Pie Drop!

Since we didn't get to spend Thanksgiving together as a family, my mom decided to do a pie drop instead. She made a bunch of different kinds of pie (while cooking with a mask on) and then drove around and dropped them off on our porches. Then we had a Zoom meeting that night to visit after we had all had our Thanksgiving dinners.

Here are the recipes for the pies she made for us! The pictures don't do the pies justice because I couldn't give them the beautiful presentation they deserved, but they were absolutely delicious. My mom made seven pies. We felt that five of them were absolute keepers as is. The Shaker Lemon Pie and the Candied Orange Pie won't be posted because they need a bit more tweaking and experimenting to get them just right before posting them.

Key Lime Pie VII

Ingredients:

1 (9-inch) prepared graham cracker crust
3 cups sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup key lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime rind. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.

Bake in preheated oven for 5-8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of the pie. Do not brown. Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream, if desired.

Nutrition information: 8 servings. 553 calories; 10.9 g protein; 84.7 g carbohydrates; 20.5 g fat; 45.3 mg cholesterol; 324.5 mg sodium.

Source: Allrecipes, recipe by AnnRichardson. You can find it here.

Notes: This was just fantastic. Refreshing citrus flavor and pretty presentation.

Above: I tried to transfer them so that I could get pretty pictures of these beautiful and delicious pies. It didn't work. Ha ha. I lost some of the graham cracker crust in the transfer. However, this was a beautiful and surprisingly sturdy (though creamy) pie. Seriously, a keeper. The other pies didn't transfer at all. So, what you see in the mix with all of the other pies is what you get.

Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup natural-style, reduced-fat creamy peanut butter (such as Smucker's)
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
12 ounces frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed
2 (6-ounce) reduced-fat graham cracker crusts
20 teaspoons fat-free chocolate sundae syrup

Directions:

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

Nutrition information: 20 servings (each pie will be cut into 10 slices), 302 calories; 10g fat; 3.8 g saturated fat; 3.3 g mono fat; 2.8 g poly fat; 6.9 g protein; 45.8 g carbohydrates; 1 g fiber; 11 mg cholesterol; 0.6 mg iron; 252 mg sodium; 59 mg calcium.

Source: My Recipes. You can find it here.

Notes: This was a favorite, especially with all of the guys. Rich and decadent, and yet, as you can see, lightened up. 

Maple Chess Pie

Ingredients:

1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon maple extract
5/8 cup chopped pecans, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Press the pie crust into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch deep dish pie plate.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and eggs until light and fluffy. Stir in the cornmeal, vinegar, and maple extract until well blended. Fold in pecans (if using) so they are evenly distributed. Pour into the unbaked pie crust.

Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. Bake for 30 additional minutes, or until the top of the pie is golden brown, and the filling is set. When removing the pie from the oven, gift it a gentle shake. If there is no movement, the pie is set. The pie will thicken and shrink slightly upon cooling.

Nutrition information: 8 servings. 457 calories; 4.8 g protein; 50.1 g carbohydrates; 27.6 g fat; 100.3 mg cholesterol; 225 mg sodium.

Source: Allrecipes recipe by David Robinson. You can find it here.

Notes: We left out the nuts because of my son's tree nut allergy. It was smooth and melt in your mouth delicious.

Debbie's Easy No-Bake Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups whipping cream
1 graham cracker pie crust
1 can favorite pie filling (such as cherry, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, or peach)

Directions:

Blend together cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. Whip 2 cups whipping cream and sweeten to taste with sugar. Combine whipping cream and cream cheese mixture. Pour into graham cracker crust. Freeze at least 1/2 hour before serving. Top with pie filling of choice.

Source: My mom got this recipe from her friend, Debbie, many years ago. 

Notes: This time, we topped it with strawberry pie filling. This one always brings back childhood memories for me.

