Mixed Berry Galette

2016 is coming to a close and it is time to ring in the new year. I’m really excited to be baking this berry pie! It’s one of a kind and it is featured on the front page of this book, “Dessert of the Day” so it must be the best recipe in this book. “Rustic fruit galettes are so simple that you may wonder why you don’t make them all the time” (Laidlaw 104). This pie is great to eat when waiting for the countdown to 2017. This recipe says it serves 6-8 people, so it is great for sharing.

This is a two-part recipe: one for the pie and one for the Flaky Pie Dough.

The ingredients are:

Flaky Pie Dough for Single Crust

• 1 ¼ Cups All-Purpose Flour

• ¼ Tsp Kosher Salt

• 2 Tsp Sugar

• 7 Tbsp Cold Unsalted Butter (cut into pieces)

• 5 Tbsp Ice Water (plus more if needed)

• 2 Cups/8 oz Blackberries

• 2 Cups/8 oz Blueberries

• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

• ¼ Cup Granulated Sugar

• 3 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour

• 1 Large Egg (beaten with 1 tsp water (optional))

• 1 Tbsp Turbinado Sugar (optional)

• Vanilla Ice Cream for serving

Directions:

1. To start, prepare the pie dough by combining the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl of a food processor. Sprinkle the butter over the top and pulse for a few seconds, or just until the butter is slightly broken up into the flour but still in visible pieces. Evenly sprinkle the water over the flour mixture, then process just until the mixture starts to come together. Dump the dough into a large zip-top plastic bag and press into a flat disk. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day before using, or freeze for up to 1 month.
2. Prepare the dough and chill as directed.
3. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a round about 12 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to the prepared sheet.
4. In a bowl, toss together the berries, lemon juice, granulated sugar, and flour. Spoon the filling onto the dough, leaving a 2-inch border uncovered around the edge. Fold the edge up and over the filling, forming loose pleats. Brush the border with the egg wash and sprinkle with the Turbinado sugar, if you like.
5. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. Bake until the filling is bubbling and the pastry is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly on a wire rack before serving with scoops of ice cream.
7. Enjoy!

   

   

   
   

Baking this pie was very fun and it took a lot of effort to make. I had four extra hand with the help of my mom and dad, so it was enjoyable baking with them during the last few days of our winter break. Flaky pie pastries plead around blackberries and blueberries, featured in this recipe, creating/making a beautiful deep purple tart flavor. But, you can really use just about any kind of berry/fruit you like (Laidlaw 104). In the end, the pie looked and tasted delicious! I served it with ice cream and I would advise you to do the same. Ice Cream goes great with this kind of pie, as the book said it did turn out a purple color. I hope you guys enjoyed seeing me bake this pie or baking it yourself at home! Overall, I was super happy with the end result. If you ever want to try this recipe, I highly encourage it.

That’s all for this year of 2016, I hope you have a fantastic 2017! J

There are a lot of different kinds of pies in the world (Apple, Pumpkin, Cherry, Chocolate Cream, etc.) what is your favorite? Why? Also, what flavor of ice cream do you prefer for your pies?

Citation: Laidlaw, Kim, and Erin Kunkel. Dessert of the Day. San Francisco, CA: Weldon Owen, 2013. Print.

Red and Yellow Heaven

Finally, the time has come. Time to make my favorite pie. In my eyes, this pie is and always will be the best pie the world has ever had the privilege to hold. I am of course talking of the banana cream pie. This is actually a variation of the banana cream pie, I am adding strawberries as well. Luckily, my favorite book when it comes to baking pies, A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies, had a recipe that provided the necessary instructions. I began by gathering my materials.

"1 Pie crust

5 Egg Yolks

1  cup of evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups of milk

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp of Sugar

1/4 cup of corn starch

1/8 tsp of salt

1 vanilla bean

2 bananas

8 fresh strawberries" (English 87)

The beginning of baking this may seem extremely similar to the vanilla cream pie that I made, but that is because it is essentially the same recipe, you just add bananas and strawberries. That being said, I extracted the yolks from the eggs, 

Me extracting the yolks from the eggs

and stirred the sugar, corn starch, and salt together. Then I mixed them together with the milk and the evaporated milk, and added the vanilla bean. I cooked that until it was thick, and while this was happening, I baked the pie crust. Afterwards, I sliced up the bananas and the strawberries, and layered it in the pie crust in a checker pattern (English 87) along with the cream mixture. 

Me layering the strawberries and bananas.

I did that until the pie was full of bananas, strawberries, and cream.

Finished pie

I believe that this is the end of my journey. It has been a fun one and I have learned a lot about baking along the way. I couldn't have done it without the help of  A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies by Ashley English. This pie was by far my favorite, not just to eat, but to make as well. Layering the strawberries and bananas was the best part. what is your favorite part of making a pie, or baking in general?

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.

Cheese Please

          For my fourth pie, I decided I wanted something a little cheesy. I wanted something sweet, but a little bit of shower at the same time. That is why I chose to make a lemon cheesecake pie. I chose to follow directions once again from A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of  Home Baked Pies. 
          I began by gathering my materials which consisted of

• "16 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup of lemon juice
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1 pie crust" (English 132).

         I then mixed the food together in a mixer until the mixture was smooth (English 132)

Me mixing the mixture

         While I was doing this, I baked the pie crust until golden brown at 330 degrees. once the mixture was stirred, I poured it into the crust, and baked it for 40 mins.

Me pouring the mixture into the pie crust

Me putting the unbaked pie into the oven. 

 After the pie was done baking, I let it cool, and then chilled it for about four hours. The pie turned out to be really good. I am actually eating a piece of it while I am writing this. It could have been better though, I personally think that the lemon flavor could be a little more present. When cooking this, I used lemon juice from a bottle. When you are baking with fruit juices, do you prefer to use juice you squeezed yourself, or manufactured juice?

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.

Creamy Delight

All pies have their own unique beauty, but in my eyes, none compare to the glory of my favorite type of pie, the cream pie. This time, it is a vanilla cream pie. Still taking guidance from the renowned scripture, A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies By Ashley English, I dove into this project with delight. The recipe called for these materials: 

• "1 Pie crust
• 5 Egg Yolks
• 1  cup of evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp of Sugar
• 1/4 cup of corn starch
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 1 vanilla bean" (English 85).

I started by mixing the sugar corn starch and salt together, then I separated the egg yolks from the egg whites, and mixed the two together along with some evaporated milk. Then, following instructions from a different page, I pre-baked my pie crust. First for about 25 mins with foil and a pie weight. The book said that instead of using specialized pie weights, I could just fill a pot a quarter of the way full and place it on top (English 82), Then for 10 minutes without anything on top. While that was in the oven, I split open the vanilla bean, and scraped its insides into the mixture of eggs and such. I then cooked that until thick.

Me stirring said mixture

When the crust was ready and the mixture was thickened to a cream, I poured the mixture into the crust

Mixture and crust separated

Finished product

Afterwards, the pie was complete. This pie is a great stepping stone for other pies in the creamy genre. It is the base of almost all cream pies. I will probably make another cream pie because like I said before, this is my favorite kind of pie. When I made this pie my dad had previously baked the crust, and it was sitting in the fridge waiting to be used. When you make a pie, do you prefer to make your own crust, or buy a pre-made crust from the store?

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.