Lemon Meringue Pie

This post is a hard one to write but I figured today was a fitting day to write it. My grandma passed away this past spring. She was such a wonderful woman and it was one of the hardest moments of my life. She has been in my life for 39 years, took care of me when I was younger and continued to be there for me every step of the way. There are times when I start to think "I can't wait to talk to Gram about this" and then it hits me, I can't do that anymore... I'm not the first one to lose a loved one and I know that I'm not the only one that has that feeling, but it's my grief and it feels like I'm alone at times.

Everything happened quite quickly. One minute she was at home with my Grandpa and I was stopping over dropping off meals and treats and the next minute she was in the hospital. She came home and never made it back out of her hospital bed. That's a hard pill to swallow. In my mind, she never stopped. She was that grandma that was out mowing the lawn at 80... It was really hard to see her laid up in a hospital bed.

As she was in the hospital she told me that she was craving lemon meringue pie. She was a huge sweets fan. I know that I definitely inherited this from her! :) This has never been a favorite of mine, I'm not too partial to meringue, but I knew that this was one thing that I could give her. I came home and found a recipe for lemon meringue and made it for her. By the time that she got home she wasn't eating much, but it was my pleasure to be able to make what she wanted - even if she only enjoyed a bite of it... For my Gram it was the least I could do. So, enjoy... I don't think that I will ever see lemon meringue pie again without thinking of her.

Lemon Meringue Pie
(recipe found at http://www.rockrecipes.com)

Filling
1/3 cup corn starch
1/3 cup flour
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 egg yolks, slightly beaten
Zest of 2 large lemons, very finely chopped
Juice of 2 large lemons
2 cups water
3 tablespoon butter

Meringue
5 egg whites
11/4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

To make the pastry, using a food processor or a pastry blender cut cold butter into flour and salt until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Small pieces of butter should still be visible. Pour cold water over the mixture and work in by tossing with a fork until dough begins to form. Use your hands as little as possible and work the dough as little as possible. Divide dough into 2 balls, flatten into 2 rounds, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes. You can freeze the second round for another time. You can make your dough the previous day but make sure you take it out of the fridge for 10 minutes to warm slightly before rolling out. Roll the dough into a 12 inch round and place in the bottom of a 10 inch pie plate. Trim and flute the edges as desired. Poke a few holes in the bottom of the pastry shell, rest in the refrigerator for an additional 20 minutes before baking at 400 for 12–15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before adding the filling.

To make the filling, in a medium saucepan, combine corn starch, cake flour, sugar and salt. Pour in water and stir constantly over medium low heat until mixture comes to a slow boil. The mixture should be very thick and paste-like at this point. Continue to cook, stirring constantly for another couple of minutes if necessary. Remove the pan from the heat and reduce the flame to low. Pour about a cup of this mixture onto the slightly beaten egg yolks while whisking constantly. Pour the egg mixture back into the rest of the other mixture in the pot, whisking constantly. Return to the stove and cook for an additional 3 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and lemon rind. Finally whisk in your butter one tbsp at a time. Pour the filling into the baked and cooled shell. Let stand for a few minutes while preparing the meringue.

To prepare the meringue, whip egg whites, vanilla, salt and cream of tarter to soft peaks. Very gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat the egg whites. Dollop in heaping tablespoonfuls onto pie. Gently spread over the filling, making sure that the meringue touches the crust all the way around the pie. This will help to prevent the meringue from shrinking. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes or until the meringue is well browned. Cool pie thoroughly in the refrigerator before serving. Keep refrigerated. Dip a sharp knife in cold water to help with cutting the pie into slices and clean the knife with paper towel between cuts.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Pie

