YWPWT: Hidden Candy Pie

Welcome to my second pie for You Want Pie With That?! This month's theme was Masquerade Pie and Halloween was totally my inspiration here.

This pie looks all nice and sweet and innocent with that lovely whipped cream topping. It looks like any regular cream pie.

But then you cut into it and -yowzers!- there's candy in this pie!

I wanted to come up with a super easy and fun pie to go with Halloween and the tasty treats of my youth - so this pie features M&Ms and half of a Hershey bar. Plus the layer of peanut butter filling (it sandwiches the candy) tastes just like a Reese's cup.

This pie could not be any easier to throw together - in fact I feel a little funny even calling this a recipe. But it's so yummy that no one will care how little effort you put into it!

Hidden Candy Pie

By Me

1 Pie Crust, cooked and cooled (I've yet to find a pie crust I love. Use your favorite or even a store bought - I won't tell).

3 Cups Whipped Cream (I used frozen Cool Whip - thawed of course)

3/4 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1 Small Bag of M&Ms

1 Regular Size Hershey Bar

Combine 2 cups of whipped cream and peanut butter until well mixed, spread half of this into the bottom of the baked and cooled pie shell.

Chop up 1/2 to 3/4 of the bag of M&Ms (however much sounds good to you) and place on top of the peanut butter cream. Chop half of the Hershey bar and layer on top of the M&Ms. Cover the candy with the rest of the peanut butter cream.

Top with a layer of plain whipped cream, 1 cup would work but Doug loves whipped cream so I made a really thick layer of it.

Chill for 30 minutes and serve.

Oatmeal Pie - You Want Pie With That? : Vacation Pies

Welcome to my first entry into You Want Pie With That?! YWPWT is a monthly blog event where members make a pie based on a theme picked by the member that was picked as having the best pie from a past month. I first heard about this group from my friend Hornedfroggy at My Baking Heart - aka the same person who got me to join Tuesdays with Dorie. HF told me that YWPWT is a total blast and that I'd love it, and, like always, I listened and joined in - and here we are!

This month's theme was picked by Jen at Piccante Dolce. The theme is Vacation Pies and you were supposed to whip up a pie that reminded you of your favorite vacation or one you wanted to take. Well, at first I was coming up with all kinds of fruity pies in honor of my favorite place ever - Florida. I loved vacationing there growing up and would love to live there - if I wasn't pretty sure I'd melt in about 1.345 days.

But then I started thinking about specific vacation memories from growing up and realized that most of them involved trips to see my grandparents, who used to live in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I tried to think of any pies that really stood out to me from those trips spent walking the golf course looking for lost balls with my grandfather, going to get gallons of the incredible tasting city water with my grandmother, turning into a giant prune from hours spent in the pool at their condo complex, eating big bowls of ice cream every night, and riding around the beautiful mountains with my family in my grandparent's minivan. I had a few ideas, but nothing that really stuck out at me.

So, I decided that if I couldn't come up with a pie that made me think of my own grandparents then one that made me think of my best friend's grandparents was a good substitute. I've known my best friend practically forever; her parent's moved next door to my other set of grandparents when we were pretty young and we used to spend hours playing together in her backyard - usually torturing her brother. I've spent lots of time over the years with her family - and a huge portion of them even came to our wedding (and her grandma made our flower girl's dress). So when she told me about this recipe of her grandma's that her dad loved and always asked for I knew I should give it a try. And when my friend posted the recipe on her blog recently I couldn't help but drool.

This recipe, though I've never had it before, really makes me think of happy, cozy minutes spent visiting my grandparents. It uses simple ingredients that my grandmother would have had, it's a taste my grandfather would have loved, it makes your house take on that sweet, comforting, homey smell, and it makes you think of cool fall days (which was always a great season to visit my grandparents).

So, please enjoy my first entry for You Want Pie With That? A simple, lovely pie passed down in a family that's pretty darn close to my heart and that makes me think back on vacation days spent running around Arkansas with my family.

Oatmeal Pie

Based on a family recipe from my friend Sarah

3/4 Cup Quick Cooking Oats

3/4 Cup Sugar

1 Stick of Butter, melted

2 Eggs, beaten

3/4 Cup Maple or Pancake Syrup

3/4 Cup Pecans

1- 9" Pie Shell, uncooked (store bought or homemade)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare crust.

Mix oats and syrup. Add in melted butter. Add sugar and beaten eggs, mix well. Add in pecans.

Pour into pie shell.

Bake on middle rack of oven for 30 to 45 minutes, or until cooked through.

Great with whipped cream, ice cream (which my grandfather would have loved), or on it's own.

Check out Sarah's blog for the original recipe and to see some optional ideas to tweak this great pie.

TWD: Banana Cream Pie

I have to admit, when I first saw this recipe I was both excited and nervous. I was excited because I love banana cream pie, well anything banana, and I've never made one. But I was nervous because I've never made any type of cream pie before and was worried about the custard turning out.
I was amazed when the custard actually turned out really well. I thought for a brief minute that I had messed it up when my custard started to start to clump up, but I kept whisking like crazy and it turned out really good. I used a graham cracker crust for this instead of the regular pie crust and bought whipped cream instead of trying to make it. I knew I'd be flustered by the custard and didn't want to get overwhelmed. I will definitely try making my own whipped cream soon though.
This recipe was picked by Amy of Sing for Your Supper, check out her blog for the recipe. And check out all the TWD bakers to see how they tackled this recipe.
Banana Cream Pie from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan, pages 342 and 343.

Graham Cracker Crust

This recipe will come in to play tomorrow when the new Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is posted but I figured I'd go ahead and post it now. I love graham cracker crusts, they make everything better in my opinion. So when I offered Doug the choice of graham cracker crust or traditional pie crust the other day I was really happy when he picked graham cracker.

