Cranberry Ginger Pear Apple Pie

I made my first pie five years ago today.  I had been watching Pushing Daisies and was hungry for pie.  We had received a fruit basket from my in-laws for Christmas and some of the pears were about to go bad, so I decided to make a pie.  I had no idea what I was doing.  I mixed some flour, butter, sugar, and maybe an egg together and made something of a crust-like consistency that I then pressed into an eight inch cake pan.  The filling was pears, apples, dried cranberries, brown sugar, and ginger ale.

Today, I used actual pie making techniques and revisited the ingredients of the original pie.

Ingredients:

3 Granny Smith apples

3 red pears

8 oz of fresh cranberries

5 tablespoons of Pie Filling Enhancer

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger

Directions:
Peel and slice the apples and pears.
Toss them in the two tablespoons of sugar.
Pulse the cranberries, 1/4 cup of sugar, and ginger in a food processor five times.
Combine the cranberry mixture, the apple-pear mixture and the Pie Filling Enhancer.
Pour into a crust.
Place a lattice crust on top.
Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes at 425oF, rotate, reduce the temperature to 375oF and bake for another 30 minutes.
Allow to cool.

The original pie was more like fruit soup in a bread bowl as opposed to a pie.  My equipment has also improved.  I how have a Fruit & Vegetable Peeler, Corer & Slicer.  Instead of a cake pan that came in a bakeware set from Walmart, I have a handcrafted French pie dish from Emile Henry.  And I actually own trivets, instead of setting the pie on a pot holder to cool.

The new pie is really good.  The cranberries and ginger add a little bit of punch to flavor.  There is a bit of a crispness left to the apples and pears that add a variety to the texture.  There is nothing wrong with this pie.  I will probably make it again next year to celebrate the anniversary, but there is nothing outstanding about this pie that would make me want to make it all year round.

Piece out!

Justin

Mini Cranberry Eggnog Tarts

My husband had a potluck at work.  Since I often send him with slices of pie for his co-workers, I figured they would be expecting him to bring pie.  Also, our other go-to potluck dish, Buffalo Chicken Dip, was already taken.  So instead of making two pies, I made a dozen mini tarts using 4 inch tart pans.  Since the platter could only hold eight, I got to eat the other four myself.

In order to have enough dough for twelve crusts, I doubled the recipe, so here is the recipe I used.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp of salt
14 tbsp of softened butter
2 large eggs

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor.  Separate into 12 small balls.  Roll out the balls and press into tart pans.  Prick and blind bake using pie weights at 350oF for 15 minutes, then remove the pie weights and continue to blind bake for another 15 minutes.

Then, instead of making my own cranberry jam, I heated a can of jellied cranberries with a 1/4 cup of orange juice.  Once the jellied cranberry chunks dissolved and started to thicken again, I added a few drops of red food coloring to fix the color.  I then spooned two tablespoons of the cranberry filling into each tart shell.

On top of that I poured a serving spoon of the eggnog filling over the cranberry filling that had cooled for 5 minutes.  Then I baked them at 300oF for 20-25 minutes.

The mini tarts are just as delightful as the full sized one.  They are not heavy or overly rich, they are the perfect combination of delicate flavor and wonderful textures.  I would definitely make these again.

Piece out!
Justin

Chocolate Truffle Tart

This is another recipe from Gourmet Holiday Baking magazine.  I really wanted to make this pie, but I knew that there was no way that I would be able to eat the whole thing in a timely fashion.  So, I made it for my neighbor.

Instead of a spring form pan, I used a free-bottom tart pan.  And instead of a crust made of chocolate wafer cookies, I made it with speculoos. 

Speculoos Crust:

7 oz of speculoos (This is one box from Trader Joe's.)

8 tablespoons of melted butter.

In a food processor, grind the cookies down to dust, then drizzle in the melted butter.  

Press with hands into the tart pan.  

Refrigerate for 30 minutes before filling.

The filling is made by melting 1/2 pound of 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate with 6 tablespoons of butter.  Whisk 2 eggs, 1/3 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 tsp of salt, and a teaspoon of vanilla.  Then whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until well combined.

