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Pies and Pastries

Perfect Pecan Pie Recipe

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Gluten Free Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie – Being Photobombed by a Pumpkin Pie

I’m a pie fanatic. They’re deliciousness that comes with a side of nostalgia and comfort. I honestly just think of pies as the perfect dessert.  When I had to give up gluten (health reasons), my pie-obsessed heart was broken. I honestly felt my pie days were over – both baking and eating.

Fortunately there are a couple of excellent gluten free pie crust flour blends on the market. Bob’s Red Mill and Glutino BOTH have excellent gluten free pie crust flour blends and I swear by them. Each one is perfectly wonderful and I’m unable to tell much of a difference between the two.  I use them interchangeably.

They can be ridiculously hard to find in stores, so I always buy mine on Amazon:

I think a lot of people don’t enjoy making pies because the are a bit more time consuming than a lot of other desserts. They also disappear incredibly fast – so the ratio of time spent making them to the their shelf life is just enough for some people to say it, “Fugget about it! I’m making a cake.”

A quick word about frozen gluten free pie crusts – DON’T DO IT! I’ve tested a few brands, just to see how they’d turn out.  I wasn’t just “unhappy” with the results, I was perfectly mortified. Don’t use one for Christmas, whatever you do. You’ll be gravely disappointed.

Spend a little extra time and the results will blow you away.

Gluten Free Pecan Pie
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From the Yahoo Tipline: 3 Ways to Upgrade Store-Bought Pies

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Yahoo Food has launched something they’ve brilliantly named “The Tipline.” The Tipline is a video series which offers up great tricks, easy tips, and fun hacks to help you be on your A Game this Thanksgiving – not to mention Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s and all the other holidays and reasons to celebrate.

After all, as any good foodie knows, it’s all about the food.

To kickstart the series, Senior Editor Stephanie Smith provides us with three easy (as well as beautiful and delicious) ways to improve a store bought pie for Thanksgiving that is sure to these desserts to the next level.

A few of my own personal tips from my pre-Gluten Free days:

  • Most delis have great pies, but before you serve a particular store’s pie for a special day, test it out for yourself. Just because Store X makes great doughnuts doesn’t mean they necessarily know their way around a pumpkin pie.
  • If the tin pan bothers you, sit it inside a towel-lined glass dish. Use a colorful, festive towel and no one will be the wiser – as long as you don’t have Nosy Parkers around while you’re slicing!
  • If, like me, you actually love making your own pie crusts and pies. However, if you’re like me, you are also human… on most days….  so mistakes happen. On Thanksgiving it’s a brilliant idea to have at least one deli pumpkin or pecan pie on hand. You know… just in case.

Another wonderful video (and talk about timely) from Yahoo Food is How to Make Delicious Gluten Free Stuffing. I can’t wait to try this one out. If time is of the utmost importance (and when is it not?), you’ll also like 10 Microwave Hacks to Help with Thanksgiving Dinner!

Click through for more great food videos and recipes.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie? Yes, Please!

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Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie

The Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie above is all a caramel lover could ever want from life.  It’s an eye-rolling-into-the-back-of-your-head experience with every bite.  Heck, your eyes will probably start rolling before the bite ever reaches your mouth.

The recipe is from a cookbook every pie lover should buy TODAY, Crazy About Pies by Krystina Castella.  (Read my Crazy About Pies Review by clicking the link.)

As you can see, I used a disposable tin pie pan. When I’m making ice cream pies, I always buy the disposable pans. I’m… um… not entirely sure why actually.  I mean, glass pie plates freeze just fine.  It’s just a strange quirk of mine – the good thing about this strange quirk is it’ll never be lonely.  My strange quirks number in the hundreds.

The recipe called for either Vanilla, Caramel, or Dulce De Leche ice cream and each would be out of this world. However, when I was in the ice cream aisle at Kroger, an ice cream called Caramel Praline (Kroger brand ice creams are fantastic, by the way) caught my eye.

Into the cart it went.

Ingredients for Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie

I actually made two pies and one carton ended up being all I needed.  If your pie plates are larger than my disposable tins, you may need all of one container for one pie.

