Happy 4th of July weekend, everyone! If you’re looking for something special to bring to a backyard celebration, look no further. Mom’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pie is awesome (like my Mom… she’s awesome, too!). Let’s get started…
Ingredients (Makes 1 pie)
For the filling:
2 1/2 cups Continue reading
I don’t recall exactly how the topic came up, but recently my mother and I got to talking about something called “Icebox Cake.” I was completely unfamiliar, but she knew exactly what this was. To me, it sounded like an interesting concept… layers of chocolate chip cookies and creamy filling, refrigerated overnight until the whole thing took on a cake-like texture. I filed the idea away for a future rainy day.
Mom did better than that, and actually created an icebox cake for us to try. It was fantastic! This cool, creamy indulgence has definitely earned a spot in the dessert rotation here at Crowded Earth Kitchen. I hope you enjoy Irish Cream Icebox Cake as much as we did!
Ingredients (Serves 12 – 16)
24 ounces of “Chips Ahoy” cookies (packages vary in size; check the weight)
3/4 cup (about 12 ounces) Marscarpone cheese
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Irish cream liqueur
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon almond extract
Garnishes such as powdered sugar, whipped cream, and/or miniature chocolates
Directions
Step 1) Combine Marscarpone cheese, heavy cream, Irish cream liqueur, sugar, cocoa powder, and almond extract. Blend with an electric mixer for one minute, then beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
Step 2) Cover the bottom of a large Springform pan (or other round pan, approximately 12″ in diameter) with Chips Ahoy cookies. Do not overlap the cookies. Instead, break a few cookies to fill in the spaces.
Step 3) Top the cookies with a thin layer of cream (about 1/4 of your total filling mixture).
Step 4) Repeat layers of cookies and cream filling until the cream filling is used up. The top layer should be cream.
Step 5) Cover your Irish Cream Icebox Cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Don’t rush this – the cake really does need to rest in the fridge for about 12 hours!
Step 6) If using a Springform pan, run a butter knife around the edge before removing the side of the pan. Immediately before slicing and serving, garnish as desired.
YUM!
I began today’s kitchen adventures with every intention of making a lemon meringue pie. I had a few beautiful little Meyer lemons to use up, and a ready-to-bake pie crust (no apologies) in my fridge. When I got to the part where I should have beat egg whites into meringue, I got to thinking…
It’s almost Easter…
Marshmallow is sort of like meringue…
and those little Peeps chicks are cute!
So, here we are. Lemon Peeps Pie is lemony, marshmallowy, cute, and delicious. Have a sense of humor, and have a Happy Easter!
Ingredients (Serves 8)
1 baked pie crust (follow directions on a refrigerated crust, or buy a pie crust from the baking aisle at the market)
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons corn starch Continue reading
So, you agreed to bake pie for the big dinner this week. You had high hopes of learning to make crust from scratch, complete with fancy edges, a lattice top, and all of the frou-frou that you saw on that gourmet food magazine. Then life intervened and you got busy. Don’t worry. Here at Crowded Earth Kitchen, we’ve got you covered!
To save time and sanity this holiday week, we’re starting with a store bought, roll-out pie crust. If you’re feeling obligated to make a scratch crust, that’s cool – click on the link above and we’ll walk you through it. But seriously, nobody is going to shun this awesome Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie because you skipped a few steps with the roll-out crust. I doubt they’ll even know the difference.
Let’s get started!
Ingredients
1 roll-out pie crust
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
1 cup (8 oz) evaporated milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
Step 1) Roll pie crust into a glass pie pan. This is easiest when the pie crust has been allowed to rest on a counter top for about 10 minutes before unrolling. If you try to unroll the pie crust right from the fridge, it will crack. If you let it get too warm, it will stick. 10 minutes is just about right!
Step 2) Trim the pie crust even with the edge of the pie pan. Cut little shapes out of the scraps if you wish, to use as a garnish.
Step 3) Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Spread mixture on bottom of pie crust as shown.
Step 4) In a medium size mixing bowl, beat eggs and pumpkin. Add sugar, spices, and salt. Finally, add evaporated milk a little at a time until fully incorporated.
Step 5) Pour pumpkin mixture carefully into your pie crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and continue baking for 40 minutes.
Step 6) If using small crust shapes as a garnish, set small crust shapes on a baking sheet and place in the oven for the final 10 minutes of pie baking time. Place baked crust shapes on top of the baked pie.
I originally made these Apple Cranberry Pies for my cousin’s wedding celebration. It was a magically homespun sort of wedding… think outdoors with perfect weather, wildflowers everywhere, mason jars and homemade pies. The bride looked like she stepped right out of a fairy tale. Sigh. I digress.
