Tag: pie

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Lemon Meringue Pie

What’s not to love about this time-honored dessert? It’s one of my all-time favorites. I’ve amped up this traditional recipe with a bit of extra lemon juice, a ton of fluffy meringue, and a lightly sweetened crust. The only down-side is the long cooling time required between preparation and om nom noms, but it’s definitely worth the wait.

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 tsp. Salt
  • 1/3 cup Shortening
  • 2 tbsp. White Sugar
  • 3-4 tbsp. Ice Cold Water

Filling

  • 3 Egg Yolks
  • 1-1/2 cups White Sugar
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. Corn Starch
  • 1-1/2 cups Water
  • 3 tbsp. Butter or Margarine
  • 3/4 cup Lemon Juice

Meringue

  • 5 Egg Whites
  • 1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
  • 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 9 tbsp. White Sugar

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl or stand mixer, blend together flour, salt, sugar, and shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
  3. Slowly add water and mix until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and is fairly moist.
  4. On a heavily floured surface, roll dough into a large circle of a suitable size for your pie tin. (I’ve been known to make this pie in a round cake pan instead, to accommodate lots of filling and meringue.)
  5. Turn rolled dough out into pie pan and flute or crimp as desired.
  6. Prick the dough several times with a fork, on both the bottom and sides.
  7. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until light brown.
  8. Remove crust from oven and set aside.
  9. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.
  10. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks and set aside.
  11. In a medium-sized saucepan, mix together sugar and corn starch.
  12. Add water and place the saucepan over medium heat.
  13. Stir constantly and be patient! It will seem as if nothing is happening, and you will start to lose hope, and then suddenly the mixture will start to turn translucent, thicken, and bubble.
  14. Once bubbling, boil for 1 additional minute.
  15. Put a large spoonful of the hot corn starch mixture into the egg yolks, and quickly mix together.
  16. Stir egg mixture into corn starch mixture, and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
  17. Remove from heat, and add butter or margarine and lemon juice.
  18. Mix until butter or margarine has melted and lemon juice is completely incorporated.
  19. Pour filling into baked crust. Use a rubber spatula to get every delicious drop into your pie. (Then lick the spatula. Yum!)
  20. In a large bowl or stand mixer, whip egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla until foamy.
  21. Gradually add sugar and whip until stiff and glossy.
  22. Pipe meringue on top of filling, ensuring that the meringue is touching the crust all the way around, and the filling is completely covered.
  23. Bake in preheated oven for 10 – 12 minutes, until meringue is light brown.
  24. Cool for at least 2 hours before transferring to refrigerator.
  25. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight before serving.*

*I know this is difficult, and that the pie with all of it’s lemony-fluffy-goodness is calling to you from the fridge, but cutting into this pie before it has completely set is a decision that is sure to lead to disappointment.

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Fourth of July Pie

What’s more American than apple pie? THIS PIE IS! This delicious pairing of strawberries and blueberries is just perfect for a festive Fourth. Scoop up the vanilla ice cream and enjoy a delicious patriotic slice.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/8 tsp. Salt
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. Shortening.
  • About 3/4 cup Ice Cold Water
  • 4 cups Fresh or Frozen Strawberries (defrosted if frozen)
  • 2 cups Fresh or Frozen Blueberries (defrosted if frozen)
  • 3 tbsp. Butter or Margarine (divided)
  • 1-1/2 cups White Sugar (divided)
  • 3 tbsp. Corn Starch (divided)
  • One Egg (beaten)
  • 1 additional tbsp. White Sugar

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt until combined.
  3. Add shortening in small lumps and blend into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
  4. Gradually add ice water, mixing until the dough forms a large ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  5. Divide dough into two balls, one slightly larger than the other.
  6. Wrap the smaller ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
  7. On a lightly floured surface, roll the larger ball out into a size suitable for your pie tin.
  8. Arrange crust in pie tin, trim or patch as needed (Hey, cracks and gaps happen to the best of us!) and flute the edges if desired. Set aside.
  9. Place strawberries into a medium-sized bowl, and cut in 2 tbsp. butter or margarine.
  10. In a small bowl, blend together 1 cup of sugar and 2 tbsp. of corn starch.
  11. Pour sugar mixture over berries and mix until well combined.
  12. Fold a piece of aluminum foil several times to create a thick strip about 3-inches in height. Place the aluminum foil strip into the prepared crust, bending the ends back onto the strip to create a wall that divides the crust, with 1/3 on one side, and 2/3 on the other side.
  13. Pour the strawberry mixture into the larger (2/3) side of the crust.
  14. Place blueberries into a medium-sized bowl, and cut in 1 tbsp. butter or margarine.
  15. In a small bowl, blend together 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tbsp. of corn starch.
  16. Pour sugar mixture over berries and mix until well combined.
  17. Pour the blueberry mixture into the smaller (1/3) side of the crust.
  18. Very gently, remove the foil divider from between the fruits.
  19. Remove the smaller ball of dough from the refrigerator, and roll on a lightly floured surface.
  20. Using a pizza cutter, cut several strips of dough, and arrange on the top of the strawberry side. Turn the ends of the strips closest to the edge under and adhere to the bottom crust using fingers dampened with ice water.
  21. Using a star-shaped cookie cutter or a sharp knife, cut out several star shapes from the rolled dough.
  22. Arrange these on top of the blueberry side, covering the ends of the dough strips, and attaching the stars to the crust using fingers dampened with ice water.
  23. Brush the crust with beaten egg, and sprinkle with additional sugar.
  24. Place entire pie on a baking sheet lined with foil. (This may leak, and your smoke detector will drown out even the sound of your neighbors shooting off bottle-rockets and scaring the crap out of your dogs. Yeesh.)
  25. Bake in preheated oven for 45 – 60 minutes until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. (If the top crust browns before the filling is ready, cover the pie with foil to avoid burning the top before the rest of the pie is cooked.)
  26. Allow to cool before serving.
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Razzleberry Tarts