It's very simple to make your own graham cracker crust, you just need to make sure it ends up the right consistency.

Graham Cracker Crust

Based off Southern Food Recipe

1 Packet of Graham Crackers (1 bag from a regular size box)

1/4 Cup Sugar

5 Tablespoons Butter, Melted

Melted the butter. Smash the graham crackers up into small pieces and crumbs, dump into bowl. Add sugar and mix. Add in butter and combine until the crumbs are damp. Press into 9" pie plate, including up the sides. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350F. Allow to cool before filling.

TWD: Twofer Pie

So after taking last week off from TWD because it was my birthday and we had an abundance of cake I was really excited to try this pie. Basically it is a pumpkin pie with a pecan pie on top, which makes me a very happy girl. I didn't start liking pecan pie until 2 years ago when I made one for Doug and his family and discovered that I actually like it. This pie doesn't disappoint, it has a nice, creamy pumpkin layer with a crunchy, sweet pecan layer on top, so it's the best of both pie worlds. Doug has already asked me to make it again, which is a great sign.

I had to bake this longer than what the recipe called for, almost 20 more minutes actually, before the center was done. Other than that this is an incredibly easy recipe. Doug and I decided that we prefer this cold, which is how we like regular pumpkin pie. This would be great with whipped cream or even vanilla ice cream.

This recipe was picked by Vibi of La Casserole carree. Check out her blog.

Thanksgiving Twofer Pie from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, page 321.

Apple Pie Goes Mini

So in the quest to finish off all of the million and one apples that have taken up residence in our kitchen, I have decided to spread my wings and test my boundaries. Thus, when Annie and Chelley posted recipes in their blogs for mini hand pies I was intrigued, especially by Chelley's apple pies. I was also slightly frightened, as I have never made a pie dough in my life. I'm not sure why that is, but I've never had the desire to try to best Pillsbury. But I recently decided to try to test myself in the kitchen and this seemed like a great way to do it. So last night while Doug was at work I set about the task of preparing the dough (with Chelley having told me it would be ok over night). I was actually really surprised at how easy this was. It takes a while, but most of that is just chill time for the dough and I never once felt frazzled. I was so excited when it was all ready and it "looked like a dough!" as I told anyone who would listen.

Today I attempted rolling out the dough, which is something I do not have a lot of experience with. And let me tell you, I definitely need some practice! I had a heck of a time rolling my dough out to the same thickness each time, but I finally got it to work. I broke open my 101 cookie cutter box for the first time to use the circular cutter to make the pies, which worked perfectly. I actually had fun filling these with the apple sugar mixture and sealing them up. I felt like Alton Brown making the decorative edges, using the egg wash and adding sanding sugar to the top.

These are absolutely awesome and I totally recommend making these. They take a while but they are totally worth it.

Chelley did a great job of describing the process of making these, so check out her blog.

Apple Hand Pies

I got it from Brown Eyed Baker

She adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For the pastry:

2½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

½ cup sour cream4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

½ cup ice water
For the Filling:

2 apples, peeled, cored and diced small

1/3 cup sugar
One egg yolk beaten with 2 tablespoons water (for egg wash)

Coarse sanding sugar, for decoration

1. To make the pastry, in a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and make a well in the center of the flour. Add the butter to the well and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour-butter mixture. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. If preparing ahead of time, the dough can be stored at this point for up to one month in the freezer.
2. Divide the refrigerated dough in half. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one half of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 4 1/2-inch-round biscuit cutter, cut seven circles out of the rolled dough. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes. Repeat the rolling, cutting, and chilling process with the remaining half of dough. (I used a 4-inch cutter-if you can call a “cutter” the tin edge of the container that holds my smaller round cutters-and managed to get 12 from each dough half, after rerolling the scraps.)
3. Mix the diced apple with the sugar, and cook over low heat for 8-10 minutes, until the apples are tender. Set aside. Prior to preparing the pies, drain any accumulated liquid from the apples.
4. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature until just pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon about 1 to 2 tablespoons filling (use the smaller amount for a 4-inch circle) onto one half of each circle of dough. Quickly brush a little cold water around the circumference of the dough, and fold it in half so the other side comes down over the filling, creating a semicircle. Seal the hand pie, and make a decorative edge by pressing the edges of the dough together with the back of a fork. Repeat process with remaining dough. Place the hand pies back on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and return to the refrigerator to chill for another 30 minutes.
5. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the chilled hand pies from the refrigerator, cut a small slit in each and lightly brush with the egg yolk wash. Sprinkle sanding sugar generously over the pies, and place pies in the oven to bake. Bake until the hand pies are golden brown and just slightly cracked, anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes, depending on how thick you rolled the dough. Remove the pies from the oven, and let stand to cool slightly before serving.

Pecan Pie

So this year for Thanksgiving I decided to make my second ever pecan pie. I had never even eaten one before I made my first pie last year. But D and his parents really like them, so I agreed to make one. I used the recipe on the back of the Karo Syrup bottle because I had been assured by mothers and grandmothers that it is the best recipe. I think it is pretty good, although I really have nothing to base that on!

Pecan Pie

From: Karo Syrup

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 55 to 60 minutes

Yield: 1 pie

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo® Light OR Dark Corn Syrup (I used light)
2 tablespoons butter OR margarine, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) pecans
1 (9-inch) unbaked or frozen deep-dish pie crust

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Beat eggs slightly with fork in medium bowl. Add sugar, Karo® Corn Syrup, butter and vanilla; stir until blended. Stir in pecans. Place pie dough in pie pan. Pour pecan filling into pie crust.
Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.