How NOT to make Cherry Tarts

Step 1: Make your favourite cherry pie filling using this recipe.

Step 2: Make your favourite pie crust dough using this recipe.

Step 3: Attempt to make star shaped cherry pies:
Step 4: Fail miserably

Step 5: Attempt to make apple shaped cherry pies:
Step 6: Fail miserably.

Step 7: Give up, decide to make Cherry Tarts the way your Grandmother used to make them...

With a coffee mug...
And a simple cookie cutter...
And a muffin tray...

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes and then at 350 for another 10 minutes or until pastry is brown-ish...

And now you have some tasty cherry tarts!
Step 8: Eat your tasty new creations and forget all about the fact that the day started with a much different pie-related project!

Personal Sized Apple Pies

So today, I made some Apple Pies. And not just any apple pies, personal sized mini-apple pies. And if you'd like I can show you how to make them too...

First, you need one of these...
I got it from Williams-Sonoma (the same place where got the Star Wars Cookie cutters)

Then you make your filling and pastry crust. I used this recipe for the pastry and this recipe for the filling. Although I had to make the pastry recipe twice to use up all the filling. In the future I'd probably half the filling recipe.

Then you roll out the filling and cut out one half of the apple shape

and then the other.
Then you put the piece of pastry with no hole in it in the bottom of the machine. Then fill add some filling, top with the other piece of pastry and squish!

Open it up and, Voila!
A nice apple, shaped personal size apple pie. :)
Sometimes they fail...

But most of the time they work just fine!

Then you bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes.

And then you have a tasty little apple pie!

Or a dozen of them.

You can also top the pastry with an egg wash and some sugar and that makes them extra tasty!

And if you'd like you can make other types of pies, just to trick people. Because cherry pies that are shaped like apples are always fun! :D

I think I need much more practice, and possible a recipe that stands up to rolling out and being worked with well. But I really like my pocket apple pie maker. And what you could do would be to freeze the unbaked pies and then whenever you want a snack you can pull one out and have your own pie in the same amount of time it takes to cook a mini-pizza!

Pumpkin Pie

So I have to admit, I really don't like Pumpkin Pie. But it was Thanksgiving this weekend and so my mother insisted that I make some Pumpkin Pie. (I was originally planning on making apple or cherry) And so because I don't eat pumpkin pie I didn't really care about making the pie from scratch. So yes, I cheated.

Pumpkin Pie
1 can pumpkin pie filling
1 egg
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 pie shell

Preheat oven to 475 F. Beat egg. Add in pie filling and evaporated milk. Stir well. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 475 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake another 30-45 minutes.

I also made my Caramel Pecan Pie because I love it and I wanted something other than pumpkin.

Apple Pie

My mum has been bringing home lots of apples from the grocery store lately and they don't always get eaten before they go bad, so this week I decided to make a pie with them before they were unusable.

7 cups apples, peeled and sliced (I used gala apples and I cut up about 7, I didn't actually measure)
2 tbsp lemon juice (I think I ended up using more than this)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp butter or margarine, cut into squares (I didn't measure this part either)
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
1 double pie crust (I used this pastry recipe)

Preheat oven to 425. Prepare pie shell in a 9 inch(ish) plate. Toss apples with lemon juice in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Toss this mixture in with the apples. Pour into pie shell. Top with the butter pieces. Cover with pastry top, seal the edges then stab holes in the top for the air to escape. Combine egg yolk and water, brush over top of pie. Place pie on a tinfoil covered cookie sheet (to catch the drippings). Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and cook for another 40-45 minutes.

Pecan Caramel Pie

NOTE: Since I originally posted this recipe I have found a much better pie crust recipe, it can be found in this post. Also, I have made this pie many times since I posted this recipe and it's one of my favourite recipes that I've found in all my baking experimentation.

Originally posted on Facebook March 20, 2009

Pie Crust
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
5 to 6 tablespoon cold water (I got cold water from the tap and then added ice cubes)

It is very important that the shortening and water are cold.
Stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry bender, cut n shortening until it looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in cold water 1 tbsp at a time until pastry just holds together. Shape into ball. Refrigerate. Divide into two sections. Roll out on floured surface until 1/8 inch thick. Makes 2 single pie crusts or 1 double pie crust.

Pecan Caramel Pie

I came across this one while looking for recipes with pecans and caramels in them for last week but I didn't have the ingredients for the pie crust. I found it at Allrecipes.com

1 unbaked 9'' pie crust
36 individual caramels (unwrapped)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350. In a saucepan, stirring frequently, melt together caramels, butter and milk until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large bowl combine sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix in caramel sauce. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie crust. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

This Pie is AWESOME! Caramel and pecans go so well together. The pastry wasn't great but it was okay for a first try. Next time I'll probably buy a pie crust, it makes everything much easier.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Originally posted on Facebook March 20, 2009

1 unbaked 9" pie crust (mine was 9.5")
2 large eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (softened)
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325. Beat eggs. Beat in flour and both sugars. Beat in butter. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

This pie was also pretty good, more like cake than pie. With lots of chocolate and mini bits of pecans. Mmmmm.... pie.

Bing Cherry Pie

Bing Cherry Pie

Pastry
2 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup lard
1/3 cup cold water
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and slat. Cut in lard until mixture resembles coarse meal. In a separate bowl combine the rest of the ingredients. Stir into flour mixture. Chill and allow to rest for 15 minutes before rolling out. Makes enough for a double crusted pie.

Bing Cherry Filling
4 cups bing (or other sweet) cherries, pitted
2 tbsp orange juice (fresh squeezed)
2 tbsp lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
2 tbsp corn starch
1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 450. Place cherries in a large bowl. Mix orange and lemon juices with corn starch, then combine with sugar cinnamon and salt. Toss with cherries. Let rest for 15 minutes (I didn't do this) Add the almond extract, toss well. Prick the bottom pie crust. Spoon in filling. Dot all over with butter pieces. Put on the top and cut holes in it for air to escape. Bake for 10 minutes at 450, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 45-55 minutes.

Okay, well I messed this one up and forgot to reduce the heat. So it kind of boiled over and the crust was a bit crispier than expected. But it was still an amazing pie. I will make this again for sure. The pastry was very tasty (even when burnt) and the filling was amazingly cherry-y. Soooo good.