Blueberry-peach custard pie

I apologize for posting this months after I made it, when the fruits aren't exactly in season and it more pumpkin time than peach time. I, uh, kind of had a baby, and while I was baking before and after her arrival, I've been very slow to catch up on actually blogging about things. But this dessert is very light, very crisp, and very delicious, so if you're looking for something easy to remind you of the days of summer, this is a good bet. And you could always use frozen fruit!

The only issue I had with this pie is that I devoured it. It was simple to make and was a nice change of pace from the cookies and bars I was making this summer.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup skim milk
3/4 cup (6 ounces) nonfat plain Greek-style yogurt
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch of salt
Store-bought, prepared pie crust dough (enough for one crust)
1 cup peeled, sliced peaches
1 cup blueberries

Directions:
Position a rack in lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 9-inch pie pan with cooking spray.

To make the filling, in a medium bowl combine the sugar, milk, yogurt, eggs, flour, cornstarch, almond extract and salt. Whisk until smooth. Set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll a sheet of pie crust into a 12-inch circle. Place the crust in the pie pan and trim so it overhangs evenly by about 1-inch.

Fold the edges under and crimp or flute the edge with your fingers or a fork. Place the pie pan on a baking sheet.

Arrange peaches in the bottom of the crust and top with the blueberries in an even layer. Pour the filling on top (the fruit will float but this won't affect the final results). Bake for 25 minutes.

After the pie has baked for 25 minutes and the filling is beginning to set, remove from oven and cover the edges of the crust with foil to help prevent over browning. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and return the pie to oven.

Bake until a knife inserted at the center of the pie comes out clean, another 20 to 25 minutes (the pie may puff up quite a bit but will settle during cooling). Let cool for 1 1/2 hours. Serve warm or refrigerate until cold and serve chilled.


Source: St. Petersburg Times/Associated Press

Lemon-Vanilla Tart

Bob, a coworker of mine, has a lemon tree in his yard and raved about the huge, fresh lemons it was producing. I had just seen the recipe for this tart in a magazine, and when he brought some lemons in to work and offered them up, I quickly took a few. Another friend had given me some homemade vanilla in December (thanks, Lisa!), and I loved the fact that I was using ingredients from so many others to make this dessert.

As I was making the tart, I remembered all of the lemon recipes Meg and I made during Lemon Week.

I admit that when it came time to make this, I was tired and overwhelmed at the thought of making the tart pastry from scratch. I also don't have a tart pan. Conveniently, I had a frozen pie crust in the freezer and figured I could use it for a slightly less homemade product. I baked the pie crust as directed and it turned out great. I sampled a small piece before handing it over to Bob the Lemon Man, and I loved the tart-but-not-too-tart lemon flavor that was shining through the hint of vanilla flavor. This wasn't a pure lemon tart, and I liked that - the vanilla really gave it a richer tone.

I didn't eat or really care for the idea of the candied lemon slices, but they *did* look pretty and were super easy to make.


Ingredients:

1 recipe Tart Pastry (recipe below)
2 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 recipe Oven-Candied Lemon Slices (recipe below)

Directions

1. Prepare Tart Pastry. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Wrap the rolled-out pastry around a rolling pin. Using pin, ease pastry into a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom, taking care not to stretch the pastry. Press pastry into fluted sides of tart pan. Trim edges even with the pan. Line pastry with a double thickness of foil. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 5 to 6 minutes more or until crust is golden. Cool on wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

2. Meanwhile, finely shred 4 teaspoons peel from lemons. Set aside. Squeeze enough juice from lemons to measure 6 tablespoons; set aside.


3. In medium bowl combine sugar and flour. Add eggs. Beat with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 3 minutes or until mixture is light in color and slightly thickened. Stir in lemon peel, lemon juice, butter, and vanilla. Pour into pastry shell. Place tart pan on a baking sheet.


4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until filling is set and lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.


5. To serve, remove sides of pan, and top tart with Oven-Candied Lemon Slices. Makes 8 servings.

Tart Pastry
In medium bowl cut 1/2 cup cold butter into 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour until pieces are the size of small peas. In a small mixing bowl combine 1 beaten egg yolk, and 1 tablespoon ice water. Gradually stir the egg yolk mixture into the flour mixture. Add 2 to 4 tablespoons more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all the dough is moistened. Shape into a ball. If necessary, cover dough with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes or until dough is easy to handle. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough on an 11-inch circle. Use to prepare Lemon-Vanilla Tart.

