Perfect Cherry Pie

My sister-in-law makes a fabulous CHERRY pie for Thanksgiving, but since we aren't always together for the HOLIDAY she shared her recipe with me several years ago. It's so good, I've decided I better SHARE it with all of you! I have to start by saying I've never liked cherry pie. Ever. Until I had one little BITE of my husband's slice years ago. I've been hooked ever since! It's a beautiful pie and is perfect for CHRISTMAS dessert.

Perfect Cherry Pie
Crust
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter-flavored shortening
6 to 7 tablespoons ice water

Filling
3 cans tart red cherries, drained with 1 cup juice reserved
1 cup sugar, divided
1/4 cup cornstartch
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
10 drops red food coloring (optional, but it makes it really pretty!)

For the crust, combine the flour, salt, and shortening with a pastry blender until you have pea-size crumbs. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until the crust comes together. Divide dough into two portions, one for the bottom of the pie, one for the top. (The bottom needs to cover the bottom of the pie pan and up the sides, so I always do more for the bottom.) Refrigerate until ready to use, or for at least 30 minutes.

Over medium heat, stir the cherries, 3/4 cup sugar, and cornstarch together with a flat-bottom whisk until smooth and clear. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Let cool.

Poor filling into rolled out pie crust dough and top with remaining pie crust dough. Press top and bottom dough together all around the pie and cut an excess off. (You can also crimp the edges to make it pretty!) Cut a few slits in the top for venting and sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon and sugar over top. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes and golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream of course!

TIP: We love this crust recipe and usually do 1 1/2 of the recipe for a thicker crust. I totally recommend it, but if you like less crust, this way is totally fine!

10 Yummy Thanksgiving Pies

Every year I want to make about TEN different pies, but usually only end up making two or three. I have a hard TIME deciding which ones I want most, and there always has to be a traditional PUMPKIN in the mix. But we like all SORTS, so here are the links to some of my family's FAVORITE pies for Thanksgiving! (And for the FEW of you who actually look at my blog, make sure to keep checking because in the next few weeks I will post our favorite CHERRY pie, which is phenomenal!)

Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Pie

                           

Pretty Apple Pie

                           

Oreo Fudge Pie

                           

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

                           

Coconut Cream Cheese Pie

                           And here are a few more that I would LOVE to try:

French Silk Pie from Gimme Some Oven

Carrot Cake Cheesecake from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

                         

Rocky Road No-Bake Cheesecake from Kraft

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie from Key Ingredient

Sour Cream Lime Tart from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Oreo Fudge Pie

November is the month of PIE, am I right? Chocolate pie has never been one of my favorites, but this version is EXTREMELY tasty. Who doesn't love the surprise of a big chunk of OREO? I can't think of anyone! As usual, this recipe is so EASY, it is almost embarrassing!

Oreo Fudge Pie

1 large box chocolate fudge instant pudding

Milk called for on box

1 (8-ounce) container Cool Whip

12 to 15 Oreos, chopped
Prepared Oreo crust (store-bought or homemade)
Mini chocolate chips or extra Oreos, crushed, to garnish

Prepare the pudding as directed on box and let set. Fold in about two-thirds of the Cool Whip and the chopped cookies. Spoon into the prepared crust and let set at least 2 hours. Top with the remaining Cool Whip and garnish of choice.

TIP: You can use regular chocolate pudding in place of chocolate fudge, but it won't be as rich! There is a devil's food flavor that would probably work well too. :)

Coconut Cream Cheese Pie

Mmmmm. This is my take on the regular COCONUT cream pie. I think it turned out pretty TASTY. It is pretty decadent, and super RICH and CREAMY. Hope you like!

Coconut Cream Cheese Pie
1 small box coconut cream instant pudding mix
1 3/4 cups milk
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
Dash of salt
2 to 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Graham cracker pie crust (store-bought or homemade)
Fresh whipped and sweetened cream
Toasted coconut

Whisk together the dry pudding mix and milk for 2 minutes; refrigerate for at least 5 minutes.

In a bowl, beat together the cream cheese, vanilla, coconut extract, salt, and powdered sugar until smooth and slightly fluffy. Fold into the pudding mixture and then scoop into the prepared pie crust. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Top with the cream and coconut, then serve. Makes 8 servings.

TIP: If you don't have coconut extract, it will still taste yummy if you leave it out. The coconut flavor just isn't as strong. This would also be delicious in an Oreo crust. YUM!

Mini Peach Pie Pockets

We always have tons of PEACHES, so I'm always trying to think of new ways to use them! I thought a peach PIE sounded yummy, but knew we didn't need a whole one. So, I made some MINI pies, and then FROZE the ones we didn't eat. Perfect!

