Peach Blueberry Pie

I don't generally have luck with pie crusts.  This is only one of many crusts that have fallen apart on me, causing me to doubt everything I know about baking.  Honestly, if you can't make a pie crust, how can you consider yourself an amateur baker?  Pie is so easy: crust and filling.  I felt awful every time my dessert fell flat.

Enter Joy the Baker.  I came across her recipe for Peach Blueberry Pie, and her tone throughout the whole post on pie crust was so encouraging and low-key, I decided to give pie crust another shot.
Thank goodness I did!  JP, being from Atlanta, love peaches and loves pie, and he loves me more after making this dessert.  The crust, slowly but surely, came together beautifully and, though not flawless, gorgeous and tasty nonetheless.  The filling is so wonderfully seasoned and fresh, I kept sneaking bites before reluctantly pouring it into the crust.

If you've felt frustrated by other pie crust recipes, try this one out.  Joy really knows what she's talking about!

Plum-Apple pie

It must be fall; I'm getting cravings for warm apple desserts and vanilla ice cream.  When I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, I knew I had to make it for my chill Saturday night in with my man.  As you may have heard from my last pie experiment, crusts are not my forte.  Luckily, this crust is supposed to break so the juices can bubble up through and fill the apartment with the sweet smell of fall fruit and pastry dough.
Take note: I used regular plums, not anything special, and squeezed some orange juice, not lemon juice, into the mix.  Check out the recipe at Smitten Kitchen.

Please don't scrimp on the crust, or use store-bought. It's sweetened with orange zest and sugar, then brushed with cream and some raw sugar. The taste is perfect with the tartness of the apples and plums, and it's especially heavenly with vanilla ice cream. I really can't say enough good things about this perfectly autumn dessert, and insist that you make it for you and someone you love as soon as possible.

 



 

 

Blueberry Pie

Let me start by stating this: I have made pie crusts before. Delicious, beautiful, nonshrinking pie crusts filled with meringue, fruit or nuts. I have used butter and flour to achieve both great results in the kitchen and in my belly. Sunday night, though, almost broke me.
John Paul and I had some friends over for dinner, and I had my heart set on making a blueberry pie for dessert, with a crust recipe from Pioneer Woman and a small handful of other ingredients. The beauty of fruit pies is their simplicity; besides putting together a crust, all the cook has to do is throw some fruit and sugar in and bake. What could be easier?
With ingredients at hand, I set about making the crust in my food processor, separated into three sections, and froze each one, dutifully following PW in her instructions save one: use a pastry cutter. Surely, I thought, a food processor will be quicker.
Surely my shortening doesn't need to be chilled. She would have said so! (She really didn't say this, but I should have known better.)
Surely I'll have time to shower and bake this pie before our guests here.
I did shower (briefly), and set about rolling out the dough to fit into the pie plate. Nothing stayed together, though. Each time I rolled out the crust, a large tear would appear in the edge, and I would have to fix it. Roll in the other direction, and it happened again. When I tried to peel it off the countertop sprinkled with flour, it stubbornly stuck to the marble. I ended up picking up pieces off the counter and simply piecing it together like a jigsaw puzzle in the plate. The top of the pie suffered the same fate. It didn't look great and, even worse, the crust was taking too long and running into my time to make the entree (much gratitude to John Paul here, who stepped up to the plate and made the majority of the mac and cheese).
John Paul witnessed a display of violence toward our counter with the rolling pin (no one was injured, and the pie crust lived to tell the tale). A text was sent out: "Could you guys give us an extra 15 minutes? No one should have to see Abbi in this state."
Finally, the pie came together. And one of the guests actually had thirds. It looked more like a blueberry crumble than pie when it came out of the oven, but the Disaster Pie, as it should henceforth be known, wasn't a complete waste of time. I'd like to think that last night proved that John Paul loves me, despite my cooking-related freak-outs, and taught me a thing or two about pie crusts. Namely, use chilled butter instead of room-temperature shortening, and use a stupid pastry cutter when the recipe says to.
I'm not passing along the recipe, but rather insisting that you buy your own. No relationship should have to suffer like mine did last night.


The Blueberry Pie that Almost Wasn't
2 storebought pie crusts, thawed
2 pints blueberries
2-3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 c. sugar
A dash of nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 400. Toss blueberries, flour, sugar and nutmeg in a bowl.
2. Place one pie crust in pie plate, and fill with fruit mixture. Top with other crust, and crimp edges.
3. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Banana Pudding Pie

To be quite honest, John Paul and I should not be allowed to live together. We love each other a whole bunch, and laugh the vast majority of the time, but we also eat TONS of baked goods because neither of us has the willpower to resist a good dessert suggestion. So when I mentioned last week that I was craving banana pudding, John Paul immediately seconded the idea, leaving me no option but to find a decadent, refreshing banana pudding pie recipe to satisfy our enormous appetites.

Oh, did I ever find a delicious summer dessert. I started off with a pie crust made from Nilla wafers, filled it with vanilla pudding and bananas, and even added a little sweetened condensed milk to finish it off. To make the pudding thicker, I used half and half, which does sweeten it more than if I'd used just milk. If you're not crazy about really sweet desserts, use just milk, or bypass the sweetened condensed milk. Obviously, it's not healthy in the least (although the bananas add a bit of potassium; can that please count?), but it is perfect after lunch on a hot day, when baking dessert is too much work. And, really, we can't be expected to eat salads all the time, anyway.

Crust (From Country Living, here)
50 vanilla wafers (I used 70-80 mini wafers)
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. melted unsalted butter
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Combine wafers, sugars and salt in food processor and pulse until finely ground. (If you don't have a food processor, use a blender or put everything in a big Ziploc bag and crush with your hands. Or feet, there's no judgment.) Stir in butter and vanilla, then press into a 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.

Pudding* and Banana Filling
2 packages instant vanilla pudding (you can make your own; I'm just a bit impatient)
1 pint half and half
1 1/2 c. 2% milk
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk
3 bananas, thinly sliced

Combine half and half, milk and pudding mix into medium bowl. Whisk for two minutes, until smooth. Spread sweetened condensed milk onto bottom of crust. Add 1/3 of the pudding, place banana slices in one layer on top of pudding, then repeat two more times. After pie has been assembled, chill in refrigerator for at least two hours. Serves about 10 slices.


*I used Trader Joe's instant vanilla pudding, which calls for 1 3/4 c. milk for each package, and two packages filled the pie crust perfectly. Double check other pudding brands' prep instructions if you're iffy about the filling.