Category Archives: Pies

Pies

Snickerdoodle Pie (Crustless)

March 23, 2014 notjustanotherfoodblogger 3 Comments

In my quest to find my favorite Snickerdoodle recipe, I’ve come across several Snickerdoodle-inspired recipes that aren’t for cookies. I tried this one over the weekend with some adjustments – mainly that I skipped the crust. I liked it a lot, and next time will try a few alterations to make it less cakey and more moist. The cinnamon/sugar/butter mixture that I used as a middle layer of the pie is perfectly gooey and delicious. The cinnamony syrup that is poured over the top of the pie cooks into a crusty top layer for the perfect amount of cinnamon topping, though mine does not look as pretty as the picture from the inspiration recipe.

Source: http://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/2013/05/01/snickerdoodle-pie/

If you want your Snickerdoodle Pie to have a crust, use 1 pastry shell

Cinnamon Syrup top layer

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cinnamon Middle Layer

2 teaspoons melted butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon sugar

Batter

1/4 cup softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1 1/4 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using convection). If you’re using a pie crust, place it in a 9 inch pan. I prefer skipping the crust.

Cinnamon Syrup Top Layer

Mix all syrup ingredients other than vanilla in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and let it boil gently for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove the pan from the heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Batter

Mix the butter and sugar until light and fluffy in your mixer. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Then mix the dry ingredients together and blend them into the mixture.

Slowly add milk while mixer is running.

Once the batter is just blended, pour half of it in a greased pie plate (or pie crust without any butter). Note: the original recipe calls for the crust, then what I’m calling the Cinnamon Middle Layer, and then all of the batter. I moved this layer to the middle so that it wouldn’t stay on the bottom of the pan.

Cinnamon Middle Layer

Pour the melted butter on the batter and spread it around around as evenly as you can. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon and sugar onto the butter layer.

Pour the remaining batter over the cinnamon middle layer.

Pour the Cinnamon Syrup Top Layer on top, covering the entire pie.

Cover the edges of the pie in foil. Bake at 350 degrees (or 325 convection) for 25 minutes. Then take the foil off, and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes. Serve warm, adding ice cream if you wish.

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Desserts, Pies

Peanut Butter Mousse Pie

February 8, 2014 notjustanotherfoodblogger 2 Comments

This Peanut Butter Mousse Pie is a must try for peanut butter lovers. It’s creamy, and fluffy and just the right amount of rich without being too rich. I made it for the first time recently and tried the filling after each step once I added the peanut butter and each time thought surely it can’t get better than this. And after each step I thought – wrong again!

Source: Come On In! (with a few minor adjustments)

Difficulty: Medium

Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs or chocolate wafer crumbs

1/3 cup chopped peanuts (I substitute 2-3 graham crackers)

3 tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted (original recipe called for unsalted, but I prefer salted in graham cracker crusts)

Filling

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs (separated)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or nut-flavored liqueur (I use vanilla extract)

3/4 pound smooth peanut butter, heated

2 1/2 cups heavy cream, whipped

Crust: For the crust, preheat oven to 350 degrees (or 325 convection). Mix graham cracker crumbs, peanuts, sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into greased 10 inch springform pan. Bake 5-8 minutes, until just a little toasty brown. Set aside while you make the filling.

Filling: Cream butter. The recipe says until fluffy, but I don’t think butter ever gets to the point where I would describe it as fluffy. Gradually add sugar, then egg yolks and vanilla or liqueur.

Move the mixture to a large bowl and mix in warm peanut butter. I heat the peanut butter until it is soft enough to fold in easily, making sure not to cook the peanut butter.

Clean mixer bowl and beater thoroughly, making sure all residue is removed. If you have any buttery residue remaining, the egg whites won’t stiffen. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold* into peanut butter mixture.

egg whites ready to be folded into peanut butter mixture — I beat these egg whites a little too much. See how they’re almost dry looking? No matter, the result was fantastic!

Fold in whipped cream.

Spoon mousse into prepared springform pan.

