Blueberry Pie

Soooo now that it's time for pumpkin and pecan pie, I finally get around to showing you the blueberry pie I made this summer.

Truth be told, I wasn't so sure about showing you these pics.  After a few months working for a food magazine your own pictures look more like humble pie.  But I might as well finish off the last 3 or 4 posts I started so many months ago, such as this hand-picked blueberry pie.  You don't mind, right?

After picking buckets of blueberries, I knew a blueberry pie was in the works.  Both the blueberries and recipe come from Michigan.  While sitting around the table with our friend Gerry I copied down her recipe for blueberry pie.  Her secret, believe it or not, is a bit of cinnamon. You can't actually taste the cinnamon, but it definitely makes the berry flavor pop.

You should probably be making pumpkin pie right now (how about pumpkin with a gingerbread crust?).  But, if for some crazy reason, you're not into pumpkin pie and you have frozen blueberries leftover from the summer then go ahead and try this pie now.

Since we had so many pounds of berries I also whipped up a blueberry crisp based on this recipe.  The crumb topping has graham cracker crumbs and almonds in addition to your traditional oats.  I imagine it would work quite well on apple crisp too.

Better than fresh pie or a bubbling berry crisp are the friends who shared the recipes and  devoured forkfuls as we sat around the table.  No matter what season, holiday, or type of pie I am grateful for the gift of true friends.

Gerry's Blueberry Pie

recipe from a dear friend, Gerry Embrey

Ingredients:

1 pie pastry for a 9-inch double-crust pie (use your favorite recipe)

4-5 cups fresh blueberries 

3/4 -1 cup sugar

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

dash salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out pastry for bottom crust and ease into a 9-inch glass pie plate.  

* In a large bowl combine blueberries, sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Toss until berries are evenly coated; pour mixture into crust.  

* Roll out top crust and place over berries; seal and flute edges. Cut slits (or shapes) in the center to allow steam to escape. Place pie plate on a baking sheet and bake 50-60 minutes or until crust is golden and fruit in center is bubbling. Let cool completely before serving.  

Food for Thought: "Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart." -Eleanor Roosevelt 

Random Recipe Wednesday: Chocolate Overdose

I had every intention of sharing a slice of homemade bread with you today.  I've also been waiting to tell you about a pie crust, a few rhubarb recipes and several red cabbage recipes I've been playing with.

Instead you get chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.  Plus a hefty dose of peanut butter.  Because after making 10 pies and 7 cheesecakes at work, that's what I'm giving you too.  If you're looking for an ultra rich dessert this Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake is just the thing. The cheesecake is rich enough on it's own, not to mention the chocolate cookie crust and melt-in-your-mouth chocolate ganache poured over the top.  This recipe also scales up well, just in case you were wondering what to do with that extra 14 pounds of cream cheese in your fridge.

If you don't feel like using 14 pounds of cream cheese in 7 cheesecakes, then perhaps you'll fall for this Black-Bottom Peanut Butter Mousse Pie.  Graham cracker crust, a layer of silky chocolate and light peanut butter mousse make one rich forkful after another.  As if we don't have enough reasons to love chocolate and peanut butter.  But I'll leave the rest of the swooning to you, I've had more than my fair share of chocolate for the day.

Food for Thought: "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up." -Proverbs 12:25

Flashback Friday: Great-Aunt Eleanor's Sour Cream Raisin Pie

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

Old recipes rarely include detailed instructions for the modern day cook.  What was considered common sense in our great-grandmother's generation was passed on from mother to daughter by hands-on experience and not necessarily written down in recipe format.   Details, tips and tricks of the trade were learned at home, and written recipes were intended as guidelines or reminders, not do-it-yourself, fail-proof tutorials.

This sour cream raisin pie recipe from my great-aunt Eleanor is over 100 years old.  It left me guessing in a few places, causing me to look up some of the details I mentioned yesterday.  It would be interesting to go back and make this recipe with her.  I don't think my meringue turned out as intended, but I've no way of knowing what hers was like in the first place.

