Mince-Nut Tarts au Chocolat

I had a package of mincemeat left over from the holidays and remembered this recipe that I had developed in 1986 for a magazine contest.  It didn’t win, but it’s a delicious little tart.

I used a portion of mincemeat that I made from this condensed package (mixed with water) that makes 1-¾ cups.  I used one cup for this recipe.

Mincemeat made from his package is comparable in taste and consistency to the prepared mincemeat in jars.

• Servings: 6
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• 3 Tblsp.condensed milk
• ¼ cup + 2 Tblsp. chocolate chips
• 1 cup prepared mincemeat
• ¼ cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 6 pastry tart shells (3-½ in. diameter (across top) x ¾ in. deep

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

In small saucepan combine condensed milk and chocolate chips.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until chips are melted.

Spread chocolate mixture over bottom surface of tart shells (about 2 Tblsp. per pan).

Divide mincemeat among pans and spread over chocolate mixture.

Sprinkle the top of each tart with chopped pecans.

Bake at 375 degrees F approximately 20 minutes until crust and walnuts are golden brown.

Let cool in pans on a wire rack.

6 servings

Mom’s Good Old Apple Crumb Pie

I loved the Andy Griffith TV show and when Sheriff Taylor talked about “good old apple crumb pie”, I longed to have a slice.  Something about the way he said “pie” made it sound even more delicious.  Remember, he thought maybe that was what Aunt Bee brought for lunch when instead she had brought some of her not-so-good pickles.  And Helen Crump baked one for a picnic.  In honor and in memory of Andy Taylor, Aunt Bee and Helen Crump, here’s my version:

• Servings: 6
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• Pastry for 9-inch single crust pie*

Filling:

• 7 cups tart apples (Golden Delicious or Granny Smith)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 Tblsp. all-purpose flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar

Topping
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup butter, cut into cubes

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and flour.  Using your fingers, mix in the butter until small crumbs are formed.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Peel, core and thinly slice apples.  Place in a large bowl and add cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, flour and sugar.  Mix together and set aside for 10-15 minutes.

Stir apple mixture and spoon into unbaked pie shell.

Top with sugar/flour/butter topping mixture, covering all of the apples.

Place on a flat pan to catch spills and bake @ 375 degrees F for 45 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool. 

Actually, I baked two apple pies because the only kind of pie my son-in-law and two grandchildren will eat is my regular apple pie.  Click here for the recipe.

*My favorite pie crust recipe.

Peach Cream Tart

I first made this tart in 1987 from a cookbook called Savannah Collection that I had bought on a recent trip to Georgia.  In my binder, I have it rated “excellent”.

• Servings: 8
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Butter Crust:

• 1-¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ cup cold butter, cut in small cubes
• 2 Tbsp. sour cream

Peach Filling:

• 6 medium size ripe peaches
• 3 large egg yolks
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1/8 tsp. almond extract
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 410 degrees F
You will need a 9-inch tart pan (9 inches across the bottom, 10 inches across the top) with removable sides, ungreased.

To make the crust:

In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt.  Add butter cubes and with your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until it is evenly distributed.

Add the sour cream and work it into the dough with your fingertips until blended.

Roll out crust on a lightly floured board.

Place in pan and press into place.

Blind-bake the crust by placing parchment paper or foil on top of the crust and filling with a pound of dry beans.  I put the beans in a jar and use the same ones over and over for blind-baking.  Don’t cook the beans as a vegetable after baking this way.

Bake @ 410 degrees F for 10 minutes, remove parchment paper and beans, and continue baking for another 5 minutes.  Remove to a rack while preparing filling.  Crust should be set but not brown.

REDUCE OVEN HEAT TO 350 DEGREES F

To make the filling:

Peel peaches.  To remove peel easily, drop the peaches into very hot water and allow to stand for 1-2 minutes.  Remove and allow to drain and cool.  The peel will slip off easily.  Remove pits and cut in ½ inch thick slices.  Arrange slices in circle on top of crust,  and then make a second layer of peaches.

Combine egg yolks, sour cream, almond extract, sugar and flour and whisk until smooth.  Pour yolk mixture over peaches.

Bake @ 350 degrees F until set and pale golden color – about 1 hour.  Cover with loose foil tent if color gets too dark.  Cool on wire rack.

While still warm, glaze with the following:

• ½ cup peach jam (I used my homemade Missouri Peach Preserves)
• 1 Tblsp. Water

Heat the jam and water in a small saucepan until mixture begins to boil.  Strain to remove any large pieces of fruit.

Brush glaze while still warm on top of warm tart.

Allow tart to cool on rack.  Remove sidewall of pan.

Serve warm, room temperature or chilled.