Oven-Candied Lemon Slices
Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Cut 2 small lemons crosswise into 1/8-to 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange in a single layer on pan. Sprinkle lemon slices with 1/4 cup sugar. Bake in preheated 275 degree F oven 45 to 50 minutes or until lemons are almost dry and covered with sugary glaze. While still warm, loosen slices from paper to prevent sticking.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

Heavenly Chocolate Layer Pie

I had a graham cracker pie crust leftover from Thanksgiving that I wanted to use, and when we decided to have a holiday potluck at office, I decided I'd find an easy, light pie to put in it.

I made a few modifications to this recipe, though. I couldn't find chocolate whipped cream (I've seen it before, but I didn't launch an all-out search for this recipe) and I used the graham cracker pie crust instead of the Oreo one. I think all of the extra chocolate would have been delicious, but I don't think it was necessary.

The pie was a hit at the potluck, and even though it's not overly fattening, it's very rich, and a little bit went a long way. And there are no photos, because it was *so* easy to make I didn't really have any time or need to photograph the steps. I wanted to get a photo of the finished product, but it was gone before I could!

Ingredients:
2 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 Oreo pie crust (6 oz.)
1 tub (8 oz.) Chocolate Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

Directions:
Pour milk into medium bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. (Mixture will be thick.)

Spread 1-1/2 cups of the pudding onto bottom of crust. Gently stir half of the whipped topping into remaining pudding. Spread over pudding layer in crust; top with the remaining whipped topping.

Refrigerate 3 hours or until set. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.

Source: Kraft

My *gasp* first pumpkin pie

One might think - considering my love of Thanksgiving (favorite holiday!) and pumpkin and baking - that I would have made countless pumpkin pies in my 21 28 years in this world.

One would be wrong.

I cannot recall ever making a pumpkin pie. I used to ask for pumpkin pie instead of birthday cake, but I never made my own. During my childhood and college, my aunt, uncle or grandma always made the pies for Thanksgiving. I willingly ate my share. After I graduated college, that arrangement remained primarly the same, but I was almost always working on the holiday and would usually just partake in a work potluck. The rest of my family got to feast on my aunt's, uncle's or grandma's pies (which always included a pumpkin pie and a fruit pie, like apple or cherry).

But there have been two Thanksgivings since I got married, and last year, the holiday was soon after we returned from our honeymoon. I honestly think I bought a pre-made frozen pie to simplify my life. I was cooking a turkey for the first time last year and figured one new thing was enough to conquer.

This year, life wasn't any less complex, but I had all of my stock-piled pumpkin and wanted to make a pie.

Full disclosure: I'm weary of pies. I've made them from scratch, including a peach pie I started enthusiastically when I was about 14 and quickly lost patience with ... I love pumpkin pies largely because the whole crust factor is a lesser issue - no lattice on the top, just crimping on the side. And this year, I still went the easy way out with a store-bought crust. But it's progress, people!

My husband loved the pie and said I should make pumpkin pie more often. Will do, babe.

Here's our full spread:


Ingredients

1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.

3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

Source: Libby's

Pumpkin Spice No Bake Cheesecake

I saw this recipe on a Katie's blog and really, really, REALLY wanted to try it. I just had no idea when I would make it, especially with all of the great pumpkin recipes I've found and made so far this year.

Fear not - I found a reason to make it :) While I home for a few days, my little brother and I were searching for a dessert that would be easy to polish off in a few days (my parents and brother are the only ones still in the house on a regular basis, so gone are the days of a cake disappearing in a mere day or two). We were also baking cookies for Operation Baking Gals, so we weren't entirely sure we wanted to make another thing in the oven.

Enter the no-bake pumpkin cheesecake. Delicious, and I wasn't worried about starting the holiday weight struggle early with this light, sweet dessert.

Ingredients:
8 oz 1/3 less fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (canned is fine)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (Katie substituted 1/2 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp allspice)
1/4 cup brown sugar, unpacked
8 oz Cool Whip Free, thawed
9 inch reduced fat Graham Cracker Crust

Directions:
In a large bowl using an electric mixer, whip cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar for a few minutes until fluffy.

Add Cool Whip and whip until smooth.

Spoon mixture into pie crust and chill for a few hours (it took at least three hours for us to have it hold form), until firm.

Source: Katie's blog