Thanksgiving Desserts
Our Thanksgiving was quite a success. My first homemade pie crust turned out well, and my little side experiment with Apple Pie Bites was much more popular than I anticipated. My pie crust recipe is from an episode of Kelsey's Essentials that I saved on our DVR. She has a lot of helpful advice for basic cooking skills. Plus she's cute as a button. The chess pie recipe is a recipe that my mom has used for years, Dad took a picture and sent it to me via his iPod touch (which he was proud of). My pie crust gave me a small stroke when after putting it in the oven, the sides started to disappear and slide down into the pie mixture. My pie plate is non-stick, which is great, but apparently my pie crust just couldn't hang onto the edges. Oh well, no one seemed to notice but me.
I love old, used-looking recipes. In case you can't read it from the picture:
Southern Chess Pie
1 stick butter at room temperature
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 Tbsp corn meal
3 eggs
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 unbaked 9" pie shell.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a spoon, cream together butter and sugar in a bowl. Mix in the corn meal. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla. Pour the mixture into the pie shell.
Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
* Mom doesn't use the additional egg yolk and lemon rind you see in the recipe.
One 9" pie crust:
1 1/2 sticks of cold butter, diced.
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4-6 Tbsp ice cold water
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter, or using your fingers, or (even better) a food processor until you have pea-sized chunks throughout the mixture. Slowly add the ice water a tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork after each addition. Pour the dough onto plastic wrap (the dough will be crumbly). Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap, forming a flat disk. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes. Place the dough on a well floured surface. At this point, I had to work the dough together some with my hands because it was still crumbly. Flatten the dough, and using a well floured rolling pin, roll the dough out until it is ~ 13 or 14 inches in diameter, large enough to fit your pie plate. Carefully pick up the dough using the rolling pin, lay the dough over the pie dish and trim the edges (save scraps for apple pie bites!). Using a fork, poke holes throughout the dough along the bottom and sides. Now you're ready to pour in the pie filling and bake! If you were making a pie that is served cold, you would at this point line the pie shell with aluminum foil, fill with dried beans or pie weights, and bake for 15 minutes in a 425 degree oven, then remove the weights and bake for another 5 minutes.
Apple Pie Bites
Leftover pie dough scraps
1 apple, diced (I used Gala)
~ 1 tsp cinnamon
~ 1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp sugar
~1/4 to 1/3 cup of water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix the diced apple and the next 6 ingredients together in a sauce pan, heat over medium heat until the mixtures started to bubble and thicken. Remove from heat. While the apples are cooking, roll out the pie dough. Use a biscuit cutter to cut the dough into circles. Use the pie dough to a mini-muffin cups. Pour the apple mixture into the cups. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until the dough is crisp.
Southern Chess Pie
1 stick butter at room temperature1 1/3 c. sugar
1 Tbsp corn meal
3 eggs
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 unbaked 9" pie shell.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a spoon, cream together butter and sugar in a bowl. Mix in the corn meal. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla. Pour the mixture into the pie shell.
Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
* Mom doesn't use the additional egg yolk and lemon rind you see in the recipe.
One 9" pie crust:1 1/2 sticks of cold butter, diced.
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4-6 Tbsp ice cold water
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter, or using your fingers, or (even better) a food processor until you have pea-sized chunks throughout the mixture. Slowly add the ice water a tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork after each addition. Pour the dough onto plastic wrap (the dough will be crumbly). Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap, forming a flat disk. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes. Place the dough on a well floured surface. At this point, I had to work the dough together some with my hands because it was still crumbly. Flatten the dough, and using a well floured rolling pin, roll the dough out until it is ~ 13 or 14 inches in diameter, large enough to fit your pie plate. Carefully pick up the dough using the rolling pin, lay the dough over the pie dish and trim the edges (save scraps for apple pie bites!). Using a fork, poke holes throughout the dough along the bottom and sides. Now you're ready to pour in the pie filling and bake! If you were making a pie that is served cold, you would at this point line the pie shell with aluminum foil, fill with dried beans or pie weights, and bake for 15 minutes in a 425 degree oven, then remove the weights and bake for another 5 minutes.
Apple Pie Bites
Leftover pie dough scraps1 apple, diced (I used Gala)
~ 1 tsp cinnamon
~ 1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp sugar
~1/4 to 1/3 cup of water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix the diced apple and the next 6 ingredients together in a sauce pan, heat over medium heat until the mixtures started to bubble and thicken. Remove from heat. While the apples are cooking, roll out the pie dough. Use a biscuit cutter to cut the dough into circles. Use the pie dough to a mini-muffin cups. Pour the apple mixture into the cups. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until the dough is crisp.
Comments
Post a Comment