(Not Key) Lime Pie

Oh boy, if you love the tang of lime, this pie is for you.  Gosh this is good.  Neither Ole Sweetie-Pi nor I could stop taking slivers of this luscious pie even after we had a whole piece to ourselves.  The first thing to hit the taste buds was the tang of the lime and then the sweet of the sweetened condensed milk and then the tang of the lime again.  My mouth waters at the thought of this.  And yes, I ate a piece of it for breakfast the next morning, grins.

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? As you can see, this makes a thin pie; I suppose it's to allow plenty of room for mountains of optional meringue (which I don't eat) or whipped cream.  When I saw how thin the pie was I was a tad disappointed but when I tasted it, the big lime flavor and aroma more than compensated.  I would not be tempted to double the filling as I think it would be overwhelming, but use your best judgment.  The recipe calls for a 9-inch pie plate; perhaps you'd prefer to use an 8-inch to make a pie with a thicker filling.

The ingredients are so simple and so few.  This is one pie we'll be enjoying often!

(Not Key) Lime Pie

4 eggs, separated
1 rounded tablespoon grated lime zest (about 2 limes)
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk, which is a different product entirely)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

one recipe graham cracker crust, premade or your favorite recipe or try the one below

Preheat oven to 325*F.

Rinse your limes under cold water and dry before using. 

In a medium sized bowl, sseparate the four eggs, (the whites from the yolks and reserve the whites for another use). Whisk the egg yolks and lime zest together in a bowl for about 2 minutes or until the yolks turn a light greenish yellow color. There will be bits of lime zest in the whisked mixture.  Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk and then add the lime juice. Whisk to combine and set aside.  Allow to sit for about five minutes or until the filling thickens ~ the whisk will leave a trail in the filling when pulled through the filling.  Pour the filling into the prepared graham cracker crust and spread evenly.

Bake  in your preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until almost completely set.  The filling should still be a bit wobbly when the pan is jiggled.  Cool to room temperature on a wire rack and then completely chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before slicing and serving.

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 1 1/2 packets of graham crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350*F

Put the crumbs in a small bowl and stir in the sugar.  Pour the melted butter over the crumbs and mix thoroughly.  With your impeccably clean hands, press and pat the mixture evenly into a 9-inch pie plate. 

Bake the empty crust for 8 to 10 minutes or until a dark golden brown.  The crust will continue to harden as it cools.  Cool the crust on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before filling.  You can make the crust up to a day ahead of time; just store it in the refrigerator.

MY NOTES:  I like whipped cream with my lime pie.  I had a little lime zest left over and just added a bit to the whipped cream.  YUM!  Lots of lime flavor.

I use the back of a teaspoon to smooth and thin the amount of graham cracker in the curve of the pie plate~you know where the bottom edge of the pie meets the "floor" of the pie.  Sometimes the crust can become pretty thick there. 

Old Fashioned Banana Cream Pie

There are certain foods that just say summertime fun to me, whether it's for a family picnic, 4th of July party,  barbecue or homecoming.  I like love fancy layered cakes, but to me there's still nothing homier than a pie.  And at the top of that list is a a beautiful cream pie, custardly good with gorgeous, perfectly ripe fruit flavoring every bite.  And to me, I have found the perfect banana cream pie.  Ole Sweetie-Pi loved this pie.  I loved this pie.  We loved this pie!  This is now my go-to banana cream pie recipe.

I also tried another pat-in-pan crust recipe, and this time I had much better success.  It's an oil crust and did a terrific job of holding its crispy-flaky shape after being blind baked.  It doesn't have the same desirable buttery flavor I like to associate with a pastry crust, but I'm so pleased with the way it turned out, that I will use this crust for future prebaked crust recipes. 

Old Fashioned Banana Cream Pie

(Recipezaar #14979)

One prebaked pastry crust, cooled (recipe to follow)

3 cups whole milk
3/4 cups white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ripe bananas

In a large saucepan scald the milk.  Remove any milk solids that might develop.

In a separate saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt; gradually whisk in the scalded milk.  Over medium heat, stirring constantly, cook until thickened.  Cover, cook two minutes more, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, have the 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, ready. Stir a small amount of the hot mixture into beaten yolks (tempering the yolks with the hot liquid so as not to curdle them).  When thoroughly combined, stir yolks into hot mixture.  Cook for minute more more, stirring constantly. Stir in the butter and vanilla. 

Let custard sit until lukewarm.

When ready, pour about a cup of the custard into the bottom of the prepared pie crust.  Slice 3 ripe bananas over the top and then pour the remainder of the custard over the bananas.

Wrap in plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming on the custard and refrigerate until cold and custard is set.

Serve with either a meringue made from the leftover egg whites or nice dollops of whipped cream.

No Roll Pie Crust
(Recipezaar #73041)

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar **
1/8 teaspoon vanilla**
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
3 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 375*F.

Put all ingredients into a 9-inch pie plate.  Mix with a fork until well blended and pat into the pan. Push the pastry up the sides and make a nice edge.

Generously prick the crust with a fork to prevent bubbling during baking (I pricked every 1/4 inch or so around the sides and across the bottom).

Bake 15-17 minutes, or until nicely browned.

**The original recipe calls for one tablespoon vanilla sugar, a product I do not keep on hand.  I substituted one tablespoon sugar and added a couple drops of vanilla extract.  Seemed to work fine, and was especially nice to use with a pie that called for vanilla as part of the flavoring.

