Yesterday, I took a break from the many other things eating my lunch this week to devote a day to pies. I love to bake pies. I love to eat pies. I love everything about pie. I love pie crust–regular, chocolate, graham cracker, any kind of pie crust. I love pie. Any kind of pie. Fruit, custard, cream. Just give me a pie, okay?
My cousin is having his annual party tomorrow. Today is pretty much consumed with graduation practice, the kids packing, and graduation, so I made the four pies I promised Georgia yesterday.
Pies lined up on my kitchen counter.
Georgia used to make her own pies, but now I make them for her. Her tradition is to make cornmeal and pinto bean pies for their party, so in homage Georgia, I made one cornmeal pie and one pinto bean pie. I also made a buttermilk pie–with my own homemade buttermilk! I still think that’s awesome to use all my own dairy products, so I must still be a new farmer. It shows, doesn’t it? The starry eyes. I can’t help it.
I also made my take on a sour cream raisin pie. I didn’t have any sour cream made, but I had cream cheese and whipped cream, so I remade this classic with what I had on hand.
You can find all the recipes at the links:
Georgia’s Cornmeal Pie
Georgia’s Pinto Bean Pie
Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie
Raisin Cream Pie
The Raisin Cream Pie requires a baked pie crust. Here are a couple tips on pre-baking pie crusts to keep them from shrinking. It has to do with patience. After you roll your pie dough out, let it rest for at least five minutes before placing in the pie plate. Once you place it in the pie plate, prick dough, and let it rest again, this time in the fridge, before baking. This allows the gluten to “rest” after you’ve worked with the dough and lessens shrinkage. While pre-baking, line the pie crust with parchment paper or lightly greased aluminum foil and use pie weights. (I use dry beans.)
To pre-bake a pie crust, bake at 450-degrees for about 10 minutes–on the lower rack. This helps make sure the crust is baked well. (I bake most pies on the bottom rack, no matter what. Prevents a soggy crust plus keeps the edges from over-browning.) Take the pie weights out about halfway through pre-baking. Try it!
Perfect pre-baked pie crust. (No shrink!)
I don’t use my “pie weight beans” for cooking beans, by the way. I save them separately and re-use them over and over as pie weight beans.
Raisin Cream Pie.
I haven’t gotten a chance to taste this completed pie yet, but I saved out a spoonful of the boiled mixture from pouring into the baked pie shell and I’m pretty sure this is about to become my new favorite pie.
So, I made all those pies and you know what? I didn’t get to take a bite of a single one of them! You know what I’m eating at that party? ALL I’m eating at that party?
PIE!!!!
jimnoland says:
Not a thing wrong with pie. I think that I could eat pie every day. I also thought that the picture with the beans, was a new way to make bean pie. I had to take a second look. Cooked that way, it would be one crunchy, tooth breaking pie. Those pies remind me of my grand mothers pies. I can smell them right now. Yum. Bring on a big glass of fresh cold milk, and a fork.
On June 3, 2011 at 1:45 am
Hrist says:
Ha! I made pie today too. Tiny ones, full of meat and potatoes for lunches. Taught my boyfriend how to handle pastry, which apparently neither his mother nor his grandmother can do very well.
On June 3, 2011 at 2:05 am
rurification says:
I love pie, too. Really, really, really love pie. This is my favorite season – we eat a lot of fruit pie for breakfast. In the winter we eat pot pie, spinach ricotta pie and fruit pies right out of the oven. mmmmm.
On June 3, 2011 at 5:45 am
roosterrun says:
Pie is my absolute favorite food. It might just be the what I would take to a deserted island. I don’t think I have met a pie that I didn’t like.
On June 3, 2011 at 5:46 am
Granny Trace says:
SUZANNE you rock!! A pie day..I LOVE PIE!!
Thanks for sharing. Going to try buttermilk pie. Have to bye mine though..I am only a beginner veg and chicken farmer..Oh to dream of a cow ..
Granny Trace 🙂
http://www.grannytracescrapsandsquares.com
On June 3, 2011 at 6:14 am
mamajhk says:
Whenever I prebake a crust, pie or pizza, I use beans. I didn’t know about the resting part. I will have to try that.
On June 3, 2011 at 6:43 am
kellytorrey says:
Once every couple of months my family and my cousins family have a Pie Supper. All we serve are pies. Sometimes that means that we make homemade pizza pies or meatpies and have fruit and cream pies for desert and sometimes it’s all just fruit and cream type pies. Ether way its ALL GOOD! :o)
On June 3, 2011 at 6:51 am
Blessings says:
Everyone has to LOVE PIE!
I think maybe that is a commandment!
~~HUGS~~
https://blessingthelements-mi.blogspot.com
On June 3, 2011 at 7:29 am
TinaBell says:
I have never heard of any of the pies you made…okay, raisin, but not raisin cream. I’ll have to give some of these recipes a try. I don’t believe I’d completely trust a person that doesn’t like pie! :hungry:
On June 3, 2011 at 8:49 am
Merryment says:
Oooh, I love me some pie! Those are beauties, Suzanne. :hug:
When we got married, we had a pie social instead of a traditional reception. Oh, bliss. What a great array of pies. One of my favorites was an avocado pie. Still need to get the recipe for that…
On June 3, 2011 at 11:04 am
whaledancer says:
I love sour cream raisin pie, and you never see it anymore. I remember the first time I had it, my Grandma Toni made it for me when I went to stay with her. When I got home I told my big sister I’d had raisin pie and it was so good. My sister told me I must be mistaken, there was no such thing as raisin pie, I must be thinking of mincemeat. I was so mad! As if I couldn’t tell the difference between raisins and mincemeat. But there was no convincing her I’d had raisin pie.
Suzanne, I can’t believe you managed to bake four pies in the middle of a week as busy as this. I hope it was at least relaxing.
On June 3, 2011 at 2:14 pm
liamu5 says:
In honor of my Grandmother, who was a pie maker extraordinaire 7 of her granddaughters (and granddaughter-in-laws) and 15 of her great grandchildren got together today and made 12 pies (7 different kinds). I am sure they will not be as good as hers (she didn’t write much down- we do have her pie crust recipe at least) but I am sure that her children will love the surprise at her funeral tomorrow.
On June 3, 2011 at 5:38 pm
brookdale says:
Hey I want a pie day too! That is, I want pies that someone else makes, on my table for me!
Suzanne, do we have your pie crust recipe? It looks so good in the pictures.
Thanks for the info on a baked pie shell, I never heard that about resting it, makes sense though.
On June 3, 2011 at 6:01 pm
SwoosieQ says:
I love pie… especially peach pie, cold, for breakfast!!
On June 3, 2011 at 6:02 pm
brookdale says:
OK, just found your recipe on FB…thanks.
On June 3, 2011 at 6:03 pm
thistlewoodmanor says:
I’ve been making lots of rhubarb pies lately……strawberry rhubarb and raspberry rhubarb. I sell them at farmer’s market where they sell out instantly! Of course, I always save one back for us.
On June 4, 2011 at 9:33 pm