AwesomeBites

Tag: Pie

  • Rustic Peach Tart

    Rustic Peach Tart

    Peach Tart

    So what could my mom do with her canned peaches? Everything or nothing, they were always great.  This tart is equally good with tart apples, pears, plums, or berries, apricots or yes – peaches.  Even combining fruits would be great.   The crust has an appealing cookie-like texture.  The almond cream  was amazingly smooth and flavorful.  Almond flavor is always good with fruit.  They combine well, and enhance each other.  I did add both rum and vanilla to flavor it.  I like food to look beautiful, but not fussed over, so rustic always is more appealing to me.  Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours Dorie Greenspan, but I am sure my Mother had a similar recipe.

    For the almond cream:

    6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
    2/3 cup sugar
    3/4 cup ground blanched almonds
    2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon cornstarch
    1 large egg
    2 teaspoons dark rum
    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

    1 partially-baked 9-inch tart shell, made with Sweet Tart Dough (see below), at room temperature
    1 can of canned peach halves

    Confectioners’ sugar for dusting, or apple jelly for glazing

    To make the almond cream:  Put the butter and sugar in the workbowl of a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and satiny.  Add the ground almonds and continue to process until well blended.  Add the flour and cornstarch, process, and then add the egg.  Process for about 15 seconds more, or until the almond cream is homogeneous.  Add the rum or vanilla and process just to blend.  If you prefer, you can make the cream in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a bowl with a rubber spatula.  In either case, the ingredients are added in the same order.  Scrape the almond cream into a container and either use it immediately or refrigerate it until firm, about 2 hours.

    Getting ready to bake:  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Have a lined baking sheet at the ready.  Cut the peaches in half from blossom to stem (or pieces). Whatever fruit you have, make sure to pat them dry – really dry – so that their liquid won’t keep the almond cream from baking.

    Fill the baked crust with the almond cream, spreading it even with an offset metal icing spatula.  Thinly slice each pear half crosswise, lift each half on a spatula, press down on the pear to fan it slightly and place it, wide-end toward the edge of the crust, over the almond cream.  The halves will form spokes.

    Put the crust on the lined baking sheet, slide the sheet into the oven and bake the tart 50 to 60 minutes, or until the almond cream puffs up around the pears and browns.  Transfer the tart to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature before unmolding.

    Right before serving, dust the tart with confectioners’ sugar.  If you prefer, prepare a glaze by bringing about 1/4 cup apple jelly and1/2 teaspoon water to the boil.  Brush the glaze over the surface of the tart.

    Serving:  This tart goes very well with aromatic tea.

    Storing:  If it’s convenient for you, you can make the almond cream up to 2 days ahead and keep it closely covered in the refrigerator, or you can wrap it airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months; defrost before using.  You can also poach the pears up to 1 day ahead.  However, once you’ve baked the tart, you should be prepared to enjoy it that same day.

    Playing around:  The almond cream is a great companion for a variety of fruits.  It’s as good with summer fruits, like apricots or peaches, as it is with autumn’s apples.

    Sweet Tart Dough

    Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

    1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
    1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
    1 large egg yolk

    To make the dough:  Put the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in the workbowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine.  Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely – you’ll have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pea-size pieces and that’s just fine.  Stir the egg, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition.  When the egg is in, process in long pulses – about 10 seconds each – until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds.  Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change – heads up.  Turn the dough out onto a work surface.

    Very lightly and sparingly – make that very, very lightly and sparingly – knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

    If you want to press the dough into a tart pan, now is the time to do it.

    If you want to chill the dough and roll it out later (doable, but fussier than pressing), gather the dough into a ball (you might have to use a little more pressure than you used to mix in dry bits, because you do want the ball to be just this side of cohesive), flatten it into a disk, wrap it well and chill it for at least 2 hours or for up to 1 day.

    To make a press-in crust:  Butter the tart pan and press the dough evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Don’t be stingy – you want a crust with a little heft because you want to be able to both taste and feel it.  Also, don’t be too heavy-handed – you want to press the crust in so that the pieces cling to one another and knit together when baked, but you don’t want to press so hard that the crust loses its crumbly shortbreadish texture.  Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

    To make a rolled-out crust:  This dough is very soft – a combination of a substantial amount of butter and the use of confectioners’ sugar – so I find it is easier to roll it between wax paper or plastic wrap or, easiest of all, in a roll-out-your-dough slipcover.  If you use the slipcover, flour it lightly.  Roll the dough out evenly, turning the dough over frequently and lifting the wax paper or plastic wrap often, so that it doesn’t roll into the dough and form creases.  If you’ve got time, slide the rolled out dough into the fridge to rest and firm for about 20 minutes before fitting the dough into the buttered tart pan.  Trim the excess dough even with the edge of the pan.  Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

    To partially bake the crust:  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil tightly against the crust.  Bake the crust 25 minutes, then carefully remove the foil.  If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon.  Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack; keep it in its pan.

