SALTED CARAMEL PIE

SALTED CARAMEL PIE

When the air turns crisp, and the mornings and evenings require a light weight jacket, I always seem to get a little more excited to see autumn return.  With it, come the fantastic flavors of fall.  Mouthwatering apple, cinnamon, and caramel seem to swirl in the air with the color-changed leaves, and it’s like visiting with an old friend.  So, here we are!  Back in the throws of the change of the seasons, and ushering in one of my personal favorite times of year:  Fall!

Now, I realize many people aren’t always happiest at this time of year because it means winter is just around the corner, and those carefree summer days have come to a close.  However, think of all those delightful flavors and seasonal favorites that come with the colder weather!  One of which is a personal favorite of mine, which is caramel! 

Caramel is a fantastic little conceit that’s really nothing more than nearly burned sugar.  And where it may seem like a pain to make, it really actually isn’t.  Particularly if you’re using it with a pie.  One of my favorite guilty pleasures is the salted variety, which leant itself very nicely to this recipe for Salted Caramel Pie.  In search of the perfect recipe, I found one from Carrie Cusick, a contributing editor for Food & Wine Magazine.  Some of the steps are a little fussy, and the filling will need a little babysitting, but the work is worth it.  Particularly if you enjoy it with a nice cup of coffee, tea, or hot cider.

SALTED CARAMEL PIE:

For Pretzel Pie Crust:

·         1 1/4 Cups Pretzels, Ground

·         4 Tbs. Unsalted Butter, Melted

·         1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar

For Salted Caramel Filling:

·         Two 14-ounce Cans Sweetened Condensed Milk

·         Kosher Salt or Sea Salt

·         2 Cups Heavy Cream

·         2 Tbs. Powdered Sugar

·         2 Tbs. Caramel Sundae Topping (Optional)

·         ¼ Cup Heath Bar Pieces (Optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a food processor, grind your pretzels to a near meal consistency.  Mix the pretzel crumbs with the melted butter and light brown sugar until the crumbs are moistened. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with baking spray, and press the mixture evenly into the pie plate. Bake for about 10 minutes, just until lightly browned. Let cool. Increase the oven temperature to 425°.

Scrape the condensed milk into a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish and sprinkle with a scant 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher or Sea Salt. Cover the dish with foil and place it in a roasting pan. Add enough hot water to the pan to reach one-third of the way up the side of the baking dish.

**NOTE:  If you do NOT own a roasting pan that will accommodate a 9-by-13 pan, you can substitute 2 loaf pans instead for the condensed milk, and place them in the 9-by-13 baking dish with the water as directed.

Bake the condensed milk, lifting the foil to stir 2 or 3 times until the condensed milk is golden and thickened, about 2 hours; add more water to the roasting pan as necessary. The consistency of the caramel should be like dulce de leche. Don’t worry if it is lumpy; it will smooth out as it chills.

Scrape the caramel filling into the pie crust, smoothing the top. Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with vegetable oil spray and cover the pie. Refrigerate until the filling is chilled and set, at least 4 hours.

In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream with the confectioners’ sugar until firm. Remove the plastic from the pie. Mound a small amount of the whipped cream on top of the pie and spread to the edges.  Drizzle with the caramel sundae topping sprinkle with a very small amount of salt.  Garnish with piped whipped cream around the edges and center,  Sprinkle with Heath Bar candy pieces if desired. 

STEAK & STILTON PIE

STEAK & STILTON PIE

Sometimes, inspiration for certain pies can come from the most unexpected places.  I was doing some pre-planning for a work-related function recently and was rather disenchanted with some catering options proposed by a venue.  As I continued to work on the event details, I thought about the options offered for a dinner reception and how one particular dish could be made BETTER!  Thus, Steak & Stilton Pie came to mind, and this recipe was the perfect solution to our Sunday “What’s for Dinner?”

