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Bonus edition...

Nope, it's not Monday. Surprise! Guess who had a little extra time and an extra assignment for pie for the husband's business partner?

We posed him the question, which pie would you like for Christmas? Cherry, peach, apple, chocolate, lemon, key lime.... No. Pecan? No, and we live in the South, for crying out loud.

His answer... Buttermilk pie. I'd never even heard of it, which means I'm not even a Southern girl yet. I've only made a couple of pecan pies. Now I've made a Buttermilk pie. I'm earning my stripes.

I found this recipe on BunsInMyOven.com. I looked at half a dozen recipes before settling on this one. It had a real crust, not a baked in one. I like crust. Pies deserve good crust.



Buns In My Oven Buttermilk Pie

2 9-inch pie crusts, unbaked
3 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
6 eggs, beaten
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Arrange pie crusts in 2 9-inch plates.
2. Mix together the sugar, flour, and salt. Beat in the eggs, butter, buttermilk, and vanilla until well combined. Pour into the pie crusts. Bake for 1 hour or until no longer jiggly - check them after about 45 minutes. If the tops are getting too brown (mine were), cover them loosely with foil. Let cool one hour before serving. Good served cold.

**As done as mine look, the probably should have cooked another 5 minutes. It was still a little too jiggly/runny in the middle.

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For our pie this week we were back from the hospital, had a little extra time on our hands, and my daughter Savannah begged to make the Banana Cream Pie that we failed to make for Thanksgiving this year.

I'm not a pie snob, but I'm learning, and based on the abysmal performance of instant pudding the week before and the fact that homemade pudding just tastes SOOO much better we went with a "Made from scratch" banana cream pie rather than relying on Jello brand to save the day.

About a year ago we ate at a great restaurant in Marble Falls, Texas. It's right by Lake LBJ and one of our favorite vacation spots. This restaurant is known for it's pies (which are delicious) especially if you're fond of meringue (which we aren't). Their meringues are sky high and beautiful, but I like a little more substance in my pie. When we were leaving the restaurant I snagged a copy of their cookbook for my collection. It's been well worth it. You'll find a lot of the pies we're going to test are going to be from here. It's not a fluke or a coincidence, the restaurant is that good!

This banana cream pie recipe is delicious. It's vanilla pudding with bananas, so it's a better blend than banana cream pudding with bananas.

BLUE BONNET'S BANANA CREAM PIE

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
3 cup milk
4 eggs, separated
3 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 bananas, sliced

Separate the egg yolks from the whites; reserve whites for another use. (think delicious egg white omelet with cheese, green onions, and bacon...MMM) Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and milk. Cook mixture over medium to low heat, stirring constantly. After mixture bubbles up and thickens, cook an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Beat egg yolks slightly. Gradually stir 1 cup of the hot mixture into yolks. Return egg mixture to saucepan; bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla; stir until butter is melted. Pour mixture into a 9-inch cooked pie crust lined with banana slices. Top with whipped cream.

Whipped Cream:

1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Beat cream at high speed with an electric mixer. As it starts to thicken, add powdered sugar gradually. Add vanilla. Beat until soft peaks form, being careful not to overbeat.

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Did I assume I'd be able to post pictures of my pies every week, on time, accompanied by great posts? No. Did you? I'm so sorry!

I haven't stopped making pies, in fact I'm ahead, an over achiever, because I made a Christmas pie for a friend today! (it's only Wednesday!)

Last week my daughter, Landry, chose a chocolate mint pie. It was the day before her back surgery, we were desperately trying to get packed and prepared to head out of town for the surgery, and I made the pie... no pictures were taken, it wasn't really something we'd revisit... at least not without some variations to the recipe. It was a triple layer pie and it didn't set up right. I'd make it with homemade pudding instead of instant and I'd definitely take more time for it to set up.

Here's the recipe if you want to try. It tasted great, it was just kind of soupy...

TRIPLE LAYERED CHOCOLATE MUD PIE

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 OREO pie crust
1/2 cup Andes mint chips
2 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size) chocolate instant pudding
1 tub (8 oz.) whipped topping (I used homemade) - divided

Mix chocolate chips and condensed milk until well blended. Pour into crust, sprinkle with mint chips.

Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. (Mixture needs to be thick). Spoon 1 1/2 cups of the pudding over mint chips in crust. Add half of the whipped topping to remaining pudding; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Spread over pudding layer in crust; top with remaining whipped topping.

Store in refrigerator.

Snowpie2k16

Hello? Anyone there?

The list of things keeping me from this blog is hilariously long, and getting longer. I've been cooking up a storm (hello 3 square meals a day...family of 6...you understand) but blogging hasn't been my priority for a LONG (really long) time. 

However, maybe a theme is what I needed to come back. A Pie theme. So, perhaps, if I can find the time, you'll be a welcome (and hopefully satisfied) guest on my journey for the next year. 

#SnowPie2k16

What?!?!

So I make pies. Every Thanksgiving that's my thing. But we don't ever have enough people to justify as many pies as I want to make/bake/take. So we usually have a pie per person, because who wants to go without their favorite pie, and we don't overlap on favorites.

Lincoln loves cherry, Mom-in-law has to have/make her pumpkin, Shane is the master of chocolate, dad-in-law loves his apple (I actually make him an apple/cranberry with a custard that's to die for), Savannah loves banana cream, the twins eat whatever they can get their hands on, and I like being adventurous (NOT mincemeat adventurous, I meant delicious adventurous). 

So....for the next year every Monday Family Night I'm making pie. We're going to try 50 (ish) different pies and really know the winners for next Thanksgiving.

Sounds like a good plan, eh?

This week's recipe hails from HERE. It was Lincoln's pick, but we wanted Cherry without being just cherry...

CHEESECAKE CHERRY PIE

TOTAL TIME: 1:25

PREP: 0:15

SERVES: 12

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box refrigerated ready-to-bake pie crusts
• ½ c. sugar
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 bricks (8 oz each) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel)
• 1 large egg
• ½ tsp. Almond Extract
• 1 can cherry pie filling
• White from 1 large egg, in a small bowl
• ⅓ c. Sliced almonds

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Have ready a 9-in. pie plate
2. Fit 1 crust into pie plate. Unroll or unfold remaining crust on a cutting board; cut in 1/2-in.-wide strips. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate
3. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Add cream cheese; beat with mixer on medium speed until smooth. On low speed, beat in egg and extract until just blended
4. Spread batter evenly in crust; spoon pie filling evenly over top. Beat egg white with a fork until foamy. Brush on pastry strips. Arrange about 8 strips evenly spaced across pie filing. Place 8 more strips diagonally over first strips to form a lattice (discard remaining strips). Trim and press ends to bottom crust. Brush rim with egg white; press on almonds
5. Bake 50 to 60 minutes until crust is golden brown and cherries bubble. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm, at room temperature or cold.

Pictures will get better throughout the year. We just really wanted to jump into this one. It was great! Maybe a little less cheesecake and a little more fruit next time. It did bubble over a little, but set up well. 

One down...many to go!