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