Stilton, for those perhaps unfamiliar, is a variety of bleu cheese, usually from England.  It’s not a traditional style of bleu cheese that you may have in a dressing accompanying your atomic-grade spicy buffalo wings, or gently crumbled into a salad.  Stilton has a milder bleu cheese taste, but some seriously sophisticated flavor that pairs well and plays nicely with a number of other foods.  It’s the nice kid on the playground of cheeses that will ask you to share their sandwich or cupcake, if you will.

Our friends in England are no stranger to this combination.  In fact, a number of Anglophile friends were excited to hear this was going to be featured.  It’s a time honored English favorite, even lending itself into gastronomic fashion.  A good portion of trendy, fashionable steak houses will offer a lovely addition to your filet or preference of steak cut by adding crusts of peppercorn, horseradish, or even bleu cheese.  For those of you who have tried steak prepared that way, it’s a lovely addition!  Fortunately, you can capture that tangy, creamy taste with your choice of beef, and not spend a small fortune on a steakhouse prices.

STEAK & STILTON PIE:

·         Pre-made 2-crust pie recipe

·         1 Lb. Beef Sirloin, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

·         Kosher Salt & Cracked Black Pepper

·         1 tsp. Vegetable Oil

·         1 Tbs. Butter

·         1 Medium Onion, Finely Chopped

·         2 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme, Leaves Removed

·         2 Medium White Potatoes, Cut Into 1/4 Inch Pieces (About 3 Cups)

·         1/4 Cup Stout Lager

·         1/2 Pound Stilton Cheese, Crumbled

DIRECTIONS:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400[°]. Season  sirloin pieces with salt and pepper.   Heat vegetable oil in a large stainless steel skillet over high heat until shimmering.   Add meat and cook without moving until well browned on first side, about 4 minutes.  Flip with tongs and continue cooking until well browned on all sides, about 12 minutes total. Transfer meat to a large bowl and set aside.

Return skillet to medium-low heat – DO NOT DRAIN LIQUID!   Add butter and heat until melted. Add onions and thyme and cook, stirring frequently and scraping up any browned bits with a spoon, until onions have softened, about 10 minutes. Add diced potatoes and stout and cover skillet with a lid. Cook until potatoes are soft, about 8 minutes. Add potato mixture to reserved meat and allow to cool to room temperature then add crumbled stilton. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roll pie crust to 1/4-inch thickness.  Grease a 9-inch pie plate with baking spray, and place your pie crust dough into the plate.  Fill your pie crust with the beef and stilton mixture.  Roll out your second crust to ¼ inch thickness and place on top of filling.  Crimp/seal edges and pierce the top crust to allow for ventilation during baking time.  Allow to bake for 45 minutes, or until crust is an even, golden brown color.  Allow to cool for five minutes, then serve.

CHAI LATTE CREAM PIE

CHAI LATTE CREAM PIE

Several of my dear friends are major consumers of Chai.  One runs to it as her morning beverage in a creative and chaotic life in California, where she lives and works in Los Angeles, working as a talented actress, costume designer, and author.  Another, allows it to fuel her equally as creative and chaotic pursuits with her amazing life as a hard working mother of two amazing kids, who sometimes, are lucky enough to share with her as the bounce around the Western suburbs of Chicago.  Whether it’s West Coast or West Burbs, you’ll find that this Eastern treat combines the delicious, aromatic spices of Chai tea with the creaminess of a traditional cream based pie.

Chai spices aren’t exactly a favorite for everyone, however, if you haven’t had the flavor explosion that is Chai, I definitely recommend it.  Chai is generally comprised of rich, bold black tea spiced with cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper.  It’s extremely aromatic, and usually served hot or cold with steamed or cold milk.  It’s a very soothing, comforting beverage, and best of all – a great digestive aid!  So, for those rainy days when you’re ready to pull the blankets around you with a good book and pull up a cup, this beverage would be for you!  And if you like the flavors, you’re going to LOVE this pie!

