Raisin Pie with Gramma

Cross this one off the Bucket List, I made Gramma’s Raisin Pie!  I have wanted to do this for a long time.  I am not a pie fan, there are only 2 kinds of pie that I really care for, raisin and pecan.  Both of these pies are super sweet and delicious!  The reason I don’t like pie is because if I am going to have dessert, I want something ooey and gooey, not fruit, and most pies are fruit.

Raisin pie is not something you see very often, infact I have never seen raisin pie anywhere other than Gramma’s.  It must be out there somewhere though because many people say they don’t like it, who knows? I can remember having Gramma’s raisin pie when I was very little.  Gramma  always had pie around, home-made from scratch pies, raisin was my favourite.  Not a whole lot of people like it so she didn’t make it that often, but when she did I was always sure to get a piece.  I think it was only Poppa, Gramma, Mom , Dad and I who like it.

Each time Gramma made one I would always say “you have to show me how to make your pie”.  For years we always agreed that we would get together and make it but never did, until today!  I made a point of setting up a date over Christmas holidays to go to Gramma’s and make pie.  Gramma already had the pie crust made, it just needed to be rolled (by the way, you will never have a better crust then Gramma’s).

So now the bad news…

This recipe is a secret!  You can get a visual and some of Gramma’s tips for a great pie, but the recipe is top secret!  Sorry!

Gramma’s Raisin Pie in Pictures

1. Rinse raisins

2. Combine ingredients in medium pot

The spice

3. Simmer on low to cook raisins

While it’s cooking we moved onto the crust.  Gramma already had a bunch of her dough already made up, check it out, mine has NEVER looked like this!

4. ** Tip #1 from Gramma** Prepare your pan for the dough.  Lightly butter your pie plate. Makes the crust brown up AND it doesn’t stick!

5. ** Tip #2  from Gramma** Getting the dough into the pie plate.  I always struggled with this, I would try to roll the dough around the rolling pin, and try to quickly move it over to the plate, usually ripping along the way and I would have to patch it all together.  Gramma did this, my mind was blown!

Fold twice as you see…

Transfer to pie plate and unfold

Voila! Perfect, no rips, no patching! Mind blowing….it’s the little things that amuse me

Trim and wait for filling to be ready

6. Back to the raisins…bring the simmer to a boil and add the ‘secret ingredient’

7. Remove from heat – set in sink of cold water to cool

8. Once cool pour in your prepared shell

9. **Tip #3 from Gramma** Use a lattice top and a runny pie will never run over! Cover with lattice top

10. Bake until golden

Perfect!

Delicious filling still bubbling

Completed two amazing pies.  We did one together to show me how, then I made one and asked questions as needed.  Look how well they turned out!  Had a great teacher

Hours later at home when cooled it was time for the tasting….

Look at that!  Perfect!  The filling was delicious.  Raisins were plump, sauce was every so sweet with a hint of spice. The consistency was spot on.  Not too thick, not too runny, just right.

The crust was perfect and rich and flaky.  The combination of the two are out of this world!

I have made the perfect pie.  If I never make another kind of pie in my life it’s ok, because I can make a killer raisin pie!

Thank you Gramma for a great day and taking the time to show me your amazing recipe.  I will be making this for many more years to come!

On a side note, I was search to see if there was anything similar to Gramma’s recipe I came across something crazy!  There is someone out there who loved raisin pie as much as me.  This person loved it so much they wrote a song about it! HAHA.  Kinda silly yet funny, check it out here

Pie Pops

Pie on a stick? Really? YES!  I have seen this idea popping (pardon the pun) up more and more lately.  A few years back I jumped on the Cake Pop ban wagon, they were amazing, but pie on a stick? This I had to try!

I am not a huge fan of pie but this just seems fun! Come on, its pie on a stick! Anything on a stick just makes it that much better. Cake pops, just a bite, feels like it doesn’t even count.  Meat on a stick, I would never eat a steak but a beef shish kabob, count me in! That being said I am relying on these little wonders to make me a pie fan!

