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As American As They Come Apple Pie

23 Jan

What better to commemorate National Pie Day then a big, deep-dish,  double-crust, packed to the brim, all-American apple pie?  And a darn right perfect one at that!  Yep, let’s just skip to the end – I did it and it was awesome.

Week after week, I sit here behind my keyboard and espouse my latest pietifications.  I’ve conquered fruit pies, lattice crusts, mini pies and butter crusts. Cream pies and custard pies – shoot, they ain’t got nothin’ on me.  Crimped edges?  Crispy bottom crust?  Bring it.  But there is one pie I have steered clear of.  One pie that threatens to topple all of the pie skills I have acquired over this past year.  The one, the only… DOUBLE CRUST APPLE PIE.  As if getting one crust right isn’t hard enough, this monstrosity demands perfection on the top and bottom!  I haven’t had the courage to take it on until now.  But a pie holiday calls for the most serious pie I can make.

This recipe is the collision of Grandma Ople’s tried and true and the America’s Test Kitchen 2006 scientific experiment.  I figured old school meets new school would be a good mash up.  Grandma Ople’s Apple Pie is one of the highest rated on Allrecipes.com.  If you know me, then you know that I swear by the four and five star recipes on that site.  On the rare occasion that I cook, you can pretty much bet that I found it on Allrecipes.  I also LOVE America’s Test Kitchen because really, why do your own experimenting when someone has already done it for you?

From Grandma Ople, I adopted her technique of making a caramel sauce to toss with the apples instead of the usual sugar/brown sugar mixture.  I also adopted the suggestion of saving some of that sauce and brushing the top crust with it.  America’s Test Kitchen confirmed what I had begun to notice about apple pie – cooking the apples first ensures that they don’t shrink away from the top crust and that you minimize the moisture that threatens to make your bottom crust soggy.  Voila – my perfect apple pie!

As American As They Come Apple Pie

Ingredients

1 double crust recipe of Best of Both Worlds pie crust.  Follow this link for the recipe and instructions.  Refrigerate the discs of dough for at least one hour or up to two days.

10 apples or about 5 pounds (6 Granny Smith, 4 Braeburn or Fuji)

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

3 Tablespoons flour

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 egg white, slightly beaten (for bottom crust)

Directions

Roll one disc of dough into a 13 inch circle.  Place into a 91/2 inch deep dish pie plate.  Trim dough to leave a 1/2 inch overhang.  Return to refrigerator to chill.  Next, roll the other disc of dough into a 13 inch circle and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and return to the refrigerator.

Place a baking sheet on the lowest rack of the oven.  Preheat oven to 425 (or 400 convection).

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.

 

Peel and slice apples into 1/4 inch thick slices.  You can cut some of the slices in half so that the apples lay more compactly.  Toss with sugar/spice mixture and 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest.  Place in a large dutch oven (or large skillet) and cook, covered, over medium heat for about 15 minutes.  Stir often and remove from heat when apples are soft but still hold their shape.  Place apples into a colander over a bowl to remove excess moisture.  Let cool to room temperature.

While apples are cooling, prepare caramel sauce.  In a medium saucepan, melt 4 Tablespoons of butter.  Once melted, add the flour and cornstarch to make a paste.  Add water, 1/2 cup brown sugar and remaining 1/4 cup of sugar.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Once the mixture reaches a boil, lower the heat and simmer for three minutes.  Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Toss apples with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice then add 2/3 of the caramel mixture.  Reserve some of the sauce to glaze the top crust.  Remove pie plate from refrigerator and brush bottom crust with slightly beaten egg white.  Pour apples into chilled pie shell and arrange so that they lay compactly.

I could have used more apples!

Cover gently with the top crust and trim the edges to 1/2 inch overhang.  To achieve an even edge, fold the edge of the top crust and tuck it under the edge of the bottom crust so that the smooth, folded edge is flush with the pie plate.  Create a decorative edge and then use a knife to cut four vents into the top.  Brush crust lightly with reserved caramel sauce and sprinkle with turbinado sugar if desired.

