any time is a good time for pie

It's true.  Any time IS a good time for pie.  At least that's what I'm telling myself, as my post for this traditional Thanksgiving fare is a little late....  

Apple pie is, I think, my favorite.  Although I love cherries and blueberries on their own, their respective pies don't sit well with me.  I have no idea why, but cooked cherries and blueberries taste a little chloriney..  Peach pies, strawberry rhubarb pie, cobblers...  why, yes, I will have another piece, thank you.  Chocolate pies?  What?  You mean it's NOT acceptable to just stick my face in it?  Oops..  

And then there's pumpkin pie. 

Pumpkin pie is relatively new to me.  The first time I had it was almost 20 years ago, so "relatively new to me" simply means that it was introduced in my adulthood.  It's the same with grilled cheese.  I didn't have my first grilled cheese until I was in my 20s, if you can even imagine..

I will never forget the first time I had pumpkin pie.  Never quite being a squash person, I was a little hesitant.  But once I caught that lovely warm cinnamon infused aroma, I was instantly sold.  And that was before I even took one smooth, creamy bite.

Having a child with a dairy allergy, we are constantly making recipe alterations, and it was last year that I discovered the splendor that is coconut milk.  It is a marvelously effective and delicious baking tool.  It can substitute buttermilk directly, needing no acid like vinegar or lemon juice to procure that requisite tanginess.  I always keep a can of regular coconut milk in my fridge because when it cools, the solids move to the top, and once scooped out and mixed with some confectioners' sugar and a little vanilla, it makes a seriously excellent whipped cream.  It also makes for a great pumpkin pie, with it's creamy consistency.

The real test for my dairy free pumpkin pie came last year, when I made it for my husband's family.  His mother is an expert pumpkin pie baker, but she was so bogged down with family and the rest of the meal, that she didn't have time to make dessert.  I made this recipe, and no one in the entire family thought it was anything other than grandma's famous pumpkin pie.  She is a fabulous cook, my mother in law.  This was a HUGE compliment….

dairy free pumpkin pie

1/2 c. brown sugar (light and dark both work, but dark adds a little more depth to the flavor)

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 15-ounce can organic pumpkin

1 c. regular coconut milk (be sure to stir it very well before measuring, if using a can)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425˚F.

Combine the sugars, spices, and salt in a small bowl.  In a larger bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin and vanilla.  Add the sugar mixture, and stir until smooth.  Whisk in the coconut milk.

Roll out the crust, and place in a 9" pie dish.  I don't usually cut off the crust hang-over anyway, and this pie is a really good reason to use that extra crust.  Build up the sides of the crust by folding the overhang onto itself, creating a crusty lip.  I can't imagine that anyone in their right mind would want a crusty lip coming anywhere near their pie….. but in this case it keeps the pie filling where it should be- inside the pie.

Pour the pie filling into the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes.  Lower the heat to 350˚F and continue to bake for about 40-50 minutes, give or take, or until a toothpick comes out relatively clean.  The filling will firm up as it cools, so don't worry if the pie still looks a little wobbly.  

And here comes the difficult part.  Let the pie cool for at least an hour, preferably two.

pie dough for double crust pie

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 sticks Earth Balance dairy free butter, cubed and very cold (I will cube my butter first and put it in a bowl and into the freezer while I get my other ingredients together)

1 tbs sugar

1/2 tsp salt (the Earth Balance is salted, so I usually omit the salt here, or at most I'll add a pinch.  If you use unsalted butter however, add the salt)

8 tbs ice cold water, give or take

I have done this by hand for years, but just recently I started using the food processor.  I have found that since having kids, I am usually in a hurry.  Food processor pie dough is perfect.  But you have to be careful not to over process.  You want to be able to see chunks of butter throughout the pie dough because when the butter melts, it forms pockets of buttery steam which is what makes the dough light and flaky.  If you don't want to use a processor, than by all means, just mix it with your hands or a pastry blender until the butter is about the size of small peas.

Put flour, sugar, and salt into food processor.  Pulse a couple of times to blend dry ingredients together. Add butter all at once and give it about 5 pulses.  I don't like to pulse it too much here, because there is more pulsing to come and at the end, I want my butter in bigger chunks.  Add the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time.  Pulse 2 or 3 times after each addition, just to mix it in.  The pulses should be very quick.  The butter chunks should be the size of large breadcrumbs or small peas.  

