Day 5: Pear-Cranberry Pie

This was a bomb.

Not "Da Bomb."

But a bomb. As in, bad. As in, not good.

Day 5: Pear-Cranberry Pie with Gingerbread Crust

This was probably my most "outlandish" endeavor, so to speak. A better word would probably be "non-traditional."

Here's how this will go: I will explain the crust and the filling, how I made them (which were individually tasty), but then what went wrong in the baking process.

This was no fault of the recipes themselves; the baker takes sole responsibility.

I'll just go ahead and give away the surprise, since it's killing all of you anyway.

The grand finale is an Apple Pie. So, when planning the 7 Chosen Pies, I knew I needed another fruit pie. And since the rules state that the pies have to be seasonal, I couldn't do blueberry or any summer fruit.

Pears and cranberries are so festive, and my intrigue became fixated on some combination of the two. Plus a gingerbread crust? Oh heavens.

When searching around, I found this recipe on Epicurious. The filling looked super-complicated and there were not-so-hot reviews on it, but good reviews on the crust. Then I found this recipe on Martha Stewart, with a "faux lattice" crust [interesting], but didn't care for the non-gingerbread crust or apricot glaze (weird?).

Here was the rub: my heart was already set on having a full double-crust for the apple pie. It's just so iconic! however, I wanted the experience [what pie week is all about] of making my own lattice.

NERD ALERT: I called into Whatever w/Alexis & Jennifer on Sirius [Martha Stewart channel], and asked Alexis if she thought a gingerbread lattice crust would work. She said yes, just to make sure to weave the lattice when the gingerbread was still pliable and not frozen or anything, because it could get really sticky.

If you remember the ceiling fiasco from Day 3, the plumbing issue is back on the radar. Ugh.

Back to Martha's I went. Here's my box of baking materials/accoutrements


I think Gibson was okay with it:


Gingerbread crust:

Make in the Cuisenart/food processor. Here's my little workspace, with my paper towel, measuring cups, spices. Flour and spices in the food processor:


Cut up butter, I stuck in the freezer for a few minutes before adding:


Molasses and egg yolks:


What it looks like all mixed up/processed:


I didn't chill it before rolling it out, per Alexis Stewart's advice:


Pressed into the pan:


With the remaining dough, I rolled it out, and cut into strips:



...then stuck 'em in the fridge to get their shape.

Meanwhile, here's the filling:

started with some beautiful pears, a mixture of Anjou and Red pears from Easy Way Produce.



and some lovely cranberries from Fresh Market [went to three other places before I found them there--also got the pie pumpkins there FYI]


Mix them in a large bowl, and add cornstarch, brown sugar, and other stuff...



Next was an exciting new experience. Scraping my very first vanilla bean!

Got a tube of three at Penzey's.

You get out the little pod, split it open down the middle, and scrape out the little vanilla flecks.



Magical. I tried to capture the vanilla flecks:


Filling + chilled crust [and mistake #1, not pre-baking the crust--I'll get into that at the end]


Filling in the crust:


Here came the fun part! Making the lattice. I'd read you start from the middle. Lay two pieces in a + and work from there:


I didn't get good step-by-step photos, sorry.


All done! Pretty, yes?


Mistake #2: Because of Bunko last night and limited time, I let the pie sit this way covered in foil in the fridge overnight. TERRIBLE mistake. The sad thing is, I knew it was a bad mistake when I did it, and couldn't stop myself.

Because of the hybrid recipe, when it came to baking time, I was unsure of following the filling baking time/temp or the crust baking time/temp.

All week, the pies have taken wayyyyyyyyyy longer to bake than the recipe said, so I thought, "Yes! I will just turn this one up to 400 and let it go."

Bad idea. Burned lattice 20 minutes later (sorry so blurry):


So I pack it up, trek to bunko, and when I get to Carrie's, take off the lattice and think that I'll just finish baking it at a lower temp and everything will be alright. This was not to be.


Disaster. The filling never really baked, and neither did the bottom crust.

"Piece" of the "pie"
--which was also deemed "hot fruit salad with gingerbread in it that tastes good" ...


Everyone was very gracious, and luckily, I brought the extra pumpkin pie from Day 3.


Meredith, Randi, and Carrie (blurry, sorry) with their pumpkin pie.

I think if I hadn't made the baking mistakes, this could have turned out to be a success.