These tarts are a hot mess of ooey-gooey goodness, and as an added bonus they are quite large. These are the absolute best when still warm out of the oven, but if any are left over (Ha ha ha… yeah, right!) they can be re-heated by covering in foil and warming them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. The crust is the tried-and-true recipe everyone knows and loves, and can be used for many different varieties of pies and tarts. Warning: Do NOT wear a white shirt while eating!

THE CRUST

Ingredients

  • 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 2/3 cup + 2 tbsp. Shortening
  • About 6 tbsp. ice cold water

Directions

    1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
    2. Place several ice cubes in a large drinking glass or Pyrex measuring cup and add cold water. Set aside.
    3. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.
    4. Add shortening and combine with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
    5. Slowly add ice cold water, thoroughly combining with flour mixture until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and is joined into one large, slightly moist lump.
    6. Turn approximately half the dough out onto a floured surface, flipping until the exterior is coated in dry flour.
    7. Press down with your hands into a very rough approximation of the shape you want.
    8. Use a floured rolling pin to roll dough until it is less than 1/4 inch thick. Thinner is better (1/8 inch is ideal!) but too thin and your crust may be inundated with juices from your filling and have a soggy bottom like a toilet-training toddler.
    9. Place a single-serving aluminum pie tin upside-down on the dough, and cut with a sharp paring knife approximately one inch wider than the lip of the pan.
    10. Line pan with the dough you have just cut. It should protrude above the lip of the pan.
    11. Repeat cutting dough and lining pans until four aluminum pans have been lined with dough.
    12. Turn out remaining dough onto a floured surface, flipping until the exterior is coated in dry flour.
    13. Press down with your hands into a very rough approximation of the shape you want.
    14. Use a floured rolling pin to roll dough until it is less than 1/4 inch thick.  Again, 1/8 inch is ideal.
    15. Use a clean ruler as a guide and cut dough into 1/2 inch wide strips with a pizza cutter.
    16. Set strips aside, and keep the ice water handy.

Sneaky Trick: Don’t have a pastry blender?  A fork held in each hand will also perform this task admirably. Just pull them across one another against the bottom of the bowl until you have that crumbly consistency you want.

THE PIE

Ingredients

  • 16 oz. Frozen Mixed Berries or Fresh Berries (Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, and Strawberries are the traditional mix, but go crazy!)
  • 3/4 cup White Sugar
  • 1/4 cup Corn Starch
  • 4 tbsp. Margarine
  • 1 Egg White, Beaten

Directions

  1. Pour frozen mixed berries into a large bowl to defrost while you are preparing your crust. If they’re slow to thaw, pop them in the microwave on a defrost setting for a few minutes. They don’t need to be completely soft, just not hard as a rock. Your berries can also be fresh.
  2. Cut any extra-large mutant strawberries until they are about the same size as the blackberries and raspberries.
  3. Add sugar and corn starch to berries and combine.  Avoid crushing berries as much as possible while mixing.
  4. Spoon berry mixture into prepared pie crusts and dot each tart with 1 tbsp. margarine, cut into a few small pieces.
  5. Moisten ends of dough strips with ice water and use strips to create a lattice pattern on the top of each tart.
  6. Press the ends of the lattice strips into edges of bottom crust, dipping your fingers into the ice water to help them adhere if they’re stubborn.
  7. Crimp edges of bottom crust and lattice strips around the edges of the pans.
  8. Put tarts on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. (If you skip this step, you will have to clean your oven and stand on a chair to turn off the smoke detector. Just sayin’.)
  9. Brush crust with beaten egg white.
  10. Bake in pre-heated oven for 40-45 minutes, until pastry has browned and filling is bubbly.
  11. Serve with vanilla ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Sneaky trick: Don’t want to go to the trouble of making a lattice crust, but want it to look like you slaved over the proverbial hot stove for hours? Roll top crusts and trim to about 1/2 inch wider than the top rim of the pans. Use small cookie cutters to make shaped holes in the dough and set cut-outs aside. Attach top crust to the tart, and dab the dough cut-outs with a little ice water. Reattach the cut-outs over the holes you made in the crust, but slightly off center from where the holes are. This will vent your tarts and give you a snazzy look.

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