Blueberry Pie with Almond Crumble Topping

I prepared this pie last week and it was delicious. It was also very easy since I cheated and used a frozen pie crust and frozen blueberries. The recipe called for using wild blueberries, fresh or frozen, so I opted for frozen. The crumble topping is amazing and very simple. The original recipe came from the Bon Appetit. Serve this with some premium vanilla ice cream.

Blueberry Pie with Almond Crumble Topping

1 9-inch deep dish frozen pie crust

3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
32 oz. frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
4 oz. marzipan, broken into 1/3 inch pieces
1/4 chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 tsp. salt

Thaw pie crust.
Whisk sugar and cornstarch in heavy medium saucepan to blend. Stir in berries and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture bubbles and thickens, frequently stirring gently, about 13 minutes. Chill until cool, about 1 hour.
Combine flour, marzipan, butter and salt in food processor. Blend until mixture begins to clump together. Transfer to a bowl; chill 30 minutes.
Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Spread pie filling into unbaked crust. Sprinkle topping evenly over. Place on rimmed baking sheet and bake until golden brown and bubbly, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Peanut Butter Pie

This is a simple recipe for a pie with big flavor. If you like peanut butter, you'll love this recipe and since it comes from Cooking Light you'll love the fact that it is not all that fattening. The recipe makes 2 pies with 10 slices each containing 302 calories and 10 fat grams. This comes from their Sept. 2007 magazine.

Peanut Butter Pie

1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup natural-style, reduced fat creamy peanut butter ( like Smuckers)
1 (8oz) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (14-oz) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
12 ounces frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed
2 (6 oz) reduced-fat graham cracker crusts
20 tsp. fat free chocolate sundae syrup

Combine powdered sugar, peanut butter and cream cheese in large bowl. Beat with mixer at medium speed until smooth. Add milk; beat until combined. Fold in whipped topping. Divided evenly between 2 crusts; chill 8 hours ( pies will have a soft fluffy texture). Cut in wedges; drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Pumpkin Pie

This was my first attempt at a pumpkin pie and it turned out well. The only other pie I have made was pecan and they are simple too. I haven't tried to make my own crust, I just used a frozen one for this recipe. It seemed to take forever to finish baking, but the end product turned out well.

Pumpkin Pie

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 tsp. Pumpkin pie spice

2 large eggs

1 can (15 oz) Pumpkin Puree

1 can (12 oz) Evaporated milk

1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie crust

Mix sugar, salt and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mix. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.

Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees, bake for 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Chocolate-Cream Cheese Satin Pie

This is a very easy chocolaty pie to make. I got it from my April/May 07 edition of Cooking Pleasures magazine. If you wanted to go the Sandra Lee way, you could use a pre-made crust and some Cool Whip. The taste would not be as good but it would work. The only change I made was that I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese as opposed to the regular kind. Personally I do not think it affected the flavor and have heard that it is a good substitution for regular, but that fat-free will affect the flavor.

Chocolate-Cream Cheese Satin Pie

Crust:
1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
Filling:
10 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar , divided
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Garnish:
2 tbsp. grated semisweet chocolate (about 1 oz)

Heat oven to 325. Combine crust ingredients in medium bowl. Press into bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie pan. Bake 8 minutes; cool on wire rack.
Melt 10 oz. chocolate in medium heatproof bowl over saucepan filled with 1 inch barely simmering water (bowl should not touch water). Stir frequently until chocolate is melted and smooth.
Beat cream cheese and 1/4 cup powdered sugar in large bowl at medium speed until smooth. Beat in melted chocolate at low speed until blended.
Beat cream, remaining 1/4 cup powdered sugar and vanilla in large bowl at medium-high speed until firm but not stiff peaks form. Fold half of the whipped cream into chocolate mixture until blended; spread into crust. Spread with remaining whipped cream; sprinkle with grated chocolate. Refrigerate 4 hours before serving.

Lemon Yogurt Pie

Iris, one of my favorite volunteers, is one of the best makers of sweets I know. She is diabetic and cannot eat sweets, but she loves to bring them in to us. She makes the world's most incredible sticky buns, they are big and gooey and you can't eat just one. The other day she brought in this pie that she made with yogurt and jello. She used lemon, but said you could use any flavor. You could also use fat-free yogurt and make it all the more healthier. She was kind enough to share the recipe with me. She changed the recipe just a little. Instead of adding the entire tub of Cool Whip, she reserves about 1 1/4 cups and puts it on the top. The recipe she gave me does not reserve any topping.

Lemon Yogurt Pie

1 box lemon Jello
1/4 cup hot water
2 (6 oz) containers lemon yogurt
1 (8 oz) tub Cool Whip
1 Graham Cracker Crust

Mix Jello and water in bowl to dissolve the Jello, let cool. Add yogurt and Cool Whip and mix. Pour mixture into crust, refrigerate for 2 hours. Garnish with Cool Whip and strawberry slices if desired.

Caramel Pecan Pie

When we were down in Florida over Thanksgiving to be with Dad, my Aunt Betty had us over for an early Thanksgiving dinner. My cousin Cindy made this incredible caramel pecan pie. I decided to make my own version of it after looking at several other recipes. Here is the one I made, it was very good! I used a frozen pie crust. You just pour the filling into the frozen crust and bake.

Caramel Pecan Pie

1/2 cup light corn syrup
30 caramels, unwrapped (I used Kraft)
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
1 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup pecan pieces
9 inch deep dish pie crust

Preheat oven to 350. Heat corn syrup, caramels and butter over low heat. Stir constantly until the caramels are melted. Combine sugar, salt, vanilla and eggs in a medium bowl. Mix well. Slowly add caramel mixture to egg mixture, stirring well. Stir in pecans. Pour mixture into pie shell and bake 50-55 minute's until brown and puffy.