Kahlúa Pudding Pie

This was the holiday pie of the year -- I made it for both Thanksgiving and Feast of Christmas Eve.  I liked the idea of making a homemade pudding, rather than out of the box, and everyone liked the idea of the Kahlua in it.  It's basically a velvety, chocolate cream pie with a Kahlua and cinnamon kick.

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook: 4 hours 40 minutes

For the crust:

• 14 whole graham crackers
• 1 Tbsp. light brown sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. In a food processor, add graham crackers, brown sugar and butter, pulsing until moistened.
3. Use the bottom of a measuring cup, glass, or ramekin to press the crust mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
4. Bake until fragrant and golden brown, about 12 minutes.
5. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the pudding:

• 1 Tbsp. unflavored gelatin
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp. instant espresso powder
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt3 cups lowfat milk
• 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• ¼ cup Kahlúa
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl combine the gelatin and the boiling water, stirring until dissolved, and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan whisk together the sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Gradually add the milk, whisking until smooth.
4. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 10 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate and Kahlúa.
6. Stir in the vanilla and reserved gelatin.
7. Pour into cooked piecrust and press plastic wrap against the surface. Refrigerate until very well chilled, at least 4 hours but preferably overnight.

For the whipped cream:

• 3/4 cup cold heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Kahlúa
• Unsweetened cocoa powder or grated milk chocolate, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.
2. Dollop or pipe onto pie
3. Add sifted cocoa powder or grated milk chocolate over pie for garnish.
4. Slice and serve.

Adapted from:  Handle the Heat blog

Banana Cream Pie

Since we had a bunch of bananas that went from totally green to overripe virtually overnight, today was a day to go bananas.  In addition to the Banana Bread that we made, Catherine also wanted to make a Banana Cream Pie.  I have always wanted to make a Banana Cream Pie, but Catherine beat me to it.  She surfed around and found this recipe.  I have to say, it came out OH-SO-GOOOOOOOD!

• 9” pie shell, prepared
  (We used a graham cracker crust pie shell)
• 3 cups whole milk 
• ¾ cup white sugar 
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 
• ¼ tsp. salt 
• 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten 
• 2 Tbsp. butter 
• 1 tsp. vanilla 
• 3 bananas

DIRECTIONS

1. Have baked 9-inch pie shell ready. 
2. In a large saucepan, scald the milk
   Heat the milk to 180 degrees. At this temperature, the milk should just begin to come to a light froth:  you will see around the edges of the pan, where tiny bubbles will form. This point can be determined visually or with a thermometer and can be done in a double boiler or, if you pay close attention, over direct heat.  To prevent scorching, be sure to stir the milk as it heats.
3. In another saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt; gradually stir in the scalded milk.
4. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, cook until thickened. 
5. Cover and, stirring occasionally, cook for two minutes longer. 
6. In a small bowl, have the 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, ready; stir a small amount of the hot mixture into beaten yolks; when thoroughly combined, stir yolks into hot mixture. 
7. Cook for one minute longer, stirring constantly. 
8. Remove from heat and blend in the butter and vanilla. 
9. Let sit until lukewarm. 
10. When ready to pour, slice bananas and layer half of them in the bottom of the pie shell
11. Pour half of the warm custard mixture over bananas.
12. Repeat with Steps 10 and 11 with the remaining bananas and warm custard.
     
13. Top with either homemade whipped cream or a meringue (you'll have 3 leftover egg whites) to top the pie, or just let the pie cool until serving.

Adapted from Food.com's website

Banoffee Pie

Catherine had mentioned Banoffee Pie a couple weeks ago.  I had NO CLUE what Banoffee Pie was until I saw the recipes -- bananas + toffee = banoffee.  Light dawned!  I still wasn't sure if I was sold on it, but I knew she wanted me to make it so I found this recipe on Pinterest and got the ingredients.  I figured Family Game Night was a good time to give it a try.  It wasn't that hard to make at all (except for the fact that the cans of dulce de leche seemed to be glued shut), and I'll say that I was totally won over.  So many delicious flavors and tastes in this one pie!

