3/14 Obligatory Pie Post

I wish I actually had time to bake a pie. This post is a bit of a cheat but I have finals starting on Monday so the pies in this post are actually from thanksgiving two years ago. Before you scoff and move on to better pie pastures let me just say that it was my most intense pie day to date. To be honest my dad and I got a bit carried away. I think we'd originally planned to just make a couple pies but I just kept on going in search of that perfect flaky crust. 

I feel very "meh" about pumpkin pie. I've never been a huge fan and for that reason I'm not going to post a recipe for it. You're overrated pumpkin pie! Also almost all cans of pumpkin puree come with a decent pumpkin pie recipe printed on them.

Cookie cutter maple leaf made out of pie dough and laid over the lattice. (This pie is made which whole wheat which is why it looks so much darker brown) The crust was all right but not ideal.

 We ended up having four pies and two pear tarts. I'm not entirely sure about where the original recipe for this came from since my mom has it written on the back of a receipt. She says it's a recipe from a friend but who knows where that friend found it/if it's been modified at all. It's fantastic though and I highly suggest you make it. Especially if you have a pear tree/an overabundance of pears in your life. Or if you like pears a lot. Really its just a great dessert.

Pear Tart/Custard Recipe:

Crust:
2 eggs
1 stick of butter
1 cup of sliced almonds
1 cup sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Filling:
2 egg yolks (can use whole egg)
1 cup cream (half and half)
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp sugar
3 pears per pie

For the crust, cream together butter, eggs, and sugar. Add vanilla and almond extract followed by almonds. This will form a sort of lumpy paste. Press paste into the bottom of your pie dish (or pie dishes, the recipe says it makes two tarts but you can totally just fill one large pie dish).
Slice or halve pears and arrange on top of the crust. Mix the rest of the filling ingredients together and pour over pears and crust. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. 

 This was my crowing glory apple pie. The last and BEST pie I made. The crust was the perfect flaky consistency that we pie makers try so hard to achieve and the apples inside were moist and gooey and delicious. (As a side note my family of four did not eat all of these pies, we had Thanksgiving at a friends house with a large group of people)

I did a lot of pie crust research to finally achieve this crust. I read some that called for vodka, which would evaporate in the baking and so leave you with a flakier crust but I dismissed that. My parents don't really keep hard alcohol on hand and I didn't want to run to the store and face all the last minute thanksgiving shopping craziness. I feel I should also mention that at least one (maybe both?) of the pumpkin pies is on a gluten free crust. Which was good but just not the same. I used a recipe very similar to this flaky pie crust recipe. What I found was that you want to use a recipe that calls for A LOT of butter. In this recipes case a whole stick. Yup. That is a lot of butter. (Thanksgiving/pies are not about counting calories though, indulge yourself)

The butter should be as cold as possible and even if you don't really feel like it you should follow the instructions to cut the butter in. The smaller pieces you cut it into the less work you'll have to do in the long run too. I'm also a huge fan of kitchen gadgets and this is when having a pastry blender will really help, one of these. Yes you can use a fork but your wrist is going to be tired enough after blending all that butter in, so if you bake a lot you might as well invest in one (goodwill occasionally has them for only a couple dollars!). Also handle the pie dough as little as possible since your warm hands will melt the butter. If you're having trouble getting the dough to stick together after you've done a lot of mixing you can add a tiny bit of water at a time. DO NOT OVER CORRECT

Shoot now I really want pie. After finals are done I'm making one. I'll add updated photos then. Happy pie day to you all!