Place pie on baking sheet and bake for 35 – 45 minutes or until golden brown and juices bubble.

Use a pie shield or foil if crust begins to brown before pie is done.  Enjoy with ice cream, by itself, for breakfast, for a snack or all of the above!

 

 

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Pie it Forward Challenge (Prize Give Away!)

18 Jan

Let it be known to the world that…

Monday, January 23rd is National Pie Day! 

Yes, my friends, not only have I discovered a new hobby, but I have also discovered a new set of holidays!  And if that were not enough, right on it’s heels is February – National Pie Month! Oh, what is a girl obsessed with pie to do?

The Pie it Forward Challenge!

To celebrate National Pie Day, I’m challenging all of you to bake a pie over the weekend and give it away to someone.  Not only will you get the greatest gift of all by doing something nice for someone, but you will be eligible to enter Pie Eyed’s first prize give away!  Here are the rules:

1.  Bake a pie – any pie.  If it has a crust and some filling, it counts.

2. Give it away to someone (take a picture if you want!)

3. Comment back on this post to tell me you did it and then email your story to pieeyedbaker@yahoo.com by Friday, January 27th.

I will choose a Pie it Forward participant to receive this awesome decal from Spiffy Decals:

This should motivate you to make some pie!

 

Now go forward and make some pie!

 

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Homemade Vanilla Extract

16 Jan

I have a silent competition going on in my office – I want to be the best baker.  I want to be the one that brings in a treat and watches my co-workers rush to the table because of my stellar reputation as the workplace baker.  Every office has one.  The minute word spreads that Jane brought in her famous blueberry pound cake, you rush to the kitchen hopeful that the office Gods have spared you a piece.

The reality is, I’m not always that girl.  There are a few of us who try to edge each other out with a secret sugar cookie recipe, or a homemade cake served up on a vintage cake platter.  But I have my place in the competition, so I have always regarded bringing baked goods to work as my territory.

Then one day, everything changed.  I had just arrived to work and was loaded down with my usual computer bag, lunch bag, bag of work papers that had accumulated in my car for a month, and a coffee.  I rounded the corner, and was greeted by a gorgeous pink cake sitting on the kitchen table.  As my bags dropped to the ground, I knew right away that this cake was a game-changer.  It was beautiful – none of us in this office could decorate like that.  Surely it wouldn’t taste as good as it looked!  After all, that’s my theory – the prettier the cake, the worse it tastes.

Without bothering to put my things away, I started scouring the office to see who the mystery cake maker was.  Down the row of offices I traveled, gathering more followers as I went along.  Everyone was eager to find out who this cake belonged to, and more importantly, when we could eat it.   Then I found her – it was the new girl I had just hired into my department.  Gasp!  I have just hired my own replacement!

We surrounded the table, passed out slices and began to eat.  Two bites in, a commotion arose from the back hall.  We walked back to find Dee Dee half out of her chair, hollering that this cake was so good she might cry.  I stood in utter disbelief.  This girl is only one week  in and has Dee Dee on the floor hollering in ecstasy over cake!  Here’s the thing about Dee Dee – you want to be on her good side because if Dee Dee’s not happy, ain’t no one happy.  And not much makes Dee Dee happy.  Except this cake apparently.  One week and the new girl has not only thwarted me from my reign as Cake Queen, but she has won over Dee Dee – something I’ve been trying to do for 8 years!

THIS CAKE WAS AMAZING.  I bowed down to her and begged for the recipe, asking her what in the world made it so good.  Her answer?  Homemade vanilla extract.  She was convinced that the homemade extract elevated the flavor and was better than any vanilla you could buy at the store.

Ever since that day, I’ve been eager to make my own vanilla.

While pie is usually judged by it’s crust, I’m just as picky about what goes into that crust.  From taste to texture – it has to be outstanding.  I mean, why spend all that careful time making a great crust and then dump a can of shiny, gooey pie filling into it?  I get so angry when I’m duped.  Like at the County Fair when the guy swore that the banana cream pie was an old family recipe and after one bite I could tell it was banana pudding with imitation banana flavoring.  Yuck.

