Sour Cream Apple Pie

An apple orchard with Mount Hood
in the background.

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This is an old time Oregon recipe.

1 pie shell, unbaked

3 cups apple slices
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar
1 dash of salt
2 Tbls flour

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Combine and place into the pie shell.
Bake at 450 for 15 minutes.
Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake until the apples are partially cooked.

Then combine:

1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

Pour over the partially cooked apple pie.
Reduce heat to 325 and bake until set.

pumpkin pie

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1 unbaked pie crust


3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
15 ounces pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups half & half (light cream)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine all the filling ingredients.
Pour filling into the crust and carefully transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 40 minutes.
The pie is done when a thin knit inserted near the center comes out clean.
When cooled serve with thick whipped cream.

Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbls sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Combine and beat until thick.

Apple Pie

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I love a good apple pie. But I’ve found that most are too sweet for my taste. And I absolutely abhor apple pie made with canned apples. So if you like a sweet sweet apple pie, this isn’t it.

2 pie crust discs, unbaked
2 pounds of green apples, like Granny Smiths or Newtons
peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons flour
2-3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon cream or milk
1 tablespoon sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prep the apples and have them in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl combine the sugar, cinnamon, flour and mix well
Toss this mixture all over the apples and gently stir to mix well.
Roll out the first disc of pie crust and lay over the pie plate.
Put the apple mixture into the unbaked pie crust, and dot with butter.
Add the second crust, crimp, and trim. Add a few air vents by slitting the top.
Using a pastry brush or wadded up piece of plastic wrap, gently cover the top crust with some milk or cream.
Sprinkle sugar lightly over the top.  I like to use fat sugar.  But any sugar will do.
Bake for about 50-55 minutes.

Lemon Meringue Pie

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This is a found recipe, so it really needs remaking to see if I wrote it down correctly.

1 baked pie shell

the filling

3-4 tablespoons cornflour

2/3 cup sugar

a pinch of salt

1 cup water

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

juice and zest of one lemon

1 tablespoon butter

the meringue topping

3 egg whites

1/3 cup sugar

Combine the cornflour and the sugar and salt in a saucepan.  Stir in the water and put over a medium low heat and stir until thick.  Stir a little of the hot mixture into the egg yolks to temper them, then stir the egg yolks into the hot mixture and stir constantly over the heat until the mixture comes to a boil.  This will be a very short time.  Add the lemon juice and zest on butter, and stir until smooth.  Pour into pie shell.

Beat the egg whites and sugar until nice fluffy peaks form.  Dollop onto the filling and smooth around, making nice little peaks with the back of the spoon.  Bake at 325 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

Lemon Meringue Pie II

1 baked pie shell

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornflour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 tablespoon butter

6 tablespoons lemon juice (from maybe 1 1/2 lemons)

1 teaspoon lemon zest

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons milk

3 egg whites

1/3 cup sugar

Mix the cornflour, sugar, and salt in a saucepan.  Stir in the boiling water, whisking as you go.  Stir constantly over medium low heat, until the mixture turns clear looking.  Add the butter and lemon juice and cook for about 2 more minutes.  

Combine the egg yolks and milk.  Whisk a little of the hot mixture into the eggs to temper them, then mix the eggs into the hot mixture, but back on the heat and bring to a boil.  Cool slightly and pour into the pie shell.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Beat the egg whites until frothy, then while still beating, slowly add the sugar.  Beat until stiff and glossy.  Spoon over the lemon filling, making sure to get the meringue all the way to the edges.  Bake for about 5 minutes.  This can also be done at a lower temperature for a little longer.  Your choice.  Chill the pie for at least 2 hours before serving.  If it isn't properly chilled, it will fo all floppy when you try to serve it.

Pear Tart

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One day Riley came home from work and said that he had eaten a really delicious dessert. He was quite excited about it. It had been at an office pot luck, so he asked the man who brought it if he could get the recipe from his wife. Soon we had the recipe. I made it and it has been a big hit with everyone ever since. The funny thing is that at another office pot luck years later, this time with wives invited, she brought the pear tart and to my great surprise it didn't look anything like mine.

Since I haven't got a picture of my pear tart I have used a reasonable facsimile. It has more pears on the tart than mine has. Now if you wanted a lot of pears like that then use the big can of pears. And the cinnamon is not put on concentrically like mine. I will have to get a picture of mine pretty soon.

Crust

1/2 cup butter, cup up into pieces
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
3/4 cup flour
2/3 cups nuts (pecans or walnuts or almonds)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Put the sugar and the nuts into the food processor and run until the nuts are finely chopped up.
Add the rest of the ingredients and process until nicely mixed.
The mixture will be like sand or cornmeal. Don't overmix, you want the sandy look.
Dump the mixture into 9 inch tart dish.
Spread it around evenly and press down lightly. Bake for 10 minutes.
Mix up the filling while the crust is cooking

Filling

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 sugar
1 egg

1-2 Tbls milk or cream to make the filling easier to spread.
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Turn the oven up to 375 degrees.
Put all the ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and whip up with an electric beater. I don't know how to do this part by hand, though I'm sure with a good stiff whip you can do it. When the crust is done, take out of the oven and immediately spoon the filling all over the crust in dollops. Then genly smush it all out even. The hot crust can't take any serious smushing around, that's why the dollops.