When I told people I was making Pie on a Stick I had many naysayers and disbelievers, but I told them I was confident it would work!  I decided to go with my new favourite pie dough, but you could use any recipe you like or roll out your favourite frozen dough. You can use any filling you like, though I would suggest one that is fairly solid, pumpkin pie would be too runny.  The filling needs to hold its shape as your form the pop.  I went with apple.

1. Roll out your favourite pie dough and cut as many circles as you can

2. Place a small amount of filling on circle, slightly more than a teaspoon.

3. Cover with another circle and add stick

4. Press and seal edges with another stick, or a fork

5. Place on a lined cookie and sprinkle with sugar, bake until golden brown

I also make some without sticks, more like a ‘pie cookie’

Oh. My. God. These were excellent!  I may have been converted to a pie fan.  They were fun to eat, 2-3 bites (or one big one) and its gone, no plate or fork required! They were kind of time-consuming to make, but once in a while I’d say it’s worth it.  I used a 1.5 inch cookie cutter, next time I would use a 2 inch, just to get a little more filling and would be easier to handle.  I think next I will try a chocolate peanut butter pie!

Crazy for Apple Pie

The Crazy Cooks are back! I joined the group a few months ago only to find out, after my first challenge, they were no longer going to be running.  Then, last month I got an email  saying that they were starting back up again!!  I was quite excited as I only was able to participate in one previous challenge.  This group picks a theme and you can find any recipe you want, but it must be a recipe you have never tried.  This month was apple pie.

I am not a huge pie fan, in fact there are really only 2 pies that I like, pecan pie and my Gramma’s Raisin pie.  These pies are 2 of the sweetest pies I have ever tasted, you can almost feel your teeth rotting as you chew, they are wonderful!  Normally I pass on pie because I don’t like ‘fruit’ for dessert, and most pies are fruit pies.  Even though I don’t like pie I was excited to do this challenge because my family loves pie!

I combined two recipes for this pie.  The filling was from a recipe on Epicurious – Old Fashioned Lattice-Top Apple Pie.  As for the crust – I have a very hard time with crust, it rarely turns out.  I’ve been told that my hands are too warm to make crust, the butter melts before its suppose to (who knows?).  I had been using a Shortbread Pastry that worked fairly well, but these challenges require you to use recipes that you have never used before.  I chose to use Anna Olson’s Pie Dough, Anna is my Hero! I saw her make this dough on Bake With Anna Olson, AND it is made in your Kitchen Aid Mixer! Sorry for the dark pictures, we are experiencing a lot of dark rainy days here…

Two-Crust Pie Dough

2 1/4 cups cake and pastry flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar

Directions

1. Stir the flour, sugar and salt to combine in a bowl or using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

2. Cut in the butter by hand with a pastry cutter or on low speed until just small pieces of butter are visible and the mixture as a whole just begins to take on a pale yellow colour (indicating that the butter has been worked in sufficiently).

3. Stir the water and lemon juice together and add this to the dough all at once, mixing until the dough just comes together.

4. Shape the dough into 2 discs, wrap and chill for at least 2 hours before rolling. Alternatively, the dough can be frozen for up to 3 months and thawed in the fridge before rolling.

Still able to see pieces of butter

Filling

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 400°F.

2. Mix first 6 ingredients in large bowl. Add apples and toss to blend.

3. Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round.

4. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold edge under, forming high-standing rim; crimp.Don’t worry about cracks, dough is very forgiving, just patch it up in the pan

5. Add filling.

6. Roll out second dough disk on floured surface to 13-inch round. Cut into twelve 1-inch-wide strips. Arrange 6 strips across pie. Form lattice by arranging 6 strips diagonally across first strips. Gently press ends into crust edges. Brush lattice with milk. Sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.(I got a little excited and forgot to take pictures. Sorry)

7. Bake pie 10 minutes.

8. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F.  Continue baking until juices bubble thickly and crust is deep golden, covering edges with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool on rack 1 hour. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand on rack.)

Apple Pie without Cheese is like a hug without a squeeze!

I have mixed reviews for the pie.  The crust was amazing! This will be my new ‘go to’ crust.  It was it was light, and flakey, but strong enough to hold shape, I highly recommend it.  The filling….it was a little blah…it did not thicken,

It was just like eating apples, not pie. I was disappointed.  Some people loved it, some said it was good.  No one was ‘wowed’.  Thought the crust got rave reviews.

