The Day of SIX Pies

I was going to title this post "The Day the Music Pie-d", but figured that was too ridiculous, even for me.  Whichever heading you like, it's still going to be all...about...the...pies.  (All photos courtesy of my husband's terrible camera.  I really need a new lens for mine!)

It all started when I bought a mini pie pan.  I don't mind a cluttered cabinet and I can never have too many random kitchen gadgets.  I have all sorts of molds and pans that rarely get used, but I keep them - just in case.  Besides, I had plans for the mini pie pan.  Could I not also bake cake rounds and make a tiny 6-layer cake?  What about giant cookies for ice cream sandwiches?  Clearly, this item was an absolute kitchen necessity.

I was intrigued by its original purpose, though.  Six tiny pies?  What if I could make six different kinds of pies?  Would that take the entire day?  What if I pulled all ingredients and assembly-lined the process?  Did I currently have the ingredients for six different kinds of pies?!?  Yes.  I had bags of frozen cherries and mixed fruit in the freezer, and I'd frozen 3/4 cup pumpkin puree AND sweetened condensed milk, so I wouldn't need to open a can.  I could make homemade chocolate pudding for a pie filling, and I had fresh apples and peaches...and that was it.  Even though I had piles and piles of work to do, I decided to devote the afternoon to pie baking...mini pie baking, that is. 

Time to make the pie dough:  10 minutes
Time to chill pie dough:  1 hour
Time to cut out pie circles with a cereal bowl:  10 minutes

I put the rounds in the basins and refrigerated the pan.

Time to pull out ingredients:  5 minutes
Time to mix ingredients for each pie:  10 minutes

Putting all the ingredients on the counters really sped things up.  After all, the fruit pies all needed the same basic ingredients - corn starch, sugar, salt, and spices.  It only took about 10 minutes to do the entire process!

Then I pulled the chilled pan from the refrigerator and put in the fillings, then crimped 'rustic' tops.

Total time:  7 minutes.

The lower left corner pie was blind-baked.  That is, I baked it with weights inside (rice) to help it keep its shape and then filled it with chocolate pudding later. 

The amount of filling I'd made (1/4 of a full-size pie recipe) was too much for these basins, but that meant I had plenty left over to make more mini pies.  Into the freezer!

Cooking time:  45 minutes

While the pies baked, I made homemade chocolate pudding in the microwave (5 minutes) and cleaned up the kitchen (significantly longer).

The mini pies turned out just as I'd hoped.  There was only one accident...the bottom crust on the peach pie was too thin, so one wall collapsed and leaked filling.  No big deal.

 
The final tally?  One peach, one apple, one three berry, one cherry, one chocolate, and one pumpkin pie.  And oh, so good.  Really, it didn't take long at all.  Not much longer than making one single pie.  And I am completely charmed by these little pies.  Now that I understand the thickness of the dough needed, and the amount of filling that each basin holds (about a cup), I can make these any time!  I quartered the pies for easy sampling that night and made a "pie buffet", which was really fun.  Todd loved the flavors but thought the filling to crust-ratio was a little off, and I agreed.  Next time I'll make lattice tops or leave them open-faced. 

It's nice that my recipes make exactly enough filling for two batches of mini-pies, so the next time I make them will be even easier!  Although it was already pretty easy.  Twenty minutes to mix and shape dough (not counting fridge rest time) and about twenty minutes to pull ingredients, mix, and fill the pies. 

I jotted down the recipes for my personal cookbook, so I'll paste them in here in case anyone is interested in making them.  Hope you give them a try.  Have a great week! 

