crash course in cream pies

8/3/2019 Crash Course in Cream Pies

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Crash Course in PiesFeb. 2010 Rhonda Hair (801) 280-4253

Tips for making pie crust:

*Use all-purpose flour or pastry flour, not bread flour. Bread flour will make the crust shrink worse.You can substitute out some flour for whole wheat or nut flours. Make it plain the first couple times.*Butter gives the best flavor but doesnt hold shape as well, shortening gives more tender flakiness &

dough is easier to handle, lard is the flakiest. You can use a combination.

*Everything has a pro and con- decide whats most important to you- flakiness, shrinkage, flavor, speed,whatever. It doesnt have to be perfect unless youre trying to prove something.

*To measure water- bottom of meniscus (the curved skin of the water )is what should be at the

measuring line.

*If you get big bubbles in the crust when it bakes, afterwards press down gently with a kitchen towel;the bubbles will settle.

*To make ahead: The baked crust can be stored at room temperature, wrapped tightly in aluminum foil,

for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to a month. Thaw before using.

Basic Pie Crust modified BH&G recipe- makes 1 crust1 c. all-purpose flour, stirred & spooned in 1/3 c.shortening or 6 T. cold butter, in slices

tsp. salt c. cold water- you may not need it all

Combine c. of the flour, the salt, and shortening or butter. Mix with a beater or food processor about

30 seconds, or until it makes a paste and just starts to clump. Add remaining flour and mix or pulse justuntil evenly distributed, 4-6 quick pulses. Sprinkle with water, a fourth at a time, and lightly mix until it

holds together when you grab a handful. If you dont need all of it, thats good. Form into a ball, flatten

slightly, cover with plastic wrap, and chill 30 minutes or up to 2 days. Or wrap really well and freeze itfor a couple months. Chilling the dough helps the gluten relax, re-firm the fat, reduce stickiness, and it

keep from shrinking as it bakes. Roll out on floured surface, rolling from center outward, sprinkling with

flour as needed to keep from sticking. Lift and rotate dough a few times to keep it from sticking to the

counter. The less you handle it the more tender it will be- the dough likes COLD and QUICK. Liftwithout stretching the dough and fit it into the pan. Trim from edge- scissors are your friend!- fold

edge under, make a pretty edge, chill again if you want to give it the best chance of not shrinking, and

bake if needed. To blind bake, prick the bottom of crust, line with foil, fill with something heavy likebeans, wheat, or pennies, and bake at 450 degrees 5 minutes. Remove foil and weights, and bake 5-7

minutes or until golden. Cool on a rack. You can reuse the weights, and the beans/wheat can still be

cooked/ground and eaten.

Basic Pie Crust makes 4-5 crusts5 c. flour, stirred & spooned to measure 1 1/3 c. shortening or 3 sticks cold butter, sliced

1 tsp. salt -1 c. cold water

1-2 Tbsp. sugar, opt.

Combine 3 cups of the flour, the salt, and shortening. Mix to form a paste, stir in remaining flour just to

evenly distribute. Sprinkle in water 1 Tbsp. at a time, tossing lightly, until it holds together when yougrab it. Form into 4 balls, flatten, wrap, and chill. Roll out and fit to the pan without stretching the

dough.


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Stabilized whipped cream- will not go runny pint whipped cream (8 oz) tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. sugaror c. powdered sugar 1 tsp. Ultra Gel OR 1 tsp. unflavored gelatin

If using Ultra Gel, stir it with the sugar, then add cream and vanilla and whip until stiff. Spread or pipeonto pie. If using gelatin, put it with a tablespoon of water, let it sit a minute to soften, then microwave

for 12 seconds to dissolve it. Whip cream, sugar, and vanilla until they start to thicken a little, thenslowly pour gelatin in while still beating. Whip until stiff.

Basic Cream Pie- makes 1 (9) pie2 c. milkor 1 c. + 12 oz. can c. cornstarch or c. flouror 2T c.s. & c. flour

tsp. salt 5 large egg yolks or 3 yolks + 1 whole or 2 whole eggs

2/3 c. sugar 1 tsp. vanilla2 Tbsp. butter, cut in 4 pieces

Heat milk in a saucepan on med-hi heat, stirring occasionally. When it is nearly simmering, in a

medium-sized bowl mix the sugar and cornstarch together. Whisk in the eggs until smooth. When the

milk is simmering, gradually whisk some of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, enough to heat up theeggs. Put this mixture back into the simmering pan, then reduce heat to medium and whisk constantly

until 3-4 bubbles break the surface and the mixture is thickened, about a minute. Remove from heat and

whisk in vanilla and butter. Pour into a baked and cooled crust, cover with the plastic wrap on thesurface (this prevents a skin forming on your filling), and chill at least 3 hours.