Then bake the tart at 350oF for 20-25 minutes.  Then let it cool and sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa powder.

Since I gave this pie as a gift, I have no idea how it tastes.  However, the text I received from my neighbor said "the pie is Michelin 3 stars worthy!  Perfect!  Don't change a thing! Thank you!" followed by three tongue-hanging-out emojis.

Piece out!

Justin

Cranberry Eggnog Tart

I had a few people over from work last week and decided to make a Cranberry Egg Tart.  Luckily, this pie can be made over a few days; otherwise, I would not have had the time to make it on a weeknight.

As I made no changes to the recipe, I do not feel comfortable copying it here.  I would suggest that you go buy the Gourmet Holiday Baking magazine here, it is well worth the price.  It has other great recipes that I intend to try like the Crème Brûlée Tart and several non-pie recipes.  It will be available in stores until mid-January 2016 and it looks like this:

So, other than taking three days to make, this pie is fairly easy to make and, as a bonus, it looks really cool.  Making the cranberry jam seemed like a superfluous step, you could easily use canned jellied cranberries and then follow the recipe instead of making it yourself.  This would save you a lot of time if you are making it in a hurry.  Making the cranberry jam is not hard, but it is an extra step and then you have to wait for it to cool.  So, I leave that up to you.  The rest of it is a piece of cake, literally, it is basically cheesecake... with bourbon and nutmeg.

The result is amazing.  It is creamy, and sweet, and tart, and everything that you want.  The eggnog cheesecake filling is not heavy and adds a fluffy quality to the pie.  For something that I anticipated being super-rich, it was actually quite delicate.  I would gladly make this pie again, I would just cheat on the cranberry to save myself some time.

Piece out!

Justin

Apple Cider Custard Pie

My latest modification of the Grapefruit Custard Pie by Four & Twenty Blackbirds was the Apple Cider Custard Pie.  I replaced the cup of grapefruit juice with a cup of apple cider and the three tablespoons of Campari with three tablespoons of Calvados.

I made the mistake of not paying too close of attention; and when I turned down the oven, I turned it to 275oF instead of 325oF.  After the cook time was up, I realized my mistake and turned it back up and cooked it for an additional 15 minutes.  I think the crust would have held better had I cooked it for the correct amount of time at the correct temperature.  (Also, the picture is from day four, so the pastry has gotten a little soggy.)

The flavor was incredible.  It had the sweetness of the apple cider and a little bit of kick from the Calvados.  This is definitely a pie I will make again, only I'll do it right next time.  It is a nice change from a traditional apple pie that still maintains that apple flavor you expect from a pie in October.

Piece out!
Justin

Pumpkin Spice Latte Chiffon Pie

While I was making the Pum-conut Pie last week, this pie came into my imagination.  My mother makes an exceptional Pumpkin Chiffon Pie.  The one year that she didn't make it for Thanksgiving, it didn't really feel like Thanksgiving, and being the ungrateful jerk that I am: I told her so.

Last year, when I made all the pies for Thanksgiving, I knew that I needed to get the recipe from her.  There were only three changes to her recipe to make it a Pumpkin Spice Latte Chiffon Pie, and that was to swap the 1/4 cup of water with 3 shots of espresso from Starbucks, I substituted my blend of spices for the tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice, and I also modified the whipped cream to have it be a little more enduring than plain whipped cream.

Ingredients:

1 envelope of unflavored gelatin

3 shots of Starbucks espresso

3 eggs, separated

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1 1/3 cups of pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon of allspice

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon of mace

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of milk

1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar

6 tablespoons of granulated sugar

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1 packet of Whip it

1 packet of vanilla sugar

Directions:
Soften gelatin in cold espresso.  Beat egg yolks; add brown sugar, pumpkin, spices, and salt.  Mix well.  Stir in milk.  Cook over medium heat, stirring, until it begins to boil.  Cook for 2 minutes, continuing the stir.  Remove from heat; add gelatin; mix.  Cool.  Add cream of tartar to egg whites; beat until fluffy.  Gradually add granulated sugar, beating until stiff, but not dry.  Without washing beaters, beat pumpkin mixture until smooth.  Gently fold in egg whites.  Pour into a blind-baked crust; chill.  Beat whipped cream with Whip it and vanilla sugar until you get stiff peaks.  Spread over filling and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice, or a mixture of half the quantities of the spices used in the recipe.