Back to the present… apple cranberry pie would be lovely for Thanksgiving! Pressed for time and leery of homemade crust? Feel free to pick up a box of rolled-up, ready to use pie crusts in the refrigerator case at your supermarket and skip right to Step 4. I won’t tell anyone.
Ingredients (serves 8)
Crust:
2 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2/3 cup cold, unsalted butter (please use real butter for this!)
6 tablespoons vodka
4 tablespoons cold water
2 eggs
Filling:
6 cups peeled, sliced apples (I used 4 Macintosh and 4 Cortland apples)
1/2 cup cranberries (frozen are fine)
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 cup shredded coconut (optional)
Directions
Step 1) Combine 2 1/2 cups flour, salt, and allspice in a small mixing bowl. Add cold butter. Cut butter into flour mixture using a pastry cutter, until mixture resembles a bowl of pea-size crumbs.
Step 2) Sprinkle water and vodka over butter mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time. Don’t dump the liquid all in one place! Gently incorporate until a ball of dough forms. If you need to use your hands, that’s fine.
Step 3) Divide dough in half. Roll each half on a lightly floured countertop using a lightly floured rolling pin until the dough is approximately a 12 inch circle. It doesn’t have to be a perfect circle, no matter what some cookbooks tell you (we’ll fix it later, don’t worry).
Step 4) Fold one of the dough circles over the rolling pin to transfer to a deep dish pie pan. Simply pat the dough lightly into place. If the dough tears, don’t panic, just patch it back together with your fingers. I won’t tell anyone, and seriously, nobody will notice if your crust isn’t picture perfect. Carry on…
Step 5) This is why we don’t care if the crust is a perfect circle… use a small knife to slice off all of the dough that hangs past the edges of your pan! We’ll make it look all fancy in a moment, but for now, we just want the dough even with the edges.
Step 6) Using a tiny cookie cutter or other mold, cut tiny shapes (approximately 1 square inch) from the dough scraps. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired. Set shapes aside.
Step 7) Cover your pie crust with a towel, and make your filling… Combine your apple slices, cranberries, sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, and cardamom in a large bowl. Mix gently until ingredients are combined.
Step 8) Sprinkle the bottom of your pie crust with shredded coconut. This is entirely optional, and you really won’t taste the coconut. This steps helps to absorb excess liquid from the pie filling. If you don’t like coconut, try sprinkling the bottom of your pie crust with finely ground pecans.
Step 9) Pour your apple cranberry pie filling into your pie pan. Isn’t it pretty?
Step 10) Top your pie with the second circle of dough. Use your fingers to gently crimp the top and bottom crusts together. Don’t worry if the edge doesn’t look fancy like a cooking show pie crust… just say your pie crust is “rustic” and move on with your day. 😉
Step 11) Cut a few slits in your top crust for steam to escape. Brush beaten egg over the top pie crust, and stick on the little dough shapes you cut a few minutes ago. Just work with what you have, and try to space your little dough shapes evenly. There, look at that lovely pie crust! No perfect circle required. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired.
Step 12) Bake your apple cranberry pie on a low rack in a preheated 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!
If you only try one new recipe this summer, try this pie. Seriously. Easy Raspberry Lemon Freezer Pie takes about five minutes to prepare and is delicious. We’re even using a store bought graham cracker crust without any guilt or apology. It’s summertime. Who wants to make homemade pie crust when there are much more important things to do like soak up sunshine in a hammock? Not me. 😉
Ingredients (Makes 8 servings)
1 pre-made graham cracker pie crust
1 8 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 8 oz package light cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup raspberries, divided
Thin lemon slices for garnish
Directions
Step 1) Using an electric mixer, combine softened cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. The mixture should be 
completely smooth. Add lemon juice and blend for 1 minute.
Step 2) Add 1/4 cup raspberries and blend with the electric mixer on low for about 30 seconds. The raspberries will quickly fall apart and combine nicely with the pie filling.
Step 3) Pour pie filling into the graham cracker crust. Smooth the top with a rubber scraper. Garnish with whole raspberries and lemon slices.
Step 4) Place pie in freezer for several hours until firm. Remove from freezer 15 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Photo Credit: Tapinto.net
March 14th is a great day to celebrate your inner math and science geek. Not only is March 14th Albert Einstein’s birthday, it is also Pi Day. You know, pi… the ratio of a circle’s circumference to it’s diameter… 3.141592653 etc. etc.
THIS year, Pi Day is extra special… it’s the Pi Day of the century! March 14th, 2015 at precisely 9:26:53 a.m. we will celebrate more consecutive digits of pi than at any other moment in either the previous or the last one hundred years. Stand proud, math geeks!
To celebrate Pi Day, we’re making Grandma’s Taffy Mini Pies. These bite size pastries ooze caramel goodness, and are delicious with or without the addition of pecans. Enjoy!
