Year of the Pie - Pie #14 Lemon Meringue Pie

Pie # 14

Lemon Meringue Pie
It starts out like this.
Before you do anything else, separate 3 eggs (yolks from whites) set aside.

It is a one crust pie.
Mix 1 C. flour, 1/2 t. salt, cut in 1/3 C. + 1 T. shortening, sprinkle in 2-3 T. ice water. Roll out, put in pie plate, prick thoroughly with a fork-gently, flute, bake 8-10 minutes in a pre-heated oven 475°. Watch it carefully. Toward the end of bake time it can get brown quickly. Remove from oven and let it cool.

Next you do this.
For the filling: Mix 1 ½ C. white sugar, 1/3 C. + 1 T. cornstarch ( I like Clabber Girl) and 1 ½ C. water in a sauce pan. Stir and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stire 1 minute. THEN, Stir half of this mixture into the slightly beaten 3 egg yolks, mixing quickly and pouring slowly, so the eggs don't cook. Then after you have mixed this, pour it back into the sauce pan, stirring and mix it well. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in 3 T. of diced butter, ½ C. freshly squeezed lemon juice, 2 t. freshly grated lemon peel/zest and 2 drops of yellow food color, which is optional. Pour into the pie crust.

(lemon juice & zest)
(pour mixture into egg yolks)
(pour back into sauce pan)
( add zest, juice, butter and food coloring)
(FYI yellow food coloring comes out red)

Next you do this.
Make the meringue.
It is not hard to MAKE it. It takes practice to get it RIGHT. I need a lot more practice.

Let your electric mixer beat at high speed the three egg whites that you set aside earlier to reach room temperature. Beat egg whites and ¼ t. cream of tartar until foamy. Beat in 6 T. sugar, one T. at a time; continue beating until stiff and glossy. Do not under beat. Beat in ½ t. vanilla. It takes a few minutes, so be patient. Spoon it onto the hot pie filling. Spread it out to the edge of crust to prevent shrinking or weeping. ( I hate it when it weeps)
Bake at 400° for about 10 minutes. Watch it carefully. Cool away from a draft.

(spoon meringue onto pie)
(bake 400° @ 10 minutes)
(o.k. this is what it kind of looks like)

Good luck.
(although two pies were used , NO pies were harmed in the making of this post).
Maggie thought it was a little squishy, she gave it
Hubby and I gave it
Does anyone have a favorite Pecan Pie recipe they would be willing to share? I think we will try that next.

Until Next Time.

Year of the Pie - Pie #13 Banana Split Pie

Pie # 13

BANANA SPLIT PIE

The pie books that I have read in our pie journey tell me that a pie is a dessert with a pastry shell, top or bottom or both. It can also be a meat filled pie. The key word is PASTRY shell. Generally, the pastry consists of flour, some sort of fat and water, but sometimes your pastry shell can consist of graham crackers, sugar and butter, mixed together, patted down in a pan and baked. Just like if you were making a Creme pie,etc. Pies come in different shapes and sizes. Meat pies are little crusts filled with a meat mixture and then folded over, sealed and baked. You can take them in your lunch bucket. Most pies are round in shape and fit in the traditional pie plate. Well the Banana Split Pie is so good that it deserves a pie shape all it's own. A rectangular 9 X 13 pan. So grab your favorite cake pan and lets get started.

You will need two cups of finely crushed graham crackers, 1/4 C. white sugar mixed with 5 T. of melted butter. Pat it down firmly but gently in the pan and bake 350° for 5 minutes. Set it aside and let it cool. Pour yourself a glass of sweet tea and sit and knit a spell.

After your break.....
Drain a 15 oz. can of Dole Pineapple (tidbits or crushed). Drain it good. Save the juice for future use in treats, etc. or just have your husband drink it.

Drain a thawed out container of sweet strawberries about 24 ounces. Again, save the juice.
Take another sip of tea and then.....

Cream two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, add 2 C. of powdered sugar. Mix til creamy. Then spoon it gently on the crust and smooth out real pretty.

Then put a layer of sliced bananas (about 4 or 5). Cover it well.

Now add your 'drained very well' pineapples and scatter about evenly.

On to the strawberries....spread them out as best you can, if you want it to cover the pie completely you will need another container, but I just spread it out as best as I can and then I put just a little juice over it to give the missing spots a strawberry taste.

Then add Cool Whip. I used 1- 8 oz. container, plus part of a second one. You could really get away with just using one, but I wanted a lot on it.

Cover with foil or plastic and chill for at least 4 hours.
Cut into squares. Serve.
We three give it .

Until Next Time.

Year of the Pie - Pie #12 Chess Pie

Pie # 12 - Chess Pie

Well, on our search for pies, we ran across a Chess Pie. Hmmm? Wikipedia says this about it. It is in the custard pie family.

It has basic ingredients that are probably in your cubbard right now.

This week I made crust from Betty Crocker's cookbook.
1 C. flour
1/3 C. + 1 T. shortening
1/4 t. salt
2-3 T. cold water (put ice in it)
Mix the flour/salt and shortening with a pastry blender, then sprinkle in the water a T. at a time for the right consistency.
Roll it out.
Put it in your pie plate.

Ingredients for the filling are:
1 lb. of brown sugar
3 T. flour
3 eggs
1 2/3 C. milk
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1/2 C. melted butter

Mix brown sugar and flour, add beaten eggs. Add milk, vanilla, salt and melted butter. Beat well. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 400 degress for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Having never made or EATEN a chess pie, I didn't know exactly how to test for doneness. I started checking around 30 minutes and checked every 10 minutes for by poking it with a cake tester in the middle. Being in the custard family, I treated it like a pumpkin pie. When the cake tester came out clean and the top was brown.....I pulled it out.
Here is a picture of it.

It looks kind of burnt, but in person it just looks 'golden brown'.
This pie has some character, it came out of the oven talking to me with simmering bubbles. The shield kept the crust nice and toasty brown.

This pie recipe came from this book.

It was the Blue Ribbon Chess Pie recipe from Jonesboro, TN.
This pie is heading to church this evening. We will see how it does.
[I gave my husband a little bite of the pie, just to make sure it was edible for the public- he said it tastes similar to Pecan Pie, without the pecans and that it was perfectly fine to serve.]

O.K. So just before church I cut the pie into twelve pieces (my restaurant savvy husband taught me to cut them into twelves). It felt a little soggy in there, so I pulled a piece out to see it and egads, it was only done on the top. The bottom half still needed to finish baking ( I guess ).
So, on this particular pie we three give it 1/2 of a .

40 pies to go.
Until Next Time.