Basic Cream Pie- makes four 9 pies or five 8 pies

10 c. milkor 4 c. + 4 (12) oz. cans 1 c. cornstarch or 2 c. flouror c. c.s. & 1 c. flour

1 tsp. salt 20 large egg yolks or 12 yolks + 4 whole or 8 whole2 2/3 c. sugar 2 Tbsp. vanilla

1 stick of butter, cut in piecesFollow directions as above, but when youre done, pour into 4 pie crusts, or split into different bowls

and make your new flavors. If you like to measure, this gives you 3 c. filling per pie.

Pie ideas: each is for one pie

Vanilla Cream Pie: exactly as written, top with meringue or whipped cream.

Banana Caramel Pie: ooh, so many possibilities! (1) drizzle bananas with caramel topping before

putting filling on top. After covering with cream/meringue, drizzle more caramel on. OR (2)putbananas on bottom, stir 4 crushed Skor bars into filling. Save a little bit of them to put on top of the

cream/meringue for garnish. OR (3) Cook a can of sweetened condensed milk until thick and brown-

cover with boiling water for 2 hours or open & microwave for about 6-7 minutes. Slice bananas onbottom, cover with this caramel, then put on filling. Or leave it off and just do the caramel and bananas.

Top with whipped cream and a bit more caramel.


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Banana Cream Pie: slice 2-3 bananas onto the piecrust, pour filling over top. Cover with meringue or

whipped cream.

Butterscotch Pie: Make this one separately: follow recipe except- start by browning the 2 Tbsp. butter-heat & stir over med-low until it just starts to brown but not burn. Use all brown sugar in place of

regular sugar.

Coconut Cream Pie: (1)-simplest - stir in c. fine flake coconut (or run c. of regular bagged coconut

through your blender/food processor to make little bits) and tsp. coconut extract. OR (2) most realcoconut flavor- cook this pie by itself, using 1 c. milk with 1 (12-14 oz.) can of regular (not light)

coconut milk and c. fine flake coconut. Top with meringue or cream, or chill, whip, and sweeten a

can of coconut cream. Follow instructions for regular whipped cream. Top with toasted fine flake

coconut. Try it with a graham crust with c. fine coconut mixed in.

Chocolate Cream Pie: (1) stir in - c. cocoa mixed with 2-4 Tbsp. sugar OR (2) 1-4 squares

unsweetened chocolate; add sugar to taste and stir until melted OR (3) 2 to 8 oz. (1/3 c. to 1 1/3 cups)

semisweet chocolate chips; stir until melted. Top with whipped cream and chocolate curls, chocolatesprinkles, or little chocolate chips.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie: (1)Stir c. peanut butter into the chocolate filling, (2) Make peanut

butter crumbs: c. peanut butter mixed with c. powdered sugar. Sprinkle on bottom of pie crust,

saving a bit for the top. Top with chocolate filling. (3) for a more firm and creamy peanut butter layer,use c. PB, 1 c. powdered sugar, and 6 oz softened butter. (4) Make a half batch each Peanut Butter

pie filling and chocolate cream filling- spread one, then the other in the pie crust to make 2 layers. For

any of these versions, top with meringue or whipped cream and one or all of the following: chocolate

curls, peanuts, chocolate sprinkles, a drizzle of melted peanut butter, melted chocolate, chocolate syrupor hot fudge sauce, some of the peanut butter crumb mix, chocolate chips.

Cookies and Cream Pie: Stir in 1 c. broken chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos) to vanilla cream

filling.

Eggnog Pie: stir tsp. nutmeg into the filling, top with meringue or whipped cream and a sprinkle ofnutmeg. If youre making just the one pie, use eggnog in place of half of the milk, reduce sugar down to

about cup or to taste. Dont add nutmeg except on the top.