Topping

1 small can of pears, halved
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Drain the pears and carefully slice then lengthwise and place the slice concentrically around the outside edge of the tart. Then place more slices concentrically in the middle. Mix the cinnamon and sugar and put into a tea strained or very small sieve. Hold the sieve gently as the mixture will want to come right out if handled roughly. Holding the sieve over the tart and using a spoon gently tap the cinnamon and sugar onto the tart in a circular fashion. That is to say, make a circle around the outside edge, then move in a bit and make another circle, etc. Put the tart into the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Impossible Coconut Pie

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4 large eggs, or 3 extra large eggs

6 tablespoons butter, melted

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups milk

1 cup coconut
, I use the sweetened kind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla



Combine the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix in the melted butter.
Then stir in the eggs.
Mix in the milk and vanilla. Stir in coconut
Pour into a buttered deep pie dish.
Bake at 350F or gas mark 4 for 1 hour

When cooked the crust will be at the bottom,
the custard in the center
and the coconut on the top.

Strawberry Tarte

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I was going to make a strawberry tarte with lemon curd on the crust, but I didn’t get around to it yet. I will some day. But I did make a strawberry tarte from scratch.

1 pie shell, cooked blind

1 cup hulled fresh strawberries, chopped up or mashed
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons water

3 cups hulled fresh strawberries, halved or quartered

Have the pie shell ready.
Put in a small saucepan the mashed berries and the sugar.
Heat up. In a small dish combine the conflour and water.
Stir into the hot berries and when it thickens its done.
Add to the 3 cups of cut berries, stir gently to mix.
Spoon into the pie shell. Chill about 2 to 4 hours.
Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

This dessert could also be made with a packet of gelatin instead of the cornflour, but I haven’t gotten to that one yet.

Pecan Pie

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1 unbaked pie crust


3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
2 tbls butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 Tbls bourbon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.
Pour into the pie shell and bake for about 50 minutes.

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

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1 unbaked pie crust


Pumpkin Layer
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin

1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Pecan Layer
2/3 cups corn syrup
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbls butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup pecan halves

Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Mix up the pumpkin layer and place in shell.
Combine pecan layer, stirring in the pecans last.
Spoon over the pumpkin layer.
Bake for about 50 minutes.

Marlborough Pie

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"A highlight of the hearthwarming was Marlborough pudding hot from the pan where it had been cooked in the coals of the lean-to kitchen fireplace.  It was one of the most popular dishes served during the holidays in 18th and 19th century New England.  Marlborough pudding is actually an apple custard pie (the term "pudding " often referred to a one crust pie such as our pumpkin pie.)  Recipes for Marlborough pudding appear in several early American cookbooks."

2 large apples, pureed
or 3/4 cup apple sauce
3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup sherry

6 tablespoons melted butter 

1 teaspoons nutmeg
or just grate some nutmeg, I never measure

4 eggs, well beaten

1/2 cup heavy cream

juice of 1 lemon

1 pie crust, uncooked

Preheat oven to 350F.
Stew apples until very tender -- push through fine sieve (or food mill) to make puree, or just mash thoroughly.
Mix together 3/4 cup apple puree, sugar, sherry, butter, eggs, heavy cream, lemon juice, & nutmeg.
Pour apple mixture into the pie plate with the unbaked pastry.
Bake about one hour or until set -- knife inserted in center comes out fairly clean. Cool before serving.
Whipped cream is a nice touch for serving.

Pate Brisee - Pie Crust

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When making a pie, the most important thing you have to get right is the crust. Now I'm not saying that that's the only thing you need to get right, but it's really crucial.  But in my world, if you have a good crust and then you put something like a boxed pudding mix into it, then you are still a bit behind.  This recipe makes either two or three crusts, depending on what you are doing.

2 cups flour
1 tbl sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, cut into small pieces, cold
3 tbls shortening
1/4 cup iced water

Put the flour and salt into a medium sized sturdy bowl and stir up.  Add the butter and shortening and using a party blender, or your fingers and a fork mix until it looks like cornmeal. You can also use a food processor using short bursts.  It should look like coarse cornmeal when you are done.

Drizzle the ice water over the mixture and stir together with a fork or a few short bursts with the processor. Don’t over mix at this point. If you were using the processor, dump out the crumbly looking mixture into a mixing bowl. Then, using the palms of your hands and fingers, compress the mixture into a nice smooth consistency. Resist the urge to add more water. It will mix right up.

Divide in half, and wrap each half in a piece of plastic wrap, and flatten into nice compact discs, about six inches across. Chill for about 15 to 30 minutes before rolling out. If it’s too cold when you finally get to it, let it warm up a bit so you can roll it. Sometimes I divide the mixture into three discs, which produces thinner crusts.


To roll out the crusts, get the chilled disc completely well dusted in flour. Then place onto a piece of waxed paper for rolling. I use a french rolling pin. Roll the dough starting at the center and then rotating around. Then roll gently at the edges to smooth it all out. Turn the crust using the waxed paper. If a hole develops gently coax it closed, even maybe use your fingers.

To transfer the rolled out crust to the pie plate place your hand under the waxed paper with the crust on it, lift up and turn it over onto the plate and gently coax the dough into the pie plate. Then with quick gentle tugs, pull the paper loose. At this point, if there is going to be a top crust, as in an apple pie, I add the filling, then roll out the top crust and place it on top, and then I crimp it and trim it.
I always roll out the crusts as thin as is reasonable. I don’t like a thick crust. Also, I never use a metal pie plate because it really lacks class at the table and I am not convinced it cooks as nicely.

The reason I use the shortening in the crust is to ensure that it doesn’t shrink oddly on me, but it is also just fine to use all butter, either omitting the shortening and adding more butter or not.