Creamy Lemon Pie

 The month of June has a few special birthday's...Ben and Caribe celebrate their birthday's just one day apart!  Due to travel and work, they were celebrated together this year!

 Our family likes lemon so it was decided to have a refreshing lemon pie for celebrating!

Lemon Pie:

Make you favorite graham cracker crust or use this recipe:

2  1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs

4-6 tablespoons sugar, your choice of sweetness

1/2 cup melted butter

Crumble your graham crackers in food processor.  Stir in the sugar and finally the melted butter.  After thoroughly mixing place crumbs in two 8" pie pans (I used glass).  Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Lemon Cream:

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

1 cup fresh lemon juice

6 egg yolks

Mis together the milk, lemon juice and egg yolks until smooth.

Pour into prepared crusts and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

At this point you can place in fridge overnight.

Before serving, whip 2 cups whipping cream with 1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar, depending on sweetness desired.

Cut pie into nice sized pieces and place on serving plates, top with whipped cream, and garnish with fresh fruits, lemon zest, and mint leaves!  

Be creative and enjoy~

Multiple Fruit Pie

 Rhubarb has many happy memories in my life.  My Uncle Alfred had a patch of Rhubarb on the west side of his barn and our family loved cutting it and making rhubarb sauce.  Of course Mom used to make rhubarb pie that never lasted long enough!

 When Ben and I moved next door to his parents, not only did we have a rhubarb patch but so did they...I froze rhubarb for the winter months and made multiple recipes during the growing season.

 Never did I make multiple fruit pie until now...my inspiration was Jan Petteys who made and served us recently a pie similar to this.

Believe me, this is a keeper in the pie category at our home!

 Jan served us this pie on Friday night and she will provide me the recipe but I was determined to make a pie as soon as I could get my hands on a recipe via the internet.  I combined different recipes and the pie turned out well!

 Multiple Fruit Pie:

1  1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons quick cooing tapioca

1  1/4 cup raspberries

1  1/4cup blueberries

1  1/4 cup blackberries

1  1/4 cup rhubarb 

 Pie crust, of your choice

In a large bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, tapioca, and fruit; toss gently and allow to stand while preparing pie crust.

Place bottom crust in pie plate (I used a 9") and spoon fruit mixture into crust.  Roll out bottom crust and cut steam vents then transfer on top of pie.  Trim and seal edges to your liking.  I brushed top of crust with 1/2/ and 1/2 and then sprinkled with granulated sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 40 - 50 minutes.

Allow to cool on wire rack, then serve with vanilla ice cream...Oh my goodness, even thought it is 6:30 in the morning I could eat a piece of this delicious pie right now. 

I hope you enjoy this pie~

Have a pleasant day~     

Rhubarb Pie

A few years ago I transplanted a couple of rhubarb "clumps" from Uncle Alfred's famous rhubarb garden and it is always a joy when I can go out to my little garden and reminisce of days gone by!

People would stop by Uncle Alfred's and ask if they could purchase rhubarb and of course he just gave it away...it grew along the barn and was visible from the highway.

As I recall, the rhubarb was generally referred to as pie plant...how appropriate!

Rhubarb Pie:

Pastry for a 9" pie

1 2/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. grated orange peel
4 cups rhubarb, cut in 1/2" pcs.
2 tablespoons butter
Sugar

Prepare your favorite pastry (2 crust)

Stir together sugar, flour, and orange peel. Turn half of the rhubarb into pastry line pie pan; sprinkle with half the sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining rhubarb and sugar mixture; dot top with butter. Cover with top crust which has slits cut into it, seal and flute. Sprinkle top with sugar.

Cover edge with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning (remove foil the last 20 minutes or so).

Bake 40-50 minutes at 425 degrees or until juice begins to bubble through the slits.

Black Sweet Cherry Pie

I have been making this sweet cherry pie for many years and we always look forward to cherry season to enjoy this unique treat!

The glaze just glistens as you can see in the above photo.

After the baked crust has cooled and the glaze mixture has chilled you place a small amount in the bottom so that the cherries don't weep through the crust, making it soggy.

One crust pie recipe:

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening, plus 1 tablespoon
2 - 3 tablespoons cold water

Mix together the flour and salt, add the shortening and with a pastry blender cut in the shortening until pea sized particles form. Sprinkle in the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork after each addition. Continue adding the water one tablespoon at a time until all the flour is moistened. Gather the dough together with hands and firmly press into a ball. Roll out on floured surface to size desired. Place dough in pie dish/pan and bake for 8 - 10 minutes at 475 degrees. Cool on wire rack.

Black Sweet Cherry Pie:

1 1/2 quarts black sweet cherries, pitted and place in strainer, reserving juice
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup liquid (juice from pitted cherries & water to equal one cup)
3 tablespoons corn syrup
3 tablespoons black cherry gelatin

Stir together sugar & cornstarch, set aside. Combine 1 cup liquid and corn syrup. Stir corn syrup mixture slowly into cornstarch mixture in a saucepan. Cook until thick and bubbly, and then cook an additional 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin mixing well. Cool (I place in the fridge for awhile).

Spread a small amount of glaze on the bottom of the baked pie shell. Pile the cherries on top and pour remaining glaze over cherries. Refrigerate until firm.

Serve with fluffs of sweetened, whipped cream...sprinkle with a few toasted almonds if desired or garnish with fresh mint and nasturtiums.

Other fruits can be used, making certain to use the same color of gelatin as your fruit.