Crumbly Blueberry Pie

While pie-maker Lou was out of town we jumped on the chance to make blueberry pie! Lou's not a fan but Kimmy and I (Amy) love it and this recipe did not disappoint! We had a guest pie-maker, Elizabeth, and she also thought it was a hit.

The filling recipe was found here and our edits are below.

4 cups or 2 pints blueberries (frozen are fine)
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice

The basic technique is that you cook 1/3 of your fruit (in this recipe just over a cup of blueberries) with the sugar, zest and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat until combined and liquified. This is the gooey part of the filling. Mix the cornstarch and water together in a bowl until smooth and add to the saucepan. Let mixture come to a simmer and the cornstarch will thicken the "goo". If you would like the filling a little thicker mix an additional tablespoon of cornstarch and water together and repeat.

Add remaining fruit and stir to combine. Taste and adjust, ours needed a little more lemon to balance the sweetness. Let cool to room temp (or close) before adding filling to pie shell.

The crumb topping recipe was found here and our edits are below.

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup quick oats

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir all ingredients except butter together. Cut butter into small pieces and cut in with a fork until it's a coarse texture. Small pieces of butter are great, but no big chunks.

This topping was great on this pie and I think it would work well on any fruit pie that you want a crumb topping. The oatmeal gave it a great texture.

Add the pie filling to the pie shell of your choice and dot with

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Add crumb topping over filling and bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.

Pie is done when your crust and crumb topping are brown. If the edges of your crust are browning too fast cover with strips of tinfoil.

Let cool a little because this filling is HOT right out of the oven. Would be yummy with fresh whipped cream OR vanilla ice-cream.

Per my father-in-law's request i'm making this one again for Christmas eve dinner. Yum!

Orange Dreamsicle Pie

It is actually called Fluffy Orange Pie, but it tastes just like an Orange Dreamsicle so that is what we have re-named it. It is the EASIEST pie I could find, which at this time of year is a necessity. But it turned out to be really good. I think we all liked it.

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (6 oz.) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 C. prepared whipped topping
1 small can Mandarin oranges, drained
1 (9-inch) prepared graham cracker pie crust

In mixer bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk and thawed orange juice until smooth. Fold in whipped topping and oranges. Pile into crust.

Chill 2 hours or until set. Refrigerate leftovers.

Sylvia's Perfect Pie Crust from PW

Hey all! This is Amy posting and one of the things i've been trying to do as we explore the world of pie is find a great, easy, reliable pie crust recipe. This recipe is from the wonderful Ree over at Pioneer Woman and you can find it here. 

Pro's:

I get to use my fab pastry cutter that my awesome Aunt M.J. bought me. It's a dream. I may have to to do a whole separate post about it. 

It makes THREE pie crusts that store in the freezer until you need them. BONUS! 

The mixing together, making the crust part is super easy...very easy!

Super flaky and buttery.

Cons:

Not the easiest to roll out. It tends to be a little sticky but if you can work it out it's great, also if you have to patch it's still flaky.

Shrinks a little as it bakes. 

Overall I like this recipe a lot but i'm still searching to see if I can find an easier to roll out version.

Key Lime Pie with Gingersnap Crust

Hi! It's Amy coming at you with this weeks pie. It's a total mashup of two recipes from Martha Stewart.

Key Lime Pie

This filling recipe was from the Martha Stewart Key Lime Pie Recipe found here.

With gingersnap crust.

The gingersnap cust recipe was found here.


This recipe turned out really yummy. We smashed up some pre-made gingersnaps in the food processor (it was finals week or i may have baked my own). Side-note, this recipe was made much easier by the right tools. A food processor while not essential was very helpful in getting a great texture. Another helpful tool was a micro plane zester like this one. It makes a super fine zest that is perfect.

Pre-bake the crust, it would be helpful to do this the night before.

Key lime juice is essential but if you absolutely can't find it use bottled key lime juice OR fresh lime juice. Key limes are smaller and have a sweet smell but zippy tart flavor. So yum.

The filling was super easy. Mix together the key lime juice, zest, sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks and bake until just set but still a little jiggly. (check out the links for more specific bake times etc)

Let chill thoroughly and enjoy with a little whipped cream. We had some the next day with whipped cream and fresh berries and it was really yum!