Graham Cracker Crust

 

This crust is so easy and incredibly tasty. You don't need to roll anything out or be concerned about "flakiness" because it's essentially made out of cookies - therefore foolproof.

(Printable version)
Ingredients:
9-11 graham crackers
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tea salt
6 Tbsp butter, melted

Crunch up anywhere between 9-11 graham crackers in a ziplock bag.

Pour into food processor and add brown sugar and salt. Pulse until finely ground. 

                        

Transfer crumbs into bowl and add melted butter. Stir using hands or spoon.

Using fingertips, lightly press crumbs into pie plate. You can also use the bottom/sides of a measuring cup to pack the crumbs evenly. Bake at 325 degrees until golden brown (about 15 minutes).

Delish!

Pie # 6: Stone Fruit Pie

I found this recipe in Bon Appetit, the August 2011 edition. I bought all my fruit locally at The Pumpkin Patch; I am lucky enough to live in close vicinity to several different markets. I highly recommend using whatever stone fruit is in season when you make this pie on your own. I think the pie smells even better coming out of the oven if you know the produce is 100% fresh.

Crust:
I used Our Best Bites recipe for All-Shortening Crust (aka: the same crust recipe I used for the past few pies. I promise I'll start varying this soon!)

Filling:
2 lbs Nectarines
1 lb Peaches
1 lb Plums (I loved using bright red plums because it made the filling so colorful!)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
A sprinkling of nutmeg (recipe calls for 1/4 tea fresh ground nutmeg, but I don't like nutmeg very much so I literally sprinkled once and called it good.)

Peel fruit. This is tricky because I didn't want to spend hours peeling 4 pounds of round balls. Instead, I placed the fruit into boiling water for 30 seconds and then immediately cooled them off in ice water. Once they were cool to the touch, the skin peeled right off. Voila!

Cut up fruit into 1/2 inch thick slices. Add sugar and stir. Allow fruit to sit at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Strain fruit and reserve 1/4 cup of liquid. Whisk saved liquid and corn starch together; add nutmeg. Stir into fruit.

Pour fruit into unbaked pie crust. (I'm adding the picture of my empty crust because - for the first time ever - my crust looks pretty legit!) Make lattice top. (Also, please notice the awesome new tool that my mom and dad gave me for my birthday. Now my lattice tops are even prettier.)

Brush melted butter over the top and sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes. I waited until my filling was bubbly. This pie seriously made my house smell de-light-ful.

 Then I realized I couldn't eat this entire pie so I delivered to some lucky neighbors :)

Pie # 5: Cherry Hand Pies

I made these adorable heart-shaped pies two days ago and shared them with some lucky neighbors. (AKA: my roommate, her mom and my parents.) These were so easy to make and only called for 2 cups of pie filling; I used pie cherries that I hand-picked out of my mom's orchard. Be sure to pit your cherries before you bake them in a pie... Yes, cherries totally have pits in them. I'm only telling you that because I actually dated a guy who didn't know that fact.

Anyway, I made my favorite crust recipe from Our Best Bites. I'll spare you the techniques I used because I blogged about it in the previous post.

Filling:

2 Cups Sour Pie Cherries

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Tbsp Tapioca

Crust:

See this post or that post for my favorite crust recipe.

Combine cherries, sugar, and tapioca to make filling. Make crust and separate into two mounds. (I think it's easiest to work with less crust at a time.)

Roll out dough on floured surface. I used an awesome hand-press that my roomie gave me for my birthday to create fun, heart-shaped pies.

Note: I like to use an egg wash as glue or a seal when I press the mini pie together. Whisk together 1 egg and 1 tsp water. Spread this along the edge of the pie before you press and you'll have less mess on your hands when you pull these babies out of the oven.

(After I pop a pie out of the mold, I spread melted butter over the top and sprinkled raw sugar to give a sparkle.) Delicately lay these cuties on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Place on wire rack to cool.

Cherry pie is one of my (many) favorites. What is your favorite kind of pie?

Two Pies

I completely skipped last week's blog entry because I spontaneously had to fly to California for the US Open of Surfing. (Rough life.) You know what this means? Two pies in one week. Prepare yourself.

A few weeks ago, my mom gave me way too many sweet cherries and I mixed them with some leftover raspberries in my fridge to get this combo: Rasberry-Cherry pie.

Crust: Same recipe as before, found this gem on Our Best Bites.

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 tea salt

2/3 Cup & 2 Tbsp butter-flavor shortening

1/2 Cup ice water (really, really cold water)

Filling:

3 Cups Raspberries

3 Cups Cherries

4 Tbsp flour

1 Cup Sugar

Combine the flour, salt and shortening. Using a fork or pastry blender, cut in shortening until pea-size shapes form.

Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time and move dry ingredients around in bowl until dough forms.

Roll out half of dough and place in 9-inch pie plate.

Mix flour, sugar and fruit.

Place in pie shell.

Roll out last half of dough to make top crust. (Again, I chose to make a lattice top because it looks prettier.) Cut the dough into strips for the lattice top.

Weave over the top of fruit. Bake for.... I totally forgot this part of the recipe when I made this pie. I ended up baking at 350 degrees for an hour. Ideally, bake at 400 for 15 minutes and then 350 for 45-60 minutes.

Voila!