on well floured surface, if it's too sticky put in freezer for longer, if it freezes, it will thaw after being  at room temp for about 15 min.  Roll out 1 pie crust, place in pie pan.

2) Wash blueberries and pour into crust.

3) Mix together sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and heavy cream.  Pour this mixture on top of blueberries.

4) Put pie in oven, cook for 35-40 minutes.  Let cool in the refrigerator.  Serve with whipped cream on top.

I tried to be all patriotic and put a star in the middle, however, when it was baking, it floated over to the side.

My pie cutter/server is in storage until my house is done, so my piece is not as pretty as it could be. Yes, I used that blue knife from IKEA to cut/serve the piece.  I also had five kids jumping around and yelling while I was cutting this piece, it's not a perfect triangle, but it tastes pretty darn good!

Apple Crisp Pie

This is the first year we are eating Thanksgiving dinner all by ourselves.  A big part of the meal is all the pies that you get to eat.  However, just us means me, Dave, and 4 little kids (who only want chocolate pie).  I am used to eating dessert at my aunt's house where there are like 50 people and 20 different desserts.  How can we compare to that?  Well, I decided instead of making our three traditional "have to have" desserts on the day we cook our Thanksgiving dinner, I'd keep trying new pie recipes all week long to give us a sampling of things we might be missing out on/ can't possibly eat all by ourselves.

I found this pie recipe on Pioneer Woman's blog, when I wasn't even looking for a pie recipe.  I was intrigued by the cinnamon cream mixture she added to the apples.  In my whole pie making life, I have never made a single crust apple pie and frankly wasn't sure I'd ever want to.  Well, boy was I wrong, this pie was sooo good, I had two pieces last night, one for breakfast and I'll certainly be having another for dessert tonight. :)  Actually, it's so good, you don't even need to serve it with ice cream, I almost want to call it Apple Crisp Pie A La Mode.  To me, it tastes remarkably like apple crisp, something my mom used to make for dessert a lot in the fall, so I felt that was a good name for the pie.

CRUST: (I used 2/3 of her recipe because I knew I wouldn't need all the extra in my freezer)
1 cup crisco (I ended up using about 2/3 cup crisco, 1/3 cup crisco butter- ran out of crisco, don't know where to get it here in a pinch)
2 cups flour
1 egg
2 tsp white vinegar
3-4 TBSP cold water
2 tsp salt

Using a pastry cutter (or whisk of your kitchen aid or food processor)- cut the flour and crisco together until it forms small pea sized clumps.  If using kitchen aid, switch to dough hook.  Add in the egg (I didn't beat my before I added it, she recommended it).  Add vinegar and salt.  Slowly add water 1 TBSP at a time until dough just about forms a ball and looks sticky.  Pick up the dough, knead with your hands for a minute or two.  Split into two balls and place each in a freezer safe ziploc bag- if you flatten the ball slightly, it will make it easier to roll out later, if you freeze too long.  Leave in freezer about 20-30 minutes, remove ball from bag and roll out on floured surface with a floured rolling pin.  Note:  this makes two crusts, I left the second bag in the freezer for a TBD pie when I feel the need to make another.

While the crust is in the freezer, work on the apple and filling part.

FILLING:
4 large apples (if you are using a large pie pan)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I added more cinnamon than she recommended and heaped it)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP flour

Peel, core, and cut apples.  I cut mine into long thin slices, about 1/8-1/4".  Put in large bowl and set aside.  Mix together sugars, cinnamon, and flour.  Stir in heavy cream and vanilla.  Mix, then pour on top of the apples.  Stir so all of the apples get coated.  By the way, she recommended don't try this because you might never get a pie, well a few of the kids and I each tried an apple slice, it was soooo good!  Set aside.

TOPPING:
7 TBSP butter
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup pecans

In food processor, chop up nuts.  At this point, I added the butter and chopped up with nuts.  I then transferred the mixture to a small bowl with the brown sugar and flour, and mixed it by hand until it was crumbly.