Serves 8 

Here are some more good recipes using peaches:
Fresh Fruit Kuchen
Banana Peach Bars
Fresh Peach Clafouti

Celebration Peach Cobbler

Peach Lasagne

Missouri Peach Preserves

My Fresh Peach Pie

Fresh Peach Crumble Pie

Prize-Winning Blueberry Peach Pie

Fresh Peach Muffins

My Fresh Peach Pie

I first made this pie in 1987 for the Ohio State Fair and it won 3rd place.  I call it My Fresh Peach Pie because at the time I used what I thought would make a good pie and later found it’s pretty much the basic recipe.  With ripe peaches from the local farm market, it’s simply delicious.

• Servings: 6-8
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• 5 cups sliced peaches (6-7 medium peaches, peeled and pitted)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tblsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. almond extract
• Pastry for 9 inch two-crust pie (Here’s my favorite recipe)
• 1 Tblsp. butter
• 1 tsp. milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

To peel peaches easily and without waste, drop them into very hot water and let stand for about one minute.  Remove from water and let drain and cool for 5 minutes.  The skin will slide right off.

Peel peaches, remove pits and slice in ½ inch slices.

Place peach slices in a large bowl and add sugar, flour, salt and almond extract.  Let stand for 10 minutes or while preparing crust.

Place the crust in a 9 inch pie plate and fill with the peach mixture.  Dot with butter …

…and place top crust over filling.  Seal and crimp edges, brush with milk and cut small vents in top crust.

Place on a large flat pan to catch spills and bake @ 375 degrees F for approximately 45 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Servings:  6 to 8 

Our Favorite Blueberry Pie

This recipe came from a 1976 cookbook, The Redbook Cookbook, a premium that came along with a subscription to the magazine.  It has been one of my favorite cookbooks, as evidenced by the tattered and worn cover …

…and the stained pages.

I first made this pie in 1993 when my youngest daughter requested it for Thanksgiving.  Since the other kinds of pies I baked were more popular with the family, she wound up eating the entire blueberry pie herself (over a couple of days, of course).

• Servings: 6-8
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• Pastry for 9” two-crust pie (See my favorite here)
• 4 cups fresh blueberries OR two 12 oz packages frozen blueberries, thawed
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (depending on sweetness of berries)
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp grated lemon peel
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 Tblsp. butter
• 1 Tblsp. milk

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl mix together berries, sugar, flour, lemon peel and juice, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt.

Place in pastry-lined pan, dot with butter.  Place top crust, brush with milk, cut vents.  Bake 45 minutes on a flat pan to catch spills.

Cool on wire rack.  Makes 6 to 8 slices of really good pie. 

The Best of 2010

It’s been another fun year of blogging and on this last day of 2010, I revisited the 10 most popular of the past year’s posts.

Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt

Round Patchwork Tablecloth

The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford Dessert

Irish Lemon Blackberry Sponge Pudding

Pork-Apple-Sweet Potato Casserole

Peach Crumble Pie

Creamy Ham Tetrazzini

Vintage Hanky Heart Pillow

Light Pineapple Cheesecake

Tasty Gingerbread Muffins

Happy New Year to All!

Pear Crumble Pie

I started making this pie in 1989, using the Bartlett pears from two trees on our country property.  I’ve baked it at least once a year ever since, using pears from the farmers’ market for the last 10 years  after having to leave our pear trees behind.  The recipe is adapted from one in a 1966 Better Homes and Gardens Pies & Cakes cookbook.  It’s a great pie and just right for these early fall days.

• Servings: 6-8
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• 9 inch unbaked pastry shell  (see my favorite recipe here)
• 5 cups pared and sliced ripe Bartlett pears
• 3 Tblsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tblsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. grated lemon peel
• Crumble Topping (see below)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Place pears in a large bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice.  Mix the sugar, flour and lemon peel together and stir into the pear slices.  Spoon into the unbaked pastry shell.

Crumble Topping

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 4 Tblsp. butter, cut into small cubes

Mix together the flour, sugar and spices.  Cut in the butter until blended.  Sprinkle on top of pear mixture in unbaked pie shell.

Bake in a 375 degree F oven for approximately 45 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 6 to 8 delicious servings. 

Best of Show Raspberry Cherry Pie

In 1983, I had won our big County Fair Pie Contest (Hamilton County/Cincinnati) and really didn’t want to push my luck by entering the following year, but my oldest daughter insisted it was my duty to defend my title.  So, I looked around my country kitchen, crowded with fresh produce, and decided to make a Raspberry Cherry Pie, using our home-grown black raspberries and tart red cherries.  I baked it on a hot Saturday morning, took it to the fairgrounds and when the contest was over, was told I was the first one in the history of the contest to win two years in a row.  I got a blue ribbon, best of show rosette, an engraved silver bowl and a half-bushel of apples.

The years went by and I was always baking something new for our Sunday dinner – never got around to making the prize-winning pie again.  Then, my husband was ill with Alzheimer’s and we had to leave our country home and the raspberry bushes and the cherry trees, so it has been over 25 years since I first made this pie.

