Thanksgiving Apple Crumble Pie

So this year I wanted to make something other than pumpkin or sweet potato, so I decided on apple crumble. I combined two recipes. I found an apple crumble pie recipe in the Ms. American Pie cook book and I added ingredients that my instructor had in her pie from class last week. So I hope this tastes as good as it smells!

My Pie Plate Collection

So I noticed in some of the baking magazines, there were photos of these really neat and old tin pie plates. They would have different graphics on them and just look really neat. I never thought I would be able to find them, but I did! I found one at Goodwill, another at an antique shop and the third at a re-use shop. I just think they are very rustic and show off my love for pie!

(From left to right: Pie'd Piper, Blue Bird Pies and Poppin Fresh Pies.)

Apple Pie Class!

Today I went to "The Perfect Pie" class, through Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, IA. I have been wanting to go to this pie class for years! And I finally made it. The lady who teaches the class, Alison Kosek works as a Sous Pastry Chef for the University of Iowa. And she knows her stuff! And she is very fun to talk to. This is the kind of lady that I could sit and drink with... But anyway, the class was great. We learned how to make a really good crust. And we learned about the chemistry of a crust and how the ingredients make it work.

So, Apple pie is a pie that I've had a hard time with. I've made apple soup pie, and I've also made apple pies that have turned out too dry. So I'm hoping when I try this pie in the morning that I'll feel a whole lot better about this obstacle in my learning to make pie mission.

All I know is that it looks really good, and it smells really really good, so it must be good right?

Update! It was really really good! But, next time I might add some brown sugar to the filling.

Sweet Potato Pie!

Yum yum! This pie turned out really well. It was really simple to make too. The hardest part was waiting for the sweet potato water to boil. It's got 1lb. sweet potatoes, vanilla, butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, orange zest and sweetened condensed milk. There is no sugar in this recipe because the milk makes up for it. I've already tried some and it is just a very very good warm pie. mmmm.

Getting ready to make pie!

Lately it doesn't seem like I have time to do all of the steps to make a pie after work. So I figured I'd make it a two step process.

Day 1) Crust
Day 2) Filling and Bake!

You'll just have to wait and see what this crust ends up being tomorrow.

Maxine!

Peters Delicious Lard

The graphic designer side of me just loves this old lard container! I found this at an antique store today and wanted to share it. Such pretty type. And it's the perfect size. haha

Coffins!

Labor Day Chicken Pot Pie

Today I finally got around to making a chicken pot pie. I've been wanting to make these for years! I cheated on the crust and used puff pastry, but it tasted really buttery so it was good. The filling is really easy. It's just canned chicken, canned peas, frozen mixed vegetables and cream of chicken soup. Yum!

Apple Hand Pies!

Who knew left over pie crust could be so fun and delicious. I just winged these hand pies. I cut up some apples, mixed them with a scoop of sugar, a tsp of cinnamon, half a teaspoon of nutmeg and a little cornstarch. Then I rolled out the crust and had some fun with cookie cutters. They turned out very nice. And I will be running over to my neighbor-lady to give her one!

St. Jude's Sweet Corn Festival... Has Pie!

Today I went to the St. Judes Sweet Corn Festival in Cedar Rapids, IA. I've never gone to this event and wanted to check it out. I was very happy to see they had pie. And they had a lot of different flavors all spread out on a long table. It was just a lot of fun to look at. And these two very friendly ladies were just, well, really friendly.

They had apple, caramel apple, peach, raspberry, blueberry, rhubarb, strawberry rhubarb, cherry, pecan, raisin and tollhouse pie. Delightful!

Vinton Newspaper

So today in the paper they posted the winners of the fair!

Apple Pie and Peanut Butter Pie!

On Friday I got a call from a lady who saw my peach pie at the Benton County Fair. She was preparing some food for a funeral on Monday and thought I could make some pies for her! I was so flattered I told her I would make her two. She was very sweet and said I could make whatever I wanted. So I set out to make her a peach pie and a peanut butter pie. So on Friday I bought peaches so they would be ripe by Sunday. So when I woke up this morning and boiled the peaches and skinned them, I noticed they were pretty bad. So I had to go with plan B, and made her an apple pie. I've never made a pie for someone with out tasting it, so I'm just hoping and praying that they taste good. They look really good, so at least they have that going for them. 

It's a Winner!

I was delighted to see my Fresh Peach Pie got the blue ribbon at the fair. You can't wipe the smile off of my face right now. This is one happy pie baker. 

The lady that was sitting next to the baked goods said that when the judge cut into my pie, she called all of the women around and said, "See those layers and flakes, that's what pie crust is supposed to look like!" Triumph! =)

Benton County Fair Peach Pie!

Okay, after work I made the peach pie I'm entering into the Benton County Fair tomorrow morning. All I can do is hope and pray that I get some kind of ribbon! I've had a lot of fun working on the peach pie recipe and refining each trial run to it's current version of perfection. haha

Peach Pie for the Fair!

So I made a third peach pie to get ready for the pie contest at the Benton County Fair on Thursday. And I think I've finally made one winner of a recipe! This pie looks and tastes great! The texture is great and the cinnamon and nutmeg at a lovely flavor to the peaches. I'm so happy with this one.

Peach Pie! Round 2!

So this peach pie is the prettiest pie I've made so far. I haven't tried it yet, but if it tastes as good as it looks we might just have a winner for the fair contest! I got the majority of the recipe from the Pillsbury Fabulous Pies Recipe book from 1961. The illustrations in this book are great, and it seems like there are a lot of good filling recipes in there.