This pie tastes better than a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks.  There is something about the latte that tastes a little soapy or cosmetic to me.  That is not found in this pie at all.  The espresso is noticeable, but not over powering, and provides a nice contrast to the other flavors in the pie.  This pie, however, is very rich and should be cut into eight slices instead of six.

WARNING:  If you eat this pie in public, you may be mobbed by twenty-somethings wearing Ugg boots, chunky sweaters, and tights as pants.

Piece out!
Justin

Pum-conut Pie

Last weekend, I was driving through Richmond, IL, on my way home from picking apples at an apple orchard.  I noticed that one of my favorite antique stores is closing and was having a huge sale.  I bought two vintage Pies by Fasano pie tins and four cookbooks.  One of them was a community made recipe book from Delavan, WI, from 1980.  My husband is from Delavan, and went to school with the kids of the majority of the recipe providers, or shopped in their husbands' shoe stores, etc.

Anyway, another cookbook that I picked up was the Pillsbury's Bake Off Dessert Cook Book from 1968.  The one recipe that really caught my eye was the Pum-conut Pie, so I decided to give it a try.  It is basically a pumpkin pie with shredded coconut.  So here is what I did...

Ingredients:

2 eggs

3/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of mace

1/4 teaspoon of ground clove

1 can of pumpkin

1 can of evaporated milk

3/4 cup of shredded coconut

Directions:
Beat the eggs.  Add sugar, salt, and spices.  Stir to combine.  Add pumpkin.  Stir to combine,  Add evaporated milk.  Stir to combine.  Add 1/2 cup of shredded coconut.  Stir to combine.  Pour into a prepared crust.  Bake at 425oF for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of coconut and bake for another 10 minutes.  Allow to cool entirely before eating.

This pie was totally ok.  The chewiness of the coconut was a nice addition; however, this pie lacked any real wow factor.  But the concept does has potential.  I may revisit it as a pumpkin chiffon pie and see if that had the wow factor I am looking for.

Piece out!
Justin

RLHS 2015 Pie Baking Champion

Two weeks ago, the staff of the school where I teach had a chili cook-off/pie bake-off/costume contest.  I decided to go with the Taffy Apple Pie.

This time, I precooked the apple filling to avoid having a crust dome.  In a saucepan, I combined the apple slices (this time using 3 Granny Smith and 3 Gala), 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and two tablespoons of Pie Filling Enhancer.  I cooked it over medium heat until the apples softened.  Then I stirred in the peanuts and put it onto a sheet of foil on a sheet pan to cool.

If you do this, let it cool ALL THE WAY.  I did not and the filling started heating the crust before I could even get it in the refrigerator to set up.  Needless to say, my crust did not hold its shape.  However, I did not have a crust dome.  So, the plan worked...  kind of.

Anyway, my Purple Pieman from Porcupine Peak costume came in second.  But, my Taffy Apple Pie took first place by one vote.

So, I got this sweet apron.

Piece out!
Justin

Taffy Apple Pie

It's that time of year again.  Apples are cheap and Affy Tapples are filling displays at supermarkets.  As I was walking by a display last weekend, I thought that I can make that into a pie.

Ingredients:
6 large Granny Smith apples
1 lemon
1 cup  + 2 tablespoons of sugar
1/4 cup of water
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of cream
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of King Arthur Flour's Pie Filling Enhancer
1 cup of chopped peanuts

Directions:
Peel, core and finely slice the apples
Juice the lemon and toss the apples in the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Add the cup of sugar and the water to a saucepan on medium-high heat.
When the sugar dissolves at the butter.
When the caramel turns coppery, remove from heat.
Immediately add the cream to the caramel while stirring.  Be careful, it will bubble and sputter.
Allow to cool while you finish preparing the apples.
Stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and Pie Filling Enhancer.
Add this mixture and the chopped peanuts to the apples and toss to cover the apples.
Pour the apple mixture into a bottom crust.
Pour the caramel over the apples.
Cover with a top crust and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Do a milk wash on the top crust and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 400oF for 25 minutes.
Reduce the heat to 375oF and continue baking for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool entirely on a wire rack.

