We see Jenna make dozens of pies, from banana cream to blackberry chocolate, and she names each pie to match her mood, names like “I Can’t Have No Affair Because It’s Wrong And I Don’t Want Earl To Kill Me Pie (vanilla custard with banana, hold the banana)” and “Pregnant Miserable Self Pitying Loser Pie (lumpy oatmeal with fruitcake mashed in).” Waitress is funny, intelligent, delicious and, best of all, features an elderly Andy Griffith as Old Joe, a sly, pie-loving philosopher. See it and you won’t be sorry. Possibly hungry, but not sorry.

In other news, I baked a pie – made for the wonderful cross-blog food event Summer Fest. I’m contributing to this week’s topic, Stone Fruits, and next week’s topic, Tomatoes.  Summer Fest 2010 features more wonderful food bloggers than ever (I had a swell time last year, too), listed at the end of this post. Be sure to visit them all today to check out their marvelous recipes, tips and ideas – and share some of your own.

What did I call my pie? Well, I wasn’t sure, at least not until late afternoon. Despite the presence of good pie, one never does know where the day will lead. Let’s take a look.

“Dopey Marilyn Doesn’t Have a Pitter, So Pal Melanie Helped Her Pit Cherries With A Knife Pie,” also known as “Melanie Was Real Mad At Her Landlord And Took It Out On The Bloody Cherries Pie.”

“Calls From Auto Insurance, Volleyball Coach, Dentist, Piano Teacher and Mom Tryin’ To Keep Me From Rolling Dough Pie.”

“Why Does Melanie Back Away Slow When I Start Cutting Dough Leaves? Pie”

“The Dog’s Breath Smells Like Ginger ‘Cause Half The Crunch Hit The Floor Pie”

and finally,

“Hungry Crabby Tired Back-To-School Josie Got A Fork And That Was All She Wrote Pie.”

CHERRY APRICOT PIE with GINGER-ALMOND CRUNCH

1. Make pie dough. Roll crust into pie plate as directed, and chill in refrigerator until ready to fill.

2. Make Ginger-Almond Crunch. Refrigerate until ready to use.

3. Make Cherry Apricot filling. Pour filling into prepared pie crust. Finish and bake as directed, using one of the options below.

If you’ve prepared a fluted pie crust: sprinkle Ginger-Almond Crunch evenly over pie filling, covering fruit. Place pie on a foil-lined baking sheet (wide enough to catch all drips) and set in lower third of preheated 400° oven. Bake approximately 30 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 350° and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and juices are thickened and bubbling. If crust and crunch topping brown too quickly, tent pie loosely with foil and bake until done. Cool completely before slicing. Delicious warm, but expect broken, cobbler-like pieces. Which are also good.

If you’ve prepared for a leaf cutout crust: Remove leaf cutouts from refrigerator. Fill a small bowl with water. Using fingers, moisten the back of one leaf cutout and press it gently but firmly to pie dough rim, adhering to folded edge. Add remaining leaves in an overlapping pattern, moistening and pressing each one to form a natural “wreath” along the rim.

When leaf edge is complete, sprinkle Ginger-Almond Crunch evenly over pie filling, covering fruit. Place pie on a foil-lined baking sheet (wide enough to catch all drips) and set in lower third of preheated 400° oven. Bake approximately 30 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 350° and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and juices are thickened and bubbling. If crust and crunch topping brown too quickly, tent pie loosely with foil and bake until done. Cool completely before slicing. Delicious warm, but expect broken, cobbler-like pieces. Which are also good.

——-

Pie Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
3 tablespoons chilled vegetable shortening
1/4 cup ice water

Food processor method: Place flour and salt in processor bowl. Cut butter and shortening in pieces, and sprinkle over flour mixture. Pulse machine on/off to cut butter/shortening into flour, forming coarse crumbs and a few remaining chunks. Trickle ice water over mixture, pulsing until it just comes together as a rough, unformed dough, about 20-30 seconds. Wrap and chill, at least 1 hour.

