pie

Old-Fashioned Dutch Apple Pie

/ Jodi / 57 Comments

dutch apple pie slice alamode

One of my favorite things to bake (besides cookies) is pie.  And what is more “all-American” for summer holidays and celebrations than apple pie?  Not sure why it is considered so “American” really – that is just what “they say.”  (Actually there are many theories…  which you can certainly feel free to Google, but let’s talk about baking and eating this amazingly yummy dessert!)

dutch apple pie cut

I made it this weekend to take to a party celebrating the Memorial Day holiday, family get-together, and birthday treat for my BFF, Jill.

When I make a pie to take somewhere, I almost always make a second one for home.  Hubby loves pie more than almost anything, and Grandma always taught me if you are going to go to the trouble and make the mess it takes to make one pie, you might as well make 2 or 3 or…. well – as many as you can!  🙂

So here is my recipe for old-fashioned, all-American Dutch Apple Pie.  I have tweaked it a bit from an old, worn-out cookbook I’ve had for about 30 years called , “Farm Journal’s Complete Home Baking Book.”  This is one of the very few cookbooks I’ve hung on to for it’s tried and true recipes.

I guarantee you will be a superstar if you bake and take or serve this all-star pie!

Dutch Apple Pie

Ingredients:dutch apple pie slice alamode

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Prepare pie crust and place in bottom of fluted 9 inch pie stone or pan.

Mix apples, sugar, flour, and cinnamon thoroughly until juices begin to form.  Pour into pie crust.

In a bowl, combine flour and sugar.  Cut butter in small pieces and work into flour/sugar with a pastry blender until a nice crumbly mixture forms.  Sprinkle and mound all over top of apple filling.

Cover edges of pie crust with foil to prevent from over-browning and bake for one hour.  Remove foil for last 10 minutes.

Cool completely and serve with ice cream, cool white or even a slice of sharp cheddar cheese if you please.

Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog….

/ Jodi / 33 Comments

originalcolorbars1080

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog for….

Thanksgiving Pie Baking Day.

You know I am in my glory!

Wishing you visions of pumpkin and dutch apple and chocolate and coconut cream dancing in your head!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Blackberry Pie Squares

/ Jodi / 24 Comments

Blackerry Pie Bars 1

I made another dessert this week…

I feel like I am at a meeting admitting my addiction.

But when I found this recipe for Blackberry Pie Squares via Pinterest from Kathleen at Gonna Want Seconds, I just couldn’t resist!

And besides, I was on vacation last week and baked NOTHING (as my son – with like 6% body fat –  has reminded me at least twice).

blackberry pie bars 3

And besides, my recipe for Sugar Free (Almost) Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies earlier this week WAS almost sugar free.

blackberry pie bars 2

As summer is drawing to a close, recipes with blackberries and raspberries and peaches will make way for pumpkin and apples and cinnamon.

I sorta can’t wait!

Blackberry Pie Bars

But in the meantime, this recipe turned out BERRY good and got thumbs up from the guys as well as my son’s friend who was over last evening who claims he does not like dessert…. except he always loves mine!

And he even asked for a second!

Oh – he knows the way to my heart… ❤

Hope you'll give this yummy recipe a try before we call it quits for summer.  You won't regret it!

Here is the recipe from Gonna Want Seconds, and I’m guessing you are gonna want seconds.

Blackberry Pie Squares

  • Servings: 16 squares
  • Print

Crust:Blackerry Pie Bars 1

  • 1 1/2 Cups Flour
  • 3/4 Cup Sugar
  • 1/8 tsp Salt
  • 1 1/2 Sticks Cold Butter, cubed

Filling:

  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup Sour Cream
  • 1/3 Cup Flour
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 2 Cups Fresh Blackberries 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line an 8″x 8″ baking stone or pan with parchment paper, allowing to extend a couple of inches up on all four sides.  Spray with nonstick cooking spray.  (This makes it easy to remove from pan once cooled)

For the crust,  mix flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl.  Add the cubed cold butter and blend with pastry blender until the butter pieces are about the size of peas.   Set aside 1 cup of the mixture to use as a topping.  Press the rest of the crumb mixture into prepared pan.  Bake for 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and lay the berries in a single layer on top of the crust.

Combine the eggs, sugar, sour cream, flour and salt in a medium bowl, and pour over the berries.

Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture on top of the filling.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the filling is just beginning to turn golden and is set.

Cool bars completely on a baking rack, and then refrigerate to completely set.

