by Lynn Greene
Bake a homemade pie for Mother’s Day
Happy Mother’s Day!
It seems like the day just snuck up on us, what with the
weird weather we’ve been having lately. But that is no
excuse for not doing something nice for your mother.
Breakfast in bed is good; taking her out for brunch, lunch
or dinner is fine, but baking her a homemade pie would
be divine — especially if you give her first and last dibs
on a generous piece. This reminds me of a famous quote
credited to Tenneva Jordan:
“A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces
of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did
care for pie.” Jordan hit the nail on the head, yes? Mothers
always seem to consider everyone else first. It’s really
an apt description of motherhood.
It’s also a nice jumping-off point for a small collection
of pie recipes. Pies can be one of the simplest desserts
to make — if you don’t sweat the small stuff. Mothers can
relate to that — they don’t have time to worry about whether
the fluting on the crust is perfect. They probably don’t
even have time to make a crust from scratch, or if they
do, it’s a quickie crumb crust.
With that in mind, I’ve gathered together a few simple
recipes, short on work, but long on flavor.
Bisquick pie crust
Makes a 9-inch pie shell
1 cup Bisquick
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbsps. boiling water
Mix together Bisquick and butter in a medium mixing bowl.
Add boiling water and stir vigorously until a soft dough
forms. Press dough firmly in 9-inch pie plate, pressing
up the rim, using fingers dusted with flour or Bisquick.
Flute edge, if desired. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.
Bake at 400 F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
Crumb crust
Makes a 9-inch pie shell
1 1/2 cups fine crumbs*
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cups butter, melted
Mix crumbs and sugar together; stir in melted butter.
Line pie plate with mixture, pressing firmly into place.
Chill for 20 minutes.
*Make crumbs from chocolate cookies, graham crackers,
cereal, gingersnaps, pretzels, vanilla wafers, or zwieback.
Variation: For a cinnamon crust, use graham cracker crumbs
and mix in 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon along with sugar and
butter.
Ice cream pie
Prepared 9-inch crumb crust using Oreo cookies
2 pints chocolate chip or coffee ice cream, softened
1/4 cup hot fudge sauce, divided (room temperature)
additional Oreos if desired
Spoon 1 pint ice cream into crust. Drizzle with half the
fudge sauce, swirl with a knife. Carefully top with remaining
ice cream. Drizzle with remaining fudge sauce, swirl with
a knife. Cover and freeze till firm.
Remove from freezer 10-15 minutes before serving. Garnish
with whole cookies if desired.
Banana cream pie
1 (9-inch) prepared pie shell
3 Tbsps. cornstarch
1-2/3 cup water
1 can (14 oz.) Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 Tbsps. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
3 bananas
In heavy saucepan, dissolve cornstarch in water; stir
in sweetened condensed milk — not evaporated milk — and
egg yolks. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.
Remove from heat; add margarine and vanilla. Cool slightly.
Slice 3 bananas and arrange half of them on bottom of prepared
pastry shell. Pour half the filling over bananas, add the
remaining banana slices and cover with remaining filling.
Chill 4 hours or until set. Spread top with whipped cream.
Keep refrigerated.
Magic lemon pie
1 (9-inch) prepared crumb or baked pie shell
1 can (14 oz.) Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 large eggs, separated
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
4 Tbsps. sugar
In mixing bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk —
not evaporated milk — with lemon juice, lemon zest, and
egg yolks; stir until mixture thickens. Pour into chilled
crumb crust or cooled pastry shell.
Add cream of tartar to egg whites; beat until almost stiff
enough to hold a peak. Add sugar gradually, beating until
stiff and glossy but not dry. Pile lightly on pie filling.
Bake at 325 F until meringue is lightly browned. Cool.
Chocolate pecan pie
1 (9-inch) prepared pie crust
2 Tbsps. butter
3 eggs
1 cup maple or dark Karo syrup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups pecans
Melt the butter in a saucepan and let cool. Add eggs,
syrup and vanilla and beat well. Stir in chocolate chips
and pecans. Pour this mixture into pie crust.
Bake at 350 F for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted
in middle of pie comes out clean.
Serve with whipping cream.
—Lynn Greene is senior editor for CSI Media, which publishes Walworth County Sunday. Contact her at lgreene@communityshoppers.com. |
