Strawberry Daquiri Pie

 Aryn won this period's pie race, and requested a Strawberry Daquiri Pie.  I found a number of recipes, and picked a frozen one with a good amount of rum in it, and fresh strawberries.  It was good, but didn't last very long.  Shortly after we had our slices, it melted into soup.  Warning - when making this pie, either have a freezer on hand at all times to keep it in, or be prepared to eat the whole thing when served!  Pretty good, but, IMO, too sweet.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Jessica was this week's pie race winner, and she requested a Blueberry Cheesecake, and sent me a recipe she found on www.epicurious.com.  I messed with the recipe just a bit, because the quantities were kind of screwy, and it turned out pretty good.  Next time, tho, I'll make it more than 24 hours in advance, so it will have time to chill - IMO, this would be best served very cold.

Crust:

• 9 whole graham crackers
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 3 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin (measured from 2 envelopes)

• 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3 cups fresh blueberries

Topping:

• 1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cups blueberries
• 1/3 cup blueberry jam

Preparation

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend first 4 ingredients in processor until graham crackers are finely ground. Add butter and vanilla; process until moist crumbs form. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Bake crust until deep golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool.

For filling:
Pour 1/4 cup water into small saucepan; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand 10 minutes. Stir over very low heat just until gelatin dissolves. Set aside.

Blend cream cheese, cream, sugar, and lemon juice in processor until smooth. Add berries; puree until smooth (some blueberry bits will remain). With machine running, add warm gelatin mixture through feed tube and blend well. Pour filling into crust. Cover; chill overnight. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.) Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides. Transfer to platter.

For topping:
Beat cream and sugar in medium bowl until firm peaks form. Spread cream mixture thickly over top of cheesecake. Place berries in bowl. Heat jam in small saucepan over low heat until just melted. Pour jam over berries; toss to coat. Mound coated berries in center of cream, leaving 1-inch plain border. Chill cake at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

Rustic Pear and Apple Wine Pie

This pie was very good, very simple, but had some unique flavor twists that made it different.  It's the first time I've used the spice mace in a recipe, and it is used both in the crust and in the filling.  It's a spice made from the same tree as nutmeg, but smells and tastes very different, and accounts for the rustic part of the name.  I found a recipe for something very similar on www.epicurious.com, added wine, messed with the quantities a bit, and made it my own.

Crust

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 3 tbs sugar
• 2 tsps grated lemon peel
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground mace
• 7 tbs cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tbs ice water

Filling

• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 3 large Jonagold apples, peeled, cored, cut into thin 1/2- slices
• 2 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, cut into thin 1/2- slices
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsps grated lemon peel
• 1/4 tsp ground mace
• 1 1/2 tbs butter

Whipped cream

• 1 cup chilled whipping cream
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2 tbs Applejack Brandy

Preparation

For crust:
Mix flour, sugar, grated lemon peel, salt and ground mace in processor. Add butter and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix yolk and water in small bowl. Add to processor and mix in using on/off turns until large moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in waxed paper and freeze 10 minutes. 

Butter 9-inch pie plate. Roll out dough between sheets of waxed paper to 13-inch round. Peel off top sheet of paper. Invert dough into prepared pan; peel off paper. Fold in edges to form double thickness. Crimp edges decoratively. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) 

For filling:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Finely chop slivered almonds in processor. Spread almonds on bottom of crust. Combine apples and pears in large bowl. Mix sugar, grated lemon peel and ground mace in small bowl. Toss half of sugar mixture with apples and pears. Pile into crust. Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture over fruit. Dot with 1 1/2 tablespoons butter.

Bake until crust is brown and filling bubbles, about 1 hour. Cool on rack.

For whipped cream:
Beat cream, sugar and brandy in large bowl until medium-stiff peaks form. (Can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill.)

Snickers Icebox Pie

Sophy, the pie winner again, requested a Snickers Pie.  I glanced at and discarded a bunch of recipe options, including one that was voted one of the unhealthiest recipes ever published by the Food Commission.  I finally settled on a promising sounding one that I found on thenibble.com for a Snickers Icebox Pie.  It was good, but very rich.  I changed it minimally, adding a bit here and taking a bit out there, but the essence remains unchanged.

