Double Crust Cherry-Blackberry Pie

Just to be clear: "double crust" is usually code for "extra calories." Especially when using a from-scratch crust. (I've found that the refrigerated crusts are fewer calories than the homemade ones). And especially when that crust is a 'Tender Cream Cheese Pastry' which includes two sticks of butter and an entire brick of full-fat cream cheese. Oof.

Inside the pie, the nutrition is pretty good - two pounds of berries sweetened with only a half-cup of sugar. The recipe calls for an even mix of sweet cherries and blackberries. The berries are frozen - the recipe calls for them to be partially thawed before baking - which is a very convenient and perfectly passable way to make berry pies in the 11 months of off-season. It would be a gut-busting shame to have to eat all your berry pies ever during the month of July.

I used tart cherries and most of a pound of blackberries, with an ounce or two of raspberries tossed in to make up the weight. I would definitely recommend you go with the sweet cherries, as the blackberries provide tartness enough for the pie.

A word of caution about the cream cheese pastry crust (which, like the pie, is also from Ken Haedrich's Pie): the double crust recipe makes a lot of dough, probably enough for three crusts. I didn't realize this until too late, but it rolls out very thick if just making two crusts, thick enough that I suspect it insulated the filling and prevented it from thickening properly. The crust also came out a bit on the greasy side, but it has promise.

Also on the subject of thickening, I would probably toss in some quick-cooking tapioca the next time. There was a significant quantity of juices inside the pie (but it helped the too-thick crust with a delicious berry juice soak!).

This was the first pie that I've used pie shields on. I added foil strips about 10 minutes before the end of a 60-65 minute bake time and was pleased with the result.

All in all, I don't think this is a bad pie at all; I just think I could do a few things better next time.

Shh... The Dough is Resting

It's a little crazy around here this weekend. In addition to our regular busyness, both Tiffany and I are working tonight, the kids have a sitter, and we're trying to clean house. And I'm planning to make three pies for the Super Bowl party at church tomorrow night! So, your regular pie update, gentle reader, will have to wait until Monday (probably).

To tide you over until then, here's a brief recounting of this morning's crust making:

I'm trying a few new things this weekend. First, I made an all-shortening version of the standard pastry crust. Aside from Crisco being slightly messy to measure (and I'd rather not use the sticks), the dough seems to hold up a little better than the half-butter/half-shortening recipe.

How to chill pastry dough in February in Michigan

Second, I made double batches of both the all-shortening crust and the half-and-half basic flaky pastry. That translates to four dough balls: two to the fridge for this weekend's pies* and two to the freezer for later.

Third, as you can see in our top photo, I broke out the good ol' KitchenAid stand mixer for today's dough-making adventure. I had wanted to try the mixer method, and my pastry blender was dirty from the morning's biscuits, so there you go.

The mixer was dead simple - the only change I would make next time would be not to chill the butter as much (I cube it, then stick it in the freezer while prepping other ingredients), as frozen butter takes a long time to incorporate with the mixer.

I recommend (as does Mr. Haedrich) using the whip attachment (rather than the paddle) to more closely replicate the by-hand cutting in of the fat to the flour. Use a light hand when adding the water and stop before it completely balls up - shaggy dough can easily be brought together by hand when wrapping for storage. I'll have to let you know later how it bakes up and how the flavor compares, but the process was certainly simpler than doing it by hand.

Of course, you can always share the work with your sous-chefs:

Next time: Zeb finally gets around to making an actual pie this week.

*For those of you keeping score at home, that's only two crusts for a planned three pies. Fear not, the third pie will have a graham cracker crust (my first non-pastry crust!), but the graham crackers are still at the grocery store.

Brown Sugar Pie from the Attic

Our second pie from the venerable Mrs. Rowe: Brown Sugar Pie from the Attic. The name apparently refers to the location of the trove in which the recipe was found. Whose attic it was I do not know, but he or she will not see me stopping here to sample this amazingly delicious pie. (Sorry Mr. Frost!)

We just call it Brown Sugar Pie around here - a rose by any other name, and all that, you know. As I mentioned yesterday I could call it Shoe Leather Pie and Isaac would still scarf it down.

Cream together 1c brown sugar and 1 stick butter. Stir in 3T AP flour, a pinch of salt, ¼c sweetened condensed milk, 2 eggs, and 1t vanilla extract. Blend by hand until smooth, pour into a parbaked pie shell, then bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Cool ½ hour on a wire rack; serve immediately.

-from Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies by Mollie Cox Bryan

Upon reading this recipe, I was surprised at the first instruction. Cream butter and sugar? That's cookies, right?

In a word, yes. And the result of this step does look like cookie dough.

Add chocolate chips and stop here, if desired.

As a side note, I was out of unsalted butter. I used salted instead, left out the pinch of salt called for, and the results seemed fine.

Next, add in everything else and combine until smooth. Have patience, and add things one at a time - they incorporate better that way.

...although mixing the milk and vanilla doesn't hurt anything

Here's a quandary: the recipe calls for only a quarter-cup of condensed milk, but condensed milk comes in 14-ounce cans. I offer two options - either Vietnamese coffee (or a reasonable facsimile thereof- I wish I had a proper filter but my Keurig and a strong K-cup are passable) or make more Brown Sugar Pies to share!

