Category Archives: pie

strawberry pies forever

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There’s going to be a moratorium on strawberries in my house soon.  Not because I don’t love them (I do) but because I have eaten a lot of them recently.  A LOT.   

Today it’ll be my grandma’s strawberry pie and every pie starts with a crust.

This pie is an easy one because the only baking required is for the crust.  Of course, you could buy one of those pre-made crusts but I’m a big fan of doing as much as possible from scratch and when it’s so easy, why not?

The rest of the pie is done on the stovetop.  You boil some sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup and pinch of salt until it’s thick and clear and then remove from heat and add a packet of strawberry Jell-o.  (I’m not gonna lie: the almost neon color of the Jell-o sort of freaked me out, but the part of me that felt nostalgic for all the Jell-o I ate in my youth overrode the freaked-out part.  You could use clear gelatin to avoid the color additive and I may try that next time.) 

Then you stir in strawberries and pour the mixture in the pre-baked pie crust.  Let it cool in the fridge for a few hours and eat.  Easy as you-know-what.

Strawberry Pie

  • ¾ sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 cup water
  • Dash of salt
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • Small package of strawberry Jell-o
  • 1 quart (4 cups) hulled and cleaned strawberries

Boil sugar, cornstartch, salt, water, and light corn syrup in medium saucepan over medium-high heat until thick and clear.

Remove from heat and add the small package of strawberry Jell-o.  Cool.

Fold in strawberries and put mixture in baked piecrust.  Chill to set, approximately two hours.  Top with whipped cream if desired.

Basic Flour Pie Crust

  • 1 ½ cups flour, sifted
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup butter, chilled and cut into cubes
  • ¼ cup (approximately) cold water

Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl.  Cut in butter with a pastry knife, two knives scissor-style, or food processor with dough blade.  When mixture resembles peas, add water slowly and blend with fork.  Shape dough into a ball and roll out to size slightly larger than pie plate.  Place dough in pie plate and pierce with fork. 

Bake 450 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

sweet treat

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Ever heard of chess pie before?  Neither had I until I saw a segment on The Cooking Channel that took place at a pie shop in Brooklyn where they were making a buttermilk version.  It involved butter, sugar, and eggs and I thought, shoot, what could be better? 

So a few months later when I found a recipe in my Martha Stewart magazine for a Chess Tart I thought it serendipitous.  Martha has never steered me wrong before and I didn’t think she would now.

The crust for this tart is made of vanilla wafers which I’ve had a total weakness for since preschool when they would give them to us as a snack with milk before story time.  I managed to find a more natural version of them at Trader Joe’s where you can actually see flecks of vanilla bean in the cookies.  Very tasty.

 I brought the pie into work to share and one of my coworkers described the flavor “like pecan pie without the pecans.”  Good call.

Chess Tart (from www.marthastewart.com)

·         FOR THE FILLING

  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fine cornmeal
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large eggs plus 1 large yolk
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

·         FOR THE TART SHELL

  • Vegetable oil cooking spray, for pan
  • 1 1/4 cups ground vanilla wafers (about 45)
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the tart shell: Coat a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom with cooking spray. Mix together wafers, butter, granulated sugar, and salt. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of pan. Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes.

Transfer pan to a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until tart shell is golden, about 12 minutes. Let cool slightly. Reduce oven to 325 degrees.

Make the filling: Mix together sugars, cornmeal, and salt, breaking up clumps. Whisk in eggs, yolk, and vanilla. Whisk in butter. Pour filling into tart shell. Bake until top is dark golden brown and edge is set but center is still a bit wobbly, 35 to 40 minutes.

Transfer pan to a wire rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. Refrigerate until cooled, at least 2 hours or overnight.

rhubarb bonanza

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Rhubarb!  A coworker of mine gave me a generous bunch of it last week along with a few recipes so I am going to share the wealth here with you. 

I must admit that even though I have sampled my share of rhubarb pie and rhubarb cake over the years I have never actually done anything with it.  Shameful!  It is so plentiful this time of year and so delicious, not to mention so easy to work with that there is really no excuse for not baking it into everything you possibly can.  Today I opted to bake a pie with it. 

Every pie starts with a crust.  I chose a simple and classic crust from my mom’s 1973 version of the Betty Crocker cookbook with pages that are stained and yellowed and falling out, but  it still works.  Only 4 ingredients in this crust: flour, canola oil, dash of salt, and water.  So easy!  No need to ever buy one of those pre-baked crusts when it can be done so easily (and cheaply) at home.

Once you get the crust rolled out and in the pie pan put in the refrigerator until you are ready to fill it.

Meanwhile, mix up an egg with sugar and flour for the filling.  That’s it.  Easy again!  Then add some of that beautiful chopped rhubarb to it.

Now you are ready to put this deliciousness into the pie shell.  But you’re not quite done yet… there is more deliciousness to put on top! 

A little brown sugar, flour, and butter, because as I often say: butter makes everything better.

The finished product was a big hit at the Memorial Day cookout I attended this afternoon. 

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Rhubarb Crisp Pie

  • 2 cups cleaned rhubarb cut in ½ inch pieces
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter

Beat 3/4 cup white sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and 1 egg until creamy.  Stir in rhubarb and pour mixture into pie shell (see recipe below).

Mix ½ cup brown sugar, remaining 2 tablespoons flour, and 2 tablespoons butter with fork.  Pour over top of pie.  Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

One Crust Pie Shell (from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook)

  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Measure flour and salt into bowl.  Add oil; mix until particles are size of small peas.  Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, adding until flour is moistened and dough almost cleans side of bowl.  (If dough seems dry, 1 to 2 tablespoons oil can be added.  Do not add water.)  Gather dough together and press firmly into ball.

Shape dough into flattened round.  Place flattened round between two 15-inch strips of waxed paper.

Roll pastry 2 inches larger than inverted pie pan.  Peel off top paper.  Place pastry, paper side up, in pan.  Peel off paper.  Ease pastry loosely into pan.