Crust:

• 24 Oreos
  (I used Double Stuffed Oreos)
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted

Pie:

• 1 ¾ cups dulce de leche
  (due to the can opening issues mentioned above, I only used 1 can and felt that was enough)
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 cup chocolate covered toffee bits (see Note below)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• ¼ cup brown sugar

* Note:  The original recipe suggested using Heath brand of chocolate covered toffee bits, but if you can’t find those to chop up regular-sized Heath bars.  I found Heath toffee bits, but could not find any chocolate covered and did not buy the whole candy bars, so I improvised and melted half a bag of Hershey dark chocolate chips with 2 Tbsp. of butter in the microwave and then mixed with a whole bag of toffee (1 ½ cups of toffee bits – I did not use all for this pie and probably have enough to make a second pie).  I put a piece of wax paper on a plate and flattened the chocolate toffee mixture and put in the freezer for 5 minutes.  I then crumbled up the chocolate covered toffee to use as directed below.

DIRECTIONS

1. Crush up the Oreos.
2. Add the cookies and butter until well combined.
3. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
4. Refrigerate or freeze until set, about 30 minutes.
5. Spread the dulce de leche over the bottom and up the sides of the chilled crust.
6. In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar, brown sugar and cream cheese, until smooth and fluffy.
7. Add the heavy whipping cream and starting at the lowest speed, to avoid splatters, mix until the mixture is light and creamy.
8. Slice the bananas about 1/4-inch thick and layer the slices over the dulce de leche in the crust.
9. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup toffee bits over the bananas.
10. Spread the whipped cream filling over the bananas and toffee, making sure to spread all the way to the edges of the pie, covering the bananas completely so they don't brown.
11. Sprinkle the top of the pie with the remaining toffee bits.
12. Chill for 1-2 hours before serving and up to 8 hours (longer than that and the bananas may get a little brown and mushy). 

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog

Caramel Walnut Pie

I was trying to come up with my meal plan for "Thanksgiving Part 2" last year (2009), and started by looking through the latest food magazines. I got the Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine in the mail, and came up with a bunch of recipes I wanted to try. I don't particularly like pecans, but I LOVE walnuts. When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. Not only did I love it, but so did everyone else.

• 1 frozen pie crust, thawed
• 4 large eggs
• ¾ cup light brown sugar
• ¾ cup light corn syrup
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 ¾ cups walnuts, halved
• 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
• 2 Tbsp. honey

DIRECTIONS

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees.
2. Fit the piecrust into the bottom and up the sides of a 9" glass pie dish. Crimp the edges to form a ¼-inch high border and refrigerate.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and brown sugar until smooth.
4. Whisk in the corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt.
5. Gently stir in the walnuts.
6. Pour the mixture into the pie shell and bake until the filling is set in the center, 35-40 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely.
7. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the cream and honey until stiff peaks form.
8. Serve the pie with the honey whipped cream.

Blueberry Pie

Nick's mom provided many of my favorite dessert recipes, and here is another one that is really easy to make. You only have to bake the pre-made frozen pie crust. The rest is done on the stovetop and then placed in the refrigerator to set. Absolutely delicious with freshly picked blueberries and served with some Brigham's vanilla.

• 4 cups blueberries
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. butter/margarine
• 1 cooked pie shell

Directions
Pre-cook pie shell according to directions
Allow to cool
Pour 2 cups of uncooked blueberries into cooked pie shell
In saucepan, combine 2 cups of blueberries, cornstarch, sugar, and butter
Cook on medium-high and then reduced to medium until berries pop (approximately 5-10 minutes)
Pour over uncooked berries in shell
Refrigerate

Key Lime Pie

My mom moved to Florida in 1995. On one of her first visits back, she brought a bottle of key lime juice (turns out, you can buy it in most grocery stores up here now). I tried this recipe off the back of the bottle and it was such a great dessert.

• (1) 9” graham cracker pie crust
• (1) 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
• 3 egg yolks
• ½ cup key lime juice (NOT lime juice)

Directions
Combine condensed milk, egg yolks, and key lime juice
Blend until smooth
Pour filling into pie crust
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes
Allow to stand 10 minutes
Refrigerate
Top with homemade whipped cream and lime

Strawberry Sour Cream Pie

I got this recipe from Nick's mother. It's a fabulous single crust pie, with the batter creating almost a top crust. It's fabulous with fresh strawberries in the early summer.

• 9” pie shell
• 4 cups strawberries, halved and sliced
• 1 ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• Sugar for top of pie

Directions
Place strawberries in uncooked pie shell
Sift together sugar, flour, and salt
Fold in sour cream and pour over strawberries
Sprinkle top with sugar
Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees
Lower oven to 350 degrees and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, until top is slightly browned

Special Notes:

You may want to put a foiled cookie sheet on the bottom rack of the oven to avoid the strawberry drippings on the floor of your oven.

Check the edges of the pie crust during baking. You may need to add foil around the edges of the crust to prevent overbrowning or burning.