 

Ingredients

Chocolate Crust

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs

Filling

8 oz package of cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

1 1/4 cups chopped Snickers candy bars (4 2.07 oz bars)

Topping

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

grated chocolate

Method

Crust

Crumb chocolate wafers in food processor.  Add butter and mix.  Press firmly into a buttered 9 inch pie dish.  Freeze for one hour.

Filling

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Add the sugar and beat well.

in a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.  Stir whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until evenly mixed.  Cover and refrigerate.

Remove Crust from freezer.  Carefully spread the peanut butter in a thin layer over the bottom and halfway up the sides.  Sprinkle 3/4 of the Snickers evenly on top of peanut butter.

Remove cream cheese filling from refrigerator and spread over the peanut butter layer.  Refrigerate.

Melt chocolate chips in small saucepan on low heat gently, stirring constantly.  Drizzle over pie until even layer forms.

Garnish the rim of the pie with the remaining 1/2 cup of Snickers candy and grated chocolate.  

cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator at least three hours to set.

Simple Strawberry Pie

It's a really easy pie to make, and one of my favorites.  Recipe to come when I find a moment.  Sophy's choice, once again.

For this pie, I borrowed a recipe from Paulette Condrasky, my Italian mother in law.  She's the best cook I know, and I rarely see her use a recipe, or measure anything, or pay any attention at all to what she's doing when she cooks.  And she drinks vodka tonics, the whole time she's cooking.  But what she puts on the table is awesome.

This is a very simple strawberry pie.  Why get complicated, when the basics taste so good?

Ingredients
Extra Flaky Crust (credit to Ken Haedrich from his book (Pie)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cake flour
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter
5 tbs cold Crisco
1/4 cup cold water


Filling
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 tbs cornstarch
dash of salt
sliver of butter
2 tbs dry Strawberry Jello
1 qt of strawberries

Method
To make and prebake crust
Combine flours, sugar and salt in a large bowl.  Add butter and toss with flour.  With mixer on low, blend the butter into the flour until you have coarse, damp meal with large and small clumps.  Add Crisco and repeat.  Pulse the mixer, add half of the water and pulse again.  Do not over mix.

Using your hands, pack the dough into a ball.  Knead two or three times.  Put in the center of a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk about 3/4 inch thick.  Wrap in the plastic and refrigeragte until firm enough to roll, at least an hour.

Fully prebaking the shell: 
You'll need pie weights (I use dried beans) and silver foil. 
Grease and flour 9" pie dish.
Roll your dough on floured wax paper.  Place dough in pan.  Refrigerate for fifteen minutes to firm up the fat, which will increase the flakiness as it bakes.  Once out of the refrigerator, mold gently to pan, shape edge as desired, and trim edges. 
Completely cover the dough with silver foil, and cover foil with pie weights (or beans).  With oven preheated to 400 degrees, bake on center rack for 15 minutes.  Remove foil and pie weights and prick the bottom and sides with a fork so that it won't puff up.  Rotate pie 180 degrees and return to oven.  Lower temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 15 minutes.

To make filling:
Combine 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 3 tbs cornstarch, dash of salt in saucepan.  Place on medium heat and stir occasionally until boiling.  Once it boils, stir continuously for two minutes and remove from heat.  Add a sliver of butter and 2 tbs of dry strawberry jello.  Let cool.  Clean and slice berries and place in large bowl.  Fold enough of the cooled jello mixture into the berries to bind them - use 1/2 to 3/4 of jello mixture.  Place in baked crust, cool, and serve.

Frozen Lime Margarita Pie

Sophy wins the pie race and needs a drink!  Sophy, the pie race winner for the first period of March, requested a frozen lime margarita pie. It didn't sound that great, and took forever to make, but it looks pretty, and actually tasted very good.  It was kind of like key lime pie with a bite.  It actually had a fair bit of tequila and triple sec in it.