Just bit off a little more than I could chew. Pun intended.

...........................................

Pear-Cranberry Pie with Gingerbread Crust

Gingerbread Crust [from here, epicurious, doubled for lattice top]

3 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
6 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
2 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 large egg yolks
4 tablespoons dark molasses
raw rice for weighting the crust [didn't do this...whoops!]

In a food processor blend together well the flour, the brown sugar, the ginger, the cinnamon, the allspice, and the salt, add the butter, and blend the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl stir together the egg yolk and the molasses, add the mixture to the flour mixture, and pulse the motor, blending the mixture until it is combined well but still crumbly. Turn the mixture out into a 10-inch tart pan with a fluted removable rim and press it onto the bottom and up the side of the pan. Chill the crust for 30 minutes. Prick the crust with a fork, line it with foil, and fill the foil with the rice. Bake the crust in the lower third of a preheated 375°F. oven for 15 minutes, remove the foil and rice carefully, and bake the crust for 10 minutes more. [didn't do this either, whoops] Let the crust cool in the pan on a rack.

Filling:
[adapted from here, Martha Stewart]

All-purpose flour, for dusting
5 ripe Bartlett pears (2 1/2 pounds; Bosc or Anjou can be substituted)
6 cups (24 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with racks in middle and lower positions. Peel, halve, and core pears. Cut pears into small pieces.
Toss together pears, cranberries, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Using the tip of a paring knife, scrape vanilla seeds over pear mixture, and toss until seeds have been evenly incorporated. Pour filling into piecrust, gently pressing to make it as level as possible. Dot filling with butter [forgot to do this part...probably would've helped]

Place foil-lined pan on the bottom rack to catch the juices.

Changes:

1. pre-baked the bottom crust before putting in the filling
2. after putting the filling into the pie, baking it immediately after
3. dotting with butter
4. baking at 325 degrees for an hour (??? maybe ???)
5. not put egg wash on the gingerbread lattice.

Pretty. But a bomb.

Maybe it's because there was no vinyl accompaniment that I lost my way?

I'll press on, and finish strong. 2 more pies. And, hopefully, my fruit pie blunders are through with.
See you tomorrow.


xoxo Pie Sleuth

Day 4: Black-Bottom Pie

[for those of you just joining me, I am making a pie every day for 7 days. I have never before made any of these recipes, and have limited experience making pie at all. Also, there are no shortcuts allowed; everything that can be homemade must be. and yes, I'm working in my "real" job this week.]

Day 1: Butterscotch pie here
Day 2: Buttermilk Lemon Pie here
Day 3: Pumpkin Pie here

Day 4: Black-Bottom Pie

Okay, so my interest in black-bottom pie started with an anecdote told to me by a dear family friend, Peggy S, from when she was a new bride over 25 years ago. I was a newly married gal myself, so I just loved hearing this story. She told about how she worked and worked and worked so hard one day to make her husband's all-time favorite pie completely from scratch: black-bottom.

The kicker: this is her husband's favorite pie that his mother makes. Her husband's response to the pie? "It's good, but my mother makes it this way..."

Right then, Mrs Peggy vowed that she was done with black-bottom pie.

I, however, was intrigued by this notion of black-bottom pie, having never eaten or even seen one.

When this pie project popped up, I just knew this would have to make the list. During my consultations with Lori [pie mentor pictured on Day 3], she told me she has a fantastic recipe for chocolate wafers.

The recipe variations I found during my research included some with a gingersnap crust, some with a graham cracker crust, and some with a chocolate wafer crust. The thrill of homemaking my own chocolate wafers [having never made them before] led me to settle on (of course) a chocolate wafer crust.

Well, if the crust varies from chocolate wafers, then what makes the "black bottom," you ask? The layer of chocolate ganache/pudding on the bottom of the pie, topped with a meringue-y topper.

Great! now we all know.

Okay, onto the crust:
[I don't feel at liberty to share this recipe, but email me if you really really want it and we'll figure something out]

You make the chocolate wafer dough in the food processor:


...then you roll it out into a log and wrap it in wax paper


[does this remind anyone of Caddyshack?]

Then you put it in the fridge and let it chill.

[confession: I made this dough on Sunday while the pate brisee for the Butterscotch/Pumpkin pies was chilling. hey, a girl's only got so much time in a work-week.]
[confession 2: the following 4 photos are phone pics, I had technical difficulties during this part.]

