Showing posts with label pies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pies. Show all posts

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Rhubarb Pie - Foodie Friday

What do you think of when you think of Rhubarb? Everything I’ve been reading recently describes rhubarb as the pie plant. When I think of pies, I think of custard and chocolate. I can’t make a good pie crust, so I don’t bake many pies. Pie crust is on my list of cooking challenges to conquer.

Our good friend, Lynn gave me a large bag of rhubarb from his garden. The night he gave it to me, we discussed what we thought of when thinking of rhubarb. Lynn’s answer was pie. When I think of rhubarb pie, I think of strawberry/rhubarb pie. I asked Lynn and he said nope just plain rhubarb. I chopped it all up and began contemplating what to make. I made a Rhubarb Betty and had enough to make Lynn his plain rhubarb pie.

I started searching for rhubarb pie recipes and was amazed at how simple they all are. I settled on Martha Stewart’s recipe. I liked that it had a crumble topping instead of a second crust. I wish I could say, I worked on conquering that fear of pie crust with this pie but not so much! When you give someone a pie, you want it to be good, right? To be sure the crust was good; I purchased the ready made kind in the box.

I had leftover rhubarb mixture and crumble, so I made a couple of crumbles. Not being a big rhubarb fan, I wasn’t sure if I would like the crumble. I enjoyed this dessert. It was tart but not too tart and had a nice flavor. Lynn said the pie was awesome and wondered what I was bringing him for dessert next week next week.



I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Chocolate Pie Crust - SMS

Why doesn't pie crust like me? Maybe it's like an animal and smells my fear. Santa brought me pie weights and a pastry blender for Christmas. Like a kid on their first day of school, I was excited about making this pie dough. I didn't feel like the dough came together like it should, it seemed a little too crumbly. I added a little more water. Concerned about overworking the dough, I formed the ball and put it in the frig. After the alloted time, I cut my circle of parchment formed my crust. I sprinkled on the shiny new pie weights and in the oven it went.

Tim's favorite pie is pecan. I needed a pie for Christmas Eve dinner and Sweet Melissa's Chocolate Pecan seemed like a natural. I didn't have any maple syrup or dark corn syrup so I substituted honey and light corn syrup with a little molasses.

Unfortuntely, my crust was like all of the other pie crusts I've made over the years, hard and not flaky. The color on the pie crust was too brown and the flavor rather bland. The filling was okay but not as good as other pecan pies. All in all is was really disappointed in these recipes. I will keep trying, pie crust is one of those cooking challenges that I want to conquer.


Donna of L’Amour de Tarte chose this week's Sweet Melissa Sunday's, Chocolate Pie Crust. We could choose whatever filling we liked. Stop over to Sweet Melissa Sunday's and see some of the other baker's beautiful flaky pies.

Next week, Lemon Walnut Sour Cream Pound Cake!!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Memories of Girl Scout Cookie Time

Who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies? I am always thrilled when a neighbor or someone at work has a daughter who is selling Girl Scout cookies. This year did not disapoint me, a neighbor and someone at Tim's work sold cookies.

Besides being a yummy treat, Girl Scout cookies take me back to my childhood. I was a Girl Scout and do have fond memories of putting on that uniform and going door to door selling them. Do Girl Scouts even wear uniforms today? I know there are a lot more varieties of cookies today then back in the 60's when I sold them.

I always buy at least a couple of boxes of Thin Mints, the best selling cookie. Also reminiscent of my childhood is a recipe for Mint Brownie Pie, using Thin Mints. After rifling through my accordion file under Pies for the recipe and coming up empty, I felt that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you lose or break something important to you. The last time I remembered making the recipe was at the lake a few years ago. One more slot to look in, could it be in Frozen Pies? Even though it's not a frozen pie, refrigerated yes, frozen no. Yes, there it was, filed in Frozen Pies by mistake.




I am not sure of the origin of this recipe. It dates back to the early 70's. The recipe card was part of what must have been one of my first recipe books. My accordion files contain several of these handwritten recipe cards. This week, I was trying to remember the name of the little girl on the recipe card. You know that feeling when you know you should know the name and just can't come up with it? I did the Alphabet memory trick...A? No B? No, nothing was jogging my memory. I tried googling dolls from the 70's, although I wasn't really sure she was a doll. Today I reached for my husbands reading glasses, hoping it would really magnify the small print just under her image. Just as I was holding the glasses over the print, it came to me...Betsey Clark. Betsey Clark was an artist for Hallmark cards who created this little girl.






Mint Brownie Pie

19 Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies
1 cup sugar
4 egg whites
dash of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup whipped cream

Chill cookies in refrigerator several minutes. Break or cut into even crumbs. Beat egg whites and salt together until peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in cookie crumbs, nuts and vanilla. Spread into buttered 9" pan.

Bake 35 minutes at 325. Once pie has cooled, spread on whipped cream. Chill in refrigerator 3 -4 hours before serving.