 Mini Pie Pan PIES

Apple Pie ¼ recipe

2 Granny Smith apples, sliced/diced

1 ½ teaspoons white sugar

1 TB brown sugar

1 teaspoon flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon cardamom

¾ teaspoon lemon juice

butter to dot top of pie before sealing

Three Berry Pie ¼ recipe

1.5 cups berries

3 TB sugar

1 TB cornstarch

Peach Pie 1/4 recipe

2 peaches, peeled and sliced

3 TB sugar

1 ½ teaspoon flour

3/4 teaspoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cardamom

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Cherry Pie 1/4 recipe

1.5 cups cherries

1 TB sugar 

pinch salt

pinch cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

drop of almond extract

1 TB cornstarch

Pumpkin Pie 1/4 recipe

3 ounces canned pumpkin

3 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1/2 egg

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ginger

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 - 3 TB brown sugar

Chocolate Pie 1/4 recipe

3 TB sugar

2 TB cocoa

1 ½ TB cornstarch

pinch of salt

1 cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions for ALL Pies (except chocolate pie)

Freeze crust for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix all but butter together.  Pour into crust.  Cover with remaining crust and place on baking sheet.  Bake 20 minutes.  Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake an additional 25 – 30 minutes.

Directions for Chocolate Pie

Combine first 4 ingredients, then stir in milk.  Microwave, uncovered, for 2 minutes.  Stir.  Continue to microwave in one minute increments.  When thick, stir in vanilla and refrigerate. 

Blind bake crust:  Put dough in pie pan with pie beads/weights.  After 20 minutes, remove pie beads.  Bake another 5 or so minutes, until whole crust is golden.

Whole Lotta Love

Things I'm loving this week...cupcakes for two, with sprinkles...that we've had three days in a row.

Pollen-covered bees.

 

Tiny bouquets made up of flowers from the garden.

"Things" that resemble other "things", like seed pods that look like pointy-hatted gnomes...

 ...and this emerging fennel umbel that resembles an acrobat, twisting backward to grasp a pole.  Do you see it?

Also love...flowers grown from seed.

Color...lots of color.

When a plan comes together...like a walkway bordered by feathery cosmos that are just starting to open up.  

Yard sales steals...like this handmade miniature covered bridge I found for $5.00.

I love doll-free dollhouses and the tiny wooden furniture inside.  One day I will indulge that love, but for now I'll stick to this miniature covered bridge, which may become a trailing shade plant holder, or a bird feeder...or maybe just something to sit on a shelf and admire.  It's got both puppy and kitty seals of approval.

Another $5.00 steal...this was the price for three vintage wooden dough bowls found at Goodwill recently.  Not $5 each...a total of $5 for all three bowls.

They were in pretty rough condition.  Lots of scratches.

Because my arms are usually aching from the gym, I slowly sanded them down over time.

Then I used mineral oil to bring out the natural beauty of the wood.

It's a beauty, isn't it?  I found other, nearly identical vintage wooden dough bowls online ranging in price from $35 - $250 -  per bowl.  

In the midst of so many good deals, I've been feeling a bit guilty for paying full price for some items that I don't even use...like my tart pans.

I decided to make mini fruit tarts this past week, to assuage my guilt...and because they're so tasty.  I don't use a set recipe for these...it all depends upon what you like.

I mixed up my preferred recipe for pie dough (Smitten Kitchen's all-butter pie dough) and placed the  dough in the refrigerator to chill.  I preheated the oven to 350, greased my tart pans, and placed them on a cookie sheet in case of mid-cooking spillage.

Once my dough was chilled (to be honest, I only chill mine for 15 - 30 minutes), I rolled it out on a floured surface and used a tart tin to cut out the pie bottoms.

Of course, this only makes enough dough to cover the bottom of your tins.  

I took leftover dough, sliced it with a pizza cutter, and made sides for each tart.  

An alternative is to just cut a larger circle of dough that covers bottom and sides all at once.  That's the easiest way...I just wasn't thinking when I was making these!  But this method worked just fine and didn't take much more time.  

This is just a miniature version of my favorite three-berry pie.  I measured about 3/4 cup sugar and mixed in 2 tablespoons of corn starch.  I stirred this mixture into 3 cups of frozen fruit, and spooned it into my tart containers.

Since I just threw these together, I didn't pay much attention to time...I just baked these until the crusts were golden...around 20 minutes, I think!  

The tarts are a bit runny when they come out of the oven...

...but they firm up as they cool.

These can be whipped up in no time and it's a perfect summer snack.  Great for picnics!  Each tart is equivalent to a half piece of pie, so it's a small, guilt-free indulgence.