On a lightly floured work surface, divide pie dough in half, patting each half into a flattened round. (Reserve one half to roll decorative leaf or other cutouts, if desired, or wrap and chill for another use.) Roll first half of dough into a round approximately 1/8″ thick, turning as you roll to prevent sticking. Round size should be slightly larger than your 9″ or 10″ deep-dish pie plate. Transfer round to pie plate, lightly pressing dough to fit, and patching small cracks or tears if necessary. Trim excess dough, leaving about 1″ of overhang.

For fluted rim pie crust: Gently fold overhang up and over pie plate rim, pressing dough with thumb and forefinger as you work around whole plate to form a decorative indented rim. Chill unbaked crust in refrigerator until ready to fill.

For leaf cutout pie crust: Trim overhang to 1/2″, then fold up and over pie plate, pressing into a flat rim all around. Roll second half of dough to 1/8″ thick. Cut leaf shapes 1) with a leaf-shaped cookie cutter or 2) cutting freehand with a paring knife. Cut slightly pointed ovals (irregular is fine!) then use tip of paring knife to lightly score “leaf veining” marks on each one. Leaves will be added to edge after pie is filled, so chill cutouts in refrigerator until ready to use.

Ginger-Almond Crunch

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1/2 all-purpose flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup whole almonds, toasted
1/4 cup crystallized ginger chunks

Toast almonds in a skillet over medium heat, shaking until golden brown, about 5-6 minutes, OR toast in 350° oven on an ungreased baking sheet, about 10 minutes. Cool almonds completely before using.

Place toasted almonds and crystallized ginger in food processor bowl. Pulse machine on/off until you get small, coarse pieces. Add butter, flour, and brown sugar to bowl. Using on/off pulse again, process together into even, large crumbs. Transfer mixture to a small bowl, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cherry Apricot Filling

1 1/2 pounds firm ripe apricots, pitted and quartered, about 4 cups
1 1/2 pound cherries, pitted
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

In large bowl, gently toss cut apricots and pitted cherries together with lemon juice. In small bowl, combine sugar and cornstarch. Sprinkle mixture over apricots and cherries, turning to coat, then add vanilla and almond extracts, lightly tossing until just mixed. Follow directions above for filling and baking pie.

Summer Fest is an annual online celebration of good food and great ideas, featuring food and garden bloggers from around the globe. Every week we highlight a different seasonal ingredient – corn, stone fruit, tomatoes – and our guest bloggers share wonderful recipes, stories and tips. You can participate by visiting these terrific blogs and leaving links or comments – and if you’re feeling particularly inspired, you can contribute a post of your own. Drop by A Way to Garden for details on how join the party.

THIS WEEK’S LINKS: STONE FRUIT

Sara at Cooking Channel: Savory Stone Fruit recipes.

Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple: Riesling Poached Pluots.

Margaret at A Way to Garden: What is stone fruit, anyhow? Plus: Clafoutis batter revisited.

Caroline at The Wright Recipes: Ginger and Vanilla Poached Peaches.

The FN Dish: Paula’s Perfect Peach Cobbler.

Alison at Food2: Peachy Party Foods.

Kelly at Just a Taste: Peaches & Cream Cupcakes.

Liz on Healthy Eats: Puttin’ Up Peach Pickles, Compote and More.

Food Network UK: How to Poach a Peach.

Judy of Divina Cucina: Chocolate Amaretti Baked Apricots.

The Gilded Fork: dossier & recipes featuring peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, cherries, almonds, coconuts.

Cate at Sweetnicks: Blueberry Peach Smoothies.

Tara at Tea & Cookies: Making Peach Jam.

Alana at Eating From the Ground Up: Stone fruit slump.

Caron of San Diego Foodstuff: grilled peach parfait and coconut peach gazpacho.

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: gluten-free peach-blueberry buckle.

Paige at The Sister Project: A Summer Fruit Whatchamacallit (not a pie, not a crisp, but delicious).

Marilyn at Simmer Till Done: Cherry Apricot Pie with Ginger-Almond Crunch.

Tigress in a Jam: nectarine preserve with summer savory and white pepper.

First up: from July 2008, it’s a tale many have seen before, but it’s Josie’s choice – her victorious day of diamonds, pie, and the thrill of being right.

—————-

Every August, the heat here ceases to be punishing heat and becomes cruelly disciplined heat. That is our signal to escape – we flee Kansas by driving straight through an Iowa haze, further north by the hour, looking for a lake. When we finally stop in Duluth, Minnesota, we cross a bridge that skims the long blue curve of Lake Superior, and I can taste the woods. I remember what it means to like summer.