I’m the most obsessive about vanilla.  I love, love, love vanilla and, yes, I pay $10 for that tiny bottle.  I feel like the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding who thinks he can cure everything with Windex.  I’m constantly having to reign in my tendency to add vanilla to everything.  It is high time I attempt some homemade vanilla – if not only to ramp up the taste of my sweets, but to save some money!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

For holiday gifts this year, I decided to make homemade vanilla extract and vanilla sugar for everyone.  What a great gift it turned out to be – so easy to make and a little goes a long way.  I had gifts for everyone!  If you want the gift to be ready to use, you’ll need to start two months ahead of time.  However, because planning is not my forte, I just attached gift tags that had the date it would be ready.

Because I was making a lot of extract, I found a reputable vendor to purchase beans for a good price.  Vanilla Products USA sells a pound of Madagascar beans for $27! AND, when the package arrived, they had thrown in an extra 1/8 of a pound.  It was vanilla heaven!

Ingredients

Vodka (decent vodka)

Madagascar vanilla beans

Directions

You will need 2 vanilla beans per 8 ounces of vodka.

Split the vanilla beans and place into container of your choice.  Mason jars, or any glass bottle with a good lid or seal.  I used 4 ounce bottles from a local craft store.  You could also put the beans right into the vodka bottle.

Pour vodka into the container and seal tightly.

Store in a cool, dark place for two-three months shaking once a week to distribute the vanilla.  Word has it, the longer it sits the better it will be (up to  six months if you are really serious).

The beans will continue to make extract for up to a year.  When your vanilla is about 75% gone, top it off with more vodka, wait a month and then you have more!

Here's the vanilla I made for myself after 1 month

Homemade Vanilla Sugar

1 vanilla bean

2 cups of sugar

Split the vanilla bean and scrape vanilla into the sugar.  Bury the vanilla bean in the sugar, cover and let sit for one week.  Use to flavor coffee, tea, oatmeal or to bake with!

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Pear Eggnog Winter Pie

5 Jan

It’s 2012 and the best thing to do for a new year is to come clean and start fresh.  Don’t get excited – there’s nothing juicy here like sordid affairs, slipping my kids Benadryl so they will sleep, or a problem with shop lifting.  My confessions are rather mundane, but they are mine and blogging about them makes me feel like I can bless and release them, then move on.

I don’t recycle if the item is upstairs, in the kids’ room, in the bathroom, or anywhere really but the kitchen. And this is a step towards a greener me.

I feel guilty that I don’t feel guilty for being a working Mom.  I’ve felt like this for a while and am waiting for some type of guilt to set in for working full time and liking it.  But I’m fine.  So instead, I feel guilty that I don’t feel guilty.

I did karaoke just before Christmas in a bar full of strangers.  On a Wednesday. Sober.  My husband and I also have our own personal library of karaoke songs – nearly 1,000.  And we do karaoke.  Sober.  On any day.

This blog didn’t start entirely because of pie and I didn’t tell you the whole story.  I was totally into pie, so that part is true. The rest of the truth is that this blog came into being because I needed a distraction from a miscarriage that I had over the summer.  My husband and I finally got the nerve to try for a third child, succeeded for a brief moment, and lost the pregnancy.  This was my fourth miscarriage (three before my first son) and I was looking for a way to distract myself from the disappointment.  While I think I cope with my miscarriages pretty darn well, I do tend to do something slightly drastic after each one.

#1 – adopted two cats.

#2 – Painted every room downstairs in one night

#3 – Moved to Portland, Oregon (for a minute – found out I was pregnant (again) three weeks after I got there, quit my job and moved back to Cleveland.  That was the now 5 year old.)

Having a fourth miscarriage in the midst of raising two boys, a dog, a cat (left over from the first miscarriage), and a harder job left me with slim pickings for drastic change.  So instead of moving across the country, I started baking even more pie and blogging about it.  In those first weeks, I was making pie three or four times a week.  Pie is about precision and paying attention – especially when you’re new at it.  I found that the process of making pie cleared my head and prevented my mind from wandering and over-analyzing the summer’s events.  The rolling, the shaping, the baking, the eating – pie raised up my let down spirits and provided comfort.  And since we’re confessing here, it also added a few more pounds.