Again, giving credit where it’s due, this recipe comes from Betty Crocker’s Big Book of Pie.  The spiced & sugared pecans used to garnish this pie came from a dear friend of mine, who made them once for a Thanksgiving dinner.  What can I say?  You get hooked on the little things, and this was a great pairing for those left over from a recent visit.  I chose to use these instead of the chopped pecans suggested in the recipe below, but either option are great!

CHAI LATTE CREAM PIE:

·         1 Pre-Made Pastry or Graham Cracker Crust

·         1 Cup Water

·         1 Package of Chai Tea Latte Mix  (About 1 Oz.)

·         1  10oz. Bag of Miniature Marshmallows

·         1 Tbs. Butter

·         2 Tbs. Caramel Sundae Topping

·         1 Pint Heavy Whipping Cream

·         ¼ Cup Pecans, Chopped

Prepare your pastry shell or graham cracker crust in advance, allowing it to cool completely before filling.

In a large saucepan, heat water to boiling over high heat.  Stir in Chai mix and reduce to a low heat.

Using a whisk, stir in marshmallows and butter until completely melted.  Stir in caramel syrup.  Remove from heat and refrigerate for about 30 min. until cool and thickened.

In a medium bowl, beat your heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks begin to form.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Fold whipped cream into cooled Chai mixture, mixing thoroughly.  Spoon mixture into pie shell.  Sprinkle with chopped pecans.  Refrigerate for 2 hours or until filling has set.

MOROCCAN CHICKEN PIE

MOROCCAN CHICKEN PIE

Every now and then, there’s nothing wrong with taking a time-honored favorite and putting a spin on it.  Most everyone has had a Chicken Pot Pie, but what if you took that delicious, classic dish and kicked it up a notch?  When I found this fantastic recipe in Betty Crocker’s Big Book of Pie, I knew it was something I had to try.  The combination of the filo dough, the subtle spiciness of the turmeric and cilantro, and the shredded chicken are perfect, even to the more sensitive palate. 

Now, a word to those who aren’t used to working with filo dough:   This is NOT puff pastry!  In fact, if you’ve never used it before, you’re in for a bit of an adventure.  Filo dough is most commonly found in your grocer's freezer section, and often remembered for its use in Greek dishes like Spanakopita and Baklava.  It’s a very light, super-flaky pastry dough, usually easy to work with, and always enhances dishes it’s used with, adding a little exotic touch to even the most basic of ingredients.

When you’re working with Filo, remember to not only fully thaw the pastry sheets, but make sure you place a damp towel over the unused sheets as you work.  Filo sheets are incredibly thin, and unless kept slightly moist, they will quickly dry out and become very brittle and break as you try to use them.

That aside, this is a great recipe for those nights when you’re looking for something different, not to complex, but definitely filling and delicious!

MOROCCAN CHICKEN PIE:

·         2 Tbs. Butter

·         1 Onion, Chopped

·         ½ tsp. Ground Cinnamon

·         ½ tsp. Ground Turmeric

·         2 Tbs. Flour

·         1 Cup Chicken Broth

·         1/3 Cup Raisins (Currants May Be Substituted)

·         3 Cups Shredded Rotisserie Chicken (Deli Variety is Perfect!)

·         ¼ Cup Fresh Cilantro, Chopped

·         ¼ tsp. Salt

·         ¼ tsp. Pepper

·         16 Sheets Frozen Filo Pastry, Thawed

·         ½ Cup Slivered Almonds, Finely Ground

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray.

In a skillet, melt butter and add onions.  Cook onions in butter for 5 – 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned.

Stir in cinnamon and turmeric.  Stir in flour, cooking for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Slowly stir in chicken broth and add raisins.  Heat mixture to boiling.

Remove from heat, and mix together spiced onion mixture with chicken, cilantro, salt & pepper.  Allow to cool slightly.