Very Blueberry Pie

Ever been blueberry picking, hot sun beating down on you, pail in hand, picking blueberries, maybe with mosquitoes buzzing around you. Mysteriously, an equal amount of those luscious blue-purple globes found their way to the bucket and to your mouth. And when you bit down on them they squirted their sweet tart juice down your throat and you knew you were eating sunshine. It was like that for me. My grandmother used to take me on an old logging road near her home, and we followed it alongside the little brook that separated her property until we arrived at her secret blueberry patch. There we would eat like two mischievous children, coming come back with with only a brimming bowlful, enough to make a pie.

I love blueberry pie, but so many of them are thick with crust and starchy filling. I'll eat them, can't say no, but if you LOVE blueberries, don't want a lot of ingredients between you and those wonderful globes of goodness, try this Very Blueberry Pie. Nothing but a mound of whipped topping is between you blueberry heaven.

I clipped this recipe out of a grocery store pamphlet some years ago. The recipe instructions call for salt, but it's not included in the ingredient list. I've Goggled the recipe and can't find this precise one so I add a 1/4 teaspoon. Seems to work fine.


Very Blueberry Pie

1/4 cup cold water
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

4 cups fresh or dry-pack frozen blueberries, rinsed and drained
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

1 baked 9-inch pie shell (recipe to follow)

Make a smooth paste with the 1/4 cup cold water flour and salt and set aside.

Boil 1 cup blueberries with sugar and 1/2 cup water. Add the flour paste*** and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and cool.

Add the remaining blueberries. Put into baked pie shell.

Refrigerate. Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

***When I followed these directions, I had a horrid lumpy floury ball that seized in the middle of my blueberries. I stirred and stirred, the mixture did thicken up, but there were unsightly strands of flour throughout. I ended up putting the mixture through a fine sieve and then tossing away a floury mass. The syrup was smooth and thick, but it would've been better if if were thicker. I haven't made this recipe in a while and I don't remember this happening the last time. If you have any ideas how to avoid this in the future, I'd be glad to adopt it. Perhaps the flour/water mixture needed more water?




Because this pie needs one prebaked pie crust, I went to Allrecipes and found Easy Pie Crust and the submitter isn't kidding; this crust is super easy. You make the crust right up in the pie pan you're going to use, pat it around the sides and bottom, and then bake. No rolling out. No extra dishes to wash. It's an acceptable crust, and it worked well. I think a rolled crust is better tasting and has a better texture. This one was kind of crumbly, almost like a cracker crumbly. I reduced the salt and added extra sugar as some reviewers suggested, but I thought it was too sweet. Would I do it again? Perhaps. But if I saw another similar recipe I wouldn't hesitate to try it.

Peach & Raspberry Pie

Gosh, I love pie. Good ole apple is probably my favorite, but I pretty much love them all. Pumpkin, pecan, strawberry-rhubarb (now we're talking!), chocolate cream, banana cream, custard, lemon meringue, blueberry....oh I could go on and on.

So, it was no surprise to me that when I spied this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website, I knew I had to try it. The good cooks over there put a lot of effort in developing some of the very best recipes, and this recipe did not disappoint.

I used frozen peaches and raspberries, and gave my pie a generous six cups of filling; 4 cups of peaches and 2 cups of raspberries. No thin pies for me! I should have thought about the extra juiciness the added fruit would produce. When I cut into the pie, even after sufficiently cooling, it was too juicy. I used 1/3 cup cornstarch called for in the recipe, but next time I'll increase it to maybe just shy of half a cup. I think I'll add a tad more sugar. I love the tartness of raspberries, but a little extra sweetness would've have hurt. Grins.

The vanilla was a surprising touch, though not discernible in the baked pie. In mixing the ingredients, the vanilla, cinnamon and fruit mixture created a wonderful aroma and was enough to make want to me eat the filling Au natural. Heavenly!

As you can tell, I only used the filling part of their recipe because I favor pies over tarts. This pastry recipe has become my favorite. It's a No Fail recipe, and I think it's appropriately named. The only time I've messed it up was when I thought the flour didn't need all the water, and I reduced it. Big mistake. Follow the simple directions, and you will be rewarded with a pie crust that is wonderful to handle. It's velvety smooth and bakes up flaky. I'm not saying that this is the best pastry recipe ever (I think an old fashioned lard is probably flakier and more tender), but for sheer ease, I think you'll have to go some to beat this recipe.

Recipe is from Marcia Adams' New Recipes from Quilt Country, though I have seen it any number of places on the web. My picture is a little pale; the dough will actually be more yellow than shown because of the butter-flavored shortening.

Perfect Pie Crust

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups butter-flavored vegetable shortening**
1 egg
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup water

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and shortening. Blend until you have reached the texture of coarse crumbs.

In a separate small bowl, combine the egg, vinegar and water. Beat to combine.

Drizzle the liquids over the flour mixture and mix thoroughly.

Shape the dough into a patty, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for 45 minutes, or refrigerate overnight.

When chilled, divide the dough into fourths. Each fourth is one single crust; use two for a two-crust pie. Roll and use immediately or wrap each portion separately and refrigerate or freeze.

**I've seen this exact recipe using the non-buttered flavored shortening, and in a pinch one day, I tried it. It was just okay to me; I think the butter flavored shortening has a better flavor.

The dough will keep nice for a couple of days in the fridge; I have frozen it, defrosted, and used it, but it's not as good tasting, in my opinion.