I love making pie.  I love giving it to people.  I didn’t know it at the time, but this funny little hobby has given me so much more than just a distraction.  It’s given me some space in my life to practice the art of gratitude and acceptance.  And that’s what I never had before – I always had to react, to make sense of things, make a plan, move on, go, go, go.  Who knew pie would teach me how to just be still and enjoy the slice of life that is mine?

Pear Eggnog Winter Pie

Adapted from Vegetarian Times

My coworker sent me a recipe for a Pear Eggnog Pie from Vegetarian Times a couple of weeks ago.  One look at this pie and I knew it was my next suspect!  There were some things about it that I wanted to tweak, so I used the recipe as my base and developed what I think is a pretty awesome winter pie.

Ingredients

1 recipe of pie dough for a 9 inch crust

10 gingersnaps (pulsed into fine crumbs)

3 medium pears (peeled and sliced about 1/4 -1/2 inch thick)

1 Tablespoon crushed or minced fresh ginger (in the jar if you’re lazy like me)

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 can evaporated milk

2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon rum

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

Ahead of time:

Make pie dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to two days.

Pre-bake the crust:

Preheat oven to 400.  Roll dough into a 12 inch circle and place into a 9 inch pie plate.  You will want to leave a one-inch over hang by cutting the dough to even it out.  Tuck edges under and sculpt an upstanding ridge if desired.  Place pie plate in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Make the filling:

Keep oven at 400.  Using a food processor or mini-chopper (or a ziploc bag and a rolling pin) turn the ginersnaps into fine crumbs.  You will line the crust with a thin layer of gingersnap crumbs when it’s time to assemble.

Peel and slice pears.  Toss together with lemon juice and ginger in a medium bowl.  Arrange the pears in rows, standing on edge along the bottom of the crust.  Place pie plate on a baking sheet.

Whisk the sugar and eggs together until well blended.  Add in the evaporated milk.  Continuing to whisk well, add the vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and rum.  Pour mixture over pears into the prepared pie shell.

Place pie on the center rack of the oven and cook for 15 minutes at 400.  Lower the temperature to 350 and cook for another 35-40 minutes until the middle is set.  Ovens will vary, so begin watching it after 30 minutes.  Enjoy with ice cream or fresh whipped cream!

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Pie it Forward: The Oil Change Guy

30 Dec

Here’s the thing – I look forward to getting my oil changed at those Quick Lube places like I look forward to wiping my kid after he goes to the bathroom. The experience is uncomfortable, it smells and I need to wash my hands afterwards.   It’s always the same song and dance.  The minute I pop my hood, I brace myself for the routine.

It starts with the idle chit chat.  Small talk always feels more awkward when it’s through your car window to a technician in a jumpsuit hovering above you.  He walks to look under my hood while the car gently sways from the guy in the hole below yanking on whatever part it is that gets the oil out.  Do you ever wonder what goes on down there?  I do.  Every time the car jerks, I picture a monkey swinging wildly from the bottom mechanics of my car.  Seconds later he comes back with, wait for it… the dirty air filter.  Yes, I can see it’s dirty.  Yes, those are dead bees.  Yes, I know my gas mileage is affected.  No, I do not want to purchase another one for $12.99.  He returns to check the fluids only to come back shortly to let me know how dull my wiper blades are and ask if I could use a pair for $15.99.  No thanks, I like the streaks the rain leaves.  They look like rainbows.  And as he’s recording my mileage, he always slips a plug in for some fancy high-mileage oil that costs another $20.  But it will preserve the life of my engine?  Who cares.  I need to preserve the life of my bank account.