Once the dough has come together, turn it out and gather it into a flat ball.  Cut it into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other.  Wrap each patty in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for at least an hour to let the dough rest.  If you are only using a bottom crust, simply put the other patty in the freezer, where it will keep for 2-3 months.

fried apple pies

I have a confession to make.  Up until my daughter was born, my husband and I had a tradition.  Every time we went to Europe, we would find a McDonalds.  I know, I know. What kind of jerk travels around the world to fabulous destinations like Amsterdam, Berlin, and Switzerland, to be surrounded by delicious, genuine, local fare that you would never really find in the States, only to go to a McDonalds?

This jerk, that's who.  Why?

Three words:   fried      apple      pie.

That delightfully greasy, flaky, molten lava hot deliciousness is not available in the States anymore.  And until 2007, I could only find it overseas.  In 2007, however, McDonalds put that awful baked apple pie on the menu everywhere.  My beloved fried apple pie was gone.

Why I had never thought to make it before is beyond me.  Maybe I was in denial.  Maybe I was trying to forget the apple pie of my eye, so that it couldn't hurt me anymore.  Whatever the reason, the time for grief and woe is past.  This is the dawning of a new era.  A new era that includes fried apple pies.

Whenever I want.

fried apple pie

1 half of a double crust pie dough (recipe to follow)

4 apples, peeled and chopped

3 tbs Earth Balance butter

1/4 c. sugar

1 tbs brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ginger

scant 1/8 tsp allspice

Heat about 1 inch of oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat.  If you put in a thermometer, it should reach about 350˚F.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and sugar together in a skillet over high heat.  Add the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and allspice, and cook, stirring often, until tender with crisped edges, about 10 minutes.  

Take 1 dough patty and roll it out into a rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick.  Cut the large rectangle into 4 smaller rectangles, or rectangle-like shapes (which is what mine turned out to be).  Put a couple tablespoons of the apple mixture on one side of the shape.  Be sure to leave about a half inch dough border.  Smear a watery finger along the dough border, and fold the other side of the shape to seal.  Crimp the edges with a fork or your fingers.  Or both, as in my case.  

I probably could have made them look neater, or I could have taken better pictures, but with the constant chorus of "Fried apple pie.  Fried apple pie!  Fried apple pie, mama!!  Fried apple pie!!!" I had to move quickly.  The natives definitely won that war....

pie dough for double crust pie

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 sticks Earth Balance dairy free butter, cubed and very cold (I will cube my butter first and put it in a bowl and into the freezer while I get my other ingredients together)

1 tbs sugar

1/2 tsp salt (the Earth Balance is salted, so I usually omit the salt here, or at most I'll add a pinch.  If you use unsalted butter however, add the salt)

8 tbs ice cold water, give or take

This dough is fantastic.  I usually freeze half to ensure I can throw together a pie at any given moment.  Because you never really know when you'll need a pie.  Which happens over here.  A lot. 

I have done this by hand for years, but just recently I started using the food processor.  I have found that since having kids, I am usually in a hurry.  Food processor pie dough is perfect.  But you have to be careful not to over process.  You want to be able to see chunks of butter throughout the pie dough because when the butter melts, it forms pockets of buttery steam which is what makes the dough light and flaky.  If you don't want to use a processor, than by all means, just mix it with your hands or a pastry blender until the butter is about the size of small peas.

Put flour, sugar, and salt into food processor.  Pulse a couple of times to blend dry ingredients together. Add butter all at once and give it about 5 pulses.  I don't like to pulse it too much here, because there is more pulsing to come and at the end, I want my butter in bigger chunks.  Add the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time.  Pulse 2 or 3 times after each addition, just to mix it in.  The pulses should be very quick.  The butter chunks should be the size of large breadcrumbs or small peas.  

Once the dough has come together, turn it out and gather it into a flat ball.  Cut it into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other.  Wrap each patty in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for at least an hour to let the dough rest.

peach pies with my daughter

My mom is a great cook.  The strange thing though, is that whenever I think of her cooking when I was growing up, I only have one memory: my mom cooking calf's liver.  And what's even stranger is that was before my parents' divorce, which happened when I was six.  And I haven't eaten calf's liver since.