I used flour instead of Pie Filling Enhancer and the filling didn't turn out quite right.  Using Pie Filling Enhancer instead of flour will fix that problem.

This pie is delicious!  It tastes exactly like an Affy Tapple.  If eating caramel apples covered in peanuts is your idea of fall, you have found your new favorite pie.  This pie is fun (definitely not as pretentious as a Salted Caramel Apple Pie) and is guaranteed to make you smile.  I'm no orthodontist, but I also think this should also be safe for people with braces.

Piece out!
Justin

Sour Cream Cranberry Pie

I have seen a lot recipes for Sour Cream Raisin pies.  I wanted to try a fall twist on this, and used dried cranberries instead of raisins.  I turned to the recipe in The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, since other recipes that I looked had twice the amount of sour cream.  While the filling was cooling, I panicked that it would not fully set, so I added a tablespoon of King Arthur Flour's Signature Secrets as insurance.

I also skipped the whipped topping, and used the two egg whites that are left over to make a meringue.  I added 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and a 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar and beat it into stiff stiff peaks, then spooned it over the filling and baked it at 325oF for 15 minutes.

This pie turned out fantastic.  It is very rich and is definitely an 8 slice pie, not a 6 slice pie.  It definitely captures the fall flavors I was trying to get.  I would definitely do more meringue if I had more egg whites laying around from another recipe, but a two-egg meringue works fine.

This would be a great pie for Thanksgiving, if you are looking to provide more options than pumpkin, apple, and pecan.

Piece out!
Justin

Classic Blueberry Pie

I used Rick Johnson's recipe from the American Pie Council's America's Best Pies.  However, instead of 8 cups of frozen blueberries, I used 6 half pints of fresh blueberries.  I also did a plaid lattice instead of a vented top crust.  I also did a milk wash and sprinkled it with sugar before baking.

This pie must have been good.  I brought it to a potluck and I didn't even have time to take a picture of a slice before it was gone.  I did notice, however, that the filling was very firm and did not slump at all.

Piece out!
Justin

Lime Custard Pie

This pie was another take on the Grapefruit Custard Pie.  It is much lighter than a Key Lime Pie and more refreshing than rich.  I followed the recipe in The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book for the Grapefruit custard pie, but substituted lime juice for the grapfruit juice and yellow Chartreuse for the Campari.  The herbal quality of the Chartreuse adds a little intrigue, but doesn't overpower the lime flavor that you would want from this pie.

This is definitely a the perfect pie to enjoy on a hot summer day.  Throw a picnic, invite me, and I'll bring one.

Piece out!
Justin

Paprika Peach Pie

After the Peaches & Cream Pie fail, I decided I needed to continue trying instead of hanging up my apron.  Two pages earlier in the same cookbook was a Paprika Peach Pie.  In reading the recipe, it looked to be a novelty pie.  Like you would enjoy a piece of it, but wouldn't be all "that's an amazing peach pie."  So I decided to add a little sweet paprika to a regular peach pie recipe to add a little depth of flavor, but still keep the essence of a classic peach pie.

Ingredients:
5 peaches
1 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of King Arthur Flour's Signature Secrets
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons of sweet paprika

Directions:
Score an X at the bottom of the peaches.  Put them in boiling water for one minute.  Remove from boiling water and place them in ice water.  The skin should slide right off with the scraping of the back of a knife.
Cut the peach into eighths, remove the pit, and cut each eighth into three smaller pieces.
Place peaches into a medium saucepan and add the other ingredients.  The peaches will release their juices.  Once the juices come to a boil, allow it to simmer for two minutes.
Pour the filling into a pie crust, cover with another crust (I used cutouts, but you could also just cut vents).  Crimp the edges.  Do a milk wash and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 10 minutes at 425oF, then reduce the heat to 375oF and bake for another 35 minutes.