Place Filo sheets on a sheet of waxed paper or parchment on your counter top and cover with a clean, damp towel.  Place 1 Filo sheet into your pie plate, covering the bottom and angling up the sides, allowing any excess Filo to extend over the edges.  Lightly spray the Filo with cooking spray and sprinkle with 1 ½ teaspoons of ground almonds.  Repeat this process with 6 – 7 more layers of Filo sheets, alternating the direction of your sheets to ensure the pie plate bottom and sides are completely covered.

Take your slightly cooled spiced chicken mixture and spoon into pastry lined pie plate.  Using a pair of kitchen scissors, cut any excess Filo away from your pie plate edges.  Layer your 8 remaining Filo sheets over your filling in the same manner as your bottom crust, layering your 7 sheets with the cooking spray and almonds.

Fold all excess Filo dough of your top crust under, into the pie plate to form a “rustic” crust edge.  Spray top lightly with cooking spray and dust with ground almonds.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.

CHICAGO NORTH SHORE LOX & BAGELS QUICHE

CHICAGO NORTH SHORE LOX & BAGELS QUICHE

Let’s face it, there are a few favorite things that seem to be commonly enjoyed by my fellow North Shore Chicagoans.  Good Deli is definitely one of them.  In times of good fortune, as well as when comfort food is desperately needed, some turn to ice cream, others turn to a healthy dose of Pastrami, Corned Beef, Chopped Liver, or you guessed it, Bagels, Lox, & Shmeer.

Now, some of you may be reading this with the raised eyebrow thinking I’ve just rattled off something in Greek, or perhaps something else foreign, like Hebrew or Yiddish.  I throw the latter two in there because, well, let’s face it.  There’s an awful lot of Jews on the North Shore and Northern Suburbs of the Chicagoland area.  And we can thank them for a pretty awesome culinary addition – Bagels, Lox, & Shemeer.  For those not exactly familiar with this dish, you take a toasted bagel, spread (or shmeer) a ridiculous amount of regular or chive cream cheese, and top with thinly sliced smoked salmon (or Lox).  You can then enjoy this as a sandwich or open-faced, and garnish it with slices of red onion, capers, tomatoes, etc. 

I will grant that this isn’t “exclusively” a Chicago-born food, but it’s definitely enjoyed here, as well as other Jewish enclaves like New York, Philadelphia, etc.  So much so that it’s considered THE go-to item for catered brunches, social functions, Bar/Bat Mitzvah Kiddush luncheons, etc.  It’s fast, easy, and delicious.  If you haven’t tried it in the “usual” form described above, definitely do! 

So, what’s this mishegas from the boychik baleboste with the pies?  Well, sometimes, favorites like these lend themselves to a little unorthodox thinking and experimentation.  The results of this kind of experiment are a pretty awesome quiche!  Seriously.  You’ll plotz.  And that’s not just me kibitzing.

CHICAGO NORTH SHORE LOX & BAGELS QUICHE:

BAGEL CRUST:

·         1 ½  - 8 Oz. Bags of New York Style Bagel Chips, Garlic or Sesame Seed Flavored

·         4 Tbs. Parmesan Cheese, Finely Grated

·         1 tsp. Garlic Salt

·         1 ½ Cups Milk (2% or Whole Suggested)

·         12 Tbs. Unsalted Butter, Cut in 1-inch pieces

·         8 Tbs. Sugar

·         ¼ tsp Salt

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease up a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom.

In a food processor, puree bagel chips until very fine, resembling coarse bread crumbs.  Add Parmesan cheese and garlic salt.  Blend in food processor for 15 seconds.  Transfer to large mixing bowl.

Stir sugar & salt into crumbs.  In a sauce pan, bring milk and butter to simmer until butter has melted.  Remove from heat and pour butter-milk mixture over crumbs, and mix until all crumbs have been moistened.  The mixture will be sticky.  Allow to sit for 10 – 15 minutes.

Collect crumb mixture into a ball shape and place it in center of your tart pan.  With your fingertips, press your dough up the sides, forming a shell for your filling. The “walls” of your shell should be about ½ inch thick.