  • Ruthie’s Lemon Pie

    Ruthie’s Lemon Pie

    Lemon Meringue
    Awesome Bite Lemon Meringue

    At Christmas this year, my sister-in-law, Carol made the pies.  She has shared her mom’s Lemon Cream Pie recipe.  “My mom’s pie had meringue on top made from the whites of the 3 egg yolks.  Many recipes today suggest whipped cream.  All sound yummy.  For the crust I use the Pillsbury and roll it out a little. Use a small pie tin as this is not a big pie. Doubling recipes doesn’t work for me. I just prick the crust with a fork several times, then pre-bake the crust. I don’t think Meyer lemons are good for this…not enough acidity and didn’t set up right.  My mom’s recipe said, ‘do not cool in front of a drafty window’.”
    So ingredients are..
    1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk or any brand as long as it is 13 1/2 to 14 oz can.

    1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

    3 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)

    Optional some recipes use the zest of the lemon in this pie also. 

    Pre-bake the pie crust and cool
    Mix filling together
    Pour filling into baked crust
    Make meringue (sometimes I add an extra white for more volume). 
    Put the meringue on top making fancy little doodles, peaks and valleys
    Put the pie the oven 325 degrees to brown the peaks of the meringue.
    Chill until ready to serve.
    The meringue can be tricky so I won’t give details other than
    Make sure bowl is dry…copper bowl is best
    Do not let any yolk or water get into the whites
    You can whisk or use electric beaters
    Add cream of tartar to get more volume
    Use powdered sugar, regular sugar or vanilla to flavor and/or sweeten

    To make this pretty, you can make the pie in cupcake pan lined with parchment so each person for dinner has an individual pie.   They are so cute!

  • Italian Lemon Meringue

    Italian Lemon Meringue

    This Lemon Meringue pie reminds me of a Lemon Chiffon, beautiful creamy lemon yellow. Yum. Easy in the sense you mix and  bake the lemon chiffon in the pie shell instead of the stovetop method used for Southern Style Lemon Meringue. 

    If you like tart pie, use regular lemons, otherwise use Meyer’s lemons.

    A more tart version is the Southern Style Lemon Meringue Pie, where the filling is cooked on the stovetop first, and then added to the pie. 

    For presentation purposes, go big with the meringue.  Make it pretty!

    To Make the Lemon Meringue Pie

    Start with a Blind Baked Pie Crust (See other post on Pie Crust)

    1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
    2. Put the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice and zest in a glass bowl and mix gently with a balloon whisk until all the ingredients are very well incorporated. The mixture will thicken naturally.
    3. Pour into the partially blind-baked (10 minutes)  pie crust and bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes. The filling should be firm to the touch but still very slightly soft in the centre (not wobbly!). Leave to cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight if possible.

    To Make the Simpler Meringue Topping:

    1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
    2. Put the egg whites in a freestanding electric mixer with a whisk attachment and whisk until frothy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons of the sugar at a time, whisking well after each addition. Once you have whisked in all the sugar, add the vanilla extract and whisk again until stiff peaks form.
    3. Spoon the meringue on top of the cold pie, making sure you completely cover the pie filling. Create peaks and swirls in the top of the meringue with the back of a tablespoon.
    4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the meringue is golden brown and crisp to the touch.)
    5. Leave to cool completely before serving.

    To Make the Italian Meringue Topping:

    1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
    2. Put the sugar in a small saucepan and just cover with water. Set over medium heat and bring to the boil.
    3. While the sugar is on the tovetop, put the egg whites in a freestanding electric mixer with a whisk attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed. Whisk until the egg whites are light and foamy.
    4. When the sugar has been boiling for a short while, it should reach soft ball stage. (This is when the bubbles go more syrupy. To check, dip a spoon into the sugar, then drop it directly into a glass of cold water. The sugar will firm up on contact with the water. You should be able to form a soft ball out of the sugar. If it sets to hard to be able to form a ball, it has been boiled too long and has reached hard ball stage. Be careful, as the sugar goes from soft ball to hard ball stage very quickly. Don’t touch the hot syrup with your bare hand until you have dipped the spoon into the glass of cold water, otherwise you will burn your fingers.)
    5. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and slowly pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites. Once all the syrup is incorporated, turn the mixer up to maximum speed and whisk for about 10-15 minutes, or until the meringue has tripled in size and is very white and fluffy.
    6. Turn the mixer back down to medium speed and continue to whisk for a couple more minutes until the meringue has cooled down slightly.
    7. Spoon the meringue on top of the cold pie, making sure you completely cover the pie filling. Create peaks and swirls in the top of the meringue with the back of a tablespoon.
    8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the meringue is golden brown and crisp to the touch. Leave to cool completely before serving. 

