National Pie Day and Blogiversary

Today is National Pie Day AND this blog’s one year anniversary, so in honour of that, I present to you some of my favourite pie recipes, along with a reposting of Bridgette’s specialty of the house (and my very first post on this blog). Apple Cream Pie.

Apple Cream Pie

Ingredients:
4 cups thinly sliced apples
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter (melted)
2 cups half and half
1 pie crust (bottom only)

Directions:
Spread the apple slices in the pie shell. Mix the sugar, flour, and spices together and sprinkle on the apples. Stir the melted butter into the cream and pour this over the apple slices. Bake at 375 degrees Farenheit (190 degrees Celsius) for 30-35 minutes. At its best when served warm, but still delicious cold the following day!

For an excellent pie crust recipe, I highly recommend Martha Stewart’s pate brisee.

French Canadian Tourtiere

Tourtiere is a French Canadian meat pie.  It is one of the traditional dishes served at the feast on Christmas Eve in Quebec and is a family favourite of ours.  Here is a reprint of my recipe from the Arteculinaria blog: http://arteculinaria.wordpress.com/

A delicious meat pie, hearty and containing a unique blend of spices. A traditional Christmas holiday favourite as well!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

½ lb ground pork

( I don’t eat veal but many people add veal to this pie. So then it would be about ¾ lb of ground beef, then whatever combination of ground pork and veal you like to add up to another ¾ lb of meat.)

3 slices of bacon cut up

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ cup water

½ cup milk

1 T. flour

pie crust made from your favourite recipe

Instructions:  Saute the bacon and then brown meat and sauté the onion and garlic all in the same pan. Stir in the spices and water. Cover and simmer 1 ½ hours. Mix milk into the flour until dissolved. Stir the flour mixture into the simmering ingredients in the skillet. Simmer, stirring until the mixture thickens. Add bacon back in. Prepare crust (top and bottom) and add filling. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes until golden.

Nanaimo Pie

Nanaimo bars are a Canadian specialty originating in, surprise surprise, Nanaimo, British Columbia.  Here’s a variation on that where the traditional Nanaimo bar ingredients are used to make a pie.  I’m not even a big coconut fan but I have to say that this is delicious!

Crust:
1-1/4 cups chocolate cookie crumbs 300 mL
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut 125 mL
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts 50 mL
1/3 cup Butter, melted 75 mL

Filling:
1 cup 35% whipping Cream 250 mL
1 cup Milk 250 mL
1/4 cup granulated sugar 50 mL
1 tbsp cornstarch 15 mL
2 eggs
(optional:  3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips 175 mL.  Traditional Nanaimo bars have a vanilla pudding or custard-like filling but some people like to add chocolate to this step.)
(Note:  Instead of making your own filling from scratch, you can use prepared vanilla pudding or custard (for traditional or chocolate for a variation) or a pudding mix.  If using a mix, I find that using the cooked pudding mixes are preferable to the instant type in flavour and texture.)

Topping:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips 125 mL
2 tbsp Butter 30 mL
1 tbsp 35% whipping Cream 15 mL

Instructions:
In bowl, combine mix together the crust ingredients until butter is evenly distributed.  Press this into 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate – I find using the back of a spoon can be helpful; Put the crust in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.  While that is chilling, you can prepare the filling. 

Filling: Heat the milk and cream over low to medium heat in a pan on the stove until it is steaming.  Do not overheat!  In a bowl, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch and into this, whisk in the eggs. Slowly whisk the hot milk mixture into this egg mixture.  Put the filling mixture back into the pan and cook over medium low heat, whisking the entire time until it has thickened up.  This takes about 5-10 minutes and you want it to nearly reach the consistency of pudding.  Take this off the heat and if using chocolate chips, stir them in now until they are melted.  Pour the filling into the prepared crust.  Put plastic wrap over the pie directly touching the filling as this helps to avoid the formation of a skin over it.  Put the pie in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set up. 

For the topping:  use a double boiler or place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan if you don’t own a double boiler.  You want hot but not boiling water in the bottom pan.  In the top, place all of the topping ingredients and heat and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.  Some people also have great success making this type of topping in the microwave, heating for 30 seconds or so and then another 10 seconds each time until it has melted properly but I have better luck with the stove.  Drizzle the topping over the pie and then use your metal spatula to spread it out evenly over the filling.  Put this back in the fridge for another 10-15 minutes to allow the topping to set up. 

Peaches and Cream Pie

Ingredients:

1 9-inch unbaked pie shell (use your favourite crust recipe or purchase one)

3 cups fresh peaches, sliced (a friend of mine makes this out of season with canned peaches and it’s just as good)

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions:  Arrange the peaches in the pie shell.  Beat the eggs slightly and then mix in the sugar and flour followed by the cream and vanilla.  Mix until well blended.  Pour this over the peaches in the pie shell.  Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 40-50 minutes.  The filling should be somewhat firm but when you “jiggle” the pie a bit, the center should still have a bit of movement to it.  This is delicious warm from the oven or you can refrigerate it before serving – just as tasty but it will have a slightly firmer filling.