When you're ready to bake them, cut thin thin slices


and bake at 350 until they're done.



Crush them up,


then mix with some butter and sugar


press in a pie pan (i used glass last night because only the crust was being baked)

and bake the crust at 350 for about 12 minutes.


For some reason, the sides fell a little bit after I baked it. It was too sticky for pie weights, and a little too heavy to stay up to the edge, I guess. But that's ok, it just made the ends of the pieces have thicker crust [yum!]

Here's the filling:

You start the chocolate "black bottom" by melting an unsweetened chocolate square in a double boiler:


and meanwhile, soften some gelatin in a bowl of a little cold water:



Then you start on the custard:

whole milk + sugar in a saucepan, then egg yolks [you know it'll be alright if you have these two ingredients to start with]



Let it thicken:


Once it's boiled and cooled a little, you take one cup of the custard mix and add it to the melted chocolate (which has been taken off the double boiler at this point, since it's cooled):


You spread the chocolate mixture on the bottom of the cooled pie shell. [unfortunately, I forgot to get a photo of this, but I bet you fine people can imagine what a chocolate crust with chocolate pudding on top looks like!]

To the remaining custard, add your gelatin, and some rum! and take it off the burner


While this is cooling, work on your meringue [YES! meringue again!] I let Jonny help me out.



Once it's "stiff and glossy" and you get a spoonful, turn it upside down, and nothing moves--you're good to go.

Mix the meringue with the custard:


Topping the pie!


filled and pre-chilled [i'm good at rhyming, no?]


It's supposed to chill in the fridge for 3 hours, but I put it in the freezer for an hour and a half and it seemed fine.

We didn't have too much time to spare, because we went out to visit Brett and his dog-children, Barkley and Maizy!


I think they wanted pie more than Brett did (which is tough to say)!


YUM YUM YUM! this is in the running for my favorite pie of the week thus far. I love the crunchy crust (as does my husband--he needs crunch in his food).

Brett and his dinnerware are so patriotic:


an inside view:


Success! This pie took the least amount of time so far; excluding homemaking chocolate wafer cookies and chilling time, it probably took around an hour to make.

I highly recommend this one, with gold stars.

....................................................

Black-Bottom Pie
[adapted from this one, via allrecipes.com]

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk (i used whole milk)
2 eggs, separated
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
3 tablespoons cold water
2 1/2 tablespoons rum
1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup white sugar

Directions

Soften gelatin in cold water. Melt chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler or in a bowl in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan. Blend together milk and egg yolks, stir into sugar mix. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until mixture boils. Remove 1 cup of custard, and combine with chocolate: spread into baked pie shell. Stir softened gelatin into remaining hot custard mix. Stir in rum. Place pan in a bowl of ice water, or refrigerate. Stir occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from spoon.

Stir softened gelatin into remaining hot custard mix. Stir in rum. Place pan in a bowl of ice water, or refrigerate [I didn't do this step. I only just set it off the burner on a trivet to let it cool]. Stir occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from spoon.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Beat in 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue beating until stiff and glossy. Do not underbeat. Fold in chilled custard. Spread over chocolate mixture. Chill at least 3 hours or until set (I did 1.5 hrs in the freezer and it was fine).

Chocolate Wafer Pie Crust
[adapted from this one]

2ish c. chocolate wafer crumbs
3 tbsp. sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Combine all ingredients; mix well. Firmly press mixture into bottom and sides of a lightly greased 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool. Yield: one 9 inch pie crust.

vinyl accompaniment: Huey Lewis & the News, Sports


Onward.


xoxo Pie Sleuth

Day 3: Pumpkin Pie

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."

Gee whiz, Robert Burns' famous quote was never more true for me as it was yesterday.

So I get home yesterday after work, with a pretty good headache, but ready to tackle the pumpkin pie-"the easy one," I'd been told/read.

I'm all excited to puree my own pumpkin. Had read all about it here.

Lop off the tops and cut in half...


Scrape out the innards.


Then slice them into wedges and put on foil-lined baking sheets at 350 for about 45 minutes...


Well, right about this time, after I got the pumpkin in the oven, I noticed that the kitchen ceiling was leaking. Like more than just a drip. Had to move the trash can underneath, it was a steady drip-stream. I look up, and the ceiling is discolored from water.