    Note:  This is a great cupcake frosting!

  • Southern Style Lemon Meringue Pie – My Dad’s favorite!

    Southern Style Lemon Meringue Pie – My Dad’s favorite!

    Depending upon how tart you like your lemon pie to be, choose the appropriate lemons. Meyers Lemons are sweeter as they are hybrid lemon mixed with a mandarine orange.  Whereas the standard lemon is much tarter – which I like!  I love the contrast between the sweet creamy meringue and that slight pucker in the lemon curd.  Oh, I get tingly just thinking about it.
    3 tablespoons butter
    1/2 cup lemon juice
    1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

    Plus make pie crust.  I used a Crisco recipe that includes egg and vinegar.  Tastes like shortbread.

    Meringue – Double this if you want a big cloud!
    Beat 4 egg whites, add 1/4 c white sugar, and 1/8 tsp cream of tarter.
    Spinkle with lemon zest for that old fashioned look.
    Bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes until brown.

  • Chocolate Pecan Pie

    Chocolate Pecan Pie

    Well, we are planning for Christmas Eve dinner and this pie is on the menu.  If you don’t have something chocolately, most will feel something is missing. So, this is going to be our Chocolate fix.  So exciting! 

    Chocolate Pecan Pie

    4 eggs, lightly beaten

    1 cup light corn syrup

    1/4 cup granulated sugar

    1/4 cup brown sugar

    2 T butter

    2 Ounces unsweetened Chocolate cut into pieces

    1 T Bourbon

    1 tsp Vanilla

    1/2 tsp Salt

    1 cup chopped Pecans

    1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces

    1 9-inch unbaked pastry shell

    Honey-Pecan Topping

    1. Prepare your pie crust.

    2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl combine eggs, granulated and brown sugars, corn syrup, bourbon, vanilla and salt. Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate pieces in microwave for 15 seconds or until melted (just barely – do not over do it.).  Mix well, stir in semi-sweet chocolate pieces and chopped pecans.

    3. Carefully pour the pie filling into the pie shell. Bake for 25 minutes. Use foil to cover pie edges to prevent overbrowning. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes.

    4. Make the Honey Pecan topping:  In a small saucepan combine 2/3 cup brown sugar,  6 T of butter, 6 T of honey. Bring to a boil stirring constantly; reduce heat.  Simmer 2 minutes uncovered stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 cups Pecan halves.

    5.  Carefully spoon the Honey Pecan topping onto the pie.   Continue to bake for 10 minutes more or until the topping is bubbly.  Cool completely.

    This is a beautiful pie.  Can be made 24 hours in advance.

  • Maple Pecan Pie

    Maple Pecan Pie

    Pecan Pie –

    4 eggs lightly beaten

    1  cup light corn syrup

    1/4 cup granulated white sugar

    1/4 cup brown sugar

    1/4 cup maple syrup

    2 Tablespoons melted butter

    2 Tablespoons Bourbon

    1 tsp vanilla

    1/2 tsp salt

    1 cup of chopped Pecans

    1 – 9 inch pastry shell

    Honey Pecan Topping 

    Mix all the ingredients and then add the chopped pecans.  Pour into the unbaked pie shell and bake with foil covering for 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 15 minutes. Add the Honey Pecan Topping carefully to the top.  Return to oven about 10 minutes and then remove and cool the pie. 

    Honey Pecan Topping.  In saucepan, combine  1/3 cup brown sugar, 3 T butter, 3 T honey.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 2 Cups Pecan halves. 

  • Artesian Apple Pie

    Artesian Apple Pie

    I love pie.  Spice apple pie. Pie al mode.  Pie with cinnamon and spice that leaves a trail throughout the house.

    During thanksgiving, I am usually out of pie pans, and so this artesian pie you can make with out a pan. I used my large casserole dish, but you can use a cookie sheet.  This baby has 6 large peeled and sliced Green apples, 1/8 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of flour, 3/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp garam masala.  Mix all your spices and flour and add to the green apples with lemon juice.

    Double the pie crust recipe on this site and roll out the dough.  I like to use a large cutting board and roll the dough onto the parchment paper so it easy to lift later. 

    Once your dough is rolled into one large round, place the pie filling in a mound in the center. Grab the edges of your parchment and place into the casserole dish.  (The dish should be sprayed with pam for easy removal later.) 

    Dab butter on top of the pie, brush with egg wash and she is oven ready.  Bake at 375 for 60 to 75 minutes or until golden brown. 