I’m including the pretzel crust recipe from the cookbook as well, because I’m just that darn cool.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie

A few observations before the recipe:

  • This recipe makes the best caramel topping I’ve ever devoured. It would be excellent as a dip for apples, pretzels, or your fingers. It’d also be excellent drizzled over ice cream or.. well… your fingers.
  • (Duck! Here comes another strange quirk flying in!) I was a little nervous about my pretzel crust “setting,” and few things break my heart more than a pie crust that won’t do its job.  So, I drizzled a little of the caramel sauce over the crust as it cooled.  I had extra caramel sauce, since I was confident the ice cream I was using didn’t need any more caramel mixed in.  I saved the small amount I had left as an ice cream topper extraordinaire.
  • This recipe would be a lot of fun to experiment with. You have the basic, amazing recipe for a pretzel crust and caramel sauce. Let your imagination run wild with different ice cream flavors and even trade out caramel sauce with your favorite chocolate sauce. In the end, however, nothing’s going to beat this pie just as it is.
  • See the picture right above these observations?  The caramel Heaven-ness left in the bottom of the pan is so delicious you’ll want to dive in head first.  Just be sure no one’s around.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie

FILLING:
Vanilla or Caramel Ice Cream (page 256) or 1.5 quarts store-bought vanilla, duce de leche, or caramel ice cream

CARAMEL TOPPING
1 9.5-ounce bag caramels
1/2 cup whole milk

CRUST
Large Pretzel Crust (page 235), baked and cooled

GARNISH
2 tablespoons crushed pretzels
1/4 cup whole pretzels

Makes one 10-invh single-crust pie.

Vanilla Ice Cream, mixed with a streak of caramel and set in a pretzel crust, offers a surprisingly sweet, smooth, buttery, and somewhat salty taste. Prepare the ice cream from scratch or purchase store-bought ice cream and mix in the caramel.

  1. Soften the ice cream until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
  2. Combine the caramels and milk in a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth.  Cool for 5 minutes. If using vanilla ice cream, use a spatula to swirl three-fourths of the caramel mixture into the ice cream.
  3. Spread the ice cream into the crust, then spread the caramel (or the remaining caramel, if using vanilla ice cream) on top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours. When ready to serve, top with crushed and whole pretzels.

One more observation: The 3 hours it has to spend in the freezer will be the longest 3 hours of your adult life.

Crazy About Pies by Krystina Castella: A Collection of Pie Recipes Like None Other!

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Crazy About Pies and Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie

The most recent cookbook I was sent to review was Crazy About Pies by Krystina Castella.  Being a pie fanatic, I tore into this cookbook the minute it arrived.  The first thing I noticed was all the gorgeous, high quality pictures included throughout Crazy About Pies.  While I love (and even collect) ALL cookbooks, I have a special place in my heart for cookbooks with beautiful, colorful pictures.

Choosing which pie I wanted to make first was a toughie.  The author has managed to round up the most incredible pies in the world for one essential pie recipe collection.

Here are just some of the pie, filling, and crust recipes included:

  • Happy Pop-in-the-Oven Tarts (think homemade Pop Tarts!)
  • Fruit Tarts
  • Blackbird Pie
  • Chilly Mil Chocolate S’more Pie
  • Pina Colada Cream Pies
  • Shaker Lemon Pie
  • Roasted Sweet Potato Marshmallow Pie (!!!)
  • Concord Grape Pies
  • White Chocolate Peppermint Mousse Pie with Pretzel Crust (Ideal for Christmas)
  • Mincemeat Pie
  • Graham Cracker Cookie Crust
  • Gingersnap Crust
  • Cream Cheese Crust
  • Blueberry Pies
  • Three Citrus Chiffon Pie
  • Truffle Pies
  • German Chocolate Pie (have mercy!)
  • Chocolate Almond Tart
  • Banana Cream Pie with Candied Walnuts
  • Pie in a Jar (unique, beautiful, and delicious gift idea)
  • Coconut Custard Pie
  • Rhubarb Pie with Graham-Flour Crust
  • Sweet Cherry Pie with Cream Cheese Crust
  • Classic Apple Pie
  • Baked Strawberry Pie with Oatmeal Crust
  • Christmas Grasshopper Pie
  • And A LOT more!

This list is just to whet your appetite, there are countless other pie recipes, crust recipes, and filling recipes.  There’s also a wealth of information every true pie lover must have at his or her disposal.  From making the perfect pie crust to decorating tips – with a slew of other tips and helpful advice in between.

