Old Fashioned Strawberry Pie

My parents came into town over Father's Day weekend.  We spent all day Saturday galavanting around Cleveland and it was so much fun.  The main reason we went was for Marine Week.  There was military equipment, vehicles and helicopters out on display for people of all ages to hold, climb in and touch. Dad was like a little boy with wide eyes and a big smile the whole afternoon.  We even got to see a "Huey" helicopter similar to the one our friend Sgt. Trevor Cook flew.  Seeing the environment that the Marines had to endure was a real wakeup call.  The equipment is heavy and every nook and cranny in the vehicles is being used for something so there isn't room to move around.

For lunch we had dim sum at Li Wah (among the many dishes we tried were chicken feet), we visited the Asian market next door, then did a driving tour around the rest of Asia Town.  We headed back to Public Square for more Marine Week, played a bit in the casino, had drinks on the rooftop bar at The Greenhouse Tavern, then ate a late dinner at Indian Delight.  It was long, full and fun day spent in our beautiful, bustling downtown.

Side Note: We always eat ethnic food while my parents are in town because my dad likes to try different foods.   The area where I grew up doesn't have much in the way of ethnic cuisine, so Dad craves it when he visits.

Anyway, you're here for the recipe, so let's move on.  Dad loves pie, pretty much any pie, but this time of year he gets his fix with strawberry pie.  I'm not talking about strawberry pie with the glaze on it. I mean an old fashioned, double crust, strawberry pie.  Most people haven't even heard of it and there aren't many recipes out there, believe me I've looked.  It's similar to a strawberry ruhbarb pie minus the rhubarb.

When it's strawberry season, I eat most berries fresh, but we all need to get our strawberry pie fix once a year.  And Kevin (who doesn't really like any pie) even ate a slice of this one!

Old Fashioned Strawberry Pie
Adapted from allrecipes.com

1 double crust pie dough (unbaked)

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup flour (up to 1 Tbsp more if strawberries are extra juicy)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

4 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

2 Tbsp butter, diced

Preheat oven to 500 F. Place one crust in a nine inch pie pan.

Mix together sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. In a large bowl, add the strawberries and the flour mixture, stirring lightly to evenly coat the berries. Pour filling into pastry lined pan, and dot fruit with butter. Cover with top crust, and cut slits in the top. Seal and flute (or fork) the edges.

Lower the temperature to 425.  Place the pie on the baking sheet and bake until the crust is set and begins to brown, about 25-30 minutes.

Rotate the pie and reduce the oven temperature to 375, continue baking until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices bubble, 25 to 30 minutes longer.

Cool the pie on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before serving. 

 

Cherry Pie

This cherry pie was the first pie I've ever made!  I'm pretty sure I've helped make pie when I was a kid, but never a whole one by myself.  In my adult life I don't have many opportunities to make pie because Kevin is not a fan of pie.  He's got something against cooked fruit and flaky crusts or something.  Because of this, pie isn't the only pastry he avoids.  For my first time, I was pretty proud of myself though.  I made an old fashioned strawberry pie for my dad for Father's Day, but that was the last time I made a fruit pie.

My aunt always makes cherry pie for the major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter).  As a kid I wasn't a big fan, but now I tend to choose her cherry pie over the other desserts offered.  This pie has a great sweet tart cherry flavor with a hint of cinnamon and a flaky crust.  

This recipe uses a quart jar of tart cherries and their juices.  My aunt and gram can them over the summer.  If you don't have access to home-canned cherries (or fresh cherries), hopefully you'll be able to find a few jars in your grocery store (if you have access to a Trader Joe's they sell Dark Morello Cherries that should work).  I don't know if frozen tart cherries would have enough juice after they are thawed (or if that product even exists).  Whatever you do, do not use a can of cherry pie filling!

Cherry Pie

From my Aunt Ginny

Dough (makes 2 double crust pies):

4 cups flour

3/4 cup shortening (butter flavored Crisco)

dash of salt

3 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup cold water

1 tsp vinegar

1 egg

Filling (for 1 pie):

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

32 oz of tart red cherries with their juices reserved (not cherry pie filling in a can!)

Heavy Cream/Milk

Course Sugar (such as sanding sugar or raw sugar)

Making the Dough:

Combine flour, salt and sugar.  Cut in shortening until consistency of small peas. Combine water, vinegar and egg.  Mix into flour mixture and form a large ball.  Divide into four equal sections (one for each crust) and flatten them each into disks.  Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 2 days before rolling.  You will need 2 disks for this recipe, the extra dough can be put into a freezer bag and frozen.

Making the Filling:

Before you make the filling, adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, place a rimmed baking sheet on it and heat the oven to 500.

• Whisk together the sugar, flour, cinnamon and cherry juices until the flour is dissolved, then stir in the cherries.

