Tuesday, August 21, 2012

High Time for Pies!

Here are a couple of pies I've made in the last week.

Edith's Strawberry Pie


Make and bake a pie shell.  Let cool.

Wash and dry strawberries saving large ones to place on bottom of shell.  I had such large ones that I cut them in half and laid flat side down.

Mash 1 cup of smaller strawberries and measure (add water if necessary) to make 1 cup.

To a saucepan add:
1 cup of mashed strawberries
3 T cornstarch mixed with 1 c sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
1 t lemon juice
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  When thick (after a minute or so), remove from burner and set aside to cool.

When syrup is lukewarm, pour over strawberries in pie shell and refrigerate.  Top with whipped cream.


Blackberry Pie


First, I have no idea how blackberries turned red in the oven, but  they did.

I used the Blueberry Pie recipe from my Betty Crocker Pie and Pastry Book.

Pastry for 9-inch two-crust pie
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c flour
4 c fresh blueberries
1T lemon juice
2 T butter or margarine

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Prepare pastry. Stir together sugar and flour; mix lightly with berries.  Turn into pastry-lined pie pan; sprinkle fruit with lemon juice and dot with butter. Cover with top crust which has slits in it; seal and flute.  Cover edge with 2 to 3 inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil last 15 minutes of baking.  Bake 9 inch pie 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is nicely borwned and juice bubbles through slits.  Serve warm.





Sunday, August 5, 2012

Banana Bread in the Crock Pot

1 3/4 C flour (some whole wheat)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/3 C butter/margarine
2/3 C sugar (I did 1/3 and added 1/3 C applesauce)
2 eggs, well beaten
2 T dark corn syrup (I did light)
3 ripe bananas, well mashed
1/2 C chopped walnuts (opt.)

Grease & flour your crock pot.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and soda in a small bowl; set aside.

Cream butter in large bowl with electric mixer at med-high until fluffy.  Slowly add sugar, eggs, corn syrup, and mashed bananas.  Beat until smooth.  Gradually add flour mixture to creamed mixture.  Add nuts, mix well.  Pour into Crock-Pot.  Cover.  Cook on high 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool (minimum 5 minutes), then invert onto serving platter.  (I was really worried that it wouldn't come out, but it did -- just fine!).

(The bread was plenty sweet and plenty moist.  I really liked this recipe! I want to make more breads in the Crock Pot now!)


This was from the Best Loved Slow Cooker Recipes cook book, page 208.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Chocolate Almond Zucchini Bread

3 Eggs
1 C sugar (or 3/4 C)
1 C brown sugar (or 3/4 C)
1 C oil (or part applesauce and part oil)
1 t vanilla or 1/2 t almond extract
2 C grated zucchini
2 C flour (use some whole wheat flour)
2 oz unsweetened chocolate squares (or 6 T cocoa powder + 2 T oil)
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 C slivered or sliced almonds (I leave these out if I don't have them)

In a large bowl, mix the 3 eggs until smooth & lemon colored.  Beat in sugars and oil.  Melt chocolate; cool slightly.  Add zucchini & flavoring to the eggs; add chocolate.  Preheat oven to 350.  Sift together dry ingredients and stir into zucchini mixture.  Fold in almonds.  Bake in 2 well greased 9 x 5 loaf pans or a bundt pan for 50-60 minutes.  Cool in pan 15-20 minutes, remove and cool on rack.  From A Pinch of Salt Lake.