Fresh Peach Pie

My pictures turned out horribly, but you have to believe that this was SO SO good.  Another winner from Melanie.  This makes enough for two pies, but tonight I halved it easily and it turned out wonderfully.

2 pie crusts, baked

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8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

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1/2 cup peaches

1/2 cup water

1/2 – 1 package knox gelatin softened in water

3 T cornstarch

3/4 cup sugar

2 T lemon juice

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Combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar and spread in the bottom of two baked pie crusts.

Combine peaches,w ater, knox, cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice in a sauce pan. Cook until clear and thick.

Slice enough peaches to fill 2 pies (about 12-14 average sized peaches). Mix peaches and sauce and pour into pie shells.

2 pie crusts, baked

- – - – -

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

- – - – -

1/2 cup peaches

1/2 cup water

1/2 – 1 package knox gelatin softened in water

3 T cornstarch

3/4 cup sugar

2 T lemon juice

- – - – -

Combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar and spread in the bottom of two baked pie crusts.

Combine peaches,w ater, knox, cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice in a sauce pan. Cook until clear and thick.

Slice enough peaches to fill 2 pies (about 12-14 average sized peaches). Mix peaches and sauce and pour into pie shells.

canned apple pie filling

Peel and slice apples and pack tightly into bottles.

Bring to a boil: 10 c. water, 1 c. cornstarch, 5 c. sugar, 1/2 c. lemon juice, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Pour over sliced apples – process 20 minutes.

Makes 8 quarts.

Thank you Melanie H.!

Easy Key Lime Pie

My friend, Heidi, made this for me one night and it was so good.  Also, I went into labor the next day, so her husband now calls this “pop it out pie”.

1 – 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 – 6 oz can frozen limeade, still frozen
1 cup heavy cream
1 – 6 ounce graham cracker pie crust
Zest of 1 lime for garnish

Beat the milk, limeade and cream until you get soft peaks.  Pour the filling into the pie crust.  Refridgerate until chilled – at least 4 hours, or up to overnight. Can also be frozen.  Sprinkle with zest before serving.

Banana Cream Pie

I need to make this more than once every couple years for Nathan.  He loves it and it’s not that hard.  Now that we have a pie crust recipe I love, I will probably make more pie!

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 t salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 T butter
1 1/4 t vanilla extract
1 (9 inch) pie crust – baked
3-4 bananas, sliced

Crack the egg yolks and have them waiting in a medium bowl.  In a saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, salt and milk.  Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture just barely thickens.   Remove from heat.  Add a very small amount of the cooked sugar mixture to the eggs (almost just dribbling it in – go slow) while you’re whisking quickly.  You  need to warm the eggs without scrambling them.  After the eggs are warm – you might have added 1/4 cup sugar mixture – pour all the egg  mixture into the sauce pan.

Add the butter and vanilla to the sauce pan and stir until everything is well combined and is smooth.

Slice the bananas and place them in the bottom of the cooked, cooled pie shell, and the pour the pudding mixture into the shell.  Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, and then chill for at least 1 hour before serving.  Top with whipped cream.

Pie Crust

From Melanie.   People make pie crust sound scary and hard to get right.  This is easy and I don’t know if you can mess it up.  Plus, I don’t like pie crust, but I LOVE this pie crust.  I’m pretty sure it’s the lard.  DO NOT substitute butter or shortening for the lard.

If you’re going to freeze the crusts, you can roll them out, put them in extra pie pans and then freeze.  I’ve also rolled out the crusts, topped with saran wrap and then rolled them up, before wrapping the roll in foil and then freezing.  That works well especially for pie tops.  Defrost totally before you try to unroll.

5 c. unsifted flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp baking pwd.
1 lb. Lard (2 cups)

Mix together. Beat 1 egg, add enough milk to make 1 cup of liquid. Slowly add to flour mixture. Use a fork, do not over work. Roll out and put in pie pans.

*makes 9 single pie crusts, freezes well.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

This is what Nathan made for my birthday. It was easy and delicious. It would be easy to use low fat ingredients and turn into a healthier dessert, but – I’m pregnant and it’s my birthday so we didn’t. It was rich and divine.

1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
7 oz sweetened condensed milk
6 oz (1/2 a large tub) Cool Whip, thawed
1 chocolate graham cracker crust (buy or make your own)

Combine 1st 3 ingredients and beat until smooth. Add milk, stir in cool whip. Chill 8 hours in fridge or until set, OR stick in freezer. I love frozen stuff, so we did it that way and it was SO good.

Variations: we put a bit of chocolate syrup on top. I had thought about having Nathan stir in something, but after we tasted it, we don’t want to mess with the smooth texture. I think some mini-chocolate chips or chopped Snickers on top (before freezing) would be really good.

Warning: VERY rich. Decadent. Delicious.