  • Mom’s Green Tomato Pie

    Servings: 1 Pie

    Ingredients
    • 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
    • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    • 4 teaspoons lemon zest
    • 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    • 3 tablespoons butter
    • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • ¾ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
    • 1 1/3 cups white sugar
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 3 cups sliced green tomatoes

    Preparation
    1. Prepare pie plate with bottom layer of crust.
    2. Mix together the flour, lemon peel, lemon juice, butter or margarine, ground cinnamon, sugar, and salt. Stir in the green tomatoes to coat. Pour into crust. Cover with top crust. Cut slits in top crust to allow steam to escape.
    3. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 10 minutes then reduce temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake another 30 minutes.

  • Green Tomato and Apple Pie

    Green Tomato and Apple Pie

     Definately inspired by my mother and her garden.  I loved fried green tomatoes as a child and when Mom would make a Green Tomato Pie, wow!  How did she do that.   This is the perfect combination for me.  Tart Granny Smith Apples and Tomatoes.  Enjoy this is country farmstyle eating at its best.
    Green Tomato and Apple Pie
     
     Apple and Green Tomato Pie

    Pastry

    500g plain flour

    pinch of salt

    300g unsalted butter, well chilled and cut into 1cm cubes

    25g caster sugar, and extra to sprinkle

    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    1 large egg yolk

    2-3 tablespoons cold water

    milk to brush

    Filling

    5 Cox’s apples

    4 green tomatoes

    150g caster sugar

    grated zest and juice of a lemon

    1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

    1 tablespoon light muscovado sugar

    1. To make the pastry, sift flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter evenly until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in sugar and vanilla extract. Lightly beat the egg yolk with the water in a small bowl then pour this over the flour mixture.

    2. Combine with your fingertips to incorporate and add a little more water if required. Form into a ball and knead lightly. Wrap in foil and chill for an hour.

    3. Now to prepare the filling. Core the apples and slice them finely leaving the skin on. Slice the tomatoes into rounds and place into a bowl with the apples. Add caster sugar, lemon zest and juice.

    4. When the pastry is ready, take out half from the fridge and roll this out into a 3mm thick round large enough to line the base and sides of a 20cm fluted pie tin. Press the pastry into the tin and prick the base of the pastry. Chill for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 180°C.

    5. Line the pastry with grease proof paper and baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes to dry out the base. Set aside to cool.

    6. Roll out the rest of the pastry thinly into a round 5mm thick for the pie lid.

    7. Stir cinnamon and sugar into the filling and pour into the pie case. Top with the pastry lid and press the pastry edges to seal with your thumbs, fluting them as you go. Brush with a little milk. Mark small incisions into the lid of the pie to let it breathe when baking.

    8. Place in the oven (middle shelf) for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

    9. Sprinkle the pie with caster sugar and serve with cold pouring cream, cream friache or just a dollop of vanilla icecream.

    Recipe from How I cook by Skye Gyngell (Quadrille).

  • Pear Crostata with Figs and Honey

    Pears.  Pears and cardamom.  Have you discovered this amazing taste mixture?   I make a Pear Cardamom Butter and it flies off the pantry shelf. Never any left after a week.  Dennis will eat it on his pork, pour some on his pancakes, I saw him use it as salad dressing the other day with balsalmic vinegar.  (I’ll have to create a new recipe around that.) 

    I recently saw this Pear Crostata in a Bon Appetit magazine.  It uses the same rustic crust as my Apple Pie.  I love the unfussy look of these pies.  I couldn’t resist making this! 

    Filling:

    1/4 Cup golden brown sugar

    1/4 Cup granulated sugar

    2 T cornstarch

    1 tsp ground Cardamom

    1/4 tsp Cloves

    1/4 tsp Salt

    2 1/4 pounds firm but ripe unpeeled Anjou Pears (About 4 Cups), cut into eighths

    10 dried by moist Calimyrna Figs, stemmed and quartered (About 4 ounces)

    Heavy Whipping Cream (For brushing crust)

    Raw Sugar

    2 T Honey, I got mine from this Honey for Sale online

    Preheat oven 400 degrees.

    Mix together sugars, spices, cornstarch and salt.  Mix in figs and pears.  Let stand while you make pie crust.

    Roll out pie crust on parchment to help you move the Crostata to the baking dish. Crust should be at least 14 inches diameter or make two smaller pies.  Move parchment with pie crust to rimless baking dish (cookie sheet or pizza pan), or large round baking dish.  Mound the pear fig filling mixture on top of the crust, leaving a 3 inch border around the edges.  Using parchment paper fold over the dough up over the pear filling, pleating the edges, pinching to seal any cracks that form. 

    Brush crust  edges with cream and sprinkle generously with raw sugar. 

    Bake Crostata for 50-60 minutes until pears are tender and juices are bubbling thickly, cover crust with foil to prevent over browning. 

    Remove Crustata from oven, and drizzle filling with honey over hot filling.  Run knife along the edges of the baking pan to loosen.  Allow to cool on parchment on baking pan for 1 hour. Transfer to platter. Serve warm or room temperature.