Pie #34: Heart Pie (Pear-Raspberry Heart Pie)

 

Like last week's pie, this week's pie is also a twist on my childhood holiday experience.  Every year for Valentine's Day Wandi made us heart-shaped pizza, complete with heart-shaped ham pieces.  (She also reminded me this week that we always had heart-shaped finger jello and cookies too...but those items had escaped my memory.)  I decided to alter this tradition a bit to fit with my pie theme, and found another interesting recipe from Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts.  My adaptation to the recipe is found below, but you can find her recipe here.

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Pear-Raspberry Heart Pie

Ingredients:
2 pie crusts (9-inch)

1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3-4 ripe Bartlett pears, peeled, core removed, and cut into thin slices
6-9 ounces raspberries
fresh lemon juice (1/2 a lemon's worth)
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

water for brushing
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Pie Algorithm:
1. Place first crust in a pie dish, allowing a bit of extra crust to hang over the edges of the dish.  Cut out hearts from the other crust.  (My hearts were close to 3 inches.)

2. Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add pears, raspberries, and lemon juice, and toss to coat. Spoon mixture into pie shell, piling high in the center. Dot with butter.

3. Lightly brush edges of crust with water. Arrange hearts in two layers around the edge of the pie, pressing dough together gently. Add more water as needed to help the hearts stick to each other and to the edge of the crust.  When finished, lightly brush the top of the crust with water and then dust with sanding sugar.

4. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes, or until the crust turns light gold.  Then reduce oven temperature to 375F. Bake, rotating halfway through, until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbling, about 85 minutes. Let cool before serving.

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The pie is beautiful, and smells delightful!  I can hardly wait until it cools!

Pie #33: Groundhog Pie (Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie)

I love Groundhog's Day.  I can't explain it; I simply love finding out what weather the furry little creature will predict for the upcoming weeks!

As a child, Wandi always made groundhog cookies for our family.  The recipe for these cookies is on the back of the bag of Reese's peanut butter chips.  They are chocolate (like dirt) and have little peanut butter chunks (like groundhogs).  Since moving away, I have been making my own groundhog cookies and have shared them with my friends at school.  Unfortunately this year I was stuck in a Canadian airport and wasn't able to keep up with my tradition.  So, I decided to dedicate a pie to the little creature instead!

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie
Adapted from http://www.blissfullydelicious.com/2011/10/frozen-chocolate-peanut-butter-pie/, which was adapted from Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts

Ingredients:
1 chocolate cookie pie crust

filling:
6 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 t. salt
1 1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
1 t. vanilla
2 c. heavy cream

garnish:
1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
2 T. creamy peanut butter

Pie Algorithm:
1. Filling: Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and salt until fluffy.  Beat in peanut butter and vanilla.  In separate bowl beat cream until soft peaks form.  Whisk 1/3 of whipped cream into peanut butter mixture, then fold in remaining whipped cream.  Spoon filling into crust.  Freeze uncovered for 4 hours or up to one day covered in plastic wrap.

2. Topping: Melt chocolate, then drizzle over pie with a spoon.  Next melt peanut butter and then drizzle it over the chocolate.  Let pie stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

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This week's pie was part of a double holiday celebration.  While it was made to remember Groundhog Day, it was actually shared with school friends in celebration of Chinese New Year.  The pie turned out well; it was the perfect amount of peanut butter and sweet, but was quite rich.  Overall, I think people really enjoyed it.  Being frozen, I think it would be a great summer treat.

In other news, I have a special note to my faithful readers: please be careful when searching for Groundhog Pie on the internet.  You may actually find what you have asked for!

Pie #32: Easy as Pie (Old-Fashion Cream Pie)

This week was full of travel and therefore I needed a recipe that was simple and not very time consuming.  (For this reason, the posting will also be brief!)  While making the pie I realized that this simplicity is part of the reason I love to make pies.  Without much effort you can easily have a delicious and sweet treat.

This pie takes me back to my childhood - it was easily my favorite.  I always looked for it at church potlucks, extended family gatherings, and funerals.  (That might sound a bit morbid...but strangely enough some foods simply remind me of NW Ohio Mennonite funerals!)  The pie is very sweet, very rich, and very delicious!

Below is a recipe that my friend Colin suggested when we met up at Christmas.  Unlike the version Kirsty and I tried to make earlier in the year, this pie turned out very well!  I was quite pleased.

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Old-Fashion Cream Pie
West Clinton MOPS Cookbook
Clara Frey

Stirs up in a few minutes.  This pie needs watching the last half of baking.  If it looks like it will run over, take out of oven a few seconds and rest, then return to oven to finish.

Ingredients:
1 c. sugar
4 T. flour
2 c. whipping cream, not whipped (found in a carton in dairy section)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 (9 inch) pie crust, unbaked

Pie Algorithm:
1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Mix together sugar and flour.  Add the cream and vanilla; stir together.  Pour into pie shell.

2. Bake for 15 minutes; turn oven down to 350F and bake another 35 to 40 minutes or until set.  Set means jiggly but not runny!

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