Pumpkin Pie

This pumpkin pie can best be described in one word, "Awesome!" And its so easy to make. I love easy and delicious things. Yummy!

Pumpkin Pie (my Grammy's recipe)

2 unbaked pie shells (store bought or homemade)
3 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (2-15 oz. cans)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
2 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line 2 pie pans with the pie shells and crimp/flute the edges. Whisk together all the ingredients and divide evenly between the 2 pie pans. Bake about 5 minutes, cover the crust and bake 10 more minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake for an additional 45 minutes, until tested done. Cool the pies on a wire rack. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate when the pie completely cool. Cut each pie into 8 slices and serve with whipped cream.

I attempted to bake the pie for the initial 15 minutes without covering the crust, it almost burnt. Yikes. But it worked out and tasted delicious in spite of that.

Pecan Pie

I went to my Grammy's house this past weekend. We had a big gathering of the family on my mother's side. It was loud and crazy. And we had a lot of food. Every year for the past several, I or a member of my immediate family has tried to make a pecan pie to take for Thanksgiving. And every year, there is something wrong with it, whether its way too runny, the crust disintegrates, or my mother put some of the crust ingredients into the pie filling. That was a good one. But, I would have to say, this year is the winner. I am keeping this recipe around and I hope you enjoy. It turned out perfectly.

Pecan Pie

1 Pie Crust (you can make your own as I did, or use store bought)
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
3 jumbo eggs, at room temperature (trick: put the eggs in a bowl of lukewarm water for about 10 minutes)
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough and place in a 10-inch deep dish pie plate. Trim the edges if you would like, and flute the edges. Place the pecans in the bottom and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the syrup, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla on high for 30 seconds. Pour the mixture over the pecans. Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 50-60 minutes. If it looks like your crust is starting to brown too much, cover the pie with a domed piece of foil and bake until the pie is set. Which basically means, either a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or lightly touch the top and it should spring back. Cool the pie on a wire rack overnight. Chill the pie until ready to serve.

source: Jim Romero's Southern Pecan Pie, from "Taste of the South" magazine

Apple Pie Comfort

I have been lax on posting lately, I made chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter fudge about a week ago. They were both super delicious, and I may post them eventually. TBD...Anyway, I ate at my parents house today. Sunday dinner, very comfort food today. We had homemade chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes with roasted squash. It was soooooo goood. And of course followed by the ultimate comfort food dessert, Apple Pie. I really wanted to go with a very flaky and tasty pie crust. So I used half butter and half lard. Also, I changed the pie filling, and used brown sugar, instead of granulated sugar. I used Green Apples from my parent's apple tree. They are super good. We made applesauce all weekend and decided to do apple pie, because it sounded so good. So, here's the recipe. I hope you enjoy. (It is not wise to even try to count calories with this recipe, but wise to eat the results :)

Apple Pie

For the Crust:
(Yield: 2 crusts)
1/2 cup lard, freeze for 20-30 minutes
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed and freeze for 20-30 minutes
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, put in the freezer long enough to get very cold
1/2 cup ice cold water
pinch of salt

In a large bowl: Mix together the flour and salt. Toss in the butter and lard to coat in the flour mixture. Use your fingers to crumble the butter/lard with the flour until the mixture resembles small peas. May need to put back in the freezer if the butter/lard is getting too warm. Sprinkle the water over the flour and mix with your fingers just until you can form the dough into a ball. Try not to over moisten the dough. It's alright to be a little flaky. Divide the dough into two equal portions flatten into discs and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour. Take out one disc and unwrap, leaving it on the plastic wrap, cover with a 2nd piece of plastic wrap. Roll the dough out into a 9-10 inch round, or least enough to overlap the edge of a pie plate. Leave the plastic wrap on and loosely roll up, replace in the refrigerator. Repeat with the second disc until ready for use. Lay one crust on a 9-inch clear pie plate and lightly pat in the pan. Put the pie plate back into the refrigerator. Now to prepare the filling...

For the filling:
9 medium apples (3 pounds), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp. flour
dash of salt

Mix the dry ingredients together and toss with the apples to coat. Pour the filling into the crust lined pie pan. Moisten the edge of the crust with egg white, or water. Place the second crust over the apple mixture. Cut into the crust in an apple shape, 1-inch cuts should do it. Place the pie pan onto a cookie sheet to catch any drips. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for another hour. Check about 30 minutes in, you may need to cover the crust edges with foil. Keep an eye on the pie, you may need to take it out before the hour is up, depending on whether the crust is cooked through. Remove the pie from the oven and place onto a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!