Mini Peach Pie Pockets
4 cups peeled and chopped peaches
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon (heaping) cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Dash of salt
1 box store-bought pie crusts, cut into fourths

 Combine all the ingredients in a bowl except the crust. Spoon the peaches into the center of each piece of uncooked pie crust and then fold over sides to enclose. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and then brush with a little of the peach juice from the bowl. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown and filling is bubbling. Makes 8 mini pies.

TIP: You could brush the top with butter to help it brown better, but I figured the sugary juices would be yummy. Obviously you can serve this with vanilla ice cream (my family's number one choice!) or whipped cream.

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

I love LEMON. And for some reason or another, I've really been CRAVING pies lately. So I made a super YUMMY lemon pie with the help of allrecipes.com. This creamy and luscious pie in a nice FLAKY crust was killer! Totally satisfied in every way. Enough said.

Sour Cream Lemon Pie
1 (9-inch) baked pie crust (I used my favorite recipe, here. I just do one thick crust though!)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sour cream
4 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup butter
2 lemons, juiced and zested

Bake crust and set aside to cool completely.

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Gradually stir in the milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Reduce heat and cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat.

Gradually stir 1 cup of the mixture into the egg yolks to temper. Return yolk mixture to mixture in pan and bring to a gentle boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, juice, and zest. Gently fold in the sour cream. Pour filling to cooled crust and let cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve and top with whipped cream if desired.

TIP: This pie is so delish as is, it's hard to think of a tip. The one thing you can do to save time is to put the filling in a graham cracker crust. However, the baked crust is totally worth the effort!

Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel

I posted this recipe before, but this pie is so SCRUMPTIOUS it deserves a shout out for the HOLIDAY season! I make it for Thanksgiving, but it's so good, I always want to make it AGAIN for Christmas. Everybody likes sweet CRUNCHY streusel, right? Well, it's even better on top of PUMPKIN pie!

Pecan Streusel Pumpkin Pie
1 (16-ounce) can pumpkin
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust


Pecan Streusel
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup firm butter
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir together the pumpkin, condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt until smooth. Pour into the pie crust and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees and bake for 25 minutes more. 

In the meantime, prepare the streusel. In a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, and butter with a pastry blender until crumbly. Stir in the chopped pecans.

Sprinkle the streusel over the pie (after the 25-minute "baking round") and then bake for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until golden brown and the filling is set. Let cool about 2 hours and serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.

TIP: You can cut down on the brown sugar in the streusel topping if you prefer, but I wouldn't do less than 1/3 cup. Also, when the pie comes out of the oven, it's going to look puffy and like it's overflowing your crust. Well, once it cools it settles and looks fabulous, so don't worry!

Lemon Cream Cheese Pie

This is a family FAVORITE, and the best thing is that it's super SIMPLE to put together. If you are looking for a quick and delicious DESSERT, this is it!

Lemon Cream Cheese Pie
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temp
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 (9-inch) graham cracker pie crust

In a bowl, beat together the cream cheese, condensed milk, and lemon juice until smooth. Pour into the crust and spread out evenly. Chill for at least 2 to 3 hours before serving.

TIP: This is great topped with whipped cream and cut up fresh strawberries or other seasonal fruits. Also, you can use lime juice instead of the lemon and it also tastes amazing!

Pretty Apple Pie

My husband loves a good PIE crust, and what better to fill it with than APPLES! I always used to be afraid of making my own CRUST, but this one turns out perfect every time. Try it for Thanksgiving or your other HOLIDAY festivities this year—you won't be sorry you did!

Pretty Apple Pie

Crust

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons shortening

4 to 5 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 to 4 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup water (minus 1 tablespoon if using the vanilla below)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon vanilla (optional)

6 to 8 apples, peeled and thinly sliced

To make the crust, combine the flour and salt and then blend with the shortening and water using a pastry blender. Separate dough into 2 balls and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the filling, melt the butter in a large saucepan and stir in flour to make a roux. Add remaining ingredients and let apples cook in sauce while you get the crust ready to put in the pie pan and until they are tender.

Roll out the crust and place in a 9-inch pie pan. Pour filling into crust and then top with second rolled out crust and then crimp the edges together and cut some "vents" in the top of the crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until a nice golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

TIP: Make your ice cold water by actually adding ice cubes to it before you add it to the recipe! Also, if you want a little thicker pie crust, try 1-1/2ing or even doubling the recipe. Any leftover dough can be used to make cute little decorative cut-outs like the leaves on my pie above. 

BONUS TIP: If for some reason the outside edges of your crust are getting too browned (or more than the rest of the pie), cover them with aluminum foil to prevent burning.