LOX & SHMEER QUICHE FILLING:

·         3      3oz. Packages of Nova Lox (Smoked Salmon), Sliced

·         1 Cup Red Onion, Chopped

·         1 5 Oz. Bag of Shredded Swiss Cheese

·         1 3 Oz. Bottle of Capers

·         3 Tbs. Parmesan Cheese

·         4 Eggs, Slightly Beaten

·         4 Oz. Cream Cheese (Cream Cheese With Chives Acceptable)

·         1 tsp. Chopped Chives

In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat together your eggs, Parmesan, Swiss, and Cream Cheeses, and chopped chives.  Add your sliced Lox, onion, and capers.  Mix well and pour into your tart shell.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and bake for 45 – 50 minutes, or until quiche top begins to turn a golden brown.

L’SHANA TOVA PIE

L’SHANA TOVA PIE

Each month of the year has its smattering of important holidays or commemorative events.  In September, the Jewish faith celebrates two:  Rosh Hashanah (The Jewish New Year), and Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement).  Now, before we move forward on this post:  NO!  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE JEWISH TO MAKE OR CONSUME THIS PIE!

That being said, please understand that I’m not going to offer some Rabbinic commentary or explanation of these holidays, the Jewish faith, or any of the idiosyncrasies of the culture and traditions.  Well….much.  What I WILL say is this:  A wonderful tradition around Rosh Hashanah holiday is the eating of apple slices in honey, which is done to symbolize wishes for “A Sweet New Year!”  Well, naturally, that got me thinking:  New Year = New PIE!

Fortunately, for my Jewish friends, Rosh Hashanah is the holiday of the two where you get to FEAST.  Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, requires you (if you’re able for multiple reasons) to fast for the day.  The “Breaking of the Fast” at the end of the day is cause for feasting, too,  so you could certainly enjoy this delicious pie then as well. 

As I said before, NO!  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE JEWISH TO MAKE OR CONSUME THIS PIE!  In fact, it’s a pretty amazing little pie that’s also perfect for fall as the seasons and leave change, the air gets a little crisper, and the delicious tastes of autumn come back to visit.  This pie has a great conglomerate of orchard fresh apples, sugar, spices, and a rich, yet delicate base of cream cheese.  It’s a great addition to a fall meal of a hearty soup, served with some hot, crusty bread, and maybe even a cold glass of apple cider. 

Whether you’re enjoying this as a wonderful addition to High Holy Days menu, or as an additional new fall favorite, it’s pretty amazing!  To my Jewish friends “L’SHANA TOVA!” (Happy New Year), and to everyone Welcome to Autumn!!

L’SHANA TOVA PIE:

For Apple Filling:  (**NOTE:  This Needs to Be Made 24 Hours in Advance of Using With This Pie!**)

·         4 Large Red Delicious Apples, Sliced & Chopped

·         2 Tbs. of Honey

·         1 ½ Cups Pecans, Chopped

·         1 ½ Cups of Dried Currants

·         1 Cup of Chopped Dates

·         1 Cup of Dark Brown Sugar

·         1 Tbs. Cinnamon

·         1 tsp. Cloves

·         1 tsp. Allspice

·         1 tsp. Nutmeg

·         1 Bottle Blackberry Kosher Wine (Manischewitz Brand is perfect)

DIRECTIONS:

Core, slice, and chop your 4 apples.  Place your apple pieces into a large mixing bowl, and cover with half the bottle of blackberry wine.  Stir your apples, covering with wine with your spoon as you add them.  Add all of your dry ingredients – pecans, currants, and dates – and mix together.  In a separate bowl, combine your brown sugar and spices.  Add the spiced sugar mix to the apples, and stir until well blended.  Add any remaining wine until well covered.  With a large spoon, press mixture down until nearly all the mixture is covered and level.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight, or at least 6-8 hours.