To assemble the pie: Preheat oven to 375'.  Remove the crust from the freezer, on floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll out dough.  I think a trick to keeping the crust from getting stuck on the surface is to keep flipping it and reflouring the surface.  It is very fragile, but I got mine to behave (and yes the ends cracked a bit like she said)- but since the dough is soft, I used my fingers to press and seal any holes.

Here's my crust in the pan:

Next, pour the apple mixture into the pan:

Finally, using your hands sprinkle the topping on.  I almost feel like it was a bit too much, but that's just me:

I baked mine for 60 minutes and took it out.  It was very juicy and the piece did not hold together like  a perfect pie triangle like Pioneer Woman's.  Then, I realized, I had left the foil on top of the pie the entire time because she said the topping might burn.  I put the pie back in the oven for another 25 minutes with no foil on top and it really thickened up.  Next time I make this pie, I will not put foil over the top unless I see the topping really looking burnt.

Of course, today, after being in the fridge overnight, I was able to cut that picture perfect pie triangle.  Whatever the shape of my piece, it doesn't matter because it tastes really good!  And, that is one flaky, crispy, yummy crust!   Happy pre-Thanksgiving pie eating to me!

Apple Pie in a Frying Pan

I LOVE apple pie! In fact, since I can remember, I'm the one that has always made the apple pie for my family for Thanksgiving.  It's always the same two crust pie, with apples covered in sugar and cinnamon.  I had a sudden burst of energy this weekend (probably after drinking my gingerbread latte)- and I went through stacks of old Cook's Illustrated magazines.  And this apple pie recipe jumped out at me.  I'm all about easy and one pan lately (wonder why).  I was skeptical about it once I read that there was maple syrup in the recipe, but decided to try it anyways.  Typically my apple pies have not turned out well in Japan and I have always blamed it on the apples.  This pie was scrumdiddliumptious!  This might be my go to recipe now (especially since I just realized I did not pour one whole cup of pure sugar over my apples).

CRUST:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP vegetable shortening (crisco)
6 TBSP cold butter (they recommended unsalted, I had to use salted- noticed no difference)
3-4 TBSP cold water (yes, I actually, put ice in the water to get it colder- saw the tip online)

FILLING:
1/2 cup apple cider (I used apple juice- in the magazine, they tell you to use 1 cup juice and reduce to 1/2 cup, I did not and my pie was still delicious)
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 TBSP Lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed)
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
2 TBSP butter (again, they recommended unsalted, I used salted)
2 1/2 lbs apples (I used 4 large- you can use 5 or 6 medium)

For the crust, pulse flour, sugar, and salt in food processor, or mix with fork.  Add in the butter, cut into 1 TBSP sized pieces.  SInce the butter was cold, my kitchen-aid dough hook did not break it up, so I did put it in the food processor for a few seconds, then put it back in the kitchen-aid for the water addition.  After the butter is cut into the flour, and looks like crumble, add 3 TBSP ice water.  Mix until dough forms a ball- if necessary, add 1 more TBSP water.  Form ball of dough and wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days).

***Before making the filling, preheat the oven to 500'.  Note:  I was worried my pan was not oven safe past 350', so I set it at 350' and increased the cooking time.  If the oven is at 500', cooking time was suggested for 20 minutes.  I left mine in for about 35 minutes at 350', until the top was golden brown.

For the filling, peel apples and cut into thin slices (1/4-1/8")- set aside.  In small bowl, whisk together cider, syrup, cornstarch, lemon juice, and cinnamon- set aside.  In an oven proof skillet, preferably 10-12 inch size, over medium-high heat, melt butter until bubbly.  Add apples into skillet and cook about 4-5 minutes, tossing occasionally.  Do not overcook.  After the 5 minutes, turn off the heat, add in the juice mixture and toss to coat all the apples.  While this is cooling down for a moment, get the crust out of the fridge.

Lightly flour the counter and roll out the dough to approximately 10" circle.  Place the dough on top of the apples in the skillet.  Using a sharp knife, gently score the dough down the center and then two cross cuts, so it looks like it is cut into six pieces.  The explanation is that the juices will bubble up over it and make the crust crispier.

Let cool, serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.