DARN IT! Jonny and I just got our shower completely retiled, while we were in Boston. Our shower is right above the kitchen in our little townhouse, and the ceiling had leaked on-and-off, so we finally bit the bullet and got the shower completely retiled. Here's a quick phone pic of the pretty white subway tiled shower:


So, we're all excited about our new clean and fresh shower, thinking we've got the ceiling leak stuff behind us. This was not to be.

I've got the trash can under the leak, thinking "PIE WEEK MUST GO ON!"

Jonathan calls the contractor who coordinated the new shower tile job, Donald Robbins (who has done some projects for Grant & Mandi too). Donald happened to be in the neighborhood, so he comes over and takes a look.




Yep. He had to cut a hole in the ceiling. Right over my kitchen island/counter/primary pie workspace.

Today's update: they're getting it fixed and the problem has been identified. Also note that this issue is completely separate from the shower re-tile job and no fault of anyone but a worn-out shower knob/nozzle thingy. Thanks, Donald, for coming over on such short notice! You're awesome!

Pie week must go on.

I pack up a box of baking materials, reviewing my recipe, and relocate to Martha's house.

Pie week must go on.

Here, I had a new supporting cast member. GIBSON!


Yesterday, I had the brilliant idea of making one pie with freshly pureed pumpkin and one pie with canned pumpkin, to see if there really is a difference between them, and which one is actually better: Once and for all.

The same recipe was to be used for both pies: the only difference was pureed pumpkin versus canned pumpkin.

But first, back to the task at hand: pureeing my pumpkin.

After the pumpkin is roasted,


...you peel off the skin


and put in the food processor:


silky smooth.

Batch #1 was with the fresh pumpkin puree.


Lovely cinnamon from Penzey's.


Remember nutmeg I grated from Day 2?

I had no idea what was in side these buggers. eeewwww this gives me the willies! eeeeeek!


eeeesh it's a brain!!!!!!

Back to the pie:


I got it right this time! Evaporated milk, you couldn't fool me:


Batch#2, canned pumpkin:



Canned version in the mixer:


Fresh pumpkin filling on the left, canned pumpkin filling on the right:


More pie weights! I used the Martha Stewart Pate Brisee for the fresh puree pumpkin and the Crisco/Pioneer Woman crust for the canned.


And here they are:
[canned pumpkin on the left, fresh pumpkin on the right]


Aesthetic Verdict:

The canned pumpkin pie is much prettier than the freshly pureed pumpkin pie.

Now for the blind taste-tester, Nick. Which tastes better, Nick?


Nick's verdict: he prefers CANNED pumpkin pie is better.

Now let's ask Jesse:


Jesse's pick: she prefers the FRESH PUREED pumpkin pie

Then, I went over to Lori's [my pie mentor, cook/caterer extraordinaire].


She was in the FRESH PUREED pumpkin camp.

I left her house at 11:15 pm, started this project about 5 pm. Hehe, the 'easy pie.'

Here's my take on it: This recipe, when using canned pumpkin pie, produces a pie just like every pumpkin pie you've always had. Now the fresh pumpkin produces a pie with a fluffier texture, bringing more of a custard-y taste which highlights the eggs. It's "different," if you will. Fascinating.

But really, for the trouble it is to puree your own pumpkin, I'm not sure the taste/texture distinction would always be worth the hassle (can I even say that???? Pioneer Woman and/or Martha Stewart would most likely disagree). It's not "hard to do," per se, just a real hassle.

[I had to half the recipe below since I was doing two different forms of pumpkin puree, FYI.]

Pumpkin Pie
(recipe via Martha Stewart)

1 sugar pumpkin, halved, or 3 cups solid-pack canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 pie crusts (see above for crust recipe links)
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 cups evaporated milk (a little less than 2 cans' worth)
whipped cream, for serving

Roll out pie dough disks to 1/8" thickness. transfer to pie pans, line with parchment paper, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake pie shells 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove pie weights and parchment and bake another 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Mix pumpkin, brown sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, nutmeg, eggs, and evaporated milk; whisk until combined.

Place pie shells on rimmed baking sheets; divide pumpkin mixture between pie shells. Bake until all but the centers are set, 35-45 minutes (mine took closer to 55 minutes, easy). Let pies cool completely on wire racks. Serve with whipped cream.

..................................................................................