Peanut Butter Pie: Stir c. creamy peanut butter into the filling. Top with meringue or whipped

cream and some toasted peanuts for garnish.

Strawberries and Cream Pie: Mix together 2 Tbsp. cornstarch and c. sugar. Stir in 10 oz. frozenstrawberries, thawed, with their juices (or mash 10 oz. fresh strawberries), microwave 2 minutes or until

boiling and thickened. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice or orange juice if the strawberries need more

flavor. Spread over top of a vanilla cream pie. Top with whipped cream; garnish with some slicedstrawberries or one whole one. Also yummy to stir in 2-3 oz. of softened cream cheese into the cream

filling. Try other fruits, too- make blueberry & cream, peaches & cream, raspberries, mandarin

oranges, whatever sounds good.


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*Preparing Pumpkin for Recipes*Thoroughly clean exterior of pumpkin, then clean out seeds and pulp. Chop the pumpkin into 1-2"pieces. (Peeling is not necessary, but will eliminate flecks of brighter color, as well as some of those

vitamins and minerals! If you wish to peel it, this can be done either before or after cooking.) Placepumpkin in a large pan with 1-3 cups of water, depending on the amount of pumpkin to be cooked.

Cover, bring to a boil, and let simmer until tender (20+ minutes, depending on the size of pieces). Addwater as needed to keep from boiling dry. When done, fill blender - 3/4 full. Add only enough water

to make a puree, about 1/4 c. per 3-4 cups pumpkin pieces. If refrigerating the puree, use within a few

days, or freeze and label. Frozen pumpkin will stay good for as long as you can keep it from gettingfreezer-burned. Use heavy ziplock bags or plastic storage containers. Pumpkin can also be baked like

winter squash (since it is one), then the flesh scooped out of the rind. Yields about 2 cups puree per

pound of raw pumpkin.Helpful hint: small- and medium-sized pumpkins are the best for cooking. Very large pumpkins tend to

be less sweet and more watery.

*Pumpkin Pie*-makes one 9 pie

2 cups pumpkin tsp. ginger

1 can evaporated milk tsp. cinnamon3 eggs, beaten tsp. nutmeg

3/4 cup sugar (part brown- the more tsp. salt

the better!)

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and pour in an unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour, or till

knife inserted off-center comes out clean (or shake the pie gently to see how much the center jiggles-

when its done, it jiggles like Jello, not like water).Makes one very full 9-inch pie (flute the edges to hold more filling) or one 9pie and one child-size pie.

If you double the recipe, it will make 3 pies. (For doubling the recipe, use one can of evaporated milk,

then fill up the same can with regular milk for the second can- this is cheaper and also lower-fat.)

Honey-Pumpkin Pie: Omit the 3/4 cup sugar and add cup honey to pumpkin mixture.Molasses-Pumpkin Pie: Decrease sugar to cup and add cup mild molasses to pumpkin mixture.

*Raspberry Chiffon Pie*- one 9 pie- from Cooks Country

Fruit Layer:

1 12-oz bag frozen raspberries (2 c.) pinch salt3 Tbsp. pectin (Sure-Jell) 1 c. fresh raspberries (6 oz.)

1 c. sugar 1 9 pie crust, baked and cooledChiffon Layer:

3 Tbsp. raspberry gelatin powder 3 oz. cream cheese, softened3 Tbsp. boiling water 1 c. cream, chilled

Top layer:

8-10 oz. Sweetened whipped cream


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For the fruit layer: cook the frozen berries on med-high heat, stirring occasionally, until they begin to

get juicy, about 3 minutes. Stir in pectin and bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar andsalt and return to full boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Pour

through fine-mesh strainer or a few layers of cheesecloth, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible.

Scrape underside of strainer/cheesecloth into bowl. Set aside 1/3 c. of this puree, cool to roomtemperature. Fold fresh raspberries into remaining puree. Spread on bottom of pie crust.

For the chiffon layer:

Dissolve gelatin in the boiling water in a large bowl. Add cream cheese and reserved 1/3 c. raspberrypuree; beat 2 minutes or until smooth. Add 1 c. cream and beat, scraping down bowl, until cream holds

stiff peaks, about 1-2 minutes. Spread over fruit layer. Refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours, or up to 2

days.Top layer:Pipe sweetened whipped cream over chilled filling. Serve.

crash course in cream pies

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