Thanksgiving: Pies

What is Thanksgiving without pies?

a let down, that's what!

Here are some tried and true recipes:

Cranberry Cheesecake

• 1 (8 oz) pkg of cream cheese (softened)
• 1 can of sweet and condensed milk
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 egg
• 2 graham cracker crust (purchased or handmade)
• 1 (8 oz) can of whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1 T brown sugar
• 3 T cornstarch
• 1/3 C flour
• 3/4 C walnuts or pecans (optional)
• 2 T brown sugar (more)
• 1/2 cube butter - softened

1. In your mixer combine 8 oz of softened cream cheese, 1 can of sweet and condensed milk, 2 T lemon juice, and 1 egg. 
2. Pour into a graham cracker crust. 
3. In a separate bowl mix 8 oz whole berry cranberry sauce, 1 T brown sugar, and 3 T cornstarch and then drop globs into the cheese mixture. 
4. In another bowl mix 1/3 C flour, 3/4 C walnuts (optional), 2 T brown sugar, and 1/2 cube of softened (not melted) butter and crumble on the top. 
5. Bake at 375 f for 40-45 minutes (makes two small pies).

French Silk Chocolate Pie 

• 3 oz of unsweetened chocolate
• 1 C butter
• 1 C sugar
• 1 t vanilla
• 4 eggs
• Baked pie crust (you can use a traditional crust of a graham cracker crust or even an oreo crust)
  

1. In a small saucepan, melt 3 oz of unsweetened chocolate and then cool. 
2. Cream 1 C butter and 1 C sugar in your mixer. 
3. Add the cooled chocolate and 1 t vanilla. 
4. Add 2 eggs and beat (or whip) on high speed for 5 minutes. 
5. Add 2 more eggs and beat for 5 more minutes. 
6. Pour into a pie shell. Refrigerate. Top with whipped cream.
   

Cherry Pie

(recipe taken from the back of Oregon Red Tart Cherries label)

(this is Phil's favorite - and Corrie's too!)

• 1/2 - 3/4 C sugar (depending on your taste)
• 1 T cornstarch
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans Oregon Red Tart Cherries (in water)
• 1/4 t almond extract (optional)
• 1 T butter
• Pie crusts (top and bottom - not cooked yet)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (f).
2. Drain the cherries and reserve the juice from only one can.
3. In a saucepan, stir the cherry juice into the combined mixture of the cornstarch and sugar.
4. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.
5. Remove from heat.
6. Gently stir in cherries and almond extract.
7. Pour filling into pastry lined pie pan.
8. Dot with butter or margarine.
9. Place pastry over the top, vent (create a hole), and seal (press the top and bottom pastries together). You can also do a lattice. See instructions here.
10. Bake 30-40 minutes or until crust browns and filling begins to bubble.
11. If necessary, cover edges with aluminum foil during last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning.
12. Cool pie several hours to allow filling to thicken before slicing.
    

Here are a couple of different crust recipes. For some reason my mom's doesn't work here 'bama (altitude? humidity? not sure why). Normally it is flaky and delicious though! I used the other one last year and it was pretty easy to handle and was quite tasty.

Mom's Pie Crust
(same as the one on the cherry label)

• 2 C flour
• 2/3 C shortening
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 C ice water

1. Mix flour, shortening, and salt together until small pieces form the size of peas.
2. Add water and mix just to moisten.
3. Roll out and put into pie pan.
4. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes (if filling after) or according to recipe if baking with the filling in it.

MIL's Pie Crust
(same as our RS president here in 'bama)

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cups of shortening (I use 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening) cold!
• 1 Tbsp vinegar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup cold water  (you may need a little more)

1. Mix vinegar, egg, and water well and put in freezer for a few minutes to get it really cold.
2. In a food processor (you can do this by hand too) pulse the flour, sugar, salt, and shortening
   
3. Add water mixture to the flour mixture and mix with a fork or pulse a few times in the processor until it forms a ball.
4. This makes 4 crusts.  
5. Separate it into fourths and put into plastic freezer bags.  Store in fridge until ready to use (it will also freeze well).
6. Bake according to pie recipe.

Hints for rolling out pie crust

• Cold is good. Make sure your crust (and the liquid used to make the crust are cold).
• Put a piece of wax paper on your surface, then the dough, then another piece of wax paper. This prevents sticking, you can just peel off the wax paper and put the crust into your pan.
• Don't use too much flour, too much will make your crust stiff and tough. I once saw someone (maybe Martha) use sugar to prevent sticking. An interesting idea but I like the wax paper solution better.
• Don't give up if it doesn't work out the first time. Keep working at it and make notes about what worked and what didn't. 
• Remember the two basics: keep it cold and don't handle it too much.