3 days into Pie Week and all pies have taken longer to bake than the recipes state(d).

vinyl accompaniment: none yesterday.
cause: kitchen relocation

Thanks, Marth, for letting me come over and play with your kitchen toys. And thanks to the cutest puppy Gibson for his help in the kitchen.

Where will this adventure continue? I know not. Who knows what will fall from the ceiling to try and stop me. But rest assured: The Sleuth will not be stopped.


xoxo Pie Sleuth

Day 2: Buttermilk Lemon Pie

With Monday's meringue blunder behind me, I plunged into today's pie with more of a cool head.

Day 2: Buttermilk-Lemon Pie

My first "real" experience with buttermilk pie was the day we took my grandma to Muddy's during her last visit to Memphis [best bakery in town!]. My grandma got a piece of buttermilk pie, and it was so rich and delicious! She told me that her mother used to make a similar pie.

Her mother, my great-grandmother Zella, helped head up the family farm in east Texas--this land has been in our family for over 100 years. She was a well-reknown baker in those parts, and if we ever do "Cake Week" I promise her Devil's Food Cake recipe will show up somewhere.

Good ole wikipedia. (I couldn't resist.)

"Buttermilk pie is a traditional custard-like pie of the southern United States. The basic filling consists of a mixture of eggs, sugar, buttermilk, dry biscuit mix, and butter; variations on the recipe may include flavorings such as lemon zest. Buttermilk pies may be made with or without a pastry crust. The liquid filling is poured into a pie pan (into a crust if one is used) and baked until the mixture sets. It is related to chess pie and pecan pie. The pie may be eaten either while still warm from the oven or after being chilled."

Let's start with the crust.

Since I had made Martha Stewart's Pate Brisee for Butterscotch Pie, I decided to try Pioneer Woman's pie crust, which has Crisco and vinegar in it, among the other obvious ingredients of flour and salt. Also this crust does not utilize the food processor, only a pastry cutter.

Flour, a bowl, a knife.


My trick to keeping flour from making a mess is to put a paper towl under the flour container. Then, when you dip in the measuring cup, and use the dull side of a knife to make ridges and then scrape off the excess, you can fold up the paper towl and not have a pile of the extra flour hidden on your white countertops (don't get me started on the white countertops, ya hear me, Mandi?...).


scraped and flat, going into the bowl:


Crisco! (and she says there is no substitute in this case)


ooooh-weeee my new toy, the pastry cutter! it's fun, too!


...until it resembles coarse meal:


Then, add your ice water. I dipped the necessary tablespoons out of a literal cup of ice water that had been sitting in the fridge.


Next, a trusty tablespoon of vinegar. [secret weapon alert! do you live in a house where the dryer has poor circulation, causing your entire condo to get muggy and make your towels smell musty? EW! well, adding a little vinegar to your next load of towels in the wash, along with your regular detergent, will take care of this problem! cheap fix (this bottle of vinegar was 59 cents!)]


Dig on in and make this happen.


Next, you separate the dough into three equal balls, and store them in Ziploc bags (I used quart size and they were plenty big).


After you get the air out of the bag and seal them, flatten a bit with your rolling pin.


Nice. This can chill out [pun intended] in the fridge for about an hour, or in the freezer (see below), while you do the other stuff.

Pioneer Woman's "Sylvia's Perfect Pie Crust"

Ingredients
1-½ cup Crisco (vegetable Shortening)
3 cups All-purpose Flour
1 whole Egg
5 Tablespoons Cold Water
1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
1 teaspoon Salt

Preparation Instructions
In a large bowl, with a pastry cutter, gradually work the Crisco into the flour for about 3 or 4 minutes until it resembles a coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat an egg with a fork and then pour it into the flour/shortening mixture. Add 5 tablespoons of cold water, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir together gently until all of the ingredients are incorporated.
Separate the dough into thirds. Form 3 evenly sized balls of dough and place each dough into a large Ziploc bag. Using a rolling pin, slightly flatten each ball of dough (about ½ inch thick) to make rolling easier later. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer until you need them. (If you will be using it immediately it’s still a good idea to put in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes to chill.)

Onto the pie.

A few years ago, I had the brilliant idea of making a cookbook out of my Granny's recipes. She is a fantastic cook, and precision is her middle name. All of her recipes are in an old/"antique" tin box, and are clippings from 1960s newspapers or written on index cards in fading blue ink. "Must preserve these," I thought.

