Friday Pie-Day: Rhubarb & Pineapple Rhubarb Pies

Thanks to the nature of rhubarb, you get 2 pie recipes this month, just as we got to taste 2 different pies! We just happened to buy rhubarb during the one week of the year that it was available fresh in the store (slight exaggeration, but still, it’s pretty hard to come by!)

Friday Pie-Day: Black & Blue Berry Crumb Pie

I recently had the opportunity to pick fresh blueberries – how fun! The berries were delicious, and unfortunately we ate all 6 pounds of them before making this pie. All that to say, it’s berry season!

The name of this pie caught my eye – we’ve done blueberry pie, blackberry pie, razzleberry pie, and many others, but who doesn’t love eating something called “black and blue”? (And doesn’t it kinda look like a bruise?)

Friday Pie-Day: Maple Orange Walnut Pie

Get ready for the upgrade on pecan pie! This pie reminded us so much of that old classic, except even better, if that’s possible.

I found the recipe through a video by Bill Daley, who got it from Ashley English’s book A Year of Pies. I didn’t have the book, and the video wasn’t clear on exact ingredients, so I kinda merged it together with ideas from All Recipes… and it turned out great!

Begin by making the pie crust! I usually use this recipe, but today I made this recipe, which allowed me to combine all the ingredients directly in the pie pan and not have to roll it out.

While you are preparing that, put your walnuts in the oven to get toasted. I ended up not really chopping them, just breaking the full walnuts in half.

The pie filling is pretty easy to make too – start with the dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt).

Add in some eggs.

Pour in the butter and maple syrup. (The maple syrup takes the place of corn syrup in pecan pie recipes, and it’s so much more flavorful!)

By now the batter looks something like this.

Grate in some orange peel. (This is where I wish these pictures had a scratch and sniff option – fresh oranges smell so good!) Also, I ended up just squeezing the juice from half the orange rather than using the orange juice pictured with the ingredients above.

And don’t forget the orange marmalade!

Finally, add the fragrant walnuts, fresh from the oven. Mmmmm!

Once it’s in the pie pan, it gets to bake twice – intensely for 10 minutes, and then to a lesser degree for 30 minutes.

It smelled (and tasted) so good! It was the same principle as pecan pie, but even better, because the maple syrup was so much more flavorful than corn syrup, and also oranges make everything better.

It was also rather simple and quick to prepare, which made this mouth-watering delicacy even better!

Some similar pies I’ve made in the past: pecan pie, lemon pecan pie, orange pie

Maple Walnut Orange Pie 

(recipe from Bill Daley, Ashley English, & All Recipes)

1 pie pastry for 9-inch pie pan

⅓ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

3 eggs

2 T. butter, melted

1½ cups maple syrup

rind of 1 orange (about 2 T.)

3 T. orange juice

2 T. orange marmalade

2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

1. Prepare pie crust in pan and toast walnuts at 350 degrees for 7 minutes.
2. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Add in eggs, butter, maple syrup and stir to combine.
4. Stir in orange rind, orange juice, and orange marmalade.
5. Add toasted walnuts and stir until coated with pie filling.
6. Pour pie filling into prepared pan and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 30 minutes more or until golden and just set.
8. Transfer to rack, let cool, and garnish with orange zest and whipped cream if desired.

Friday Pie-Day: Macadamia Caramel Pie

Tomorrow’s Pi Day! (3.1415...) Here’s what we made yesterday… Sticky doesn’t even begin to describe this delicious pie. Yes, it’s amazing, outstanding, gorgeous, and all that jazz, but it’s homemade caramel, so what do you expect?

I wasn’t expecting it to be so simple to make, that’s for sure. So that was a plus.

Friday Pie-Day: Strawberry Rose Hazelnut Pie

This was one of the most gourmet pies I’ve ever made. It certainly wasn’t the easiest, but it was indeed delicious!