My brother-in-law is a mechanic, so I have been able to avoid these places for some time now.  But occasionally, I don’t want to bother him and more often, I’m negative 564 miles past my oil life and can’t stand to watch the numbers plummet anymore.  So, I go looking for a Quick Lube.  And that’s what happened recently when I drove into a very suspect looking Quick Lube near our house.

My experience started out the same.  I pulled up, the garage door lifted and I was waved in by a technician.  But as soon as I put the car into park, I could tell something was different.  He was just standing there looking at me from the end of my car.  His face was smudged with oil and his long hair was clumped with dirt and, well, more oil.  His jumpsuit was filthy and he wore a tattered and torn hunter’s jacket.  I stared back and he nodded and motioned for me to pop the hood.  A little nervous about this grumpy technician, I fumbled around looking for the button.  I couldn’t find it.  The more I couldn’t find it, the more nervous I became until it was a lost cause and he walked to my door.  He grunted and pointed at the floor of the mini-van where the lever was waiting, plain as day.  I popped the hood and he went about his business.  Someone was in that hole tugging on my car, but I never saw him.  Not even 10 minutes had passed before he was back at my window handing me a clipboard as I simultaneously handed him my debit card.  I know the drill – give me my sticker and my receipt and I’ll get out of here.

As I drove away I realized something very profound.  He didn’t speak!  That man didn’t say one, gosh darn word to me… that’s the best oil change I have ever had!!!  I was grinning from ear to ear as I recounted my experience to my husband.

Since that time, my husband has been and I have returned for another visit.  Each time it’s the same experience – he doesn’t speak!  Well, this last time he did when I (once again) forgot where the lever was to pop the hood.  Instead of grunting, he walked to my window and said “on the floor.”  Maybe we’re becoming friends.

This past time, the owner was there and he came over to talk to me.  We chatted for a bit, but you know what?  He didn’t try to sell me an air filter!  In fact, they have never once showed me my air filter! I told him how much I enjoyed coming there and what a great experience it has been.  I asked him about the technician who doesn’t speak and found out that his name is Billy.  So, naturally, I returned with some pie for him and Billy.  Billy wouldn’t come talk to me but I packaged up some pie for him and wrote a note thanking him for such a great oil change.

The owner and his dog

As I turned to leave, the pie was sitting on the service desk and I caught Billy’s eye.  I didn’t speak.  I just nodded towards the pie as if to say “on the desk” and walked out.

For your silent service and never showing me my air filter, you deserve some pie, Oil Change Guys.

xoxo,

The Pie Eyed Piper

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Hungarian Kiflis (it’s not pie!)

18 Dec

There comes a time when you need to leave the pie behind and get down to business.  It’s Christmas and I have other baked goods standing in line waiting for some attention.  First on the list – my Grandma’s Hungarian Kiflis.

I would venture to say that I have been eating Kiflis since before I could walk.  As soon as the babies in my family are old enough to gum a teething biscuit, they are ready for Kiflis.

Elliot conquers his first Kifli

I’m very territorial over these Kiflis.  Friends will say, “Oh, we make those – they are Kolache.”  No way – those are Czechoslovakian.  Or someone will mention that they have a recipe for the same thing – Rugelach.  Close, but not the same thing.   Kiflis are a soft, yeast-based pastry that are rolled closed around an apricot, plum or nut filling.  They are not super sweet and are the perfect side for a cup of coffee.

This is our family recipe. It didn’t come out of a food blog, nor did it come from the pages of the latest epicurian magazine.  It came from my Grandmother’s tattered cookbook that now rests proudly in my kitchen.  I became the new owner of this cookbook when my Grandmother moved into a nursing home several years ago.  This was the one and only item that I begged to have.  I adored her cooking and wanted to learn straight from her pen.

The year my Grandmother went into the nursing home would also be the first year that she did not make Kiflis for Christmas.  Instead, I decided to pass the torch to myself and learn to make these beloved pastries.  I made them that year the same way I do now – using her bowl, apron, spoon and rolling pin (I really don’t know what it is, but it’s good for rolling).  I figured I’d do my best to put some good Kifli karma into the air and use the tools that had spent decades producing these little horns of goodness.