My plan worked.  It still tastes like a peach pie, but it does have a little something that makes you go "(h)mmmm."  I only used 2 tablespoons of Signature Secrets and the filling didn't entirely come together, so in the recipe I added one more and that should fix the problem.  I think if I play with this recipe a little bit more, I should be able to make it a winner (even if it is a guaranteed third place).

Piece out!
Justin

Peaches & Cream Pie

With only two entries for peach pie at the Illinois State Fair this year, I figured I should start making peach pies to find a good one to enter next year.  I'd be guaranteed at least third place, right?

I decided to try Four & Twenty Blackbirds' Peaches & Cream Pie with a double crust (peach pies must have a double crust for the state fair).  This was a terrible idea.

Out of the oven, the pie looked beautiful.  However, the recipe warns against over cooking as the custard will separate.  It did.  It got clumpy and gritty.  The taste was still amazing, but the texture was rather off-putting.

Back to the cutting board...

Piece out!
Justin

Classic Plum Pie

I went to make a Jammie Dodger Pie to bring to a friend's house for dinner, and the grocery store was out of raspberries.  So, I figured I would follow the original recipe for plum pie that I based the Jammie Dodger Pie on.

Ingredients:

8 plums, pitted and cut into eighths

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 tablespoon of ground cloves

2 tablespoons of King Arthur Flour's Signature Secrets

Directions:
Mix ingredients together and cook over low heat until the plums release their juice and it comes to a boil.  Then spoon into a crust, cover with another crust cut with vents.  Brush the crust with milk and sprinkle with a handful of sugar.  Bake for 10 minutes at 425oF, then reduce the heat to 375oF and bake for another 35 minutes.  Let cool completely before serving.

I thought that using a tablespoon of ground cloves was a lot, since for a pumpkin pie I only use 1/4 teaspoon.  While the filling was cooking and while it was baking, it smelled like the summer of 1999.  It smelled like I had a dozen 18 year-olds smoking Djarum Specials in my kitchen and I thought "Oh shit, I am going to have to throw this out."

However, once it came out of the oven, the smell mellowed.

The pie, served with Vanilla Bean ice cream, was a huge it.  You could taste the clove but it was not as overwhelming as I had originally feared.  My husband ate a whole piece, which I take as huge complement.  Even a little boy, who I think would live off of white rice and soy sauce if he could, ate almost an entire adult-sized serving.  This is a fantastic pie, and I think I may enter it into fair contests next summer.  I am just wondering if I need to find a way to incorporate a vanilla custard layer to keep the excellent balance that it had with the ice cream.  Well, I have eleven months to figure that out.

Piece out!
Justin

Illinois State Fair

I entered the Blackberry Mint Julep Pie in the Berry Pie Category at the Illinois State Fair.  It did not place in the top three.  I had some hesitation about the blackberry filling as I made it.  It seemed to overthicken, which would have made it chewy.  I think I added an extra tablespoon of Instant ClearJel.  But I am now thinking that it doesn't matter if you are using 18 ounces or 24 ounces of blackberries, you should still only use three tablespoons of Instant ClearJel and it should all be added at the beginning of the cooking process with the sugar (instead of adding it toward the end after the berries have released the majority of their juice).

On Friday, August 21st, I made the trip back down the Springfield with my Pumpkin S'mores Pie.  When I dropped the pie off for judging at 2pm, I also had the pleasure of meeting Linda Hoskins, the Executive Director of the American Pie Council.

Three hours and fifteen minutes later.  I was awarded Second Place in the Pumpkin Pie Contest by Miss Illinois County Fair, Sadie Gassmann.

I actually tied with the woman who won third place, but then after a tie-breaker judging I was awarded second place.

I am super proud of this accomplishment and could not be happier.

The recipe for the marshmallow meringue was slightly altered from previous versions of this pie.  I eliminated the sugar and whipped the marshmallow creme into the egg whites instead of folding it in later.

Here is the new recipe:

3 eggs whites

1/4 teaspoon of salt

7 oz of marshmallow creme.