"Oh, it'll be no big deal," I told myself/Jonny. "It'll make a great Christmas gift for everyone. I'll just type these recipes right up and get it printed out, no big deal."

Ha, ha, ha. While I am not in the least sorry I undertook this project, it was quite the endeavor.

Notwithstanding, this recipe is featured in that cookbook.

A word about the lemon(s) used. Jonny and I bought a lemon tree for his mother for Christmas several years ago, and it has yielded some beauties. (Sorry we couldn't get a photo of this sucker in daylight--it gets dark early now, who knew?)


Look at all those fantastic lemons.

So here's one right here:


One of these guys yielded all of the zest and juice required for this recipe: 1 tablespoon and 1/3 cup, respectively.

Zested with my microplane zester [look into one of these if you don't have one, they're amazing]


Look at the vibrant shade of yellow on that zest!

Then I juiced him:


Flour, sugar, salt, baking soda in a separate bowl:


Buttermilk [while Paul the Pilgrim looks on]


Lemon juice, zest, and eggs...


+ buttermilk and flour mixture (gradually), into the mixing bowl:


Then, get your pie dough out:


This dough was a little more crumbly than the Pate Brisee, so I needed a spatula thingy to get it into the pan...


Pressed out, ready to go!


With the buttermilk filling:


For this next step, I ventured into something I'd never tried before. Got me some whole nutmegs, for a freshly grated touch. [the microplane makes another appearance.]



I LOVE NUTMEG!


Ready for the oven!


It was supposed to cook for 10 minutes at 400, then lower the temperature to 325 and bake for another 45 minutes.

The 45 minutes turned into 90, easy. What the heck. Right out of the oven:


Coincidentally (or not), yesterday on Martha Stewart Sirius radio, the Martha show was all about pies! They were having a giant pie contest, and Martha had some guests on (couldn't see who they were through the radio, obviously), sharing their pie secrets. Martha's main pie tip was to make sure to bake them hot--400 degrees at least. So I hear her say this on my way home to bake a pie, knowing the recipe goes to the 325 mark. I decide to go with the recipe; however, Martha is [always] right. Bake it hotter.

After not letting it cool long enough (it was getting late), we headed on over to J's parents' house to show them one "fruit" of their lemon tree labor.


Pretty, no?


After all this hoopla, I must say this pie was not my favorite. I did enjoy the crust probably more than yesterday's crust. However, the custard consistency which accompanied the strong lemon taste is not for me. I definitely ate my whole piece--but personally, so far the Butterscotch Pie is in the lead for my affections.

Buttermilk-Lemon Pie

Pastry for single-crust 9-inch pie
1 cup sugar
¼ c. butter, melted
3 T. flour
1/3 cup lemon juice
½ t. salt
1 T. grated lemon peel
2 cups buttermilk
1 t. vanilla
4 eggs
¼ t. nutmeg

Line a 9-inch pie pan with pastry. Trim, seal, and flute edges; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, beat the buttermilk, eggs, butter, lemon juice, lemon peel, and vanilla. Add to the sugar mixture; mix well. Pour into crust. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 and bake 40-45 minutes [really more like 90 minutes!] longer or until an inserted knife near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator.


vinyl accompaniment: Otis Redding Live in Europe



xoxo, Pie Sleuth

Day 1: Butterscotch Pie

Starry-eyed and excited, I dove into Day 1 with high expectations for myself. “With all the reading I’ve done about pie-making, everything should work perfectly the first time,” I [subconsciously] thought.

Day 1’s Challenge: Butterscotch Pie.

Get yourself a cup of coffee and settle in. This is a doozie.

It was my Grandad’s favorite. I called my Grandma this past week to get the skinny on this recipe. She told me that she and my grandad got a brand-new electric mixer when they got married over 60 years ago—this recipe for Butterscotch Pie was found in the recipes that came with the mixer, and would eventually become my grandad’s favorite. No birthday cake for him—he just wanted my grandma’s butterscotch pie.

After all the intense shopping and various errands to compile all of the ingredients needed for this week, I got everything organized and read the recipe for the thousandth time. It’s kinda confusing—there’s not too much verbal embellishment in this 1949 recipe. You'll see.

It's about 5:55 pm, btw, at this point.

To accompany the first pie, I attempted my first-ever homemade crust, tackling the Pate Brisee from Martha Stewart (which makes 2 crusts). The key, I’ve heard, is to make sure everything for the crust is cold.