We will spend the night there, happy to swim, nibble fudge, and watch the aerial bridge rise and fall in the dark. The next morning we’ll take off on Highway 61 for a three-hour drive to the northern lodge we love, and on the way up, as sure as smoked fish and smooth agates, we’ll roll through Two Harbors and stop at Betty’s Pies.

Betty’s is a tradition we share with thousands of families, fishermen, leaf-peepers, canoers, kayakers, truck drivers and rock hounds. They all love Minnesota, they all love pie, and since 1958 they’ve come to Betty’s counter for giant slices of Bumble Berry, 5-Layer Chocolate and Lemon Angel pie.

Now I am a most dedicated pie eater, but the slices are huge, and often follow a late Betty’s breakfast of scrambled eggs, thick ham and fresh-baked raisin rye toast. So first, I think of the road ahead. I check my purse for Maalox. I look at the daily pie board before breakfast, weigh the consequences, and decide.

But my daughter – well, Josie has jackrabbit metabolism and her father’s iron stomach. It seems impossible, but we created an even more devout servant of the pie than me. She runs into Betty’s, Lake Superior across the road. “Look at the lake!” I yell, but she’s already slammed the screen door, scanning the board for raspberry, huckleberry, every berry.

At the table, I encourage a split – come on, the slices are so big - until she gives in, sulking. After that, each bite is watched and the forks move fast. This much-hated splitting makes me the pie Scrooge every time.

Except one time.

I’d been hearing some vague backseat crabbiness since we packed up and left Duluth that morning. I’m bored, I’m hungry, I’m hot. I’m cold, I’m bored, I’m sitting on something. I flicked my head up from my book. Greg was still staring at the road, he’d heard nothing. I’m sitting on something.

“No, you’re not.” I kept reading.

“I am sitting on something. I am sitting on something and it’s bothering me.” Now she was a faint buzz.

“No, you are not.”

This went on. Sitting, bothering, blah blah blah. Once in a while I’d humor her.

“Maybe it’s a ponytail holder.” No. “An eraser.” No. Now crabbing in earnest, she says it feels like a rock. Bothering me!

Then, silence. “I got it.” Whew!

“It looks like a diamond.”

Mm. Boy, the trees are tall. Greg, still in highway hypnosis.

She keeps at it. “It looks like…I think it’s a diamond.”

“Mm-hm. A diamond, under your shorts. Whatever.”

I thought nothing of it for exactly six more minutes – and then a wild thought commanded me to look at my hand. Wedding band – check. Engagement ring –

I whipped off my seat belt and spun around. On my finger, the engagement ring I’d worn since 1992 sat prongless and empty – but in Josie’s little palm, glinting with cartoon sunlight, was my diamond. Oh. My. God.

“It was a diamond, it was a diamond, I TOLD you.” And it was. Somewhere between Lawrence, Kansas and Duluth, Minnesota, the little rock had taken a tumble. It could have been on the highway, under the wheels or at the bottom of a rest stop toilet, but it was in my daughter’s vindicated and beaming hand.

I was so happy. So happy that something most unpleasant, something I didn’t even know had happened – a real vacation-ruiner, an insurance hassle and certainly a weeper – was already solved. We were all three smiling and gaping at the tiny miracle of Josie sitting on a diamond.

I tucked it into a zipped pocket of my makeup bag, which I never touch by the lake. It would sit there safe until we got back, and all week I felt like a nervous jewel thief – but we had a bang-up time, starting right after the incident with a stop at Betty’s Pies.

Josie’s reward was humble, but divine – her very own, no-split, enormous piece of Bumble Berry. That’s Betty’s special four-berry mix, a juicy heap under flaky crust. Such a small prize – but who doesn’t love the halo of good deeds, the thrill of being right, and a great big piece of lakeside pie?

original post found here

Bumble Berry Pie
from The Original Betty’s Pies Favorite Recipes Cookbook

pie dough, enough for a 10-inch two-crust pie

1 cup blueberries

1 cup blackberries

1 cup raspberries

1 cup strawberries

1 cup sugar

5 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons corn starch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Line a 10-inch pie pan with crust.