A month or so ago, my online friend, Darlene, blogged about a dessert she had made using frozen tart cherries from Meijer.  I hurried to the store, picked up a bag of cherries and some red raspberries, and came home to bake an old favorite.  It was just as good as I remembered it.

• Servings: 6
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• Pastry for double crust 9″ pie (click here for my favorite recipe)
• 1 cup tart red cherries (I used frozen)
• 3 cups fresh raspberries
• 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 Tblsp. fast-acting tapioca
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 Tblsp. butter
• 1 Tblsp. milk

Preheat oven @ 375 degrees F

Measure one cup of cherries into a large bowl.  If cherries are frozen, they will thaw by the time the pie is completed.

To the cherries, add the raspberries, sugar, salt, tapioca and vanilla.  Toss to mix well and let stand for 10-15 minutes.

Stir fruit to distribute sugar and turn into a pastry-lined 9″ pie pan.  Dot with butter, add top crust and crimp to seal.  Cut vents and brush with milk.

Place on a flat pan to catch spills and bake @ 375 degrees F for 45-50 minutes until top crust is golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack. 

I probably took a little more care in preparing a fair entry, but not much.  To me, the idea was that it should be one of my normal Sunday pies – with all its little rough spots and bubbling over.

In 1987, when we went to the fair, my daughter told me that one of her entries was going to be my birthday present.  When we got to the Hobbies & Crafts Department, I found she had made a miniature model of the Hamilton County Fair Pie Contest, correct down to the tiniest detail with ribbons, trophies, a table full of pies and baskets of apples.  It won a Best of Show Rosette for her.

Every year, I display the model during the county fair season and remember all the good – and hectic – times we had at the pie contests.

State Fair Blackberry Pie

In 1986, my oldest daughter had been entering needlework in the Ohio State Fair for several years.  She kept nudging me to enter something in the food division but I was hesitant after seeing all of the beautiful entries that come in from all over the state.  Finally, I gave in and decided to enter a blackberry pie to use up some of the buckets of wild blackberries we picked every day in a thicket on the far edge of our property.  I used a recipe from a book by Susan Purdy that my daughter had just given me (unfortunately, I lost the book and I’m not sure of the title*) and made the long trip from Cincinnati to Columbus to enter the pie for judging.

I was pleased to win a third place ribbon on my first Ohio State Fair entry.

We no longer live in the house with the blackberry thicket but there were some beautiful blackberries at my farmers’ market in Loveland, Ohio (Blooms and Berries) and the pie turned out great.

• Servings: 6
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• Pastry for a 9″ two-crust pie (click here for my favorite recipe)
• 4 cups fresh blackberries
• 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cider vinegar
• 3 Tblsp. cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 Tblsp. quick cooking tapioca
• 2 Tblsp. butter
• 1 Tblsp. milk

Preheat oven @ 375 degrees F

In a heavy pan combine the blackberries, sugar, vinegar, cornstarch, salt, and 2 Tblsp. water.

Mash fruit very slightly with wooden spoon to start juices flowing.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, just until mixture nears boiling point (3-4 minutes).  Remove from heat and cool completely.  Stir in tapioca.

Pour into unbaked pie shell and dot with butter.  Fit top crust over fruit, sealing well.  Brush top crust lightly with milk and cut vents.

Place on flat pan to catch spills and bake @ 375 degrees F for 45-50 minutes until crust is golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack. 

The flavor of this pie is so delicious – even the leftovers the next day were good.

*UPDATE:  I was able to identify the book – As Easy as Pie by Susan G. Purdy and found a nice hard-cover 1984 edition on eBay.com.  I feel better now.  That was the only cookbook that I have ever  lost and I’m happy to have a copy to complete my collection.

Fresh Peach Crumble Pie

I’ve been traveling a bit – peach-wise – the past couple of weeks.   I’ve had South Carolina Peaches, I’m waiting on the Georgia Peaches, and this week my farm market had Ohio grown peaches.  This recipe is a combination of a favorite filling and a favorite streusel topping plus my all-time favorite pie crust.  It’s a perfect dessert for a summer day.

PEACH CRUMBLE PIE

• Servings: 6-8
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• Pastry for a 9″single crust pie, unbaked (click here for my favorite recipe)

Filling:

• 4 cups sliced fresh peaches
• 1/4 cup Minute Tapioca
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp. almond extract

Crumble Topping:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 Tblsp. butter, cut into small cubes

Preheat oven @ 375 degrees F

In a large bowl, combine peaches, tapioca, salt, sugar, lemon juice and almond extract.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients:  flour, sugar and butter.  Set aside.

Stir peaches and pour into pastry lined 9″ pie pan.  Spoon crumble topping on, covering all of the top surface of peaches.

Place on a flat pan to catch spills and bake @ 375 degrees F for approximately 45 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

Best served after cooling to room temperature.  Servings:  6 to 8