Whip the egg whites and salt into soft peaks, then spoon in the marshmallow creme a spoonful at a time and continue to whip into stiff peaks.  Then spoon onto the pumpkin filling and toast with a kitchen torch.

Piece out!

Justin

Jammie Dodger Pie

Since plums are in season, I wanted to make a plum pie.  Almost all of the recipes that I found called for clove.  But it is August, and I tend to think of clove as an autumn flavor.  Since plums have very little identifiable flavor of their own, I wanted to combine them with a summer flavor.  

I decided to turn to the flavor found in Jammie Dodgers.  A Jammie Dodger is a British shortbread sandwich cookie.  The filling is a raspberry flavored plum jam.  Jammie Dodgers were featured heavily on Doctor Who during the run of Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor.

To recreate the flavor in a pie form, I used the following recipe.

Ingredients:

4 black plums

4 red plums

6 oz of raspberries

1 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of King Arthur Flour's Signature Secrets

2 pie crusts

Directions:

Pit and cut the plums into 8ths.  Combine the plums, raspberries, sugar and Signature Secrets in a large sauce pan over medium heat.  Cook the filling until the juices start to bubble and thicken.  Pour the filling into a pie crust.  Cut a heart into the center of the other pie crust and lay it over the filling.  Crimp the edges.  Brush the crust with milk and sprinkle with a handful of sugar.  Bake at 425oF for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375oF and bake for another 35 minutes, or until the crust is a golden brown.  Let cool before serving.

The pie is fantastic.  The Signature Secrets makes a great filling: juicy, not gluey.  The raspberry flavor kind of dominates, probably due to the raspberries breaking down while the filling was being made.  The plums were cooked perfectly; which, in turn, gave the pie a great texture.  I would gladly make this pie again.

Piece out!

Justin

Sweet Corn Custard Pie

What do you do when a guy who loves your pie gives you a bunch of sweet corn?  You make a sweet corn pie.  I got the idea from my sister who lived in Thailand for a year, where they serve corn pies at McDonald's.  Instead of making a pocket pie, I wanted to use sweet corn in a regular round pie.

Ingredients:

1 pie crust

4 ears of corn

1/3 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 cup of milk

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

2 tablespoons of heavy cream

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions:

Cream the corn off of the cobs.

Mix sugar and cinnamon, and add to corn.

Beat in eggs.

Make a slurry with the milk and cornstarch, and add to filling.

Add heavy cream and vanilla extract.

Pour into pie crust.

Bake for 35 minutes at 375oF.

Rotate and bake for another 20 minutes.

Let cool for two hours, then refrigerate.

This makes a really nice custard pie.  The cinnamon may have been a little heavy, so you may want to back it down to 1/2 a teaspoon.  The texture is weird, but amazing.  You get the smooth custard and then you get little pops of sweet corn flavor.  It's a fun pie to eat.  The balance of flavor is really nice and leaves you feeling satisfied, but not heavy in the stomach.

Piece out!

Justin

Bakers Square's Blackberry Bavarian Bliss Pie

Last month, I went to Bakers Square for lunch on a Wednesday to take advantage of Pie Rush Wednesday.  I tried their pie of the month, the Blackberry Bavarian Bliss pie.  It was advertised with huge posters in the restaurant with signs saying "Black is the New Berry."

I was hoping for something to inspire me with a way to make my Blackberry Mint Julep pie better. I was not inspired.  It looks much better in the picture than it does in real life, which made me feel better about the appearance of my pie.  The pie was a good amount of sweet, but lacked any real flavor.  Nothing made me say "Now, THAT is a blackberry pie."  I was left feeling much better about my pie as I feel that it has a much better flavor than this pie, which won the Berry Flavor in the Gourmet Category at the 2015 American Pie Council's National Pie Championships.

Piece out!
Justin

Deep Fried Pumpkin Pie

While I was walking around at the Lake County Fair, I came across a food stand that sold deep fried pecan pie and deep fried pumpkin pie.

On Friday, I got a deep fried pumpkin pie with powdered sugar on Friday.  It was good, except the pumpkin pie is frozen, so there is a thin layer of batter on the pie that does not cook all the way under the crispy funnel-cake like exterior.