Enjoy these yummy treats!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Old-Fashioned Fresh Peach Pie

/ Jodi / 37 Comments

old fashioned fresh peach pie 2

It is fresh peach time in our little corner of the world, and some of the best come from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, an area known for micro-climate, soil and slopes conducive to growing sweet, juicy, high-quality peaches.  Though Chambersburg is about three hours from Mars, we have a local feed store (that I frequent for bird food) whose owner has a connection and receives fresh peaches and several varieties of plums for just a few weeks every August from a farm in Chambersburg.

old fashioned fresh peach pie slice

Fresh warm peach pie a la mode is one of hubby’s all-time favorite desserts.  He is a fruit pie lover, and peach is at the top of his list.

Old Fashioned Fresh Peach Pie

I was happy to have an opportunity to bake a pie in my less-than-usual spare time this weekend.

blanched peaches

You see, we got a new family member Saturday morning…

Meet Charlie.  We rescued him from a shelter about an hour and a half away.  They believe him to be about a year old.  Day one, he was very shy, but warmed up quickly enough to actually help himself to jumping up and snuggling right in between hubby and me at bed time.  (not sure how long that is going to fly!)

Day two found him to be 45 pounds of galloping, fetching and retrieving exuberance.  His confidence is growing, and his puppy-ness kept me busy.

charlie 080215

He was right by my side in the kitchen while we made this yummy pie for “dad.”  We were both in our happy place!

Enjoy the old-fashioned taste of this classic recipe from our family to yours.

Old-Fashioned Fresh Peach Pie

Ingredients:old fashioned fresh peach pie 2

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Blanch, peel and slice peaches.  (To blanch, place peaches in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, then remove with slotted spoon and place immediately in large bowl of ice water.  The skin will slip right off. )

Mix peaches, sugars, juice of lemon, flour and cinnamon in bowl and let set aside while you prepare pie crust

Line pie pan with one crust.  Add filling.  Cut remaining crust into strips to form lattice top.  Brush with milk, sprinkle with a little white sugar.

Cover edges of pie with aluminum foil to prevent pie crust from burning or overbaking.

Bake at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and back for another 30-35 minutes.  Remove aluminum foil during last 10 minutes.

Peach pie is good served warm or cold, and especially yummy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Fresh Old-Fashioned Blackberry Pie

/ Jodi / 42 Comments

Fresh Blackberry Pie Slice

Last night, I made my favorite old-fashioned homemade pie.

Fresh Blackberry Pie.

Baking this pie brings me joy for so many reasons…

fresh blackberries

It reminds me of hot summer days spent at Grandma’s house where she did her best to tame the wild blackberry bushes that framed the edge of the woods that surrounded her house.

I remember picking them with her (begrudgingly at the time) and eating more than I put in the bucket or bowl I was assigned to filling.

Fresh Blackberry Pie Slice 2

I remember the way the house…

and the porch…

and even the yard smelled when the pies were baking as fans were blowing and windows were wide open in Grandma’s non air-conditioned home.

I can picture her wiping her brow with the tea towel that was on her shoulder…

I can hear the joy in Grandpap’s voice when he came home from work and smelled it too.

Fresh Blackberry Pie 2

Any time I bake a pie, it also brings back warm memories of my mother-in-law and time spent with her and my sister-in-law and the entire family as we made dozens of pies in assembly-line fashion.

I recall the guys sitting on the porch pitting cherries or peeling apples or blanching peaches or cleaning berries while us girls were in the basement mixing filling and rolling out crusts.

My mother-in-law is the one that taught me the secret and magic to the perfect pie crust, and it is one of the things that hubby brags on me about.  It always makes me smile when I think of this simple pleasure.

Fresh Blackberry Pie Slice 3

And then there is the joy my family expresses when eating a perfect pie that makes my heart soar.

I have to admit, I had two bites before asking who would finish my piece (still trying to lose 20 more pounds!), and it was GLORIOUS!  Might have even been worth skipping dinner for!

blackberries

It took me about a week to pick enough berries to make this pie.

You see, you have to try to beat the birds and the deer and the rabbits and all the other critters that also love these sweet and tart bursts of summer sunshine when they ripen.

And then you have to battle the thorns and the poison ivy that seems to love to grow in the same area as the berry bushes.

Fresh Blackberry Pie

I collected them by the handful on walks to the mailbox or around the yard.

I would then lay them on a cookie sheet and flash freeze them, toss in a Ziploc bag after frozen, and wait until I had enough to make this glorious pie.

And it is SO WORTH IT!

Have you ever made a fresh homemade old-fashioned wild blackberry pie?  If not, I so urge you to give it a try.

I’m guessing your family will thank you, and I’m also guessing you may just begin creating some pretty amazing memories for them like I have when I recall some very special family times from my past.