My Grandpa turned 90 last week and I offered to make a meal for him, my Grandma and a few of their friends... He is obsessed with ice cream cake/pie, so I knew that I wanted to find some kind of ice cream dessert to make for him. This was a new one that I wanted to try, so I made it and sent it over. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) it was so good that they ate it all and I didn't get even a little taste of it! I did taste test as I went and it seemed like it would be pretty delicious... Guess I will have to make another batch up to get the official taste test for myself. But, I will definitely go on the word of the 8 that celebrated with my Grandpa and guess that it was pretty fantastic!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Pie
(recipe found on pinterest via lifeloveandsugar.com)

COOKIE DOUGH
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon milk
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

CRUST
15-20 oreos
1/4 cup butter, melted

FILLING
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
8 ounces cool whip, thawed
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, divided

COOKIE DOUGH - Cream butter, sugar and dark brown sugar together. Mix in vanilla. Add flour and milk and mix thoroughly. The dough will be thick. I needed to add a bit more milk to get the dough to come together. Mix in the chocolate chips. Roll the dough into little balls that are between 1/2 and 3/4 inch in diameter and then cut them either in half or fourths after they are frozen. Freeze the balls of dough. CRUST - Crush oreos into a fine crumb. Mix the oreo crumbs with the melted butter. Press into the bottom of a greased 9 or 10 inch pie pan. Set in the freezer while you make the filling. FILLING - Mix cream cheese, sugar and brown sugar together with a mixer until smooth. Add cool whip and mix thoroughly. Stir in 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips and about 3/4 of the frozen cookie dough balls. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Top with remaining cookie dough balls and 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips. Allow to freeze completely before serving.

Pecan Pie

My in laws moved into a new house a couple of years ago and along with the house they have a grove of pecan trees. It was fun to walk out to the trees, pick up a few pecans and be able to eat them fresh from the tree. It was fabulous! I got a sweet surprise from my mother in law when she sent me a package filled with pecans from their yard. How I loved that! So, you know one of the first recipes that I had to make involved a pecan pie!! It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself! :) Pure sugar baby...

Pecan Pie
(recipe found on pinterest via babble.com)

2 cups pecan halves
1 cup packed brown sugar
2-4 Tablespoon butter, melted
3 large eggs
3/4 cup corn syrup
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the pecans on a baking sheet and toast them for 5-7 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until they are fragrant. Keep a close eye on them so that they don’t burn. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, butter, eggs, corn syrup, vanilla and salt; stir until well blended and smooth, making sure you get rid of any lumps of brown sugar. Stir in the pecans and pour the mixture into the crust. Bake the pie for 50-60 minutes, until the filling is slightly puffed and set. If the pastry is browning too quickly, cover the pie loosely with a piece of foil. Cool it completely on a wire rack before serving at room temperature.

Fluffy Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

I tried this pie at my mom's house and I just knew that I had to have it again! So, since Thanksgiving was at my house this year and one of the things that I was in charge of was the pies, I decided to make it for then... It went over just as well at my house as it did at my mom's!! Yummy!

Fluffy Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
(recipe found at www.readycrust.com)

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
1 extra serving size graham cracker crust

In a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese on medium speed of electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and spice. Beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until just combined after each addition. Stir in pumpkin. Pour into crust. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Pie

This was a treat that I made for the hubs one night on his birthday weekend... yes, you heard me right - birthday weekend. He tries for a birthday month but I don't let him get away with that. He usually doesn't get a birthday weekend either, but he likes to think that he does! :) He is a big UFC fight fan and there was a fight the weekend of his birthday. So, we hooked up with some friends to watch the fight and eat some delicious pie! Definitely not a low cal treat...



Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Pie
(recipe found at http://www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/)

45 oreo cookies
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 half gallon cookies and cream ice cream, softened
1 cup hot fudge
1/2 of an 8 ounces container of cool whip
mini chocolate chips (optional)

Take out ice cream to soften before working with it. Put 30 oreos into food processor. Grind into fine crumbs and pour into small mixing bowl. Add melted butter and stir to combine. Press into a deep 9" pie plate.

