Apple Pie for Bill

My son-in-law Bill loves apple pie – no other kind, just apple.   If I want to make a different kind of pie when they’re here for dinner, I make sure I have this apple pie for Bill and now grandson Josh is starting to request it, too.  Any good mix of pie apples would work (and I’ve used them all) but Golden Delicious are readily available and work fine.

 

BILL'S APPLE PIE

• Servings: 6-8
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5 cups peeled, cored, sliced apples – I prefer Golden Delicious

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 Tblsp. flour

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

2  Tblsp. butter

Pastry for 9” 2-crust pie

1 T milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees  F.

Combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl.  Mix and let set while making crust.  Fill pastry lined pie pan, dot with butter.  Place top crust, flute edges, brush with milk and cut vents.  Place pie on a large flat pan to catch spills and bake 45 minutes @ 375 degrees F .  Cool on rack. 

Prize Winning Blueberry Peach Pie

While fresh, juicy peaches are still available at the market, I like to bake this pie.  Home-canned peaches are also good, but commercially-canned peaches don’t work as well.

• Servings: 6-8
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4 cups fresh peach slices (peeled)

2 Tblsp. butter

1 cup fresh blueberries

2 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice

1 cup sugar

2 Tblsp.  quick tapioca

pinch salt

1 Tblsp.  butter

Pastry for two-crust 9” pie

1 Tblsp. milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Saute peaches in butter, add blueberries, lemon juice, sugar, tapioca and salt.  Let stand while making crust.  Place crust in 9″ pie plate.  Fill crust with fruit mixture, dot with butter, put on top crust and flute edges.  Brush top crust with milk and cut vents in top crust.  Bake  @ 375 degrees F for approximately 45 minutes.

Yield:  One 9″ pie 

This pie won a first place Blue Ribbon and Best of Show award at the Hamilton County Fair (Cincinnati, Ohio) in 1988.  Also won second place ribbons at the Miamitown (Ohio) Rivertown Jubilee and at the Harvest Home Fair (Cheviot, Ohio) in 1988/89.

A Perfect Day for Pumpkin Pie

A PERFECT DAY FOR PUMPKIN PIE

This September Sunday morning is cool, crisp and autumn-like with trees starting to show color and fall decorations beginning to appear on front doors.  It’s a perfect day for pumpkin pie.  My recipe is pretty much standard except for a few variations in spices.  I heard Garrison Keillor quote one of his radio characters, saying,  “The best pumpkin pie you ever tasted isn’t that much better than the worst,” but I don’t agree.  Homemade pumpkin pies are really good and a super-easy pie to make.  I prefer to make my pie crust but certainly frozen ones are available.

FAVORITE PUMPKIN PIE

• Servings: 6
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2 eggs

15 oz. can of pumpkin (not pumpkin filling)

½ cup plus 2 Tblsp brown sugar

½ cup plus 2 Tblsp granulated sugar

½ tsp salt

1-1/2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp ginger

12 oz. of evaporated milk

One 9″ unbaked pie shell (any smaller and the pie will overflow)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until lightly beaten.  Add the remaining ingredients and whisk together until smooth.  Pour into the unbaked pie shell.  (It works better to have the pie plate on a larger flat pan or cookie sheet to catch spills.)  Place pie in preheated 375 degree oven and bake for approximately 45 minutes.  The pie is done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Yield:  One very good 9″ pie