Coconut Cream Pie

2/3 cup sugar

3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch or 5 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups milk

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup coconut

Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in top of a double boiler, stir in cold milk. Cook over boiling water until thickened, stirring constantly. Cover and cook 15 minutes longer. Stir a little of the hot mixture into slightly beaten egg yolks. Add to remaining mixture in double boiler and cook for 2 minutes over hot, not boiling water stirring constantly. Cool and add vanilla and coconut. Pour into a baked shell, if desired cover with meringue. Bake at 325 degrees until lightly browned.

Peach Glaze Pie

1 baked 9” pie shell

5-6 sweet ripe peaches, peeled & sliced

1 tablsp cornstarch

2 tablsp peach, lemon or orang gelatin (dry)

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup water

Place peaches in crust. Combine sugar, cornstarch & water. Cook until thick & clear. Add gelatin & stir until dissolved. Pour over peaches & chill.

Fresh Cherry Pie

Prepare pastry for an 8” lattice top pie. Combine 3 cups fresh, ripe, tart, pitted red cherries, 1 ½ cups sugar. ¼ cup flour, dash of salt. Turn into pastry lined pie plate. Dot w/2 tablsp butter on the top. Bake at 400 degree for 50-55 minutes.

Golden Rhubarb Pie

2 cups rhubarb

2 eggs

3 tablsp flour

1 tablsp lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1 pie crust

Cut rhubarb into ½ in pieces. Beat egg slightly. Add sugar & flour to eggs. Add juice. Combine with rhubarb. Put rhubarb mixture into unbaked pie shell. Cover with strips. Bake at 350 degree for 45 minutes.

9" Apple Pie

¾ - 1 cup sugar

1 1/3 tablsp butter

2 tablsp flour

6-7 cups sliced apples

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tablsp butter

Place apple mixture into unbaked pie shell & bake. Bake at 400 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Strawberry Pie

1 qt. of strawberries

4 tablsp cornstarch

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Place ½ berries in baked pie shell & cook remaining ingredients until clear. Pour into pie shell; cool & serve.

Cream Pie

2/3 cup sugar

3 ½ tablsp cornstarch or 5 tables flour

½ teasp salt

2 ½ cup milk

3 egg yolks (beaten)

1 teasp vanilla

Prepare pastry of one 9” shell. Combine sugar, Cornstarch & salt, stir in cold milk. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Cover & Cook 15 min. longer. Stir a little of the hot mixture in pan & cook or 2 minutes stirring constantly. Cool and add vanilla. Pour into baked shell, if desire cove with meringue. Bake in a moderate oven 325 degrees until lightly browned. (For coconut cream pie, add ¾ cup coconut to filling before pouring into shell, sprinkle ¼ cup on top of the meringue.) For chocolate pie add 2 level tablsp cocoa to sugar & cornstarch mixture. Instead of coconut you can add bananas or pineapple to pudding.

Pie Crust

5 cups sifted flour

4 teasp sugar

½ teasp salt

½ teasp baking powder

1 cup lard

2 egg yolks in cold water

Combine dry ingredients; cut in lard. Place egg yolks in measuring cup & stir with fork until smooth. Blend in enough cold water to make a scant cupful. Sprinkle gradually over dry ingredients; toss w/fork to make a soft dough. Roll, makes 3 9” 2-crust pies.

Buttermilk Pie

This is a recipe from Chef John over at Food Wishes, the original recipe and video can be found here. This pie was amazing. It was kind of like eating a lemon-bar pie, but better. I'm putting the recipe here because I want to be able to get to it quickly and because I want to play with the recipe a bit. Be sure to check out Chef John's video blog. So many great recipes (like this one), so little time!

You need enough pie dough for a 9 inch pie plate (just a bottom crust). Chef John recommended pre-baking the bottom crust in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. I did this and it worked great! Just make sure your pie crust is cool before you pour in the filling and bake.

For the Filling:
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
zest from 1 lemon
juice from 1 lemon
1 cup buttermilk

Cream the butter and sugar mixture until nice and smooth, then add the flour and salt and mix. Add the egg, one at a time, making sure to mix well before adding the next egg. The batter will be a very faint yellow. Add the vanilla, nutmeg, zest and lemon juice and mix. Finally add the buttermilk and mix. Pour into your cooled crust and bake for 45-55 minutes or until the filling is golden and set. You want a bit of a jiggle, but not a big wobble.

Autum Harvest Pie

I love pies. I love making pies. This pie is the perfect pie, in my opinion, because it embodies my favorite time of year. This is a Martha Stewart recipe I have modified to make my own, the original can be found here.

3-4 apples, I like to use any that look good but will make sure 1 is a Granny Smith, peeled, cored and sliced 1/2 inch thick

3-4 Bosc pears, peeled, cored and sliced 1/2 inch thick

4 tbsp flour

1 1/3 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, or cinnamon, or both!

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

3 cups fresh cranberries (I like to use craisins, and I use about 1 1/2 cups, currents would be a nice addition as well)

4 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine apples, pears in a large mixing bowl. Add flour, sugar, spices, lemon juice and zest and mix. I don't add all the sugar, I'll add in small amounts until it is the sweetness (or tartness) we prefer. Add cranberries and toss gently. Set aside

Prepare you pie crust. I like to do a top and bottom for this pie, but you can do whatever you want. Line you pie plate with the bottom crust. Transfer the filling to the pie crust. Dot with butter. Add top crust, brush with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temp to 350 degrees and bake until juices are bubbling, about 1 1/2 hours more. 

Pumpkin Pie

(makes enough for two pies, or one nice big deep dish pie)

Ingredients:
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 lb. can (2 cups) pumpkin (plain pumpkin)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup molasses
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out pie crust.  You only need a bottom crust, you can make pretty decorations with remaining crust.

In a large mixing bowl combine eggs and pumpkin.  Add sugar, salt and spices to pumpkin mixture.  Stir in evaporated milk.  Add molasses and blend.  Pour into pie crust.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted 2 inches from the edge comes out clean.  Cool and garnish with whipped cream.

Notes:  I like to make pretty cut outs with the extra pie dough to cover the cracks in the pie after it cools. Just bake them separately and put on the cooled pie over the cracks.  Enjoy!