I measured out the flour and let it sit in the freezer for a few minutes first...


Then cut up the butter to also let it sit in the freezer for a sec:


After pulsing the flour/sugar/salt a little, add the butter:


Then you add the ice water in a steady stream through the spout. It's tricky because you're not supposed to pulse it too much or add too much water. I got lucky and got the right consistency on the first try:


Look who was watching me from his perch:


Then the dough is split into two balls, flattened slightly, and wrapped in seran wrap in the fridge for an hour.

When the hour was up, onto the lightly-floured Silpat it went:


Rolled it out, in even strokes, clockwise:


Lay it over my pie pan, pressing down:


Cut the excess with a little pastry cutter thingy:


and then pressed in the edges...


Voila!

Jonny's mom has these really awesome/fancy pie weights, which you put in the pie crust when baking it initially, so the crust doesn't get bubbles in it:


Baked the pie shell at 350 for about 12 minutes.

While this was cooling, it was time to tackle the Butterscotch monster.

This is when the trouble began...but this is what Pie Week is all about. Getting experience. Right?


So, I got my stuff measured out, all nice and neat. The recipe calls for "scalded milk," but my grandma said that this was before evaporated milk, so you can use evaporated milk instead.

Let me just say, this is not the first time I've mistaken evaporated milk for sweetened condensed milk. (There was a key lime pie incident circa 2007. Grody.)


Tricksters.

So, butterscotch filling Batch #1 goes into the garbage, and I start Batch #2. Dark brown sugar, egg yolks, and the evaporated milk (NOT sweetened condensed), etc. into Batch 2.

I also [naively] think, "oh good, I've got my mistake under my belt, Murphy and his Law have had their way with me, and it will be smooth sailing from here..."


Cooks over a double boiler:


Thickened... mmmmm


Meanwhile, with my other hand, I was whipping up the meringue topping.

Or so I thought.

There was some confusion on my part of what constitutes "frothy."


wahh-wahh-wahhhhhh.

(By the way, I've never made meringue before.)

I poured the butterscotch filling into my beautifully cooled crust:



Again, Naive Leslie says to herself, "Maybe cooking the pie will make the meringue rise?"

Idiot.



This is NOT what it's supposed to look like. [Look at the meringue in the pie in the 7 Days of Pie logo at the top of this post. Yeah...]

So Jonny and I have a good laugh about it..."Pie Week is ruined!" I think, and we trek over to my parents' house. The plan had been to "surprise" them with my grandad's favorite pie. But alas, it was set to be an admission of defeat instead.

When we get there, Jonny, me, my mom, and my dad all have a good laugh about the meringue-that-wasn't. Then, Sensible Steve suggests just scraping off the offensive "meringue" and trying again. Brilliant.


Meringue Round 2:


3 egg whites, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, beat until frothy. Add 6 tablespoons of sugar gradually, until stiff and glossy.

This takes probably almost 10 minutes of beating the egg whites & such at a very high speed with a hand mixer. The point is to get the air into the egg whites so they'll stand up. This is how the magic happens.


Now that's stiff and glossy:


Topping the pie:


Pam & Steve get in on the action:


And THAT'S meringue!


Into the oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Hallelujah! It's beautiful!


And it's only 10:20 pm!


Finally...success!


YUM! Thanks Mom & Dad and Jonny for helping a girl out on her first meringue. Pie Week is not a disaster [yet]!

Butterscotch Pie
(please learn from my mistakes)

3 eggs, separated
4 T cornstarch
1 c dark brown sugar, firmly packed
4 T melted butter
2 c milk, scalded, or 1 can evaporated milk, measure and fill to 2 c with water
1/4 t salt
1/2 t vanilla

Beat egg yolks 1 minute. Make paste of cornstarch, sugar and beaten egg yolks, add melted butter and milk and salt, cook until thick in top of double boiler, stir constantly. Cool slightly. Add vanilla and beat 1 minute with portable mixer. Pour into cooled pie shell and cover with meringue.

Meringue

3 egg whites
1/4 t cream of tartar
6 T sugar

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy. Gradually add the sugar until stiff and glossy. (see above for picture of stiff and glossy.) Top pie with meringue and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Let these blunders bring you smooth sailing should you make this pie yourself.

vinyl accompaniment [started with my favorite record]



xoxo Pie Sleuth