I really enjoyed this challenge! Thank you crazy cooks for returning, I look forward to next months Challenge!

Check out everyone’s Apple Pies HERE

I Cheated!

I was asked to make a pumpkin pie this week.  If you have read any of my other pie posts you know I HATE making pie.  There is not many things I HATE making, but I HATE making pie!  I really don’t even like pie.  At Thanksgiving I said was wasnt ever making another from scratch, and I stayed true to my word! Tenderflake and Mr. Smith did most of the work.  For anything else I really done like using pre made but for pie, I’m all about it!

I DID make the whipped cream from scratch   They said it was good and that is all that matters.

Butter Tarts

I would have to say that Butter Tarts are my all time favourite dessert.  If there is two deserts to choose from and Butter Tarts are one of the choices, Butter tarts will always win.   It was not until I traveled outside of Canada that I learned that Butter Tarts are traditionally a Canadian treat.  Let me tell you right now, the rest of you are missing out!!!  Even though they are called Butter Tarts, it’s not the butter that makes them so good its the brown sugar, and there is a lot of it.  If you don’t like things too sweet then Butter Tarts are not for you.

A true Butter Tart has very few ingredients, butter, sugar and eggs but there are many types depending what you fill them with.  Some like to add pecans, coconut, jam or raisins.  I like them all but the ones with nuts, nuts are for squirrels, not desserts!

In my lifetime I have consumed more than my fair share of Butter Tarts and consider myself to be a Butter Tart connoisseur.  I will eat just about any Butter Tart but I prefer a runny filling with raisins.  Over the years I have perfected the way in which I will eat a Butter Tart depending whether it is runny or firm.  The ones with firm filling, with consistency of a lemon tart) I will eat the crust all round the outside leaving only the bottom crust with a huge mount of filling to be savored.  As for the runny ones there is only one way to eat them, as fast as you can so you don’t lose any filling.  It isn’t pretty but necessary!

As I have tried many tarts my favourites have changed over the years but none have ever measured up to this one, Thanks to my good friend Lisa!  It is perfect, few ingredients, amazing flavour, sugary crunch on the bottom and oh so runny!!  When she makes them it is one thing I can not resist.  She was kind enough to share her recipe with me.

Lisa’s Butter Tarts

If you are a follower of mine then you will know I can’t make pie crust to save my life, until making Pasta Frolla in a recent Daring Baker’s Challenge.  I decided to go with the Pasta Frolla crust for my tarts.

For pastry recipe click here

As for the Butter Tart recipe you will just get pictures until I ask if I can post the recipe.

I only added raisins in a few because not everyone likes raisins in them.  But now it really doesn’t matter because they sunk to the bottom and I can’t tell.

They turned out perfectly

Look at that perfect runny filling.  Note that this is not my tart as I would NEVER eat a Butter Tart with a fork!  That is just silly.  I prefer the inhale it method so you don’t waste any..haha

In the words of my Father “that was the best Butter Tart I ever had”

Thanks Lisa!!!!

Pumpkin Pie

This year for Thanksgiving I wanted to try making pumpkin pies from real pumpkin, not canned pumpkin.  I really do not care for pumpkin pie so I had to rely on some taste testers to let me know how it turned out.   I played around with a few recipes and tweaked them all a bit to come up with what I was told to be “The Best Pumpkin Pie EVER”, I will take their word for it because I thought it was gross!

Preparing the Pumpkin

These were some tough pumpkins, I tried to cut into them with a knife and it just wasnt working, I was afraid I was going to cut my fingers off.  So, down I go to Mom and Dads and we took the electric saw to them, new blade of course.  My only regret is I didn’t take pictures of this process, we had pumpkin bits flying everywhere! lol  Though it did bring a nice pumpkin fresh smell to the boathouse.

1. Cut pumpkins in half and scrape out all the seeds and goo.  Place them on a foil covered cookie sheet and bake at 350 F until soft.  This will very depending on your oven.

