It’s Sunday, you’ve had a day to take it easy yesterday, and today? Today is a good day to pie.
I’m afraid I am going to abandon you here a bit today. You see, while the pies I am going to help you make are good and quick, they are that way because they are lesser pies. I make an honest-to-goodness family secret recipe that was handed down from my great grandmother, so while pumpkin pie and buttermilk pie is awesome, they will never be the star of the show in my home. I thought about it long and hard, dear reader, but I just can’t hand out Great Grandma Mable’s recipe willy-nilly over the internet. If I do I just KNOW the ghosts of my ancestors would show up and make fun of my Ikea furniture, but let me just tell you this- it’s a coffee pie, on an Oreo crust. TO DIE FOR. You might be able to figure out something similar from that.
Anyway, I’m sorry to be a pie-tease, but I promise the pies you are going to make are not only delicious, but they are super fast and easy, because my family pie recipe is a pain in the ass that involves a double boiler (another hint!), and we didn’t want guests deciding they wanted lots of slices. They’d always load up on pumpkin pie first, so we’d get first shot at the good stuff. Anyway. These are the pies I make year round for nice meals, and they are a snap to put together. If you bake the pumkin pies today they will seperate a bit if you freeze them, and if you put them in the fridge, gnomes and elves will eat them before thanksgiving- but you can fill the pies and freeze them today before baking, or freeze all the pie crusts and mix all the fillings for the other two pies today and set them aside until T-day. Your call, depending on available fridge/freezer space.
We’re going to make at least five pies today, which sounds more impressive than it is, due to the joys of batch cooking.
We start with your favorite pie crust recipe- make enough for 5 pies. For me, that recipe comes from the back of the Crisco label. Honestly, with all the quiche baking I do, I have yet to find a pie crust recipe that I can make consistently come close, much less outperform that recipe. It’s been a classic since 1930 for a very good reason. This little YouTube video shows exactly how easy it is, or you can read about it strait from Crisco’s pie crust page.
The ingredients are:
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening (it does NOT have to be Crisco brand!)
2-3 tablespoons ice water
Mix the flour and shortening together with a fork until it forms pea-sized chunks. Roll out the pie crust (between sheets of wax paper or saran wrap if you like that sort of thing, I just flour my counter top), and then plop it in a pie tin.
You’ll want to do this 5 times. I don’t recommend increasing the recipe because pie crust gets tough if you overwork it, and this is such a lovely crust it’d be sad to ruin it.
You are going to want to make three pumpkin pies. I honestly, again, use the pumpkin pie recipe on the back of the can of Libby’s canned pumpkin. I would buy one can of their pumpkin puree, and then two cans of whatever the cheap generic on sale was, or if I’d thought ahead that year, I’d use homemade puree that I had made after Halloween when all the pumpkins were on sale.
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 large eggs
* 1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
* 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
* Whipped cream (optional)
Directions:
MIX sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
POUR into pie shell.
If you really want this to last until Thanksgiving, freeze them right now. If you are willing to sacrifice a pie to the pie gods today,
BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F (and put in the buttermilk pies); bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.
Now, for the other two pies, we are going to make a quick, simple, and delicious Southern favorite- buttermilk pie. If the name throws you off, as it did me, ignore the buttermilk thing. This pie is basically a custard tart, except unlike most of the custards I’ve dealt with, which were delicious but finicky little bastards, this is fast, easy, and hard to mess up. In fact, it’s so easy to make that my friend Brian, who does not reliably know which end of a spatula to use, made the first buttermilk pie I ever tasted, and it was amazing. He uses a family recipe that I keep trying to pry out of him, but this one is also good (from Chickens in the Road) and tastes pretty similar.
How to make Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie:
1 cup sugar
3 T flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 T butter, melted
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
one unbaked single-crust Foolproof Pie Crust pie shell
Line greased pie pan with piecrust. Combine sugar, flour, and salt in a large bowl. Add egg yolks, buttermilk, and melted butter. Mix well. In another bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff. Fold egg whites into buttermilk mixture. Mix carefully and pour into the prepared pie pan. Bake at 375-degrees for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
The link has beautiful pictures of the pie.
If you make 5 pies there is a chance they will make it to Thanksgiving, because you can sacrifice one to the Pie Gods. Just to check and make sure it tastes right, of course.