Combine the sugar, flour, corn starch and cinnamon, and mix well. Lightly mix in the fresh fruit and pour into the pie shell.

Dot with butter and cover with a top crust. Prick the crust and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 50 minutes in a regular oven, about 35 in a convection oven; until juices are thick and bubbling from golden crust.

Marilyn, to Foodie Barista Girl forced to Feign Interest in Marilyn’s Latest Projects: So, I’m thinking about making homemade dulce de leche. I love everything about it.

Barista Girl: Oh…well, if you’re making dulce de leche, you should definitely make Banoffee Pie.

M: Banoffee?

BG: You’ve never had Banoffee Pie?

M: Tell me. Now.

BG:  Well…it’s this thing where you do a graham cracker crust, with bananas, and pour the dulce de leche over the bananas…

M: (gripping counter) Oh my god.

BG: …and then top it with whipped cream. It’s British, with some chocolate on top…

M: * poof! *
Banoffee Pie – born at the equally well-named Hungry Monk Restaurant of East Sussex, it’s a freakishly decadent “pudding” that also goes by Banoffi and even Banoffy, and now seems ubiquitous in the UK, appearing everywhere from supermarkets to Pizza Hut. Like all beloved recipes, there’s healthy disagreement and multiple versions – I found cookie crusts, pastry crusts, top caramel, bottom caramel, and at least three spellings. It was reportedly a favorite of both Margaret Thatcher and Princess Diana, but what really grabbed me was the sound of “banoffee” – it’s a smiler, just say it. So let’s review: British pedigree, burnt sugar and sliced bananas? Call it whatever you like – but for the love of butterfat, get in there and make it.

Banoffee Pie

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
10 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 cans sweetened condensed milk
3 bananas

1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1 oz square semisweet chocolate

1. Graham cracker crust

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place graham cracker crumbs in a bowl, then add cinnamon and sugar, stirring to mix. Melt butter. Pour melted butter over crumb mixture, stirring with fork to combine. Use hands to finish mixing, until crumb mixture is thoroughly combined. Press evenly into 9″ pie plate, then bake on center rack for about 10 minutes, until crust appears dry. Set aside to cool.

2. Bananas

Peel and slice bananas – not paper thin, but on the thinner side – and layer in cooled graham cracker crust. Press lightly with a spatula to flatten bananas together.

3. Dulce de leche (the “Toffee” in “Banoffee”)

There are several ways to make homemade dulce de leche – for the patient, traditional way – cooking the unopened can in a water bath – click here. I went with a more impatient method, a bit dicier but certainly quicker:

Scrape approximately 1 1/2 cans sweetened condensed milk (a bit more or less won’t hurt) into a medium-sized saucepan, preferably enameled or nonstick. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly and steadily, for about 20 minutes, or until it deepens to a golden-brown color. Use a wooden spoon or a heatproof spatula to stir and watch carefully, as mixture can burn quickly.

Have banana-filled pie crust ready nearby. When the condensed milk becomes thickened and golden-brown, remove it from the heat. Use the wooden spoon or heatproof spatula to scrape mixture out of pan, and pour over bananas while still warm. Spread dulce de leche around with a spoon or metal offset spatula to cover bananas completely, touching edge of crust. Refrigerate pie until filling is completely cool.

4. Whipped cream and serving

When filling is completely cool, make whipped cream. Using electric mixer, whip heavy cream with brown sugar, starting on medium and increasing in speed, whipping until beaters leave strong peaks in cream.

Using spatula, spread whipped cream over top of pie, creating swirls and peaks. Grate semisweet chocolate in a light, even sprinkle over top and refrigerate until set. Serve and enjoy!

Click me, I’m a printable recipe!

I love this. It’s like Highlights for dessert-obsessed adults. Next up, “Goofus and Gallant make Creme Caramel!”

We will spend the night there, happy to swim, eat fudge, and watch the aerial bridge rise and fall in the dark. The next morning we’ll take off on Highway 61 for a three-hour drive to the northern lodge we love, and on the way up, passing fish stands and agate shops, we’ll roll through Two Harbors and stop at Betty’s Pies.

