Tag Archives: pie

Apple Pie

Posted on by under desserts

I adore pie (pie > cake any day of the week) but I’m not that great at making it. The real trouble arises when I try to crimp the edges of the pie crust. I just can’t seem to get the hang of it.

My Aunt Debbie, an expert pie maker and my personal pie mentor, led a pie bootcamp for me a few years ago.  We spent the afternoon in her kitchen and she coached me in the basics of pie baking from crimping to lattice work. Unfortunately, years later it still doesn’t come naturally to me.

But here’s the saving grace in my pie game – struesel topping. It’s delicious and will cover up any unsightly crust errors. Plus, it’s a cinch to make – just crumble together butter, sugar and flour and dump it on top of your pie.

This apple pie recipe is adapted from my pie-guru Aunt and makes the perfect fall dessert. The crust is flaky and delicious, the apple filling stays perfectly in place when you slice it and it’s got all of the delicious fall spices. Your friends will ooh and ahh over the fact that you made a pie from scratch (I promise it’s not hard!) and it makes the perfect end to a fall dinner.

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Apple Pie 

Adapted from Aunt Debbie

For the crust: 

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ T powdered sugar

1/8 t salt

6 T unsalted margarine or butter

2 ¼ T Crisco

2-4 ½ T cold water

 

For the apple filling:

6-8 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and sliced

3/4 c granulated sugar

3 T flour

1 t cinnamon

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

½ lemon, zested

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the streusel topping: 

2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup softened unsalted butter or margarine

1/3 cup granulated sugar

 

To make the pie crust: 

Put flour, margarine or butter cut into chunks, powdered sugar, salt, and Crisco into a food processor. Pulse off and on, until crumbly.  Then add water, 1 T at a time, through the top, while pulsing, until a ball forms. Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for ½ hour or more.

Lightly flour 2 pieces of waxed paper. Remove ball of pie dough from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature – about an hour. Flatten ball slightly and using a rolling pin, roll to a thin round disk. Disk should extend one inch beyond the sides of an 8 or 9 inch pie pan. Fold the dough in half using your rolling pin and place in your pie dish and unfold it. Form a “standing ridge” around the sides of the pie pan by folding the extra pastry under, and then flute the edge. Consult YouTube for further instructions.

Assembling your pie:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the apples with the sugar, flour, spices, salt, lemon zest and juice. Pour apple mixture into your pie crust. Cover apples with streusel topping.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Then turn temperature down to 350 degrees and bake for 45-55 minutes or until apples are tender. Took me a good 1:15 to get the top nice and golden and apples tender.

Key Lime Pie

Posted on by under desserts

Meal prepping is a lifestyle that’s just not right for me.  I respect the practice and know it has a lot of merit but it’s kind of depressing. First of all, who wants to spend a Sunday night boiling eggs and washing and chopping vegetables? The sunday scaries are hard enough.  Plus, you’re basically eating leftovers for a week straight. It sparks no joy in me. And if we were Marie Kondo-ing my life, we’d eliminate meal prep for this very reason.

At the opposite end of the spectrum in a place far away from 3-day old grilled chicken and quinoa is key lime pie. It’s decadent. It’s tropical. It’s fun!  It’s everything that meal prep is not and that’s why you should make one this week. 

Besides for the muscle required in juicing 10 limes, key lime pie is pretty easy to make. And the payoff is huge. Perfectly tart custard piled high with whipped cream all nestled in a buttery graham cracker crust. It’s sheer perfection as Mary Berry would say if she tasted a slice of my pie.

I used Alison Roman’s recipe from her cookbook, Dining In. This cookbook has quickly become a favorite – and I’m a discerning cookbook scholar. For the topping, Roman combines freshly whipped cream and Greek yogurt which yields a delightful tart yet rich topping which complements the lime nicely. She also uses coconut oil (in addition to butter) in the graham cracker crust for a nice tropical island vibe. Crank the heat in your apartment, turn on the reggae channel on Pandora and eat a slice of this pie on a Sunday night. It’s way better than meal prepping, I promise.

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Key Lime Pie

From Alison Roman’s Dining In

Crust
10 graham crackers
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
A pinch of kosher salt

Filling
4 large egg yolks
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons lime zest, plus more for garnish
1 cup lime juice, about 10 limes
Pinch of kosher salt

Topping
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt


Preheat oven to 350°. Using your hands, crush graham crackers in a large bowl until coarsely ground. You can also use a food processor but don’t pulverize it; you want some nice texture.  Add the butter, coconut oil, sugar, and salt and mix until well blended. Press the crust evenly in a 9″ pie dish. Use your fingers and work the crust up the sides of the pie dish. Bake crust, until lightly golden brown about 10 minutes. Let the pie crust cool while you make the filling.


Using an electric mixer on medium speed or a whisk beat the egg yolks until pale and light – about 5 minutes. Add in the sweetened condensed milk and beat for another 3 minutes until mixture is pale and frothy.  Whisk in the lime zest, juice, and salt. Pour into the crust. Bake pie until filling barely jiggle in the center – about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.


Whip cream and powdered sugar in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. Add in the yogurt and mix until just combined. Top the cooled pie with the cream leaving the outer rim exposed for a nice contrast. Garnish pie with lime zest.

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