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Browsing Tag: pie crust
It’s almost Thanksgiving! That means an abundance of good food, good wine, and, in the case of my family, slightly testy socio-political conversations. Usually started by yours truly! =]
Table-chatter aside, my favorite part of any holiday is the dessert spread. But I have a very small family – we fit around just one, normal-sizied dining room table! So it’s hard to make a variety of treats without having leftovers until Christmas.
So… introducing a brandied pumpkin and pecan pie with a pecan shortbread crust. This is a Thanksgiving pie mash-up that will end all pie dilemmas. It has a bit of everything. Even throw in some chocolate if you like. And it is SO EASY!
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Step One.
First, make the crust. Measure out your ingredients. In a food processor, pulse the pecans until they are completely ground up. Scoop out 1/2 cup of the ground pecans, and reserve them for later. Next, add your flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse to mix. Finally, cut up your chilled butter into small chunks and add to the processor. Mix until you have a dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
Step Two.
Take a break while the chilling happens – this is a good time to work on another part of the dinner! Or sample a Thanksgiving cocktail (check back soon for a recipe!) When the dough only has about ten minutes left, prepare the fillings (it really is that quick). Add all of the ingredients for the pumpkin filling into a large mixing bowl. Whisk until combined.
Step Three
Now, add all of the ingredients for the pecan filling EXCEPT the pecans to a different large mixing bowl, and whisk until combined.
Step Four.
Time to preheat! Set your oven to 300°F. Once the crust is thoroughly chilled, roll it out and press it into the bottom of a deep-dish pie plate. Spread the pumpkin filling into the bottom. Dust the top with the crushed pecans that you reserved before.
Then, add the whole (or chopped, whatever you prefer) pecans to the top of the crushed ones. Carefully pour the pecan filling on top.
Ready to bake! Bake at 300°F for an hour and half, or until the middle appears set and jiggles only slightly.
Happy Thanksgiving!
This is a Thanksgiving pie mash-up that will end all pie dilemmas. It has a bit of everything. And it is simply delicious!
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups pecans
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, very cold
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon brandy
- 1 cup pecans
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup pure cane syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Measure out your ingredients for the pecan shortbread crust.
- In a food processor, pulse the pecans until they are completely ground up. Scoop out 1/2 cup of the ground pecans, and reserve them for later.
- Next, add your flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse to mix.
- Finally, cut up your chilled butter into small chunks and add to the processor. Mix until you have a dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
- When the dough only has about ten minutes left, prepare the fillings.
- Add all of the ingredients for the pumpkin filling into a large mixing bowl. Whisk until combined.
- Next, add all of the ingredients for the pecan filling EXCEPT the pecans to a different large mixing bowl, and whisk until combined.
- Preheat your oven to 300°F. Once the crust is thoroughly chilled, roll it out and press it into the bottom of a deep-dish pie plate. Spread the pumpkin filling into the bottom. Dust the top with the crushed pecans that you reserved before.
- Then, add the whole (or chopped, whatever you prefer) pecans to the top of the crushed ones. Carefully pour the pecan filling on top.
- Bake the pie at 300°F for an hour and half, or until the middle appears set and jiggles only slightly.
- Happy Thanksgiving!
I think I’m ready to quit my life and start fresh as a farmer! Well, almost. But this experience was so zen and wonderful!
Travels have kept me away from the kitchen recently (sorry, but no apologies for that!), but I had to see what I could make when visiting Seattle. Apparently, blackberries are weeds, effectively, there. I first saw them when we were driving to a national park- they were everywhere!
Decision made.
I bought a perfect little pie tin at the Pike Place Market for my adventure. Then I set to picking berries, listening to a small creek behind me and smiling at the birds in my baking Cinderella moment.
Naturally, half of the blackberries went straight into my mouth. They were so perfect and tart, so I knew that a plain Jane butter crust would not be the perfect partner. A sweeter platform for a low-sugar filling would be perfect.
Quick question to address:
Why don’t these cookies have normal cookie ingredients?
Think of it more as a shortbread. Cookies are meant to rise, and that does not make for good pie crust. Trust me on this one!
This cookie crusty is the perfect base for all-natural, tart berries. Another quintessential summer treat!
Please Note: Unfortunately, my uncle’s kitchen has awful lighting. As such, I have not done the usual step-by-step with pictures before the recipe. I do have the pictures, though, so if you need more information or want to see what a step looks like, just ask! Thanks!
This cookie crusty is the perfect base for all-natural, tart berries. Another quintessential summer treat!
Ingredients
- Note: this recipe has been scaled up from what you see in the picture so that it will make a full pie
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- Zest of one lemon
- 9 basil leaves, chopped
- 3 Tbsp heavy cream
- 4 cups blackberries
- 2 Tbsp sugar (add more of you like it sweet!)
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch mixed into 1 tsp water
- 1 Tbsp butter
Instructions
- Prep Step! Measure out all of your ingredients. Wash the blackberries now, so that they can drip- dry while you make the crust. Preheat your oven to 375
- Cream the butter on medium speed for 2 minutes until it is aerated. Add your sugar and beat on high for 5 minutes until it is light and fluffy.
- Add 1 cup of flour and incorporate on low speed, or with a spatula. Add 1 Tbsp of the cream, and do the same. Repeat your process, scraping down the bowl, until the batter is ready.