We share the Betty’s tradition with thousands of families, fishermen, leaf-peepers, canoers, kayakers, truck drivers and rock hounds. They all love Minnesota, they all love pie, and since 1958 they’ve sat at Betty’s counter for slices of Bumble Berry, 5-Layer Chocolate and Lemon Angel pie.

Now I am a most dedicated pie eater, but the slices are huge, and often follow a late Betty’s breakfast of scrambled eggs, thick ham and fresh-baked raisin rye toast. I think of the road ahead, I check my purse for Maalox. I look at the daily pie board before breakfast, weigh the consequences, and decide.

But my daughter – well, Josie has jackrabbit metabolism and her father’s iron stomach. It seems impossible, but we created an even more devout servant of the pie than me. As the screen door slams behind her I yell “Wait, look at the lake!” but she’s already inside, scanning the board for raspberry, huckleberry, every berry.

At the table, I encourage a split – come on, the slices are so big - until she gives in, sulking. After that, each bite is watched and the forks move fast. This much-hated splitting makes me the pie Scrooge every time.

Except one time.

I’d been hearing some vague backseat crabbiness since we packed up and left Duluth that morning. I’m bored, I’m hungry, I’m hot. I’m cold, I’m bored, I’m sitting on something. I flicked my eyes up from my book. Greg was staring at the road, he’d heard nothing. I’m sitting on something.

“No, you’re not.” I kept reading.

“I am sitting on something. I am sitting on something and it’s bothering me.” Now she was a faint buzz.

“No, you are not.”

This went on. Sitting, bothering, blah blah blah. Now and then I’d humor her.

“Maybe it’s a ponytail holder.” No. “An eraser.” No. Now crabbing in earnest, she says it feels like a rock. Bothering me!

Then, silence. “I got it.” Whew!

“It looks like a diamond.”

Mm. Boy, the trees are tall. Greg, still in highway hypnosis.

She keeps at it. “It looks like…I think it’s a diamond.”

“Mm-hm. A diamond, under your shorts. Whatever.”

I thought nothing of it for exactly six more minutes – and then a wild thought told me to look at my hand. Wedding band – check. Engagement ring –

I whipped off my seat belt and spun around. On my finger, the engagement ring I’d worn since 1992 sat prongless and empty – but in Josie’s little palm, glinting with cartoon sunlight, was my diamond.

“It was a diamond, it was a diamond, I TOLD you.” And it was. Somewhere between Lawrence, Kansas and Duluth, Minnesota, the little rock had taken a tumble. It could have been on the highway, under the wheels or at the bottom of a rest stop toilet, but it was in my daughter’s vindicated, beaming hand.

I was so happy. So happy that something unpleasant, something I didn’t even know had happened – a vacation-ruiner, an insurance hassle and certainly a weeper – was already solved. We were all three smiling and gaping at the tiny miracle of Josie sitting on a diamond.

I tucked it into a zipped pocket of my makeup bag, which I never touch by the lake. It would sit there safe, and all week I was nervous, like a nervous jewel thief – but we had a bang-up time, starting right after the incident with a stop at Betty’s Pies.

Josie’s reward was humble, but divine – her very own, no-split, enormous piece of Bumble Berry. That’s Betty’s special four-berry mix, a juicy heap under flaky crust. Such a small prize – but who doesn’t love the halo of good deeds, the thrill of being right, and a great big piece of lakeside pie?

Bumble Berry Pie
from The Original Betty’s Pies Favorite Recipes Cookbook

pie dough, enough for a 10-inch two-crust pie

1 cup blueberries

1 cup blackberries

1 cup raspberries

1 cup strawberries

1 cup sugar

5 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons corn starch

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Line a 10-inch pie pan with crust.

Combine the sugar, flour, corn starch and cinnamon, and mix well. Lightly mix in the fresh fruit and pour into the pie shell.

Dot with butter and cover with a top crust. Prick the crust and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 50 minutes in a regular oven, about 35 in a convection oven; until juices are thick and bubbling from golden crust.

This one was so shiny, so beady – and he made me think of Ma Ingalls on the plains. Laura recalled that when the sky rained dead blackbirds, they had no chicken, so Ma put them in a pie.

So maybe I’m not the right person for wildlife photography.

But I chop carrots fast, and make a very flaky crust.