Apple Butter Pie

Ingredients:

8 ounces gingersnaps
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (14-oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup spiced apple butter
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Garnishes: whipped cream, crumbled gingersnaps

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pulse gingersnaps in a food processor 20 times or until finely ground. With processor running, pour apple butter through food chute, processing until blended. Press mixture into a 9-inch pie plate.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together sweetened condensed milk and next 3 ingredients. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Chill 2 to 24 hours.

Sources: My Recipes. You can find it here.

Notes: The My Recipes test kitchen noted that they used Smucker's Spiced Apple Butter. I thought this was so good. Before I knew what it was actually called, I referred to it as the gingerbread pie because it reminded me so much of gingerbread. This one is a keeper!

Depression Era Pie

 

I had to try this pie. It seemed fitting this year. I was fascinated by the shortages that we have had because of the pandemic and how they compared to the shortages people had during the depression. 

At the beginning of the pandemic/beginning of shutdown, bread, flour, sugar, eggs, milk, toilet paper, paper towels, tissue, sanitizing wipes, and many cleaners disappeared from the shelves.

During the Great Depression, people really had to make things stretch. Casseroles and soups were a way to stretch protein and vegetables to fill hungry stomachs. People still had a sweet tooth, and desserts were also often simplified to make a few simple ingredients go a long way. This pie is one of those recipes.

I actually thought it was very good. It was a lot like a custard pie...without the egg and milk. I think you will like it too! Heads up though, it is very sweet, so a little is enough to take care of your sweet tooth fix.

Water Pie

Ingredients:

1 (9-inch) deep-dish pie crust, unbaked
1 1/2 cups water
4 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
5 tbsp butter, cut into five pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and set empty pie crust on a baking sheet.

Pour 1 1/2 cups water into the pie crust.

In a small bowl, stir together flour and sugar. Sprinkle evenly over water in crust. Don't stir.

Drizzle vanilla over water in pie crust. Place pats of butter on top of this.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and cover sides of crust, if needed, to prevent burning. Continue cooking for an additional 30 minutes.

The pie will be watery when you pull it out of the oven, but will set as it cools. Allow to cool completely and then cover and place in the refrigerator to completely chill before cutting.

Source: Southern Plate. You can find it here.

Pickle Pie?

 

My mom found this recipe and it just sounded way too intriguing not to try. People sounded horrified by the name, but those who tried it responded with, "I don't hate it," "It's not horrible," and "I actually kind of like it." Ha ha!

Serving it with a dollop of whipped cream is a must. Though whether you decide to make the "pickle cream" or regular whipped cream is up to you. It tastes somewhat similar to pumpkin pie. In fact, my son kept asking for another piece of pumpkin pie throughout the week and every time I said, "Do you mean pickle pie?," he would get mad at me, so I just started calling it pumpkin pie to him. Shhh. It's our little secret.

Utah Pickle Pie

Ingredients:

1/2 package refrigerated rolled pie dough (such as Pillsbury Pie Crusts), or frozen pie crust
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
5 large eggs
1 cup half-and-half
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest (from one lemon)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sweet pickle chips, plus more, for garnish
1 1/2 cups whipped cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Form pie dough into a 9-inch pie plate, and crimp the edges.

Whisk together sugar and 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch in a large bowl. Add eggs and half-and-half, and beat with an electric mixer until combined. Add butter, zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg; beat until well combined.

Process pickles in a food processor until finely chopped, reserving 1 tablespoon for topping. Stir pickles and remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch together until lightly coated; stir into filling. Pour filling into unbaked pie shell.

Bake in preheated oven until lightly golden brown and filling is just set, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack until room temperature, about an hour. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving, so it is well chilled.

Stir together whipped cream and reserved 1 tablespoon chopped pickled in a medium bowl. Top each slice with pickle cream; garnish with a pickle chip, if desired.

Source: My Recipes. You can find it here.

Notes: I used a frozen pie crust and just filled it with the filling and baked it from frozen. It worked great. I also did not make the pickle cream. I just used a can of ready made whipped cream for the top. I also didn't top it with another pickle chip. It was plenty pickle flavored without those extra added touches. It was a unique flavor, but I liked it! It grew on you.