Strawberry Hand Pies

Here's Strawberry recipe #2.  My kids are obsessed with Empanadas both sweet and savory so I was excited to make this Hand Pie recipe!  This sweet version is perfect and easy to make.  Another great dough that you can fill with any filling you like.  We also made chocolate hazelnut hand pies too with the left over dough.  YUM!

Ingredients:

Dough:

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 cup all purpose flour

Filling:

1 cup chopped strawberries

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Zest of half a lemon

2 Tbsp cornstarch

Finishing:

1 egg, beaten for egg wash

Preparation:

Cream butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy.  Add in flour and mix just until dough comes together.  Place dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Place parchment paper on a pan and set aside.  On a floured or powdered sugared surface, knead the dough a couple of times until it is a nice round ball. Then, roll dough into a circle with a rolling pin, about 1/4" thick.  Cut circles using a large round cookie cutter about 2 1/2 to 3".  Place each circle on the parchment paper prepared pan.  You will need to re-roll the dough a few times until it's all used up.  You may want to refrigerate in between if it gets too soft.

In a small bowl, gently combine chopped strawberries, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, and cornstarch.

Fill each pie round with 1 tablespoon of filling, don't over stuff.  Take one side of the dough and pull it over the filling. Use a fork to crimp the edges together and poke an air hole at the top of each pie.  Brush each pie with eggwash. Sprinkle with white sugar (optional). Bake for 30-35 minutes or until pie is golden brown.

Pecan Pumpkin Pie

REPOST - Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year we all look forward to this pie.  Our Mom has been making it for Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember.  We ONLY have it once a year and it's my absolute FAVORITE thing for Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving just wouldn't be the same without it.  In 1998 my niece, Rebecca was born on Thanksgiving Day so that was the only time that we didn't have our traditional Thanksgiving Dinner together.  Instead we all had some sub-par food at a diner near the hospital where Karen gave birth. I do believe however that our Mom brought some Pecan Pumpkin Pie to the hospital for Karen so she wouldn't miss out! 

Our Mom's sister, Aunt Bernice was just visiting from California and we were talking about the pie recipe.  She told me that the original recipe came from Better Homes and Garden Magazine from some time in the 1960's.  I think it's amazing that over 50 years later both our Mom and Aunt are still making this pie every year for Thanksgiving.  I told you it was GOOD!

If you love pecan pie and you also love pumpkin pie you MUST try this!

Ingredients:

3 beaten eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 9" unbaked pie crust
1 cup chopped pecans

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl mix all ingredients, except for the pecans.  Pour pie mixture into prepared pie crust and top with chopped pecans.  Bake for about 1 hour or until the middle of the pie is firm, not jiggly (how's that for a technical baking term?)  Cool completely before serving (I like it chilled in the refrigerator) Top with whipped cream (Our Mom always served it with Cool Whip)

Coconut Yogurt Cream Pie

I love greek yogurt!  I recently bought Chobani coconut yogurt thinking it was vanilla and wow what a happy mistake, I love coconut and this yogurt is really delicious.  I have been eating this Chobani coconut greek yogurt almost every morning with fresh blueberries.  

I was really excited to make this pie and incorporate this yummy coconut yogurt.  This recipe is super easy and quick and delicious.  It's a really light and airy pie and you can definitely make it low fat by swapping out the reduced fat version of 4 ingredients which is what I did.

Ingredients:

2-5.3 oz containers Chobani coconut greek yogurt

1-8oz block of light cream cheese, softened

1 tub of light cool whip whipped topping, thawed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup of flaked sweetened coconut, toasted

1 reduced fat graham cracker pie crust

Preparation:

Toast coconut on a cookie sheet in a 350 F. degree oven until golden brown about  10 minutes.  Check often to make sure it doesn't burn.  Remove from oven and let cool.