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Caramel Apple Pie Bites

11 Dec

Do you ever have those weeks where you feel like you’re trying way too hard?  For some reason, you have deliberately complicated your days with too many tasks and too many commitments all in the name of proving to yourself you can do it all? That was my week.

I blame it on kindergarten.  If they were grading me, my report card would be full of “NI” (Needs Improvement).  I keep hearing my husband’s words when I suggested that I’d rather feed my kids cereal for dinner than buy Market Day fundraiser food.   “We can’t be THOSE parents.  We have to be involved.” Look, I’m a joiner.  I’m a helper.  Need something?  I’m your girl.  I’m Miss Involvement….usually.

I made the rookie mistake of agreeing to the very first thing the PTO asked me to do.  It was going to be nearly impossible with such short notice, but my husband’s words were haunting me.  I was asked to bake a breakfast casserole and provide muffins and bread for a teacher appreciation breakfast and deliver them to the coordinator’s home that night.  Here’s what I was up against: I had to work late, my husband had to work late, and my kids (and dog) were being dropped at my in-laws until I could go get them.  Somewhere in there I had to make  breakfast casserole, get some muffins and bread and deliver them at a reasonable hour. Oh, and put my kids to bed.

So I did what any hard working, multitasking Mom would do…totally forgot I was supposed to do it.

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Cranberry Apple Holiday Pie

4 Dec

The calendar need only read December 1st and visions of orange zest, nutmeg, clove and spice start swirling in my head.  How quickly I break up with pumpkin pie and move on to the warm, intoxicating smells of the winter holidays.

December is a month that I spend in my kitchen trying to recreate the traditions that made my childhood holidays so special.  My Hungarian Grandma Foris would arrive at our house for Christmas with tins of Kiflis (Kee-Flees), nut roll and poppy seed roll. My Grandpa Brandeberry would spend weeks making candy to give as gifts. I can still see the white boxes with red bows piled high on top of his washer and dryer in the back room.  If I came to his house on the right day, he would let me sit at his kitchen table and squish mounds of caramel between pecans while he dipped them in chocolate.

I like to think that my love of baking comes from a long line of proud cooks.  I usually wear my Grandma’s apron and think about what life in the kitchen was like for her and her mother when they were in Hungary.

My Grandma Foris (R) with her younger sister Marika

Me (L) and my younger sister, Elizabeth channeling our inner Hungarian and attmpeting some of our first Kiflis

I think about my Grandfather and how, like me, he loved to give away what he made and how happy people were to receive the special candy crafted by hand just for them.  But my Grandfather had more baking experience then I realized.  My Dad came across this picture taken when my Grandfather was in the Army during World War II.  He was a Master Sargent with the Artillery in the Philippines, but apparently he had some kitchen duty too!

This picture hangs in my kitchen with the ones above.  Now I have some company watching over me when I make my pies. I also have some inspiration to find whatever genetic link I have to baking so I can make the best pie ever!

My Grandpa Brandeberry baking in the Army

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Pie it Forward: Miss Lena

27 Nov

What better time to spread the pie love than the week of Thanksgiving?  In addition to choosing someone deliberately, I also kept some pie in my car and handed it out when nice people crossed my path.

Thanksgiving pies

For some reason, I get really nervous before giving people pie. I have stage fright and feel like I need to rehearse.  “Excuse me, you are really nice and deserve some pie.”  No, too random.  “Hello, I have a strange obsession making pie and give it to people who are nice.  Want some?”  Nope, too I-laced-your-pie-with-poison.  “Hi, I love pie so much that I bake it all the time.  Therefore, I have a pie surplus and need to give it away.  You deserve some pie today.”  Close, but screams I don’t have a life after the kids go to bed, so I make pie.

Despite my nervousness, somehow I find the right thing to say and am always glad I did it.  People are genuinely happy to have some unexpected pie enter their life.  And their reactions remind me how little we thank those around us who make our days a little easier, a little happier and a little brighter.

Pie it Forward: Miss Lena

When I sent my son Elliot off for his first day of school, I didn’t realize what an important part of the day his bus driver, Miss Lena would be.

