Strawberry Pie

A friend gave us 2 pints of very fresh strawberries last week.  I knew they wouldn't last long, so the best thing to do was to cook them into something quickly.  I immediately decided I wanted to make a strawberry pie.  I researched several options, finding that some strawberry pies are raw and some are baked.  I knew I wanted to bake the pie, or the strawberries wouldn't last long enough.  Here is my adaptation of several different recipes.

The crust : 1 stick of butter (1/2 c), 1 1/2 c flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 3+ tbsp cold water.  Cut the butter into the flour and salt until mixture is crumbly.  Add cold water 1 tbsp at a time, mix until dough forms a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for an hour.  Then divide the dough into 2/3 and 1/3.  Roll out the 2/3 portion and place in a pie plate. Roll out the 1/3 portion and cut into strips.

The strawberries : Wash and hull the strawberries.  Separate the mushier ones from the firmer ones. Slice the firmer strawberries, mash the mushier ones.  I ended up with about 1/2-1 cup of mashed strawberries.  I added those plus 1/2 cup fresh blueberries to a small saucepan along with the juice of 1/4 lime, 1/4 c sugar (much less than online recipes call for), 1/2 c water, and 2 tbsp corn starch.  Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens.  Place sliced strawberries in pie plate on top of the crust.  Pour over the cooked strawberry mixture.  Place strips of top crust over the pie in a lattice pattern.  (I was in a hurry and feeling lazy so mine is not a real lattice...just strips laid in one direction, and then on top of those I laid the strips in the other direction instead of weaving them.

Bake at 425 for 35 minutes, or until crust just starts to brown.

Lazy lattice crust because I care way more about taste then presentation...

I have no pictures of the finished pie...I was too busy eating it.  It was delicious!  We ate it for breakfast all weekend.  I also had some for an evening dessert with chocolate ice cream...so good!

Blueberry-Lemon Pie

When my sister made my wedding cake, she left me with a ziploc bag of egg yolks, and told me to make something creative with them.  Time flew by after the wedding and I somehow had no time to make anything until yesterday, almost 4 weeks later.  I wasn't sure if the yolks could possibly still be good after so much time, but Coby and I both agreed that they smelled and looked ok so I decided to chance it.

When I went grocery shopping last week, blueberries were on sale 2 lbs for $5.  They are never anywhere near that cheap, so I bought 4 lbs!  I figured I would make a pie with them.  I also wanted to use the egg yolks to make a lemon pie, so I decided to try combining the two types of pie.  The two pies cook differently, so it took me some time to decide how to go about it.  Luckily, my hunches were right, and the pie came out absolutely perfect and delicious!

With a blueberry pie, you can cook the crust and the blueberries all together, but with a lemon pie, you have to blind-bake the crust.  Also, the lemon pie cooks for 30 minutes at 300, but the blueberry pie cooks for 20 minutes at 425 and then 30-40 more minutes at 350!  So, I decided to blind bake the crust, partially pre-cook the blueberries, and then assemble the pie and bake it at the specifications for the lemon pie.

Blueberry-Lemon Pie

The Crust

Instructions taken from Sally's Baking Addiction

(the crust needs to chill for at least 1 hour, and up to 48 hours.  I made my crust the day before)

(this recipe makes enough for a top and bottom crust, so you will have some leftover, perhaps for some mini blueberry pies)

2 cups all-purpose white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

scant 1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

8 oz cold unsalted butter

~1/2 cup cold water

Mix together the dry ingredients.  Cut the butter into small pieces, then cut it into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter.  When the mixture is crumbly and the butter pieces are as small as you can get them (I always think "pea sized"), add the cold water, a bit at a time.  Keep mixing until the dough comes together.  Divide the dough into 1/3 and 2/3 portions, wrap each portion in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator.  

Once sufficiently chilled, roll out the 2/3 portion to fit into a 9 inch pie plate. Crimp the edges, and cut off any extra dough.  Place a piece of parchment paper into the pie crust and fill with dry beans to help the crust hold its shape while baking.  Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then remove the parchment paper/beans and bake 7 more minutes (until the bottom is just beginning to brown).  