Freeze, covered well with foil. Remove pie from freezer half an hour to an hour before serving, and leave it covered until ready to serve (to prevent “sweating” as it defrosts a little). Serve with Really Fudgy Hot Fudge Sauce (see link below) drizzled over the top.

http://notjustanotherfoodblogger.com/really-fudgy-hot-fudge-sauce/

*For a demonstration of folding, see video below from my Angel Food Cake post.

folding in the flour and sugar mixture

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Pies

Lemon Icebox Pie

November 30, 2013 notjustanotherfoodblogger Leave a comment

Lemon Icebox pie is one of my favorite pies – and one of the only desserts I love that does not have chocolate in it! Lemon icebox is about as close as I get to liking fruit desserts.

Difficulty: Easy

Source: you guessed it – my mom

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed, may need to add more)

1 teaspoon lemon zest (I prefer to leave this out)

1 graham cracker crust – http://notjustanotherfoodblogger.com/graham-cracker-crust/

For anything bigger than a shallow 8 inch pie plate, you’ll probably want to double this recipe. You may not end up using quite double, but you’ll want more than a single recipe.

lemon juicing — It really is important to use fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Mix sweetened condensed milk with egg yolks and 1/2 cup lemon juice. Add more lemon juice to taste. Stir with whisk until completely mixed. I’m making 2x the recipe here.

I don't worry if I get some lemon seeds in this part because I'm going to strain it later. — I don’t worry if I get some lemon seeds in this part because I’m going to strain it later.

Pour through strainer into pie crust. The straining gets rid of lemon pulp and bits of the egg yolk. If you use lemon zest, you’ll want to pour through the strainer into a bowl before adding lemon zest, then stir in the zest and pour into crust.

Thanks to my mom and brother for helping with this pic!

Refrigerate for a few hours until set. Serve with meringue topping or whipped cream. I think it’s excellent without any topping. This version of this pie isn’t as firm as what you’ll generally find in restaurants, but I like the taste of this version best. More lemon juice will make it a bit more firm.

The Story: Growing up I wasn’t a huge fan of birthday cake, which required (can I say inspired?) some creativity on the part of my mom when it came to birthday party planning. For my 6th birthday she made miniature lemon icebox pies for my party guests. I’m not sure my guests were as excited about the lemon icebox as I was, but I loved it for sure!

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Pies

Graham Cracker Crust

November 17, 2013 notjustanotherfoodblogger Leave a comment

Homemade Graham Cracker Crust is very easy (as long as you have a food processor) and SO much better than the bought version. This crust is part of my cooking ahead for Thanksgiving, so be on the lookout for a future post with the lemon icebox pie filling.

1 package graham crackers + 1 sheet (i.e. 1 of the three packages that come in a box plus one rectangular graham cracker)*

3/4 stick butter, cut in pats

1/4 cup sugar

Break graham crackers into pieces. Combine all ingredients in food processor and process until mixed and well ground but not as fine as sugar.

Press gently into pie plate just enough to make it into a crust – don’t pack it tightly. For a shallow 8-9 inch pie plate, I do not use all of the mixture and put the rest in a ramekin for a very small pie.

Bake at 350 degrees (325 convection) for 5-10 minutes until just a little toasty brown. Fill with pie filling (my favorites are lemon icebox <link below> and hot fudge) or wrap tightly in foil and freeze until needed.

http://notjustanotherfoodblogger.com/lemon-icebox-pie/

* The Story behind the extra graham cracker: My sister has been a graham cracker aficionado ever since I can remember. She once noticed that a box of graham crackers wasn’t up to par and called Nabisco to report a “bad batch.” They sent her coupons, but that wasn’t her goal. She just wanted them to know for quality control reasons. So of course she noticed when they dropped the number of graham crackers in each package (3 packages to a box) by one graham cracker. She called to confirm that Nabisco had in fact changed the number of sheets per pack and then let all of the family know that we needed to adjust our recipes. Could you skip the extra graham cracker and still be fine? Sure, but I stick with adding the graham cracker, partly because I get such a kick out of thinking of my sister (busy mom of three boys) on the phone with the people at Nabisco discussing graham crackers. And of course, I like to be precise.

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Not Just Another Food Blogger

Category Archives: Pies

Snickerdoodle Pie (Crustless)

Peanut Butter Mousse Pie

Lemon Icebox Pie

Graham Cracker Crust

when it comes to food, it's good to be a bit picky