Miss Lena has been driving a bus for 14 years and has come to know our neighborhood like a second family.  She’s quick to point out that she likes the challenge of our neighborhood – the hills, sharp curves and narrow roads keep her on her toes.  But she’s even quicker to point out how much she loves the children.  And the children love her because she is just so nurturing and kind. Apparently, Elliot went for a spell where he left his lunch box on the bus every morning.  And every morning, Miss Lena would drive it back to the school for him.  She gave him a clip so that he could attach his lunch box to his book bag.  Being new to all of this, I didn’t even know they sold clips for that.

He never looked back...

On the day that I had Elliot pinned on the concrete shoving shoes on his feet while he howled in protest, Miss Lena’s smile and understanding wave calmed what had been an absolute rock bottom morning.  Elliot was crying, I was crying – it was a scene I’m sure she has seen played out hundreds of times by overtired parents and kindergartners.  But she greeted him with that same warmth that made us both feel that everything would be ok.

I have come to love the ritual that Elliot and I share each morning.  I grab my coffee as he grabs his lunchbox and we wait outside until the bus rounds the corner.  A quick kiss and a “have a good day” and he’s off, bounding to the end of the driveway, eager for Miss Lena to wave him safely onto the bus.  I stand sipping my coffee, watching him make his way to his seat.  The stop sign retreats to the side of the bus and Miss Lena gives me a friendly hello. As the bus pulls away, Elliot’s tiny face stares back at me from his window and we get one last wave.  I turn away and smile knowing that he’s safe thanks to Miss Lena.

And for that, you deserve pie everyday, Miss Lena.

xoxo, The Pie Eyed Piper

 

 

 

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Oh My, Sweet Potato Pie

20 Nov

According to me, you get total pie street credit if you’re from the South.  If you have an accent and hail from any of the states below Ohio, I automatically assume that you are harboring your Great Grandma’s family pie recipe and that you know some worldly secrets about great pie making.  After all, don’t you Southerners learn to make pie just after you learn to pour yourself a bowl of cereal?  But alas, this is just a dream as I have never been to the Deep South and therefore never had the chance to taste what real southern pie is all about.

Like the saying goes, if you can’t go South, go to Whole Foods!  I have never tasted sweet potato pie and have always been drawn to the sheer comfort of the idea.  With Greater Cleveland being slim on the pickings for pie, I figured Whole Foods was my best bet for one that would at least be close to the real thing.  And there they were!  Displayed with a photograph of a lovely employee whose recipe was so good that Whole Foods adopted it for their stores in the Midwest.  Jackpot!  I enjoyed this sweet potato pie, but the crust was very soft and mushy making the dish taste more like pudding – no texture combination of the snap of a crisp crust followed by the smooth, creamy filling.  So once again, I set out to do better.  And I did.  This pie puts the OH! in sweet potato.

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

1 recipe pie dough of choice for a 9 inch crust (I use Best of Both Worlds)

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (about 2-3)

4T butter, softened

2 eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup milk

1T flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder (optional if you don’t have any)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Ahead of time:  make dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to two days

Roll dough into a 13 inch circle and place into a 9 inch pie plate.  You will want to leave a one-inch over hang by cutting the dough to even it out.  Tuck edges under and sculpt an upstanding ridge if desired.

Refrigerate the crust for at least 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400.

Partially bake the crust and cool completely.  For details on blind baking a crust, see this caramel pumpkin pie post.

While crust is cooling, reduce oven temperature to 350.

Using a fork, poke holes into uncooked sweet potatoes.  Wrap potatoes in a dish cloth and microwave for 10-12 minutes until soft.  The skin will peel right off!

In a large bowl, whip together sweet potatoes and butter using a hand held or stand mixer.  Once smooth, add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.  Add sugars, flour, salt, baking soda, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  With mixer on low, add milk and mix until blended.

Pour contents into pie shell and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until the middle is set and a fork comes out clean.  Enjoy with some fresh whipped cream!

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