Dan's Raisin Pie

Lately there's been a lot of "pie talk" at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. We just held a homemade pie sale to benefit the Wednesday Community Meal and in planning for that, we "talked pie" with a lot of people, asking "what's your favorite kind?"

Cherry, Apple, Chocolate Cream and Strawberry-Rhubarb definitely led the pack, but in asking, I discovered there's quite a few old-fashioned pies I'd never made before like Chess Pie, Shoo-Fly Pie and Raisin Pie.

The latter is a pie that my friend Dan told me he loves but hasn't tasted in 60-years! ... That is until yesterday, when I presented him with one at the Wednesday Community Meal where he volunteers.

You see, Dan, who is in his 70's, told me that his grandmother made the most delicious Raisin Pie and he sure would love to taste one again. It was a fond 60-year-old taste memory that he hadn't forgotten and I knew I had to make him one.

So I researched Raisin Pies online and devised a recipe. I have to admit that I was skeptical about how Raisin Pie would taste but it's very good. You boil the raisins in water so that they soften and break down and the texture becomes more jam-like. And, the filling wasn't too sweet. It is rich though and a small slice is enough to satisfy.

The best part though is that Dan loved his pie. For him, that Raisin Pie was a taste-time-machine.

And, as an added surprise, I found out that Dean, who serves coffee alongside Dan on Wednesdays, also loves Raisin Pie and he got to have a slice. They are both dear to me and it was a joy to see them so happy.

Raisin Pie fans Dean and Dan serving coffee at the Wednesday Community Meal.

Here's the recipe:

Raisin Pie
(makes one 9-inch pie)

2 1/4 cups raisins
2 cups water
1/3 cup dark-brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
1 recipe pastry for a 9-inch double crust pie

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a saucepan, combine the raisins and the water and heat until boiling. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring and keeping and eye on them. Reduce the heat to low.

Blend together the dark-brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt and add to the hot raisins. Increase the heat to medium and cook and stir until the syrup is clear.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar and butter.

Adding the butter and apple cider vinegar to the cooked raisin filling.

Cool slightly and pour into a pastry lined 9-inch pan. Cover with the top crust and seal the edges and cut slits in the top crust. Or, top with a lattice crust.

Cutting strips for a lattice top-crust.

A Raisin Pie ready for the oven.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the crust is done and golden brown. Let the pie cool before slicing and serving.

A just-baked Raisin Pie.

A slice of Raisin Pie.

A Garden Excursion And Chocolate Cream Pie

With my brother Josh at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanical Garden.

 

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Los Angeles to visit my brothers was a Sunday afternoon outing to the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanical Garden with my brother Josh and his boyfriend Edward.

 

The 127 acre garden and historical site is located in the city of Arcadia and jointly operated by the Los Angeles Arboretum Foundation and the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation and features plant collections from all over the world.

Josh and Edward in front of the Queen Anne Cottage at the garden. The Victorian style house was built in 1885. 

 

Banana

Black Pepper

Okra

 

Walking through the gardens was so lovely. It wasn't crowded at all and because it was a weekend, there were multiple wedding parties scattered throughout the gardens which was fun to see.

 

When we returned to my brothers' house we made dinner and decided that we should make another sweet treat for dessert. I searched online and found a Chocolate Cream Pie recipe on the Food.Com website that we all decided was the thing to make.

 

The recipe had few ingredients, came together in minutes and needed just an hour or so to chill before serving. 

 

We topped slices of the pie with freshly whipped cream and we all loved it. The easy recipe is a definite keeper. 

 

So after a delightful garden excursion, we enjoyed pie, an episode of "Charlie's Angels" and the 1959 sci-fi horror film "The Killer Shrews." So much fun and for me, the perfect way to end a great day. 

 

 

Chocolate Cream Pie
(makes 1 9-inch pie)

First, make and bake a 9-inch pie crust. I used my favorite shortening crust recipe.

Pie Crust: 
1 1/2 cups flour
2 /3 cups vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and sugar. Add Crisco and using your fingers, break it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs with some large pieces remaining.
Add the water, just a few tablespoons at a time until the dough is moist enough to pull together into a ball. Roll out on a floured surface for the bottom crust.

Place the dough in a pie pan and crimp the edges. Bake for 5 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes or until the crust is set and golden brown.

The pie crust baking.

 

Filling:

 

1 2/3 cups water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
5 tablespoons cocoa
1 (14 ounce) can eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla


Directions:

 

In a medium-sized saucepan, use a whisk to mix the water and cornstarch and cocoa until smooth.
 

Stir in Eagle Brand milk and the three egg yolks. 

My brother John helping me with the hardest part of the recipe —  releasing all of the sweetened condensed milk from the can.

 

Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly until it becomes thick. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.

 

Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes before pouring into the baked pie shell. 

 

Let the pie cool at room temperature for 15 minutes before transferring to the refrigerator. Let the pie cool completely before slicing and serving. 

 

After the pie cools completely, it's easy to slice and serve.

 

 

Top servings with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

 

Dutch Berry Pie

A slice of Dutch Berry Pie.

Apple might be the best known Dutch or crumb topped pie but berry is darn good too.

Pre-cooking the berry mixture helps control the bubbling juices during baking and makes for an easy pie to slice and serve.

For beginning bakers, this is the pie to make. Because it has no top crust, it's one of the easiest pies to assemble.

Here's the recipe:

Dutch Berry Pie
(makes one 10-inch pie)


Berry Filling:
1 16 ounce bag frozen mixed berries
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup heavy cream

In a medium-sized saucepan combine the berries, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Over medium-high heat, bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently and breaking apart the berries.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and cream. Add this to the simmering berry mixture and continue cooking, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and let cool completely before using.

Crust: 
1 1/2 cups flour
2 /3 cups vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and sugar. Add Crisco and using your fingers, break it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs with some large pieces remaining.
Add the water, just a few tablespoons at a time until the dough is moist enough to pull together into a ball. Roll out on a floured surface for the bottom crust.

Place the dough in a 10-inch pie pan and crimp the edges.


Topping:
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all of the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, using your fingers to break apart the butter. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.

To assemble and bake:

Preheat the oven to 400  degrees.

Fill the crust with the berry filling and sprinkle on the topping.

Place the pie on a sheetpan to catch any spills in the oven.

Bake for 5 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 40 to 50 minutes or until the topping and crust are golden brown.

*Note: Cooking the pie at a higher temperature for the first five minutes helps set the crust and keep its shape in place. If you put a pie into a lower temperature oven, the crust will cook too slowly at first and droop.

Easy Mini Pies

We are attending a graduation party for our good friend Bo today and he loves pie so I'm bringing mini pies to the party.

I made an assortment of apple and berry pies in cupcake papers and they are so easy to put together. So much easier than hand pies. I made a few of those today as well as a test and despite being delicious, they are messy to make. The juice wants to run all over the place!

I'm sticking to the cupcake version. All you need to do is drop a round of dough into the cupcake liner, add a spoonful of filling and top with crumb topping.
 

Apple and berry pie filling.

Drop a round of dough into the cupcake liner and fill with pie filling.

Add crumb topping and it's ready for the oven.

Hand pies are messier and more time consuming to make. And they require more dough.

Finished mini berry pies.