She used to give it a breadcrumb crust and sauté it with onions in butter.  I remember the texture and flavor, which I always liked, but what really brings me back is the smell of the onions cooking.  Cooking onions in butter isn't the same as cooking them in oil.  There is such a soft richness to onions in butter that fills the air and swallows me up.  And when I catch it's scent, I am instantly transported to that day: the late afternoon sun streaming through the windows filling the room with a golden glow, it's warmth like a blanket on my back, while I sit outside the kitchen door watching my mom move around the kitchen, with the background music of those sizzling onions.

I think the funniest part of this memory is that I never knew she cooked the onions in butter. I just happened to drop some butter into my onions one day, and it was as if I was hit by a truck.  Who would have thought that such a simple combination could be so heavy hearted. To this day when I sauté onions, I always toss in a little butter (or dairy free butter as it were) to wrap me up in those comforting arms.

So what does this have to do with peach pie?  Nothing.  But it has everything to do with cooking with my daughter.  You know where I'm going with this, right?

Our pies, side by side.  And her foot.

My pie.

Her pie.

My pie.

Her pie.  

I just love her to pieces.

peach pie

1 double crust pie dough (recipe to follow)

6 peaches, give or take, peeled, pitted, and sliced

squeeze of half a lemon or orange, whatever you have on hand

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark- both are delicious)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

small pinch of allspice

small pinch of salt

2 tbs minute tapioca

glaze:

1 tbs almond milk

1 tbs sugar

Make the pie dough and let it rest for at least an hour.  I like to take it out of the fridge at the same time as I turn on the oven so it warms up a bit to make rolling smoother.  You have to be careful though not to keep the dough out for too long, as you don't want the butter to get too warm..  If you think the dough has gotten too warm, don't worry, just put it right back into the fridge until you're ready.

Preheat oven to 400˚F.

Slice and peel the peaches.  I am not a fan of poaching the peaches to remove the skins.  To me, it is a big time waster, as by the time your water comes to a boil, you can have all of the peaches peeled with either a paring knife or a regular ol' peeler, and you don't have to deal with burnt fingers and soggy peaches.  But if poaching is your thing, then by all means have at it.  Maybe I just don't do it right...  Anyway, dump the peeled, sliced peaches into a large bowl and toss with the lemon or orange juice.  In another bowl, combine the sugars, cinnamon, allspice, salt and tapioca.  Add it to the peaches and mix to thoroughly coat.

On a floured work surface, roll out half of the pie dough.  Give your work surface a healthy sprinkle of flour and unwrap one dough patty.  Gently roll the dough, beginning in center of the patty, roll out, rotate the dough a quarter turn, roll out, rotate a quarter turn, roll out, blah blah blah, until you have a nice 12" circle.  All the while, making sure you have flour under the dough so it doesn't stick to the counter.  Carefully transfer to a pie dish, keeping the crust hanging over the edge of the dish.  To do this, I like to take the rolling pin and roll the dough around the pin.  Then take the pin, place it on the pie dish, and roll out the dough right onto the dish.  Easy peasy.

Pour the peach mixture onto the pie dough and smooth into the dish.  Roll out the other patty as before, and carefully lay it on top of the pie filling.  Or you can get fancy and cut it into strips to make the lattice crust.  Or you can get fancier and cut the dough out with a cookie cutter and lay those shapes on top.  This was my first lattice top, and I just kind of figured it out in the moment.  I started by laying a strip on top, vertically down the center.  Then I put another horizontally down the center.  I kept that pattern, vertical and then horizontal, weaving the strips together, over under over under over under.  I then took all of the edge overhang and folded it under itself to make the edge crust.

Place the pie onto a baking sheet and brush the top with the milk and sprinkle with the sugar for the glaze.

Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350˚F, and bake for another 30-40 minutes or until the pie is bubbling and the crust is a nice golden brown.  As with the pie pictured above, I should have taken out the small pie and then continued to cook my bigger pie, but I didn't.  I took them out all at once, so my daughter's pie looks beautifully golden and mine is a little pasty looking.  But it was cooked perfectly and tasted delicious.  I cooked it for about 25-30 minutes, and I really needed the extra 5-10 minutes to darken that crust.. No matter, the pie was consumed in 7 minutes flat.

Transfer pie to wire rack to cool completely, or at least for a couple of hours.  If the pie does not cool, it will be runny.  The tapioca works to congeal the innerds, but it only works when the pies have had time to cool...  Cool the pie.  Wait for it to cool.  