Friday Pie-Day: Peanut Lover Pie

We have ourselves another family favorite! Of the 61 different pies we’ve made over the last 5 years, this makes the top 5. 

It takes a little time and effort, but it can be made in advance and frozen.

Also, there are nuts in it. Lots and lots and lots of peanuts! So don’t make or eat this if you have a peanut allergy. This pie is for those of us with a peanut obsession (aka my entire extended family).

First, the ingredients. Not too difficult. Let’s move on.

This was my first time using a food processor. I think I’m in love. If I had left it on a little longer, these honey roasted peanuts would have turned into peanut butter!

It was also (surprisingly) my first time making a graham cracker crust! It is just so much easier to buy them usually, but adding peanuts to the graham crackers was a worthwhile investment of my time.

This experience was much better than when I tried to make a crust for my Oreo pie several years ago!

I couldn’t stop photographing this gorgeous crust, and I also can’t believe how simple it was to make!

By the way, throughout the entire crust-making process, I had the chocolate ice cream carton sitting out on the counter getting soft.

These are all the ingredients you need for the filling! (Yes, I finished that jar of peanut butter.)

I worried needlessly about mixing peanut butter with ice cream – the melted ice cream absorbed its counterpart easily.

It doesn’t even look like ice cream anymore, does it? Looks more like a chocolate peanut butter milkshake…

Take the pie crust out of the freezer, where it has gotten firm for the last 30 minutes, and pour half the filling into the crust. Then refreeze the pie and the other half of the filling (still in the bowl).

Meanwhile, chop up some peanut butter cups! (These were leftover from Christmas.)

I chopped each one into eighths.

Set aside the best looking ones, about a third of them, and place all the others as the middle layer of the pie! (after it’s had an hour in the freezer)

Then while the pie is freezing for half an hour, take out the ice cream mixture bowl and let it melt a little. Spoon it over the pie, remembering that the pie will be very full and almost overflowing. (That’s the way we like it!)

This is what 2 more hours in the freezer will do to it! Note the garnishes I had ready to sprinkle on top.

Peanuts all the way through – crust, filling, and even topping!

But wait, there’s more! A little peanut butter mixed in with caramel, anyone? I heated it for 30 seconds in the microwave.

My family tried to be patient with me as I garnished each of the plates with this delicious (and sticky) peanut caramel sauce.

And then as I placed a slice of pie on each plate.

And then as I garnished each slice of pie with more peanut caramel sauce.

Some descriptive words I heard while we were all digging in were, “rich,” “delicious,” “favorite,” and “oh yeah!”

Compared with our peanut butter cup pie, I'd say this is a little more work but a lot more peanutty and delicious! Even with all the freezing times, I would classify this as an easy pie to make. I love that you can prepare it in advance. And the taste is well worth the effort!

 

Peanut Lover Pie (recipe from Taste of Home)

6 T. honey-roasted peanuts, divided

1½ cups graham cracker crumbs

7 T. butter, melted

3 pints chocolate ice cream, softened

1 cup plus 1 T. peanut butter, divided

¾ cup coarsely chopped peanut butter cups, divided

½ cup caramel ice cream topping

1. Chop 1 T. of peanuts; set aside. Place remaining peanuts in a food processor; cover and process until ground. In a small bowl, combine ground nuts, cracker crumbs, and butter. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9-inch pie plate. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine ice cream and 1 cup peanut butter until blended. Spoon half into crust. Return remaining ice cream mixture to freezer. Cover and freeze pie until almost firm, about 1 hour.
3. Sprinkle with about two thirds of the chopped peanut butter cups. Freeze for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, resoften remaining ice cream mixture. Spread over peanut butter cups (pie will be very full). Cover and freeze for at least 2 hours or until almost firm.
5. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and remaining chopped peanut butter cups. Cover and freeze until firm, about 1 hour longer.
6. Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving. Combine caramel topping with remaining peanut butter; drizzle some over dessert plates. Top with a piece of pie; drizzle with remaining caramel mixture.