Thursday's Thoughts: Learning Curve

Thursday's Thoughts: a taste of what I'm thinking

When something goes askew in the kitchen I like to read up about it and figure out why.  Understanding the principle behind the problem decreases the likelihood of a repeat episode.  Here's just a taste of what I've been reading up on lately along with a few other bites I'm beginning to chew, swallow and digest.

Meringue
1. Underbaking a meringue pie results in weeping, a layer of liquid between the meringue and filling.  This can be prevented by spreading the meringue on the pie while the pie is still hot.  However, the pie should not be too hot or the filling may not have set up enough to hold the meringue.

2. Beads on top of a meringue are the result of overbaking.

3. To prevent a meringue from shrinking and tearing, be sure to attach and seal it to the crust before baking.  Adding certain starches to the meringue also helps.

4. Soft meringue, hard meringue, Swiss meringue, Italian meringue, cooked, uncooked, added starch, ratio of sugar, type of sugar, temperature, beating time, underbaked, overbaked, acidity, humidity....so much to consider.

Pie Crust
1.Overworking a pie crust stretches out the dough which causes shrinking while baking.

2.  A large gap between an upper crust and filling (such as apple) is due to a slow release of steam.  Thick apple slices release steam slowly, but thinner apple slices cook faster, allowing a quicker release of steam.  Thinner apple slices (along with cutting proper slits) prevent the crust from puffing up and leaving a large space.

Eggs in Custard
 1. Stirred custards without starch are heated over a double boiler and require constant stirring.  The eggs thicken anywhere between 160 and 180 degrees F.  The eggs can begin to thicken just one degree before turning to a scrambled curdled mess.  Rate of heat, milk to egg yolk ratio and sugar all influence curdling and thickening of stirred custards.

2. Baked custards without starch need a water bath.  The water for the water bath needs to be extremely hot.

3. Stirred custards with starch can be made over direct heat as opposed to a double boiler. Similarly, baked custards containing starch do not need water baths.

Consomme (just pretend the e has an accent over it)
1. This stock is clarified with egg whites.  As the stock simmers the egg whites coagulate and trap impurities.

2.  The egg and impurity mixture floats to the top forming what is called a raft.  An acidic ingredient such as lemon juice or tomatoes aids in forming a stable raft.

Food for Thought: "Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have." -Louis E. Boone 

Flashback Friday: Soda Cracker Macaroon Pie

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

Still enamored with this vintage mixer, I decided to whip up some more egg whites.  I love how that mixer works.  Unlike my last mixer, it effortlessly transforms egg whites and sugar to stiff, snowy white peaks.  It's the little things that make me smile.  Anyway, this meringue acts as the base for a pie recipe belonging to my great-grandma.   The term pie is used loosely here as the dessert resembles a pie only in shape.

Crushed soda crackers, nuts and vanilla are folded into the fluffy white base and spread into a pie pan.  Great-Grandma Hattie folded in chopped dates for a little variety and usually served up a slice with whipped cream.  Her daughter, Carol (whose cookies we ate last week), wrote it is "excellent served with ice cream and chocolate syrup."

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Savory Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Pecan Pie

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

Knowing how much I like to experiment, my brother gave me this super neat pie pan that's split down the middle, allowing me to test two recipes at once.

With a twinkle in his eye he encouraged me to practice my pie making skills while he's home on Thanksgiving break.  Knowing I had a willing taste tester, I set out to make two of the pies on my ever growing 'recipes to try' list.

Tuesday's Twist: Rhubarb Pie Contest

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

Yesterday I shared some pictures from the Rhubarb Festival but I saved the pie making contest for today's post since there's a twist.  When I realized the twist in my pie I couldn't help but post it under Tuesday's Twist.

I've decided the main reason I had such a blast at the rhubarb festival was due to a change of mind-set.  Normally at this type of event I watch from the sidelines, a wallflower worried over looking silly or drawing attention.  This time I decided to just enjoy myself and have fun instead of worrying about how silly I looked or felt trying something new.  It worked(!) and I'm looking forward to applying that approach to the rest of life. In fact, I was having so much fun making pie I didn't even try to hide from the camera.  (Ten pictures of me in this post should be good for quite a while, right?)