For Cream Cheese Filling:

·         1 8oz. Brick of Cream Cheese, Softened

·         1/3 Cup Sugar

·         1 Egg

·         1 tsp. Vanilla (or spiced wine mixture from apples)

DIRECTIONS:

In a mixing bowl, blend the softened cream cheese and the sugar, beating until fluffy.  Add the egg and the vanilla (or spiced wine mixture), mix completely.

PIE CREATION DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare a 9-inch pie crust in advance.  With a strainer, strain your spiced apple mixture, reserving the liquid.  Measure out 2 Cups worth of the spiced apple mixture, and add to the cream cheese.  Mix well, blending the spiced apples into the cream cheese.  Pour all into your pie shell.

Bake pie in pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.  Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for another 50 – 60 minutes until filling is no longer jiggly, and set completely.

You may wish to use a pie shield, or cover the crust edge during baking, removing it for the last 10 minutes to ensure avoiding burning.

Allow pie to cool completely for at least 2 hours before serving.  This can be garnished with whipped cream and sprinkled with cinnamon before serving.

GOOD HARVEST:  THE FRUITS OF SUMMER

As we round the seasonal corner to Labor Day weekend, bringing summer to a close, I wanted to take some extra time with this point to concentrate on a fantastic element of summers in the Midwest:  Summer Fruit!

I’m a Great Lakes region guy, which means summer always seems to have a plethora of great produce.  From orchard fresh peaches and cherries, to road-side farm stand sweet corn, asparagus, and berries, there’s never a lack of great offerings.  For those of us in states like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, the season brings with it a bounty of great foods for canning, preserves, and yes, PIES!

One of the best sources for these delicious seasonal gems is your local farmer’s market.  As a Northern Illinois resident, I’m always thrilled to attend my hometown farmer’s market to explore the offerings of my local and not-so-local farmers and foodstuff providers.  Over several visits, if you’re lucky, you end up building some great relationships with these vendors.  They’re amazing folks who take great pride in what they do, and have excellent merchandise at very reasonable prices.  Take the time to check out yours, even if it’s just for an hour sometime.  You may walk away with a jar of locally harvested honey, a jug of the best home pressed apple cider, or even some jaw dropping vanilla peach preserves.  Do yourself and your community a favor:  Shop Local.  Eat Local.  Live Local.  Support your local farmers and artisans!

Alright.  Soapbox aside, let’s talk pie.  Some of the best Midwestern regional summer fruits are cherries, peaches, blueberries, and strawberries.  One additional seasonal favorite is rhubarb, which when used with a combination of fruits or doctored up with a good amount of sweetener, can be pretty amazing.  Uses of these are limitless, and can be changed in hundreds of different varieties and ways.  I’ve chosen with this post to cover not only some of the basic and time honored favorites of these fruits, but also to elaborate a little more on pie toppers!

Our selections for this posting are:

·         Cherry With Lattice Crust Top

·         Blueberry Two-Crust

·         Peach Streusel Crumb Top

·         Strawberry Rhubarb Open Face

To explain a bit more on these pie topping styles, and there will be more coverage of these styles in future posts, let me clarify quickly what these styles actually mean in basic terms:

Lattice Crust:

A lattice crust top is a series of cut pastry dough strips woven in an open-weave style over the top of a pie, with the ends tucked under the crust edges.

Two-Crust Pie:

Just as the name suggests, a two-crust pie is comprised of a bottom crust inside the pie plate, which is then filled with your choice of filling, and then covered with a second crust.  The edges of both crusts are then pressed together, or sealed, with a crimping, pinching, or other method.  (There will be future posts on edge finishing and sealing methods coming soon!)

Streusel or Crumb Topping:

Streusel or crumb toppings is an easily made, delicious finish to pies.  It’s usually a combination of sugar, flour, and some cold shortening, usually butter or margarine.  You combine your dry ingredients, then cut in your shortening with two knives or a pastry cutter.  The desired consistency should look like pea-shaped crumbles, and can be sprinkled over your pie filling before baked.

