Saturday, January 31, 2009

I cheated........

I had fully planned on making pies from scratch. Until I looked at the price of organic blueberries and the pathetic baking apples in the grocery store. I know, face it Tami, you live dead center of the USA where we won't be producing good, edible produce for another 6 months. Ugh. So, I turned to canned fruit to bake pies. I have to say, they were brought to work last night and all were gone by 1 AM. Lots of compliments, so not a terrible idea I guess. Of course, maybe these people never get actual 'from scratch' desserts other than what I bring in. Yeah, I run with that idea.


My hubby's favorite pie, probably, is blueberry. When we went to visit his grandparents, Grandma Baker always had a blueberry pie waiting for the Dude. He would scarf that baby down like no body's business. Of course, when we met he weighed about 135 pounds and is about 5'10". Hee hee hee, after almost 20 years of marriage, I have put about 35 more pounds on him-which he needed. He looked awfully bony when I got him. I digress. Blueberry. I think it conjures up happy memories for him, so I make it a lot for him. Since I was disappointed with the lemon meringue and banana cream pies I brought in last week, I felt I had to redeem myself.


I do zhuzz (how do you even spell that sound?) the canned fruit up with other ingredients.



Blueberry Pie

2 cans blueberry pie mix
fresh lemon zest
water
sugar


Apple Pie

2 cans apple pie mix
fresh ground nutmeg
cinnamon
water
sugar


Roll out dough for 2-2 crust pies. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar in pie plate. Lay bottom crust over sugar and press down into pan. Pour in two cans of the blueberries.

Zest the lemon over filling


Cut decorative top (I have two different designs-I'm not very artistic)



Lay on top of filling

Spritz with water

Sprinkle with another tablespoon or two of sugar




Apple Pie


Assemble crust like above, with sugar in pie plate


Pour in two cans of apple pie filling


Run the nutmeg over a microplane all over the pie-don't use too much

Sprinkle with full strength cinnamon


Top with second crust


Spritz and sprinkle with sugar.


Cover edges of pies with crust protectors. Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes, then remove crust protectors and bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes.



Normally with the apple pie, I sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over the top, but my jar was empty and I didn't want to stop to make more, so I just did regular sugar on this one.

I had to cut a piece for Hermit Crab so she wouldn't get mad


Oh so juicy


Smelled incredible, but no pie for me. I will have to make my pecan one to post. Of course, I will have to make it when I have to work or I'll eat that sucker all by myself (my hubby and kids don't like pecan). Then I'll gain 35 pounds!

10 comments:

Missy said...

OOO That looks so yummy. I am not much of a pie baker so you wanna come over? LOL I was thinking of doing cobblers this weekend and think I will be using canned stuff, the price of fresh produce it out of control.

Pam said...

You make me want to bake a pie. They both look amazing but the blueberry is calling my name.

Anonymous said...

Okay I have never seen that lattice cutter thing...wow that makes it easy! Very nice work and sometimes you just have to go canned. Of course the foddie purists freak out but hey we are busy women who need dessert and help in the kitchen every once in a while.

Brittany said...

I don't bake. i just drool over all you people who do:)

Fresh fruit or not, looks amazing!

grace said...

i'm a pie freak, especially when it comes to apple and blueberry. i can't believe i've never seen those pie dough cutters--they're awesome, and so are your pies. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my...love your pies and where did you get those pie dough cutters? The heart cutters are perfect for Valentines :) You know what, I would like to introduce you to Foodista.com - the cooking encyclopedia everyone can edit. We have lots of easy recipes you can try, so do check us out. Would also love a link to this post from our site. (This will direct Foodista readers to your blog)Here's how you can create inbound links from our site Check it out here. This is a great way for you to build blog traffic and connect with other food lovers! Also feel free to share your recipes and tips with us!Thanks!

tamilyn said...

I have had the dough cutters for probably 8 to 10 years. I believe I purchased them at a mall kitchen store called Lechters which is now closed. Here is a link I found
http://www.nextag.com/pie-top-cutter/products-html
to puchase some.

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

Wow your pies look fantastic! You have me craving pie and are inspiriing me to make pie. Terrific!

Maris said...

I haven't baked a pie on my own in ages but maybe I'll give it a try this summer (I am in NJ where we usually get pretty decent fresh blueberries!)

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous pies, made with a lot of love!