In a large bowl using a hand mixer beat together cream cheese and coconut yogurt.  Add sugar and beat until full incorporated and smooth.   Using a rubber spatula fold in the entire tub of cool whip to the yogurt mixture until it is light and fluffy.  Poor coconut yogurt cream mixture into prepared pie crust.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to overnight.  Right before serving sprinkle toasted coconut all over the top of the pie.  Slice, serve and ENJOY!!

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Baking has always been an amazing distraction for me. When I am stressed out or overwhelmed by a task, I stop what I'm doing and head straight to the kitchen to immerse myself in baking. It is a relaxing activity that instantly releases all my stress and worry. So when I sat down this morning to write 5 long and boring papers for my graduate school portfolio, I knew it wasn't going to be long before I was in the kitchen baking. I lasted about 2 hours LOL. Since Thanksgiving had just ended, I still had my mom's pecan pumpkin pie on my mind (and all the ingredients still in the kitchen). I decided on a chocolate pecan pie. I have always wanted to make one and thought that this was the perfect time to test out a recipe. This recipe is fantastic! Absolutely delish! and very easy to make 

Ingredients:

1 prepared frozen pie crust
1 cup dark corn syrup
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. kosher salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 ¼ cups roughly chopped pecans, plus ½ cup halves

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350°  Whisk corn syrup, sugars, butter, vanilla, salt, chocolate and eggs in a bowl; fold in chopped pecans. Distribute filling evenly over dough; arrange pecan halves decoratively around the inside edge of the pie crust. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is set, about 1 hour. Let cool completely before serving.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

For some reason, my family has NEVER made pumpkin pie as part of our Thanksgiving. We always opted for a delicious pecan pumpkin pie instead. I have always wanted to make a traditional pumpkin pie. This recipe is just perfect. So simple and soooo delicious.

Ingredients:

 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin (about 2 cups)
 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
 2 large eggs
 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
 1/2 teaspoon salt
 1(9-inch) unbaked pie crust

Preparation:

Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, and eggs together until well combined. Add spices. Pour into an unbaked pie crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Mousse Pie

This is a super rich, light and creamy no bake dessert.  It only has a few ingredients and takes just minutes to put together.  If you love peanut butter you will LOVE this dessert, the only problem is waiting for it to chill in the fridge for a couple hours before serving.  I suggest leaving  some in the bowl to lick while you wait!

Ingredients:

1 graham cracker crust
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
8 oz container Cool Whip
chocolate syrup, for drizzling

Preparation:

In a large bowl beat together cream cheese, peanut butter and confectioners sugar until smooth.  Fold n cool whip until completely combined.  Pour filling into a graham cracker crust and refrigerate for at leasts 2 hours and up to overnight.  Drizzle with chocolate syrup and serve cold.

Blueberry Pie

Ingredients:

4 cups of frozen blueberries thawed (or fresh)
1/2 cup of sugar
7 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons of juice from thawed blueberries, or grape juice or water
2 pie crusts (I used a frozen deep dish pie crust for the bottom and a ready made rollout crust for the top)

Preparation:

Mix together sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon in a small bowl set aside.  Toss blueberries with lemon juice and reserved blueberry juice.  Pour sugar mixture over blueberries and toss to coat.  Pour blueberry mixture into prepared cold pie crust.  Cover with top crust and seal ends around entire crust.  Make slits in the top of crust to vent.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until pie crust is golden brown and blueberry juice is bubbling.  Cool completely before serving.

Cream Cheese Fruit Pie

I wanted to find a quick and easy dessert to bring to a friend's block party and a friend of mine suggested this.  It was super easy to make, pretty and it set up very quickly which was great since I made it last minute.

Ingredients:

1 8 oz tub Fat Free cream cheese, softened

1 tub light cool whip

1/2 cup sugar

1 low fat graham cracker crust

strawberries sliced

kiwi sliced in half moons

blueberries

raspberries

Preparation:

With a hand mixer beat together softened cream cheese and sugar until completely combined.  Fold in cool whip to cream cheese mixture and spread evenly into prepared pie crust.  Place in refrigerator to set for at last 30 minutes before you add fruit.  Add fruit in any decorative way you would like and place back in refrigerator for another 3-4 hours(overnight would be best) before slicing a serving.  