Crazy About Pies  isn’t just a pie recipe collection – it’s an education in making perfect pies. Pies 101, if you will.

As I said, above, one of the first things that made me fall in love with this cookbook was the beautiful pictures. Another thing I love about Crazy About Pies is the fact that includes “special occasion” recipes and “holiday recipes.”  I’m ALL ABOUT holidays and special occasions, so when cookbooks include recipes and ideas to make these special days even more special, I get giddy.  This cookbook includes pie recipes for Christmas, Weddings, Valentine’s Day, Showers, summer events, Fourth of July, Easter, Halloween, Jewish holidays, and Thanksgiving/Autumn.

Basically, Crazy About Pies has everything I love and nothing I don’t.

If you love pies, I promise you one thing: You will be wild about Crazy About Pies! Whether you’re just learning to make crusts and pies or you’ve been making pies for more years than you care to count, this simply must be the next cookbook you buy.

You can find Crazy About Pies on Amazon (simply click the link). However, due to the awesomeness of the cookbook (and stellar reputation of the author), the quantities are dwindling fast! I’d head over to Amazon right away and grab one if I were you.  Amazon always replenishes their stock quickly, so don’t sweat it if the quantities actually run out – simply check back on it in a day or two.

If Amazon DOES run out and you don’t want to wait another minute, you can also find Crazy About Pies here.

 Photo Above: The pie shown in the photo at the top is the first pie I made from the cookbook. It’s the Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie (with a Pretzel Crust).  Click the link for the recipe!

More Krystina Castella Cookbooks.


 

 

Perfect Amish Pumpkin Pie Recipe

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The following pumpkin pie recipe is from one of my favorite (and most used) cookbooks – Cooking With the Horse & Buggy People. Is that a great title or what?  Honestly, I adore this spiral bound collection of Amish recipes. It’s available on Amazon for next to nothing and, believe me, you’ll use it throughout the year MANY, MANY times!
Amish Cookbook

Pumpkin Pie


4 eggs, sparated
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups pumpkin
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
4 Tbs flour
Pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla
5 Cups milk (pet milk), heated
2 Pie Shells

Beat egg whites and set aside. Beat egg yolks and brown sugar together until light in color. Add the white sugar, followed by the rest of the ingredients. Fold in egg whites last.

Bake at 425 degrees until brown, then at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or done.

Yield: 2 pies

Click through the link above or the image for more information about the Amish cookbook – over 600 Amish recipes!

THE Perfect Cookbook for College Students and New Cooks: Kitchenability 101

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One of the questions I’m asked the most is, “Can you recommend a great cookbook for someone just learning to cook.” There are variants of the question, of course, such as, “What cookbook do your recommend for…”

  • new brides
  • college kids
  • bachelors
  • teenagers
  • etc

I have a few reliable favorites that I always list.  I was recently sent a wonderful cookbook to review and it hasn’t just joined the list, it has redefined the list. Kitchenability 101, by Nisa Burns, is packed with fun, easy, creative, and delicious recipes. Ideal for new cooks (such as college students, new brides and grooms, etc.), the entire first chapter is an introduction to cooking, cooking terms, techniques, herbs and spices, kitchen tools and appliances and more.

Kitchenability 101 includes recipes that new (and even not so new) cooks will use again and again. A few of these recipes are listed below!

  • Banana Cinnamon Waffles
  • Avocado Lettuce Wraps
  • Nutella Peanut Butter Brownies
  • Chunky Chicken Chili
  • Mint Iced Tea
  • Twisted Sugar Sticks
  • Chicken Soup
  • Miss You, Mom, Oatmeal
  • Scrambled Eggs and Turkey Bacon
  • Mediterranean Pasta
  • Chili Burritos
  • Pigs in a Snuggle
  • Roma Tomatoes with Feta and Basil
  • Fish Tacos
  • Jalapeno Sliders
  • Cranberry Relish
  • Many, many more.

These recipes will allow the new cook to impress (and feed!) his/her family and friends.  Their confidence will soar with each successful creation, and as we seasoned cooks know, confidence is one of the most important elements of being a good cook.