Yeah, good luck with that.

pie dough for double crust pie

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 sticks Earth Balance dairy free butter, cubed and very cold (I will cube my butter first and put it in a bowl and into the freezer while I get my other ingredients together)

1 tbs sugar

1/2 tsp salt (the Earth Balance is salted, so I usually omit the salt here, or at most I'll add a pinch.  If you use unsalted butter however, add the salt)

8 tbs ice cold water, give or take

I have done this by hand for years, but just recently I started using the food processor.  I have found that since having kids, I am usually in a hurry.  Food processor pie dough is perfect.  But you have to be careful not to over process.  You want to be able to see chunks of butter throughout the pie dough because when the butter melts, it forms pockets of buttery steam which is what makes the dough light and flaky.  If you don't want to use a processor, than by all means, just mix it with your hands or a pastry blender until the butter is about the size of small peas.

Put flour, sugar, and salt into food processor.  Pulse a couple of times to blend dry ingredients together. Add butter all at once and give it about 5 pulses.  I don't like to pulse it too much here, because there is more pulsing to come and at the end, I want my butter in bigger chunks.  Add the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time.  Pulse 2 or 3 times after each addition, just to mix it in.  The pulses should be very quick.  The butter chunks should be the size of large breadcrumbs or small peas.  

Once the dough has come together, turn it out and gather it into a flat ball.  Cut it into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other.  Wrap each patty in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for at least an hour to let the dough rest.

strawberry rhubarb pie

A few weeks ago, I found some rhubarb at the farmer's market.  I don't often eat rhubarb, actually I haven't eaten it since I was a kid.  It used to grow kind of wild in the rather unkempt play area/courtyard.  Or maybe it didn't actually grow wild, maybe the garden just looked wild.  My memory isn't that specific..  

In my state of farmer's market euphoria, I saw the rhubarb and instantly thought: 

Strawberry rhubarb pie.

I have never made strawberry rhubarb pie before.  I used to make a pretty mean strawberry lemon curd tart, but the pie?  Nope.  And aside from eating strawberry rhubarb pie as a kid (and when I say kid, I mean 6), I really haven't had rhubarb as an older kid, teenager, or adult.  

But for some reason, I simply had to have it.

And I am so glad I did!

It was a little bit oozy, but no one seemed to mind.....

strawberry rhubarb pie

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 double crust pie dough (recipe to follow)

3 1/2 c. rhubarb, cut into 1/2" thick slices

3 1/2 c. strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/4 c. light brown sugar

1 tbs lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 c. quick-cooking tapioca

2 tbs Earth Balance dairy free butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk and 1 tsp water beaten together for glaze

Preheat oven to 400˚F.  

On a floured work surface, roll out half of the pie dough into a 12" circle, and carefully transfer to a pie dish, keeping the crust hanging over the dish.

Combine rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, lemon juice, salt, and tapioca in a large bowl.  Dump the whole thing onto the pie dough and smooth into the dish.  Dot with bits of butter.  Roll out the other dough patty into a circle and carefully lay it on top of the pie filling.  Trim off the excess and tuck neatly around the filling.  Fold the hanging crust over onto itself and pinch however you like to make the crust.  I like to keep mine a bit more rustic...  Cut slits into the top of the pie.  Place the pie onto a baking sheet and brush egg mixture on top of dough.  You will want to put the pie on a baking sheet, as the juices WILL bubble over.  Cleaning that off of the bottom of the oven is no fun at all.  Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350, and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until the pie is golden and bubbly.  

Transfer pie to a wire rack to cool completely.

pie crust for double crust pie

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

2 sticks Earth Balance butter, cubed and very cold (I will cube my butter first and put it in a bowl and into the freezer while I get my other ingredients together)

6-8 tbs ice cold water

I like to use a food processor for my dough because it really is so easy and fast.

Put flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor.  Pulse a couple of times to blend dry ingredients together.  Add butter all at once and give it about 5 pulses.  I don't like to pulse it for too long here, because there is more pulsing to come and at the end, I want my butter in bigger chunks.  Add the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time.  Pulse 2 or 3 times after each addition, just to mix it in.  The pulses should be very quick.  The butter chunks should be the size of large breadcrumbs or small peas.  Whatever the size, you want to be able to see it in the dough.  That is what makes it light and flaky.

Once the dough has come together, turn it out and gather it into a flat ball.  Cut it into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other.  Wrap each patty in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for at least an hour to let the dough rest.