Enjoy!

Post-Diss Bliss

The fall rains have come!

That means that we're starting to see some beautiful color when we take our morning walks. Some trees have leaves that are barely tipped with color...

...and others that have been completely consumed by it.

Maple trees in fall are nearly my favorite. The bark turns dark, almost black, and the leaves are a constantly-changing riot of color for weeks.

This sweetgum tree doesn't have any red at all...just cheerful yellow leaves among the green.

One of my favorites, the ginkgo, has that bright yellow edge to its fall leaves that I love so much!

Every day, I bring home any leaves that strike my fancy. I brought these home because they reminded me of a rainbow.

This one, because of the dramatic half-changed state.

This one, because of the deeply-etched veins.

Sometimes I'll take whole tree branches, especially oak.

I love to bring them inside and lay them on the table. The colors are really wonderful!

The sweetgum seeds are still green, but are nice to pile up, too.

There's a flurry of fall activity in my yard, too. The swallowtail caterpillars are preparing to go into a chrysalis state.

All over the yard, insects are mating. The timing must be right, so that their eggs can be laid in the ground before frost, but not so early that they would be in danger from digging creatures or from having their growth schedule skewed from too-warm weather. These grasshoppers will soon separate, and the female will lay her fertilized eggs in the still-soft ground.

Still not many butterflies, but several unusual moths around! My cosmos are done for the year, and the marigolds are on their way out, but I still have lots of zinnias that attract these little visitors.

My autumn sedum has finally bloomed, too!

It consists of a flower head full of teeny tiny flowers. They're delicate-looking, but they stay beautiful through the fall rains and a whole range of temperatures.

I recently found several patches of clover outside. There must've been some four-leafed ones there, because we've had some extraordinary luck.

My husband, who possess several attractive qualities, including this one...

...finally completed his dissertation!

He has some easy revisions, but we can both envision a dissertation-free life in the near future. At long last, we're able to schedule a camping/kayaking trip. We went to a movie together...for the first time in over two years. We played board games and then vegged on the couch for the season premier of "The Office". In other words, we've been having some blessedly normal days!

I've been scurrying to complete a knitting project, too. I had some very nice, soft, springy wool in a lovely wheat color, fingering weight, that I thought would be perfect for some fingerless gloves.

I've scorned them in the past ("If it's cold enough to wear gloves, you need your whole hand covered up!"), but they're truly miraculous in the fall. Perfect for those months when it's not quite thick, woolen glove weather, but there's a definite bite in the air. These gloves are perfect protection in cool mornings and brisk, chilly nights. I even wear them around the house, since the open fingers enable me to use my phone or type on the computer.

This particular pattern ("October Leaves" on Ravelry) is really clever. A four-stitch cable snakes up the wrist to the base of the thumb, and then separates to form two delicate lace leaves.

There's also a cable on the other side of the hand.

I'm very pleased with my new fingerless gloves!

Since the weather's turned, I've also been baking a lot. In fact, I've baked three pies in the past 10 days. Pies are so quick and easy, even if you don't have much experience. And there's nothing like biting into a warm, tasty slice of pie that you've baked yourself, from scratch.

I've posted my go-to pie crust recipe on here before. It's Smitten Kitchen's no-fail all-butter pie crust. I highly recommend it for any type of pie.

The first pie I baked this season was also the easiest. I love blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries in a pie, so I paged through several recipes before deciding on one. I'm really pleased with the result.

Three Berry Pie
allrecipes.com
makes one pie

Ingredients
one recipe pie crust
6 cups berries
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar

Directions
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mix together your cornstarch and sugar, withholding two tablespoons. After well combined, pour onto your fruit and mix well. When fruit is completely coated, sprinkle the held-back tablespoons of sugar/cornstarch mixture into the bottom of your pie crust, and pour the fruit on top. Cover with second crust. Crimp crust and pierce with fork. Cover the edge of your pie with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting...this helps the liquid inside to congeal.

It's so easy! The pie only has three ingredients. And the no-fail pie crust truly is no-fail. Look at that flaky crust!

It's the perfect weather for fall. I hope you'll try it soon!