- Mix in the zest and basil. It's ready! Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and chill for an hour. If you're impatient, like me, freeze it for 15 minutes.
- Press the cookie crust with your fingers into your pie plate. Pinch around the edges so that they don't look messy.
- Cover the edges with aluminum foil (so that they don't brown too much) and stick it in the over for 15-20 minutes. Check it to make sure you're not getting it too brown (like I did. Oops.)
- Once done, let the crust cool completely. Bonus points for cooling it on the windowsill like in children's books.
- Heat the blackberries over medium heat. Once they get warm and start to steam a little, start stirring. Sprinkle the sugar over the berries, and mix it in. Juice the lemon into the pan and cook, cook, cook.
- Once they are all juicy-looking, add the cornstarch. Follow this tip:
- Mix the cornstarch with one teaspoon of water before adding it. This will keep is from clumping and yielding nasty-tasting, starchy glops in your final pie.
- Remove the filling from the heat and stir in the butter. Let the filling cool.
- Pour the filling into the pie crust. You can dig right in, or chill for 30 minutes to let the filling stiffen and get thicker.
- I whipped some very legit cream with just a little lemon zest to serve.
- Best enjoyed overlooking the beauty of the Pacific Northwest!
Door County is one of my favorite places in the world. Granted, there are many places that I have not been, but I’m sure it would still rank highly had I been to every country. There are multitudes of outdoor activities, orchards, great restaurants, quaint boutiques, everything wonderful.
There are two types of big orchards there – apple and cherry. Each season is a celebration and there are festivals, custom dishes, and special treats galore. We even saw a musical up there are cherry picking. Seriously, they’re way into this stuff.
So, whenever i go, I stock up on fruit. Recently, I was there right at the end of kirschen (German for cherry) season. Naturally, I got many cherry things, along with a pint of tart cherries. I like their puckery flavor, so of course I ate a few straight, but these are best for baking.
I can’t promise that this pie will be as amazing with cherries sourced elsewhere (ok, maybe that’s a bit dramatic), but it will still be a spoonful of happiness on a summer day.
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**Note – I only bought enough cherries for baby pies, but the recipe here will yield you a full pie.
Picture Note – I was not baking at home, and the only vodka on hand was citron. It did not seem to leave any flavor behind, but the crust was of a slightly different consistency because of the sugar. Use plain if possible.
Step One
Prep – but just the crust. I always stick the butter in the freezer for a few minutes to get super cold after I cut it. Mix the vodka and water, and put that in the freezer too.
….Vodka? I’m giving this to kids….
No worries! The alcohol part will be gone after you bake the crust. But why vodka? It gets a lot colder than water without freezing. The secret to great crust is the coldness of the ingredients when you mix them in. This ensures that your “wet” ingredient will be as cold as possible.
Step Two
Make your crust now – cut the butter into the dry ingredients, then mix in the vodka / water mix by Tablespoon-ful until your crust is just wet enough. DO NOT OVERWORK IT. It will get all tough and nasty when baked.
Wrap that bad boy in plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for an hour.
Step Three
Filling time. If you have a cherry pitter, use it. So much less work. But if you don’t, you can push them out with a straw or the tip of a pairing knife. It’s just a pain in the butt.
Add the sugar and cornstarch (pre-mixed) to the cherries.
Step Four
Roll out your pie crust to fit your pie plate. You can do whatever you want on the top – make a full cover, do a lattice, or get fancy and cut out some shapes.
Step Five
Add your filling – it should be a bit domed so that the pie looks nice and stuffed. Dot with up to a Tablespoon of butter and place your top on. You can seal it with a fork (dipped in water so that it doesn’t stick) or make the pretty pinches. Later on, I’ll add a demo of how to do this – so check back!
Step Six
Time to bake! Even though it’ll be tempting to dig in as soon as it’s out of the oven, let it cool for at least ten minutes. Brew a pot of coffee while you wait. Slice, top with ice cream, and enjoy!
Warm and juicy, this is a perfect pie for summer. Cherry pie is a classic!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (350 grams)
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 2/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) (226 g) (8 oz)
- 2 - 3 Tbsp ice cold water
- 2 - 3 Tbsp vodka
- 1 egg white mixed with 2 tsp water
- 4 cups pitted cherries
- 3/4 - 1 cup sugar (83 - 110 g)
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
- Prep Step! Measure out the ingredients for the pie crust. Mix the dry ingredients in a large
- mixing bowl. Cut each stick of butter in a 3 x 3 grid. Mix the water and vodka in a small bowl. Put the butter and liquid mix in the freezer for 5 - 10 minutes.
- Cut the butter into the dry mix using two forks or a pastry cutter.
- Mix in the liquid, one Tablespoon at a time, until the crust is just holding together as a dough. DO NOT OVERMIX.
- Gather the crust into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Pit the cherries, preferably using a cherry pitter. Mix the sugar and cornstarch. Cover the cherries with the mix and stir to coat.
- Roll out the pie crust to the size of your pie plate. Dump in the filling, and dot with butter. Cover with the crust in the method of your choice (full crust, lattice, shapes, etc). Brush the crust with the egg white and water mixture to make it nice and golden brown.
- You many want to protect the crust before you put it in the oven. Rip three rectangles of aluminum foil, about 3 in tall. Wrap around the edges of the crust so that they do not get burnt. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes.
- Let your kirschen pie cool for at least ten minutes, then top with ice cream. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk or a warm mug of coffee.