Constructing the Pie (from Baking Illustrated):

• Remove one piece of dough from the refrigerator (if it's been chilling for over an hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable).
• With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface.  As you roll out the dough, if the dough is sticking to the surface below or to the rolling pin, add a few sprinkles of flour to prevent sticking. Alternatively, you could roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper. 
• Transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate by rolling the dough around a rolling pin and unrolling over the pan.  Working around the circumfernce of the pan, ease the dough into the pan corners by gently lifting the edge of the dough with one hand while pressing into the pan bottom with the other hand.  Leave the dough that overhangs the lip of the pie plate in place.  Refrigerate the dough-lined plate until needed.
• Add the cherry filling to the dough-lined plate.
• Roll out the second piece of dough to a 12-inch circle; place it over the filling.  
• Trim the edges of the top and bottom dough layers to 1/2 inch beyond the lip of the pan.  Tuck this rim underneath itself so that the folded edge is flush with the pan lip.  Flute the edge using your thumb and forefinger or press with fork tines to seal.
• Cut 8 slits in the top using a sharp knife.  If the dough is very soft, place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
• Brush the top of the pie with heavy cream and sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Baking the Pie (from Baking Illustrated):

• Lower the temperature to 425.  Place the pie on the baking sheet and bake until the crust is set and begins to brown, about 25-30 minutes.
• Rotate the pie and reduce the oven temperature to 375, continue baking until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices bubble, 25 to 30 minutes longer.
• Cool the pie on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before serving.

Lemon Cake with Raspberry Curd

This past Saturday, Nov 6th, was my birthday (I'm sure I'll be receiving your belated gifts in the mail).  Many people only have cake to celebrate birthdays, but there are tons of other excuses to eat/bake a cake (maybe yours is that today is a random Tuesday).  The reason for this cake was that on October 6th Kevin and I celebrated our third year of marriage.  For this year's anniversary, I made a lemon cake with raspberry curd (one of the flavor combos of our wedding cake).  The raspberry curd was amazing and the cake was perfectly moist and lemony!  I definitely recommend this combination when you are deciding on cake flavors for any occasion.

Lemon Cake
From Beantown Baker

1 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 1/4 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting the pans
1 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool

Set oven rack in middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans (or one 9x13 baking pan) with butter; line the bottoms with parchment. Spray the parchment, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour.

Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add cake flour, baking powder, and salt to mixer bowl and mix at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium speed and beat 20 seconds longer.

Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.

Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.

Raspberry Curd
From Annie's Eats

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 pint ripe raspberries or 1 12-oz. package frozen raspberries, thawed
5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2-3 tsp fresh lemon juice 

To make the raspberry curd, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the raspberries, egg yolks, sugar and salt, and cook, mashing the berries.  Stir frequently at first and then constantly at the end, until thickened, about 10 minutes.  Pour the mixture through a coarse strainer set over a bowl, pressing hard on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible.  Cool to room temperature; the curd will continue to thicken as it cools.  Stir in lemon juice to taste.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Strawberry Shortcake and 1 Year Blogiversary

First things first, I can't believe I've been blogging a whole year already!  Last year was a little slower than I had hoped, but I think I'm off to a pretty good start for 2010.  I rolled out a new design for the blog (if it's not showing up hit F5 until it updates).  Thanks to Blogger's new designs, I was able to have a food theme.  I think my favorite post from the past year was either the Israeli Cous Cous with Grilled Vegetables (because it was my own recipe and a real winner) or Recipes You Missed from 2009 (some really great recipes that that didn't end up with their own entry).  What was your favorite recipe?

Now onto the new recipe!
With the local strawberries in full force, I've had a taste for strawberry shortcake.  It's been a long time since I've had it (years probably) so I was really looking forward to making it.  This recipe really hit the spot!  The biscuits and whipped cream are slightly sweetened and the strawberries are bright and fresh.  The perfect dessert for the beginning of summer. 

Strawberry Shortcake
Yield:  6 servings

4 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/3 cup sugar

In a medium bowl, combine the strawberries and sugar.  Set aside to allow the berries to macerate.

Cream Biscuits

Adapted from Ezra Pound Cake, originally from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

4 tsp sugar (optional)

2 tsp baking powder

6 tsp (3/4 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup heavy cream

Course sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, sugar (if using) and baking powder.
3. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or your fingertips. The pieces should be the size of small peas.
4. Measure cream; set aside 1 tablespoon. Add the remaining cream to the flour, and stir with a fork until the mixture just comes together. Lightly knead the dough a few times in the bowl, turn it out onto a lightly floured board, and roll out or pat it to about 3/4 inch thick.
5. Cut six 2-inch circles or squares out of the dough (I cut it into 9 squares). Reroll the scraps, if necessary.
6. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment, and brush the tops with the tablespoon of cream.  Sprinkle each biscuit with course sugar.
7. Bake for 17 minutes or until golden and done.

Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp sugar, or more to taste

1. Using a mixer, whip together the cream and sugar until it starts to form soft peaks.
2. Slice the Cream Biscuits in half. For each biscuit, spoon the strawberry mixture onto the bottom half, and add a dollop of whipped cream. Top with the other biscuit half, and dust it with powdered sugar.