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Banana Cream Pie

This is banana recipe #2.  I decided to make "my" version of a banana cream pie using the ingredients I had in my kitchen.  It came out delicious and it's very easy to make and of course is another way to use up those overripe bananas in my freezer.

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas, sliced
2 overripe bananas, mashed
1 box of fat free/sugar free vanilla pudding mix
1/3 cup of fat free cream cheese, softened
2 cups of light cool whip
1 low fat graham cracker pie crust

Preparation:

In prepared graham cracker pie crust arange slices from one banana in one layer on the bottom of crust.  Next, mix together mashed banana and vanilla pudding powder until combined.  With hand mixer beat cream cheese into mashed banana mixture and beat until smooth.  Fold in 1 cup of cool whip into mashed banana mixture until combined and pour into pie crust.  Take slices from 2nd banana and arrange in one layer ontop of banana cream mixture.  Lastly, take additional cup of cool whip and spread evenly on top of sliced bananas.  Refrigerate pie for at least 4 hours before slicing and serving.

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Lemon Ice Box Pie

 I found this recipe while browsing around some of my favorite food blogs.  This was posted on Brenda's Canadian Kitchen and it looked so good and sounded so simple that I just had to try it.  I absolutely love any kind of lemon dessert but this now may be one of my new favorites.  It's light and lemony and has just enough tartness to cut the sweetness.  It's the perfect summer dessert.  I used fat free cream cheese instead of regular and you could not tell at all.  I also left out the vanilla because I had just run out but I didn't miss it at all either.

Ingredients:

1 -8 oz  fat free cream cheese at room temperature

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon of lemon zest

1 graham cracker crust

Preparation:

Using a hand mixer beat together the softened cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest until smooth and creamy.  Pour mixture into a prepared graham cracker crust and refrigerate overnight.  Serve with whipped cream.

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Bluberry Pie Stuffed Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy 4th of July!!!

I was trying to find a new RED, WHITE and BLUE dessert to make for the 4th of July and I thought this was really a cool idea.  RED velvet cake, BLUEberry pie and WHITE cream cheese frosting YUM!  It was absolutely delicious too.  I will be posting the blueberry pie recipe later this week or if you want you could use a store bought pie.

*Next I'm going to try different flavors of Pie/Cake combinations since it was such a big hit!!

Ingredients:

1 box of red velvet cake mix

3 eggs

1 1/4 cup water

1/3 oil

1 blueberry pie baked and cooled

1 container of cream cheese frosting

Preparation:

Prepare cake mix according to package directions.  Grease a large round cake pan very well (a deep pan if you have one).  Pour 1/3 of cake mix in the bottom of the pan.  Then take the baked and cooled blueberry pie and flip it face down into the cake pan (remove pie tin from bottom of pie).  Pour the remaining cake batter ontop of the pie until it's completely covered. 

VERY IMPORTANT!! Place the cake pan on a cookie sheet covered in foil before baking.  Unless you have a very deep cake pan the cake batter will most likely run over the top and pour over onto your oven if you don't have a pan underneath to catch it.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.  Check cake every 5-10 minutes after 45 minutes of baking.  When a toothpick insterted in the middle of cake comes out clean it's done.

Let the cake cool COMPLETELY before trying to unmold it.  You can run a knife around the outside edge of the cake pan to loosen it before it's cooled.  

Once cooled turn pie stuffed cake out on a flat platter.  Frost generously with cream cheese frosting.  You will need to do an initial crumb coat of frosting and refrigerate until set and then finish with a final layer of cream cheese frosting to make smooth.

*Note - it's easier to slice neatly if the pie stuffed cake is cold from the refrigerator. 

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