Ingredients and Directions (Makes about 40 mini-muffin size pies)
Crust: Cream together 1 (8 ounce) package softened cream cheese and 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 3 tablespoons softened butter. Blend in 2 1/2 cups of flour. Roll dough into marble size pieces (like cookie dough) and place one piece into each cup of a mini muffin tin. Push dough in center to mold inside of each mini muffin tin.
Optional: Place a pecan half or a few broken pecan pieces on the inside bottom of each mini pie crust.
Taffy Filling: Beat one egg and whisk in 1 cup of brown sugar. So easy! Spoon 1 teaspoon of egg/sugar mixture into each mini pie crust, being careful to keep the to keep the egg/sugar mixture below the level of the pie crust sides.
Bake mini pies in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Enjoy!
Here at Crowded Earth Kitchen, we love sampling foods and enjoying food related stories from the far reaches of the world. If you want pie, we invite you to come and visit our speck of earth, the American Midwest. The old saying “as American as mom and apple pie” conjures up images of a simple life, picking apples on the prairies and plains of America’s heartland and baking them into fresh pastries with your apron-clad mother or grandmother. As much as I hate clichés, I live in the Midwest, own two aprons (one of which belonged to my Great-Grandma), and take good care of my apple trees. Do with that what you will.
This recipe for Thanksgiving Pie merges an American favorite with an American holiday – the Thanksgiving holiday. Celebrated every year on the last Thursday of November, Thanksgiving remembers harvest dinners shared by pilgrims arriving from Europe and the Native American people who kept those pilgrims alive through their first winter in the New World. The history is tainted by the fact that this kindness was not reciprocated later, but the holiday is still observed with a modern approach of generally being thankful for our blessings now. For many Americans, it’s a lovely day involving a lovely meal. This pie blends three autumn harvest flavors… apples, cranberries, pecans… and reminds me of Thanksgiving all year ’round. I hope you enjoy!
Ingredients (serves 8)
Crust:
1 1/4 cups white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/3 cup cold, unsalted butter (please use real butter for this!)
3 tablespoons vodka
2 tablespoons cold water
1 egg
Filling:
6 cups peeled, sliced apples (I used 8 small, Macintosh apples)
1/4 cup cranberries (frozen are fine)
1/4 cup pecan halves (I used raw, unsalted)
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 cup shredded coconut (optional)
Directions
Step 1) Combine 1 1/4 cup flour, salt, and allspice in a small mixing bowl. Add cold butter. Cut butter into flour mixture using a pastry cutter, until mixture resembles a bowl of pea-size crumbs.
Step 2) Sprinkle water and vodka over butter mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time. Don’t dump the liquid all in one place! Gently incorporate until a ball of dough forms. If you need to use your hands, that’s fine.
Step 3) Roll dough on a lightly floured countertop using a lightly floured rolling pin until the dough is approximately a 12 inch circle. It doesn’t have to be a perfect circle, no matter what some cookbooks tell you (we’ll fix it later, don’t worry).
Step 4) Fold the dough over the rolling pin to transfer to a deep dish pie pan. Simply pat the dough lightly into place. If the dough tears, don’t freak out, just patch it back together with your fingers. I won’t tell anyone, and seriously, nobody will notice if your crust isn’t picture perfect. Carry on…
Step 5) This is why we don’t care if the crust is a perfect circle… use a small knife to slice off all of the dough that hangs past the edges of your pan! We’ll make it look all fancy in a moment, but for now, we just want the dough even with the edges.
Step 6) Using a tiny cookie cutter or other mold, cut tiny shapes (approximately 1 square inch) from the dough scraps. Set shapes aside.
Step 7) Cover your pie crust with a towel, and make your filling… Combine your apple slices, cranberries, pecans, sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, and cardamom in a large bowl. Mix gently until ingredients are combined.
Step 8) Sprinkle the bottom of your pie crust with shredded coconut. This is entirely optional, and you really won’t taste the coconut. This steps helps to absorb excess liquid from the pie filling. If you don’t like coconut, try sprinkling the bottom of your pie crust with finely ground pecans.
Step 9) Pour your filling into your pie pan. Isn’t it pretty?
Step 10) Brush beaten egg around the top edge of your pie crust, and stick on the little dough shapes you cut a few minutes ago. Just work with what you have, and try to space your little dough shapes evenly. There, look at that lovely pie crust! No perfect circle required.
Step 11) Bake your pie on a low rack in a preheated 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!
Greetings, Everyone! Crowded Earth Kitchen has bravely entered a dessert contest at rantingchef.com – and now it’s time to VOTE!
Vote Here for Thanksgiving Pie!
Thank You – I Owe You a Slice!
