Shoo Fly Pie

This week's pie was one of my personal favorites.. Shoo Fly Pie.
Shoo Fly Pie is a molasses based pie. I decided to try Alton Brown's recipe this time instead of using my own. ( We did not use the crust recipe included- Amy made the crust from a Pioneer Woman Recipe- she'll be making a separate post about the crust later)The resulting texture was more cakey & spongy than what I was used to, but I liked it. One of my fellow pie bloggers did not like the texture of this pie at all.


First we mixed the dry ingredients with butter to make crumbs & reserved some for topping the pie. Slight alteration to Mr. Brown's recipe here, the addition of cardamom. :)

Then we mixed all the wet ingredients and poured some of the crumb mixture in to the bowl...
we mixed just until blended, which I think is why the pie had such an odd texture, there were big chunks of crumb in there! We were just following the recipe though and that was what it said to do!
Then we poured it into the pie pans and topped with remaining crumbs. This recipe made two pies, and after previous experience with par-baked crust we used the pie shields on this one.



Finished Pie... great flavor, weird texture.

Cannoli Pie!

We decided we wanted to do something easy this last week.
I needed something simple after the week I had had.

http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/quickneasy/pie/cannoli-cream-pie.htm


This was super easy and delicious, and it makes two pies.
There are a few changes we would make however.

We thought we should use mini-chocolate chips and chop the roasted almonds. Smaller pieces so as not to interrupt the smoothness of the pie. And instead of whole chips in the filling doing a chocolate ganache layer then the filling.

Cast of characters. Artistically displayed a la Kimmy.

You have to have your crusts made and fully cooled prior.

Filling is just the pudding, the milk, the cream cheese, the almond extract, etc...

The filling prior to mixing. Pretty isn't it?

Fill the crusts. Then whip the cream and top it.
Then we put chopped almonds and chips on top, with a cherry. It looks so pretty.

The perfect slice. Awesome.

Crack Pie

Make this pie.

Seriously. 

It's a big calorie splurge, for real, so save it for a special occasion, like a Tuesday. 

This week's recipe is: Crack Pie from LA Times, which i've re-posted with my notes. 

Full disclosure:

This pie takes time, you have to make and bake the cookie for the crust, smash it up in the food processor, make crust, separate eggs, melt butter and above all, let it cool completely in the fridge. 

Cookie for crust

2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (3 ounces) flour

Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking powder

Scant 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter

1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar

3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar

1 egg

Scant 1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) rolled oats

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Whisk the egg into the butter mixture until fully incorporated.

5. With the mixer running, beat in the flour mixture, a little at a time, until fully combined. Stir in the oats until incorporated.

6. Spread the mixture onto a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking sheet and bake until golden brown and set, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to the touch on a rack. Crumble the cooled cookie to use in the crust.

I did this cookie part a few days ahead, worked great.  The cookie looked really thin in the 9X13 but it baked up well and made a yummy crust. I made my crust in the food processor....pretty sure it would have been a pain without it. Be advised.

Crust

Crumbled cookie for crust

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 1/2 tablespoons (3/4 ounce) brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine the crumbled cookie, butter, brown sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until evenly combined and blended (a little of the mixture clumped between your fingers should hold together). Divide the crust between 2 (10-inch) pie tins. Press the crust into each shell to form a thin, even layer along the bottom and sides of the tins. Set the prepared crusts aside while you prepare the filling.

Worked great.....it did stick to the pans and it was a little difficult to get out of the tin but i'm not sure spraying them with pam first would have helped. It's a pretty sweet, sticky, rich filling. 

Filling

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar

3/4 cup plus a scant 3 tablespoons (7 ounces) light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon (3/4 ounce) milk powder

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

3/4 cup plus a scant 2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 egg yolks

2 prepared crusts

Powdered sugar, garnish

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, salt and milk powder. Whisk in the melted butter, then whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla.

3. Gently whisk in the egg yolks, being careful not to add too much air.

4. Divide the filling evenly between the 2 prepared pie shells.

5. Bake the pies, one at a time, for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake until the filling is slightly jiggly and golden brown (similar to a pecan pie), about 10 minutes. Remove the pies and cool on a rack.

This recipe scored points for me in that I didn't have to bust out the mixer. I love LOVE lurve my kitchen aid and it lives on my counter but I do love a recipe that you only have to use a bowl and a whisk. This is that recipe. This is an UBER rich filling so I would cut small pieces. 

6. Refrigerate the cooled pies until well chilled. The pies are meant to be served cold, and the filling will be gooey. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.



Final word on the matter. This pie was delish. All of the pie-makers as well as our chief pie taster ranked it at the top of the pies we have made so far. (E does want to see it head to head with chess pie just so he can review which one he likes best). You really do need to let it chill COMPLETELY in the fridge. The difference in texture is amazing, the oatmeal cookie crust gets soft and caramely in the middle but retains this yum crunch on the outside. Really REALLY good. 


bake this pie.

Strawberry Pie

This week we made strawberry pie with fresh strawberries. It was so yummy and super easy!



Originally the plan had been strawberry rhubarb pie, but alas, our grocery store lacks rhubarb. Oh the sadness!! Though it turned out to be a good thing since this pie came out so great! None of us had ever had straight strawberry pie before. It tasted like strawberry jam on toast. SO GOOD! I'm making another one this week for a potluck at work. :)

Hull and quarter 2 lbs of strawberries.

Mix with sugar and cornstarch.

Pour into premade pie crust- we just had a store bought one,
but you could make your own.
Top with cookie cutter cut outs of more pie crust.

Cover whole pie with cut outs.

Brush with butter & sprinkle some sugar on top.

Bake it !
The only recommendation we'd give is to put a pie shield around the outside crust.
Ours got a little burned and we didn't cook it as long as the recipe called for.

If you want measurements and more details, we used this recipe from Food Network. We didn't make the fancy whipped cream, the pie was so good by itself it didn't really need it.

Chocolate Crunch Mud Pie

Last weeks pie. Sorry for the delay in posting. I'm a spaz.

I got this pie from http://www.countryliving.com/recipefinder/chocolate-crunch-mud-pie

The crust was very simple. semi sweet chocolate chips, rice krispies, and butter.

The finished crust seemed really thick, but it was actually the perfect consistency.

Here are the cast of characters for the filling. The most time consuming part of this pie is the freezer time for the crusts and the finished product. It calls for lots of time so plan ahead.

Lovely whipped cream for the top. I mixed it a lot, to make sure it was very thick. I wanted it to be somewhat firm.

The finished product. I grated some chocolate on the top and stuck a couple shards of chocolate in them, just garnish. So pretty.

And very nummy. We decided that the whip cream needed to be less sweet. And we thought perhaps more cream cheese in the filling, first to cut the sweetness but also to firm it up a bit, and take less freezer time.