The Lemon Filling

Recipe taken from Crazy for Crust

1 1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cup sugar

5 tbsp corn starch

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp salt

4 large egg yolks

3 tbsp butter

Whisk together all ingredients except for the eggs and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thick and bubbly.  Pour half of the lemon mixture into the egg yolks, whisk quickly to avoid scrambling, then add the lemon-egg mixture back into the rest of the lemon mixture.  Bring to a gentle boil, cook 2 more minutes, then remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.  Pour into the bottom of the pie crust.

Somehow, I ended up with NO scrambled egg in my lemon mixture!  I'm going to credit that to the fact that Coby and I teamed up to mix the hot lemon mixture with the eggs so one of us could stir while the other was pouring, leaving no time for the eggs to sit still in the hot lemon mixture.  

The Blueberry Topping

Ingredient list aken from Simply Recipes and cut in half

3 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

dash of cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and cook covered until the juice begins to come out of the blueberries.  You will want to stir every minute or so to check on them.  Then pour the blueberries over the lemon mixture.  

Bake the pie at 300 degrees for 30 minutes.  

Cool for 1 hour, then chill for 5 hours before enjoying!

Foodie Friday

Several times over the last few months, I have considered making some kind of a fruit pie.  And then not done it, because the last time I tried to make a crust it didn't work and I and I had to throw it out.  And making crust is time-consuming and messy and I just haven't had all that much time or patience to make one!  But this week, I decided that I was going to actually make a pie with some nectarines I had.  And since there weren't quite enough nectarines to fill a pie, I decided that I would add blueberries.  And then I wanted to add some kind of herb because I finally have a place to plant herbs in the ground and I love it!  (My rosemary and mint plants are doing fantastically, the basil is struggling...but I managed to pull just enough leaves off of my basil plant to throw in the pie).

I searched around Google for a bit and settled on this recipe/directions from Savory Simple to use as my base.  

The crust

2 cups white flour

1/2 c whole wheat flour

scant 1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

8 oz cold unsalted butter

~1/2 c cold water

The filling

5 nectarines

2 large handfuls of blueberries

~1 tbsp chopped basil leaves 

(I used cinnamon basil because that was the only basil plants Lowes had when I went to buy my garden herbs!)

scant 1/4 c white sugar

scant 1/4 c brown sugar

~2 tsp cinnamon

dash of salt

3 tbsp corn starch

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes then lower to 375 and cook for 35 minutes.  

(My crust came out slightly burned, so 25-30 minutes probably would have been sufficient.)

I used my pastry cutter and a knife to make the pie dough.  I skipped painting the top crust with milk/sugar.  I did make a lattice crust for the first time!  I was in a hurry to get the pie in the oven before friends came over for dinner, so it was slightly sloppy...but I've always said taste is more important than looks!  And the pie was definitely a big hit!  

There was a giant flour explosion all over the counter by the time I was done rolling out the pie dough...but I managed to keep the mess confined to the counter, so clean up wasn't tooooo bad.

Mini Peach-Ginger Pies

Disclaimer : If you have a sweet tooth, this is probably not going to satisfy you.  

If you are like me and prefer your desserts to be less sweet, you might love it. 

preheat the oven to 350

The Crust

1/4 c butter

1/4 c whole wheat flour

1/2+ c white flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

3 tbsp cold water

The Filling

2 peaches, peeled & chopped

1 inch ginger root, grated

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/8 c flour

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tbsp mint leaves, chopped

1 tsp butter

I rolled the pie dough out and then used the mouth of a large plastic cup to cut out circles, which I then placed in 6 cups of a muffin tin, with some dough left over for the pie tops.  I mixed all of the filling ingredients together and then spooned them into the little pie shells.  I used the extra pie dough to put Xs on top of the pies.  

Bake for 20-30 minutes. 

I almost threw out the peach skins, but then I decided that instead of letting them go completely to waste, I could make a nice, refreshing, cocktail out of them.  

Peach-Skin Cocktail

skins from 2 peaches

2-3 sections of grapefruit

2 sprigs of basil

Jameson

Club Soda

muddle together the skins, grapefruit, and basil

add Jameson and Club Soda

add ice

stir well