My daughters never went “away” to college (thank goodness… I’m not sure this mother hen would have survived), but if they HAD, a couple of things I would have worried about were that they were eating good, healthy food (as opposed to existing on greasy fast food) AND that they were making good friends.  This type of cookbook would have addressed each one of those concerns.  I’d have known they were fixing great meals for themselves and could have rested assured that many, many kids would have flocked to their table!

Book Description

College students may miss home-cooked meals, fear the Freshman 15, or feel sluggish from eating too many instant or fast food meals. Or they may want to cook for themselves, but dont know how. In this book, Nisa provides the confidence and motivation for college students to expand their abilities, so they can cook for themselves and their friends. It offers shopping plans, supply lists, budgeting, skills and recipes for cooking in college spaces including dorm rooms, apartments and houses.Includes 10 QR codes linked to instructional videos.

While Kitchenability 101 is geared toward (and ideal for) college students and even new cooks, I have to tell you this: I love this cookbook AND I use it frequently – so don’t think you have to be a newbie to love this cookbook.

Below is one of my favorite recipes from Kitchenability 101. It’s called Nana’s Peanut Butter Pie and it has become my favorite Peanut Butter Pie recipe of all time. It’s a total can’t miss winner.  The recipe calls for a 9 oz. container of whipped topping, but the small containers of whipped topping in my area are all 8 oz.  I used that and the results were beyond perfect.

Peanut Butter Pie

Quick & Easy Peanut Butter Pie and the best I’ve ever had!

 

Nana’s Peanut Butter Pie

8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 9-oz container whipped topping
1 graham cracker piecrust
Chocolate syrup or shavings, optional

Directions:

  1. Combine the cream cheese, peanut butter, and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer until creamy.
  2. Fold in the container of whipped topping.
  3. Spoon the mixture into the piecrust.
  4. Cover with parchment paper and place in the fridge for a couple of hours to chill.
  5. Drizzle chocolate syrup or sprinkle shavings on top if desired.

See Kitchenability 101 for more information. This cookbook is filled with quick, easy, fun, and inexpensive recipes – who could ask for more?!

Best Cream Puffs Recipe of All Time

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Cream Puffs Recipe

The following Cream Puffs Recipe is a family tradition. I’ve made these DELICIOUS cream puffs for  Thanksgiving breakfast since 2001. I call them my “Thanksgiving Parade Pastries” because I make them while watching televised Thanksgiving parades.

Needless to say, they’re just as delicious and will disappear just as quickly on Christmas or any other day.  I got the recipe years and year and years ago from an issue of Taste of Home.  I have no unearthly idea which issue it was in because I’ve always cut my favorite recipes out and saved them in one of my “Favorite Recipes” scrapbooks.

I can tell you this, though: This is a recipe I wouldn’t take anything for. These cream puffs are spectacular and the recipe refuses to fail. Ever.

Cream Puffs Recipe

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Additional confectioner’s sugar

In a saucepan, over medium heat, bring water and butter to a boil. Add flour and salt all at once; stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until smooth. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Combine milk and egg yolk; brush over puffs.

Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Immediately cut a slit in each for steam to escape; cool.

In a mixing bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and vanilla, beating until almost stiff.

Split puffs; remove soft dough. Add filling; replace tops. Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Refrigerate until serving.

Yield: 10 servings

You may want to double the recipe for the filling….

Icing for Cream Puffs

The “filling” recipe for these cream puffs is one of my favorite  homemade whipped topping recipes! This is unbelievably Heavenly in coffee and hot chocolate as well as on pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, apple pie, your finger…

Easy Homemade Whipped Cream

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Fourth of July White Cake
This is my go to recipe for homemade whipped cream (or whipped topping, if you’d prefer).  I use it on pies, ice cream, brownies, lattes… absolutely everything I can think of. It’s a knock out every single time.

This whipped cream can hide a multitude of sins – for example, if you aren’t 100 percent happy with the way your pie(s) turn out – pies can be fickle after all – this cream is a cure all.  It redeems the pie of its every sin.

Something else I love to do with this recipe is use it as cake icing – especially in the summer when I prefer to refrigerate my cakes. I just double the recipe and ta da, best icing ever.

How to Make Your Own Whipped Cream or Whipped Topping

2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form.  Gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Enjoy and don’t worry about the calories until tomorrow.

Also See: Homemade Whipped Cream with Cinnamon!