Even with the relatively small amount of milk, the completed filling has a pronounced condensed milk flavor. The filling seemed scant for my 9" pie plate, and my crust was certainly taller than it needed to be. Next time, I'll build up the crust even with the walls of the plate and let it go at that.

While we're on the subject of crust, I'll confess that I used a boxed crust again this week. For last week, it didn't seem to matter much, but this time, the flavor was a bit flat. Next time I make Brown Sugar Pie (because there will be a next time), I'll also make the crust from scratch - perhaps with a nutty pastry crust.

This pie cooks up dark, but don't worry - it tastes wonderful! Test for doneness with a pick at the center: if it's clean, pull the pie out. The flavor is very like a nutless pecan pie; Tiffany even mentioned that a handful of crushed pecans added on top just before baking would be good. She's not a pecan pie fan, but the texture of this filling is firmer than your typical pecan pie.

It's hard to wait to serve this, but a half-hour on a wire rack will firm up the center and keep your palate from being scalded by molten sugar. I think the flavor is best while it's still a little warm. Refrigeration compressed the pie and muted the richness; 30 seconds in the microwave mostly revived a slice, but it still wasn't quite there.

This is post-fridge. Denser, but still worth eating.

I also recommend serving this in slightly smaller pieces - probably 10 or so from a 9" pie. Smaller pieces tend to lose structural integrity; larger pieces will completely wreck your diet.

Next time: "A monument to middle-American cuisine"

Cinnamon Sugar Pie

Sunday is National Pie Day (as proclaimed by the American Pie Council, "the only organization committed to preserving America's pie heritage and promoting American's love affair with pies"). In honor of this heritage-rich, tradition-laden holiday, I'll be making next week's pie and perhaps experimenting with crust recipes. It's my civic duty, after all.

This week's pie is a bit different from the others I've made so far. Cinnamon Sugar Pie comes from a cookbook that I stumbled across whilst on Christmas holiday in Virginia. Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies catalogs some of the traditional pie recipes from a little restaurant in western Virginia. My uncle Butch, who owns the cookbook and recommends the Margarita Pie (or was it the Strawberry Daiquiri Pie?), suggested stopping by the place on our way through, but alas, schedules did not permit an in-person research session.

The recipe looks similar to the Sugar Cream Pie from last week, which is the current reigning champ in our household. The major differences are the addition of eggs and a boatload of spices - our first impression of the filling was 'pumpkin pie without the pumpkin'. It set up rather firm and custard-like, as one would expect from the eggs.

My first meringue! I decided to tackle it by hand rather than break out the KitchenAid. I don't have a copper bowl, but it seemed to go pretty easily anyhow. My arm only ached slightly upon achieving 'stiff peaks'. Further research/experimentation is needed though - the meringue pulled away slightly from the crust upon baking (maybe spread too thin at the edge?) and was very sticky to slice through (too much sugar?).

Anyone else thinking of Ghostbusters right about now?

Twenty minutes later, and I have suntanned Peeps on my pie.

My sous chefs approved of the meringue. And to all those grandparents following along at home, the children suffered no ill effects from consuming raw egg whites.

Animal prints + flowers + polka dots = chic

As noted above, the meringue made for messy slicing - as did the unexpectedly light texture of the filling. It firmed up somewhat upon refrigeration, but the whole thing was more chiffon-y than I expected. It will be interesting to compare this pie to the chiffon pies that I have planned for the summer. The taste was good - nice and spicey from the cinnamon, allspice, and cloves - but the texture was off-putting (I'm not a big fan of chiffon pies). We only got through half the pie, then I ate the meringue off the top and pitched the rest.

Happy National Pie Day! Go make a pie, eat a pie, or stop by my place and have a piece of pie - I need to get rid of it!

Next up: Cookie confusion.

First Crust!

Tonight, I made my first official pie of the project - an Amish Milk Pie that you'll have to wait until Saturday to read about.

This also means that I made my first crust from scratch. Now maybe I've just absorbed too much technique from watching Food Network and PBS cooking shows over the decades, but....

(what's the big deal?)


Measuring Crisco was messy, but doable. Cold cubed butter? Chunk it up and stick in the freezer as the first step. A pastry blender made cutting the fat into the flour a cinch (although we pitched the blender after I was done - we've got another with a more comfortable handle). Even adding the water wasn't bad; I just stopped a little short of where I thought it should be and had a rather workable dough.

Rolling the crust out wasn't bad, either, save for the antique wooden rolling pin that squeaks like rusty bed springs. And my technique for the 1,001 methods crust-into-pan magic? Center the inverted pan over the rolled out dough (on a semi-rigid plastic cutting board) and flip the whole assembly like you would turn out a cake onto a plate. No problems yet!

The worst part of the whole thing was the tedious waiting. Rest the dough in the fridge. Chill the plated pie shell for 15 minutes. Total time from pulling the flour out of the cupboard to putting the pie in the oven: about an hour. Hopefully I'll get more efficient with practice. Or maybe I just need to make up a bunch of dough balls at once and freeze them until I need crust.

Maybe it's just beginner's luck, but pie crust is almost too easy to make...