Key Lime Pie

While we were out of town for the 4th of July this past weekend I made a key lime pie.  Well, actually it was just a lime pie because Kroger didn't have any key limes, or I couldn't find them.  The recipe is featured in this month's Southern Living and is supposed to be healthier than most because you use fat free ingredients.  I don't mind using fat free ingredients, just as long as it doesn't take away from the taste, which I don't think this did!

Rest assured that the swan in the background is not mine.

Ingredients
1 (14 oz.) can of fat free sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons grated lime rind
1 graham cracker crust (reduced fat or not)
8 oz. fat free whipped cream, thawed

Pre heat oven to 350.  Mix condensed milk, egg, lime juice and grated lime with a mixer.  Pour into the crust.  Bake 10-12 minutes.  Place on a cooling rack for 1 hour.  Top with whipped cream and chill in refrigerator until time to serve.  Garnish with lime wedges or curls.

Sorry the picture is terrible quality - my camera was not wanting to focus that evening.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

In honor of the Kentucky Derby, Ben and I made a chocolate bourbon pecan pie this weekend.  Yummy!  AND I found out that this pie tastes even better after it has been refrigerated overnight.  As overwhelming as pecan pies may seem to be, this recipe breaks it down nicely, plus if you use store bought pie crust (shhh don't tell) it means prep time only takes about 15 minutes!

Ingredients
1 9" premade pie crust
3/4 cup chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup bourbon (or water)
4 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons cornmeal
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.  Place pre-made pie crust in a glass pie dish.  Sprinkle chocolate morsels and chopped pecans in the bottom of the crust (see picture below).  In a saucepan, mix corn syrup, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and bourbon or water and boil for 3 minutes - stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, butter, cornmeal, vanilla, and salt.  Gradually mix 1/4 of the hot mixture in the egg mixture, whisking constantly.  Continue until all of the hot mixture is incorporated into the egg mixture.  Pour over the crust (see second picture below).  Bake for 55 minutes.  

The recipe I was using didn't call for extra pecans on top, but it makes it look so much better, so 35 minutes into the baking I took the pie out and arranged some pecans on top, then continued baking for 20 more minutes.  If you think the pecans are burning you can place some foil over the pie.

*You'll noticed that I cut back on some of the ingredients compared to Southern Living's recipe, because the pie crust could not hold everything.  But if you got a 10" crust you could probably use the same measurements as the recipe.

This recipe is adapted from Southern Living.

Snickers Pie!

Last night, I finally made the snickers pie (much to Ben's delight)!  And as Monograms and Manicures pointed out recently, National Pie Day was January 23 (so I think two days late is not that bad!).

See all of the yummy layers?

This pie is soooo good.  I had just a tiny nibble for breakfast (because I did not do a proper taste test last night).  It really makes a difference (in a good way) if you leave it in over night to chill.  The filling becomes even more to die for!

Ingredients
1 graham cracker pie crust (I used a pre-made because I was in a time crunch)
3 snickers bars
1 1/2 (8 oz) cream cheese packages
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
2 eggs
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
2 tablespoons whipped cream
1/4 cup coarsely chopped, lightly salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 325. Cut snickers bars into 1/4 inch pieces and arrange in the bottom of the pie crust (see picture below).  Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed until well-blended.  Add peanut butter and sour cream and beat at low speed.  Add eggs one at a time and beat just until the yellow disappears each time.  Spoon mixture into the pie crust and bake for 35 minutes.  Remove and let cool on a wire rack for an hour.  Cover and chill for 2 hours.  Microwave semisweet morsels and whipped cream for 45 seconds, stirring every 15 seconds. Drizzle chocolate over the top of the pie and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

Layer of sliced snickers bars in the bottom of the pie!

This pie takes patients (almost 4 hours of it!).  After you blend the peanut butter mixture, you're going to want to eat it with a spoon, and the only thing that stopped me from doing that was the fact that there were raw eggs in there (yuck).  Otherwise it could have been bad.  The layer of snickers in the bottom of the pie really adds that extra something to the pie and I'm willing to bet that it would taste just as good if it were in the bottom of cheesecakes, too!

This recipe is adapted from here.

Homemade Apple Pie

This is the first homemade pie I have ever made! And I must admit that the anticipation was worse than actually making it. I was so scared I was going to mess up or that it would taste bad. I'm the kind of person that usually takes a pie out of a box and pops it in the oven. Never again! I'm a changed person!

Whenever I embarked on this pie adventure I did not know what I was getting myself into. The dough was definitely the hardest part. Not so much making the dough, but actually putting it in the bottom of the pie dish. As you can see in the below picture, part of the dough tore and I had to patch it with more dough. Totally fine, though, because no one could tell since it was on the bottom!
I used Alton Brown's recipe for the dough. However, his recipe gets too complicated so I stopped following it after leaving the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. After that I just rolled the dough out (using lots of flour) and carefully placed it in the pie dish. Whenever it comes to Alton Brown I am a firm believer that there is no reason for all of those other shenanigans when I can accomplish the same thing in less steps and time.

I used Grandma Ople's Apple Pie recipe for the filling (she's not my Grandma, but she sure knows how to make an apple pie!). The only thing I did differently with this recipe is that I did not pour the sugar and butter mixture over the lattice. I poured it directly on the apples and then covered it. Before I go any further, I wanted to mention the cinnamon. I would only put cinnamon on the apples and in the mixture if you would like. Do not put it on the lattice, because it will appear burned after it bakes (I learned this the hard way from the cinnamon sugar pretzels.)

I know what you're thinking..."a lattice? really? on your first pie?" Believe me, I was scared too. But luckily I found this great video on Allrecipes.com that does step by step instructions on how to make a lattice. Plus after having such a hard time putting the pie crust in the bottom I was actually looking forward to trying something else for the top.

Yes yes, there are some places where I messed up (particularly on the lattice) but I'm already thinking of the next type of pie I should make. Any suggestions? Leave me a comment!