Put remaining oreo cookies into food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Add to ice cream and fold. Spread ice cream out evenly over crust. Carefully spoon hot fudge onto the ice cream and spread around. Layer with cool whip. Cover and place in freezer for at least 4 hours.

Remove from freezer at least 10 minutes before serving.

NOTE: My pie was a big old mess when I was in the process of making it - I knew it was going to happen, but I did it anyway. The fudge was too hot and there was too much ice cream underneath. This led to the ice cream melting and both the ice cream and fudge ran EVERYWHERE... So, I would recommend freezing that ice cream layer a bit before adding the fudge layer and letting the fudge cool a little bit before you pour it onto the ice cream... Don't worry - it still tasted fabulous!!

Swedish Apple Pie

This pie was easy to throw together, not so easy to get out of the pan though so I am glad that I took a picture of the whole pie instead of a piece of it! :) The taste was pretty good, but I would definitely leave out the raisins next time... They just didn't taste good to me, but I am not a huge, have to have raisins fan!! So, if you are, try it with the raisins and see what you think! :)

Swedish Apple Pie

Filling:
2/3 cups raisins
3 medium apples (about 2 2/3 cups), peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping:
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (optional)

Heat oven to 350. Place raisins in a small bowl, cover them with hot water and microwave them on high until they become plump, about 20-30 seconds. Drain the raisins, then combine them with the apple slices. Transfer the fruit to a 9 inch pie pan (it should be no more then 2/3 full). In a small bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkle the mixture over the fruit.

To make the topping, first melt the butter or margarine and set it aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt and egg until they are evenly blended. Whisk in the butter or margarine, then spread the topping over the fruit and sprinkle on the nuts. Bake the pie until golden brown, about 40 minutes. Serve it warm, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if you like.

Blueberries and Cream Pie

Before I froze all my blueberries, I just had to make a pie out of some of them! I found this recipe that I have had for ages and haven't tried yet and decided to make it. I had all the ingredients, but no crust, so I hopped on-line and found a crust recipe... Not too excited about the crust, but I will share the pie recipe - cause it was DELISH!!

Blueberries and Cream Pie
(recipe found at copykat.com)
Serves: 8

1 unbaked pie shell
4 cups blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400. Rinse berries and pick out any undesireable ones. After the berries have drained and are somewhat dry, pour them into the pastry shell. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the milk and the whipping cream, whisk until smooth. Pour over the berries and bake for 45 minutes. After about 30 minutes you may want to cover the edges of the crust with foil if it is getting too dark. Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate 2 hours before serving.

Frozen Pink Lemonade Pie

Of course when you have that many people over for steak dinner, you have to have dessert! I think that is a prerequisite in my book... As soon as I start planning a bunch of people coming over for supper, my first though is "What can I make for dessert?" Since it has been so warm, I wanted to try a new recipe I found at www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com Sorry, no pictures with this one either, I promise the next recipe will come with photos! :)

Frozen Pink Lemonade Pie

2 quarts vanilla ice cream
1 large can pink lemonade concentrate (mine was thawed)
5 drops red food coloring (optional)
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (2 packages)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons melted butter
dash of salt

Take your ice cream out of the freezer to let soften a bit while you are making the crust. (or you could use premade graham cracker crusts if you want to skip this step!) To make your graham cracker crumbs, place all the graham crackers in a zip lock bag and rolling over it with a rolling pin. For the crust, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, butter and dash of salt in a small mixing bowl. Smash all the ingredients together with a fork until well combined. Press them into 2 pie plates.

Place the softened ice cream, food coloring and frozen concentrate into a large mixing bowl, or your Kitchen Aid. (I used my Kitchen Aid, even though the recipe said that this could be trouble for the mixer. It worked perfectly for me and had no troubles - I love my new Kitchen Aid.... IT IS A WORKHORSE!!!) Mix these all together until smooth. Pour half of the ice cream mixture into each pie crust. Wrap with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 6 hours. When you are ready to serve, let the pie sit out of the freezer for about 10 minutes so it is easier to cut.