2. Scrape out the flesh with a spoon and run it though the food processor until very smooth, you don’t want stringy pumpkin pie…

I broke my food processor in the process.  It was my Nana’s so I’m sure it had to be over 40 years old, but I improvised and made it work by pushing the lock down with a chopstick. Needless to say a food processor is on my Christmas list this year.

The pumpkin was quite watery, I let it sit in a strainer lined with cheese cloth and lost a lot of the moisture, I would recommend doing this.

Filling

• 3 cups of puree pumpkin
• 1 cup sugar
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2  tsp clove
• 1/2  tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix well with beaters and pour in pie shell of our choice

Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 350 F and bake for another 45-60 minutes, depending on your oven, until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Apparently it was very good and made a real difference using the real pumpkin.  I’ve been told I am on pumpkin pie duty from now on, so they must have been not bad.

Butter Tart Pie

If you are from Canada I am sure you have tasted a butter tart.  Everyone I have talked with outside of Canada has no idea what I am talking about when I speak of butter tarts.  I consider myself a butter tart expert, as there are not many I have not tasted.  I prefer them to be runny and contain raisins.   I have never been able to make a good butter tart, even using the exact recipe that someone else makes wonderfully.  I found this recipe in baking flyer that was in the newspaper last week.

Butter Tart Pie

Filling

• 1 cup raisins
• 1 1/4 cups BeeHive Corn Syrup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup butter melted
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1.  Pre-heat oven 425 F

2. Sprinkle raisins over pie shell (homemade or frozen, your choice)

3. Whisk corn syrup with sugar, eggs, butter, lemon juice, vanilla and salt.

4. Pour into pie shell

5. Bake on a lower rack of preheated oven for 15 minutes.

6. Reduce temperature for 350 F and bake for 20-25 minutes until the top appears set, (it may be bubbly).

7. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.

This pie was pretty good.  It was not bet best butter tart filling, but not bad.  Everyone said they really liked it, and there is not much left.  Probably won’t be making this one again.

4th Of July Apple Pie!

Yesterday was the 4^th of July, Independence day in the USA.  This is a very important day for Mike, as he is American.  I wanted to do all I could to make it as “American” as possible for him. I was going to make him a cake in the flag shape or something.  I asked him what he wanted to do for the day.  All he said was he wanted to have a BBQ with hamburgers, hotdogs and homemade apple pie!  My first thought was “crap! I have to make pie!” Being a baker you would thing this would not be a problem, well, In the past me and pie making really have not works so well.  The crust never turns out, the filling is blah, and to be honest I really don’t care for pie.  But I thought, this is all he asked for so I’m going to do it!

As I mentioned pastry crust NEVER turns out for me so, I used the Sweet Shortbread Pastry we had to use for our last Daring Bakers Challenge, It had turned out and everyone love it.  As for the filling I spent a few hours looking through cookbooks and searching on line, I had no idea there were so many different apple pie fillings. I took some suggestions from all and adapted to what I like and made my own.  Here is how it went!

My first Homemade Apple Pie!

Sweet shortcrust pastry

(for photos of this process see Bakewell Tart)

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter; cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

**I made 2 batches, so I would have crust for the top, the day before and kept them in the fridge overnight.  I removed them as I was pealing the apples**

Apple Pie Filling

4 pounds             Granny Smith Apples

½ cup               Sugar, plus 1 tsp to sprinkle on top

¼ cup               flour

2 tbsp               fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 ½ tsp             cinnamon

pinch                nutmeg

pinch                allspice

1 tsp                 salt

1                      egg + 1 tsp of water

Peal and slice apples, mix with lemon juice.  In a large bowl combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt.  Combine with apples, set aside.

Roll out dough to fit your pie plate.  Fill with apple mixture.

Roll out second batch of dough for top.

I then cut out stars and stripes just to add to the 4^th of July theme.

Brush entire top of pie with egg wash.

Bake at 400 F for at least an hour.

Place tinfoil around the edges of the pie for first 40 minutes of baking so the edges don’t burn.

Now I have to say, I really don’t like pie unless its Grammas Raisin Pie or Heathers Pecan Pie but this was pretty good! It turned out perfectly everyone loved it! Something I would definitely make again.