Concentrating on our four pies, here are our recipes:

**PLEASE NOTE:  For all pie crust shells, unless otherwise specified, are a standard pastry-style pie crust and should be made in advance of your filling.  Store-bought, premade crusts may be used if preferred.

CHERRY LATTICE PIE:

·         1 1/4 Cups Sugar

·         3 Tbs. Cornstarch

·         1/4 tsp. Salt

·         1 Tbs. Butter, Softened

·         4 Cups of Fresh Cherries, pitted  (2  14.5 Oz. Cans Pitted Tart Cherries, Drained and Reserving 1/2 Cup Juice may be used)

·         1/4 tsp. Red Food Coloring

·         1/4 tsp. Almond Extract

·         2 tsp. Lemon Juice

·         1 pastry for a double-crust 9-inch pie

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and pit cherries.  If using canned or frozen, thaw and drain cherries, reserving 1/2 cup juice.

Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Combine cherry juice, food coloring, almond extract and lemon juice.  Add to dry ingredients, mixing well.  Add cherries and mix well again.  Let stand for 15 minutes.

Pour cherry mixture into pie crust and place a few small pieces of butter on top of fruit.  Finish top with lattice work pie crust.  Bake for 50 to 55 minutes.

BLUEBERRY TWO-CRUST PIE:

·         1 Pastry for a Double Crust 9-inch Pie

·         3/4 Cup Sugar

·         1/2 All-Purpose Flour

·         1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

·         6 Cups Blueberries

·         1 Tbs. Lemon Juice

·         1 Tbs. Butter or Margarine

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In large bowl, mix sugar, 1/2 cup flour and the cinnamon.   Stir in blueberries.  Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate.  Sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over blueberry mixture.  Sprinkle with lemon juice.   Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over blueberries.  Cover with top pastry that has slits cut in it; seal or flute edge.  Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of foil or pie shield to prevent excessive browning.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Cool on cooling rack at least 2 hours.

PEACH STREUSEL CRUMB TOPPED PIE:

Filling:

·         3/4 Cup Sugar  (Brown, White, or Combination)

·         1/3 to 1/2 Cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

·         1/8 tsp. Salt

·         6 Cups Fresh Peach Slices (About 10 Peeled Peaches, Sliced)

·         1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

·         1/4 tsp. Almond Extract

·         1 Tbs. Lemon Juice

Streusel Crumb Topping:

·         3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

·         3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour

·         1/2 Cup Rolled Oats

·         1/2 Cup Pecans or Walnuts

·         1/4 tsp. Salt

·         1/2 Cup Butter, Softened

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix the sugar, thickener, and salt. Toss with the peaches, extracts, and lemon juice. Spoon into the crust.

Make the topping by combining the brown sugar, flour, oats, and nuts, then mixing in the soft butter until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle the topping over the filling.

Place the pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, reduce the oven heat to 350°F, and bake for 40 minutes more, until the filling bubbles. Cover the edges of the pie with foil or a pie shield if they brown too quickly.

You can also shield the streusel with foil if it's over-browning.  Remove the pie from the oven, and cool it completely before slicing.

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE:

·         1 Cup Sugar

·         2 Tbs. All-Purpose Flour

·         1 tsp. Orange Zest

·         1/4 tsp. Salt

·         4 Cups Rhubarb, Trimmed and Cut into 1” & 1⁄2” pieces

·         3 Cups Strawberries, trimmed and cut into quarters

·         2 Tbs. Unsalted Butter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Combine the granulated sugar, flour, and salt in a large bowl.  Remove 2 tablespoons and set aside.

Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of the sugar/flour mixture into the bottom of your pie crust.  Toss the rhubarb and strawberry pieces in the remaining sugar mixture; set aside. 
Pour the rhubarb filling evenly into the pie pan.  Dot with 2 Tablespoons of butter.  Cover the pie evenly with the crumb mixture.  Place the pie on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and put into the oven for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven heat to 350° and bake for 35-45 minutes longer until the juices are thick and bubbly.
Remove from the oven and allow the pie to cool for at least 4 hours.