I origionaly chose this recipe because the last peach pie I made used tapioca. And I found that I really didn't like the texture that the tapioca made. Those bubbles remind me of fish eggs... ew! So this recipe used cornstarch to thicken up the peach juice and it worked really well!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/128335035/vintage-cookbook-fabulous-pies-from?utm_source=OpenGraph&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share

Fresh Peach Pie! Mmmm...

A couple of weeks ago I found that I love peach pie, so of course I needed to make one! I made this pie out of Beth Howard's Ms. American Pie cookbook and it looks delish. But I won't know what it tastes like until tomorrow because I need to let the juices rest. Mmmm...

I also want to submit a peach pie to the Benton County Fair, so I think this is the first of many peach pies this next couple of weeks!

http://theworldneedsmorepie.com/book/

I love Peach Pie!

I learned something new this week. Every week I go to the Youngville Cafe with my father for lunch. We always get a slice of homemade pie. Because it seems like pie always tastes better when you're not the one making it! This year I have been trying to try fruit pies that I've ever had before. And peach pie is one of them. I tried it and I loved it. So now I'm waiting for peach season to come around to make one for myself. The other fruit pies that I tried this year have been raspberry, blueberry, rhubarb, and banana cream. All of them have been delicious. 

http://www.youngvillecafe.com

Tar Heel Pie

I got this recipe from Cooks Country Magazine. I've had a lot of good luck with their pie recipes. This Tar Heel Pie is like a brownie pie. It turned out really fudgey and gooey and very enjoyable to eat! mmmm!

Triple Berry Pie

This pie turned out beautiful. It's also looking like it's going to be a bit runny. But hopefully it will set some more over night. I got this recipe from Beth Howard's book, Ms. American Pie. It's a really simple berry recipe that you can make year round because it uses frozen berries. I love that!
http://www.qbookshop.com/products/213351/9781937994686/Ms-American-Pie.html

Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie!

This is a Gold Medal Flour recipe that I just had to try because the peanut butter and banana combo just sounded really good to me. And it proved to be true! I love the texture of the pie and the whipped topping. The peanut butter mixed with the cream turned out really good and rich and the banana pudding filling had a lot of bananas in it. Delicious! I took this pie to work and it was gone in 30 minutes. I have such lucky co-workers! haha...

And if you would like to make this pie, here is the recipe!
http://goldmedalflour.com/Recipes/PeanutButterBananaCreamPie

The Pitch Fork Pie Stand!

This weekend I was very fortunate to be able to drive to Elden, Iowa and visit the American Gothic House where Beth Howard lives and bakes pies. She only opens her place up a few times a year. But when she does, the line is out the door! I got to sample her apple, chess and peanut butter cream pie. They were all very delicious! Her butter crust was divine and every pie was baked to perfection!

http://theworldneedsmorepie.com

Peanut Butter Cream Pie With Graham Cracker Crust

I got this pie recipe from the Cooks Country Magazine and it turned out wonderful! I'd never made a graham cracker crust before. It was just the crackers, butter and brown sugar and it was really good. Then the cream was made of cream cheese, peanut butter, heavy cream and powdered sugar. Really yummy. Kind of rich. But I love the rich... ;-)

Goat Cheese & Basil Tart

This goat cheese and basil tart is a recipe from Ina Garten. It is delicious! I made it for dinner, but it could also be a breakfast tart, because it has egg in it. The recipe called for fresh basil, but the grocery store didn't have any. I used dry and it was still really good, cheesy and basil-y. Success!

Oatmeal Apple Pie

This pie turned out really well. A really good texture on the inside. And I fluted the edge of the crust really well. I'm so proud of myself! I can finally flute and make it look good! Woo-hoo!

Different Types Of Fat Used In Pie Crust

I Found A Great Blog Post On Food52.com On Different Types Of Fat Used In Pie Crust

http://food52.com/blog/8742-pie-fats-butter-vs-oil-vs-shortening-vs-lard

But This Is All You Really Need To Know: =)

The Combo:
My grandma swore by a combination of fats. Once upon a time, it was half lard, half shortening. Then it became half butter, half shortening. Either way, she liked mixing the sure result of shortening with the better flavor of other fats. <-- And this is so true! Because my grandma's pie crust recipe mixes shortening and lard. But I usually only see pie crust recipes with one kind of fat online.

1887 Pie Crust Recipe

I found a pie crust recipe from 1887.  I haven't tried it yet. But I love how they explain to add enough water to work the dough. Most recipes call for 4-5 tablespoons of water, which never seems like enough. So reading this makes me feel better about how much water I use in my crust and how I don't really measure it! This recipe also uses baking-powder, so I'm not really sure what that would do to the structure of the crust, so it might be fun to try.

http://www.rubylane.com/item/508881-2133/c1887-Cook-Book-Meat-Poultry

Chess Tart!

For Christmas I got a Tart Pan. It's the kind where the bottom comes out. So I thought I would try it out. I'd been wanting to make a tart for at least a year now since I got Martha Stewarts Pies and Tarts book. http://www.amazon.com/Martha-Stewarts-Pies-Tarts-Old-Fashioned/dp/0307405095 I originally bought it for the pie recipes, but the tart images made my mouth water!

This chess tart was very simple to make. I think I even had all of the ingredients in the kitchen. It has sugar, brown sugar, eggs, cornmeal, vanilla... It turned out pretty good. But I think the next time I make a tart, I'll try one with a fruit filling. Cheers!