Fresh Old-Fashioned Blackberry Pie

Ingredients:Fresh Blackberry Pie Slice

  • 4 cups fresh wild blackberries (or frozen if not available)
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 3 1/2 Tbsp Minute Tapioca
  • Dash of salt
  • 1/2 Fresh Lemon (juiced)
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 Double Crust Recipe (See our “Secret Family Pie Crust Recipe” here)
  • 2 Tbsp milk
  • 1 Tbsp sugar

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  • Prepare Pie Crust. 
  • Line 9 inch pie pan with bottom crust.
  • In large bowl, mix blackberries, sugar, tapioca, salt and lemon juice.
  • Pour berry mixture into pie pan.
  • Dot with butter.
  • Cover with top lattice crust.
  • Brush with milk, and sprinkle sugar over top crust.
  • Cover edge of pie with strips of foil to prevent crust from burning.
  • Bake for 45-50 minutes or until berry mixture begins to bubble up in between top lattice crust.  (Remove foil for last 10 minutes of baking to brown edges.

Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

 

 

Old Fashioned Peach Dumplings

/ Jodi / 30 Comments

peach dumpling

What is better than a warm apple dumpling with a scoop of vanilla ice cream?

How about an old-fashioned peach dumpling with ice cream and peach brandy in the caramel sauce?!?!

peach dumpling 4

O M G are these amazing!

Hubby loves peach pie, and I had some peaches getting very ripe on the kitchen counter Father’s Day morning.

peach dumpling 1

So I decided to make him this special treat of flaky pie crust wrapped around sweet juicy fresh peaches stuffed with brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and vanilla and drizzled with a creamy, caramely, brandy infused sauce.

Is that Merv a lucky guy or what??!!

peach dumpling 2

It was a great weekend, beginning with my boss winning Entrepreneur of the Year Friday evening at a gala I was so fortunate to attend with him and some of our colleagues and friends, and ending with having the kids over for Father’s Day.

Our oldest son, Jake, grilled an amazing pork tenderloin he marinated in fresh herbs and lemon, and he also brought over his homemade macaroni salad (one of hubby’s faves).  Our  daughter-in-law, Colleen, brought hubby more goodies – homemade apricot turnovers and homemade cinnamon swirl bread.  He’ll be set for a while!  And this is all after being treated out to breakfast at one of his favorite spots with our youngest son, Nick.

Unfortunately, I ended up getting some kind of nasty “crud.”  It started Friday evening at the gala when my voice started going and my throat got scratchy and sore.  I woke up Saturday morning with my right eye sealed shut, coughing up a storm, and absolutely no voice.  I tried to take it easy, and we had to cancel Saturday evening dinner plans with friends.

I’m still feeling pretty punk, but oh well – still bucked up and prepared this yummy treat and enjoyed visiting with the family and playing Cranium and laughing way too much!  Did you ever try to do a humdinger challenge with no voice?!  Thank goodness whistling worked!

peach dumpling 3

But back to these amazing peach dumplings…

I am the queen of improvising in recipes and had not had a chance to go to the grocery store this weekend feeling like I did, so when the recipe I found (at A Flock in the City) called for heavy cream in the sauce and I had none in the refrigerator, I decided to try substituting vanilla ice cream.  Where there is a will there is a way!  And I’m not sure I’d do it any other way after this!!  I made a few other tweaks – using my own standby pie crust recipe, blanching and peeling the skin from the peaches, leaving out the nutmeg, and adjusting a few quantities of sugar and butter, but I really liked this recipe I found.

peach dumpling

Hubby loved them, so I’m glad I made this treat for him.  I also got him a new bird feeder – a Squirrel Buster (thanks for the recommendation Jo) and an Oriole feeder, so the birds are sure having a good time.

The squirrel however…..  well – just watch this video (thanks Nick for allowing me to share!)

Old Fashioned Peach Dumplings

Sauce

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream
  • 1/2 cup peach brandy
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt

Directions

  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and blanch peaches for 2 minutes.  Immediately remove to ice water.  The skin will slip right off to peel the peaches.
  • Cut peaches in half and remove pit.
  • Roll out pie crust and cut into 6 squares (approx 4″ x 4″) or large enough to wrap peaches
  • Place one peach half in center of each square, and fill with brown sugar and cinnamon, a dollop of butter, and a drizzle of vanilla.
  • Place second half of peach on top, and wrap entire stuffed peach with dough – sealing to keep juices in.
  • Place in 9 x 13 rectangular baking stone or dish.
  • Prepare sauce by melting brown sugar and butter.  Bring to a boil.
  • Add vanilla ice cream and stir until melted and boiling again.
  • Add peach brandy, and continue boiling for 2-3 minutes.
  • Add vanilla and salt.
  • Pour sauce into bottom of baking dish around dumplings.
  • Bake at 450 degrees F for 35-40 minutes.
  • Serve warm with a dollop of ice cream or whipped cream.

Hope you all had a nice weekend celebrating Fathers and families.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi