The Power of Pie

I've been thinking about what recipes to post for Valentine's Day. They need to be extra special, made to measure for the person receiving it. Meant to say I Love You and you mean the world to me... and then it came to me, The Power of Pie. From the time we are little, at our Mother's knees, we can remember the occasion of pie coming out of the oven. Made just for us, with love, in all it's flaky goodness and chocolate creaminess with whipped cream clouds or jewel tones of cherry or berry... pie is good. In fact, pie is great. Make that special person in your life a pie, let it be warm when they walk in the door. It doesn't even have to be Valentine's Day, cause they will know just how much they're loved.

Lawry's Coconut Banana Cream Pie

from Jan Can Cook

COCONUT PIE SHELL

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, plus more for pie plate

3 cups sweetened flake coconut

Lightly butter a 9-inch pie plate and set aside.

Melt the 1/2 cup butter in a large skillet over medium heat and brown the coconut flakes, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. They should be golden brown. Press the coconut firmly and evenly in the pan to form a shell. Chill the crust 30 minutes before filling.

PIE FILLING

4 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar, divided

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup flour

3 cups half-and-half, divided

Yellow food coloring

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 bananas

1 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Combine the egg yolks, 1/4 cup of the sugar, the cornstarch, salt and flour in a small bowl. Gradually add 1 cup of the half-and-half.

Combine the remaining 2 cups half-and-half and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a 3-quart saucepan and bring just to boil over medium heat. Add the egg mixture and cook and stir until the mixture returns to a boil and thickens, about 1 minute.
Remove from the heat. Stir in 2 drops of food coloring and the vanilla. Cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool.

Slice the bananas into the pie shell. Pour the filling into the shell.

Whip the cream with the powdered sugar until stiff. Spoon in dollops or pipe with a pastry bag around the edge of the pie. Chill 2 hours before slicing.

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Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Pie

from Crazy Sexy Delicious

For the pie:
1 chocolate graham cracker crust
1 cup peanut butter
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
1 tub (12 ounces) Cool Whip, divided
1 jar (11.75 ounces) hot fudge topping, divided
½ cup sugar
For the topping:
2 tablespoons hot fudge
2 tablespoons peanut butter
In large bowl, beat peanut butter, cream cheese, and sugar until creamy. Fold in 3 cups Cool Whip. Spoon mixture into crust and smooth to edges.
Remove 2 tablespoons hot fudge from jar and reserve in zip-loc plastic baggie for later. Heat remaining hot fudge according to package directions. Spread on top of peanut butter layer. Refrigerate pie until serving time.
At serving time, carefully spread remaining Cool Whip on top of pie. Knead hot fudge in baggie with hands; cut tiny hole in corner of baggie and pipe over pie. Repeat with 2 tablespoons peanut butter and pipe on pie in opposite direction.

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David Letterman's Mom's Strawberry Pie

 from Home Cookin' with Dave's Mom

1 9 inch pie shell -- baked
1/2 pt Strawberries, fresh -- Washed and hulled
1/2 c Granulated sugar
2 tb Cornstarch
3/4 c Orange juice
1/2 ts Red food coloring
Whipped cream

Mix sugar and cornstartch, then add orange juice and food coloring. Cook until clear. Add strawberries to glaze and pour mixture into pie shell. Serve with whipped cream.

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Lemon Meringue Pie

from Grace Laced

grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp. cream of tarter
Crust recipe

Make your favorite pie crust, and bake until golden. Mine fave pie crust is the Martha pate brisee, but most days, I buy and bake a frozen one!

In a saucepan, combine the lemon rind and juice, 1/2 cup of sugar, the butter and 1 cup water. Bring the mixture to boil. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in 1 tablespoon cold water. Add the egg yolks. Add the egg yolks to the lemon mixture and return to a boil, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Cover the surface with waxed paper to prevent a skin from forming, and let cool.

For the meringue, beat the egg whites with the salt and cream of tarter using an electric mixer, until they hold stiff peaks. Add the remaining sugar and beat until glossy. Spoon the lemon mixture into the pie shell and spread level. Spoon the meringue on top, smoothing it up to the edge of the crust to seal. Bake until golden at 400F, 12-15 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

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Fall Apple Pie

from The Life and Love of Grumpy's HoneyBunch

Pie Crust:(Classic Crisco recipe)

This will make a double crust 9" pie

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup well chilled Crisco Butter Flavor Shortening

(I use the Crisco Sticks - and use 3/4 stick)

4-8 Tablespoons ice cold water

Blend flour and salt in mixing bowl. Cut chilled shortening into cubes into flour mixture using pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with pea sized pieces remaining.

Sprinkle 4 Tablespoons of water over mixture and stir with a fork. Add more water by the Tablespoon until dough holds together. It takes about 6-8 Tablespoons for me.

Divide dough in two with one ball slightly larger than the other. At this point, I place back in my mixing bowl (both balls of dough) covered with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Remove dough from refrigerator and place larger ball of dough onto floured surface. Using floured rolling pin roll dough into a circle until about 2" wider than the pie plate. Ease bottom crust into pie plate and trim evenly around plate. Fill with pie filling (recipe will follow). Roll top pie crust, lift onto filled pie. Trim dough with 3/4" overhand; fold top edge under bottom crust. Press edges together and flute. Cut slits in top crust.

Apple Pie Filling:

8 cups sliced apples (This was 6 large apples for me)

1 cup splenda or regular granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Pre-heat oven to375 degrees. Place apples in large bowl. Stir sugar, spices, cornstarch, and lemon juice into apples. Pour apple filling into bottom pie crust. Dot with 1 tablespoon butter (break butter into small pieces all over top of pie filling) and cover with top pie crust. Crimp edges. I normally cover the crust with tinfoil the first 40 minutes of baking, remove foil and continue to bake for 20 minutes more.

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