On Saturday, I went back to try the deep fried pecan pie.  But they were out of pecan.  So I tried the deep fried pumpkin pie with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar.  This was by far better than getting it with just powdered sugar.  The whipped cream helped to draw away the attention to the uncooked batter, and I doubt that I would have noticed it at all had I not gotten it with just powdered sugar the day before.

Basically, if you see this at a fair: eat it!

Piece out!
Justin

Lake County Fair Results

I entered three pies in the Lake County Fair pavilion competitions: Amaretto Sour Custard Pie, Bananas Foster Pecan Praline Pie, and Pumpkin S'mores Pie.

After baking all day on Saturday, when it was in the high 80s, I dropped off all three pies on Sunday, the 26th.  I dropped them off fairly early, so none of my competitors in the pie division had dropped theirs off yet, but I was hopeful after seeing some of the entries in other division.  I then had to wait until Wednesday, the 29th, to see the results.  

Amaretto Sour Custard Pie: First Place

Pumpkin S'mores Pie: First Place

Bananas Foster Pecan Praline Pie: Second Place

This means that next year, I cannot enter the Pumpkin or Custard classes.  However, I think I will also enter the Chocolate Chip Cookie and Snickerdoodle classes, as I think the recipes I inherited from my mother would do very well in those classes.  

Until then, I get to look at this:

Piece out!

Justin

Where did June go?

I tried making the rhubarb pie again with cornstarch.  The filling was just as watery, but it had a cornstarchy residue this time.  For rhubarb pies, neither flour nor cornstarch are cutting it.  You will need to use minute tapioca or one of the new thickeners I have been trying.  

I spent a day in Chicago where I went to seven different bakeries and ate seven pieces of pie.  Here is the post I made on BuzzFeed with more information about the pies and the bakeries.  I meant to review all of the pies that I ate that day, but after the fourth piece I was just focused on not dying.

I sent in my entry forms for both the Lake County Fair and the Illinois State Fair.  I got my entry tags for the state fair in the mail, and need to go in to pick up my county fair tags later this month.  I will be entering the Blackberry Mint Julep pie and the Pumpkin S'mores pie in the state fair and the Amaretto Sour pie, Bananas Foster Pecan Praline pie and the Pumpkin S'mores pie in the county fair.

I made the Blackberry Mint Julep pie for Father's Day, this time increasing the pastry cream and decreasing the blackberry stove-top filling.  The stove-top filling still didn't set up as much I would have liked, but the flavor blend was perfectly balanced.

I learned that crusts blind-bake a lot faster in disposable pie plates than they do in Pyrex.

I bought tapioca starch and used it in the Bananas Foster Pecan Praline pie, instead of flour, and it worked amazingly.  The filling did not slump at all, and it preserved the bananas a bit better.  The filling was a little too boozy, so I will need to flambé the rum before I put it in the filling.  

I bought marquee letters that spell "pie."

I bought this awesome sign at Cost Plus World Market.

I bought a Pushing Daisies promotion pie server on ebay.

I bought three thickeners from King Arthur Flour: Instant Clearjel, Pie Filling Enhancer, and Signature Secrets.  

Today, I used the Instant Clearjel in the Blackberry Mint Julep pie to see if I could get a sturdier stove-top filling.  And I did.  It held together very nicely, the mouth-texture was a little gluey-er than when I used cornstarch.  I guess that is the trade-off.  Also, I think I am going to need to buy and freeze blackberries because they are getting harder and harder to find in grocery stores and I am afraid that I won't be able to find them at all in a month.

Here is the new recipe for the Blackberry Mint Julep pie:

Crust:

250g of flour

125g of room-temp butter

1 packet of vanilla sugar

125g of sugar

1 egg

Pastry Cream:

7/8 cups of milk

3 egg yolks

3/8 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of cornstarch

pinch of salt

3 tablespoons of bourbon

3 tablespoons of room temperature butter.

3/4 teaspoon of mint extract

Blackberry Filling:

24oz of blackberries

1 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of Clearjel

Piece out!

Justin