Strawberry Meyer Lemon Cream Pie

Do you know what day it is today? It's March 14, otherwise known as Pi Day not to be confused with National Pie Day, which is celebrated on January 23. Yes, I'm totally math geeking out today because I'm celebrating a Greek symbol  “π” which is used in mathematics to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter which is approximately 3.14159. My inner math nerd finally remembered to celebrate this day with a sweet piece of homemade pie and it's like an episode of Lost, where I corresponded the numbers to something meaningful...i.e. Pi day!

I'm no stranger in making homemade pies, and one of my absolute favorite pie to bake is apple pie. However, I wanted something simple enough to prepare and wanted to use two of my favorite seasonal ingredients - strawberries and Meyer lemons. With this second pregnancy, I have been eating bowls of mixed berries- strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries like it's my job. Plus, we have an abundant amount of Meyer Lemons that are fully ripe to use (if any of my local friends want any - please come over and take a basket). With a quick search on Pinterest, I found this gorgeous Strawberry Meyer Lemon Creme Pie and knew it was the one I had to make because I had most of the ingredients at hand.

Key Lime Pie

Why hello August, you are a cruel reminder that Fall season is right around the corner and a funny reminder that I haven't been to the beach all summer long, too.

It might be that our favorite beach that Eric and I absolutely love is Siesta Keys in Sarasota, Florida. Even though we live in sunny SoCal, I'm not a big fan of our beaches and I rather go to one that is 3000 miles away. Don't get me wrong, but we have amazing sunsets, fantastic beach weather and awesome surf-riding waves but what I want the most at a beach are: peace and tranquility and warm waters. Siesta Keys has all of that and is simply breathtaking. It has the whitest sands and most gorgeous blue-green waters that I have ever seen.

We were lucky to visit Siesta Keys two summers ago, and it's always on my mind whenever I think of hot beach-y summery days. While there, we did a Man vs. Food excursion. We visited The Old Salty Dog and Yoder's Amish Restaurant for some tasty eats and yummy sweets. There is nothing wrong with planning your vacation around yummy places to eat, it's the best foodie way to plan for your vacation. I had a craving for the key lime pie that we had at Yoder's and thought it would be a great trip down memory lane for Eric and myself.

Key limes are different than regular limes because they are tinier, less tart and really sweet. They tend to be on the pricey side, but well worth it if you buy a bag of key limes. However, if you can't find key limes, you can substitute regular limes or use bottled Key lime juice. You can opt to make this perfect for two Key Lime pie, or this normal size Key Lime pie. Either way, it's one of my favorite pies to enjoy during the summertime.

Key Lime Pie
Adapted by Pass the Sushi
ZipList Add Recipe

Peach Blueberry Crumble

It's been a busy couple of days here in mommyland. My sweet little Elena was going through a growth spurt where she needed extra attention, extra kisses & cuddles, and more of mommy's milk. It was really difficult to see her crying for no apparent reason and there was nothing that I could do. All I can really do is be there for her and help her anyway I can.

Thankfully, we have a bouncer and a cradle swing that keeps her entertained. This mommy needed a little bit of cooking therapy to help ease away the mommy woes. I had just enough time to prep this easy to prepare peach blueberry crumble for dinner which really took less than 10 minutes to prep. Peaches are in season right now, and I have been using them in all my dishes. My irresistible slow cooked pork with peach BBQ sauce, and refreshing peach lemonade and now this scrumptious peach blueberry crumble.

With the insane heat waves we are experiencing right now, you might be reluctant to turn the oven on for anything. However, you might be willingly to break a sweat just for a tiny bit to indulge in this fabulous sweet treat. The sweet peaches combined with the tart blueberries make for a fantastic summery dessert. This peach blueberry crumble totally made me forget my mommy woes and blissfully happy for summer days.

Salted Caramel Apple Bites

Amy and her husband Joel from Sing for Your Supper are expecting a sweet baby girl in January 2012! EEK! I already predict lots of pink, cupcakes and everything sweet for this little blessing. So a group of their friends put together a virtual all-sweets baby shower hosted by Kelsey at Apple a Day to help them celebrate the upcoming arrival of the newest singer to their supper.

I have followed Amy's blog as long as I can remember and I absolutely love her and her cooking blog to pieces. Amy is always cooking something scrumptious and tasty on her blog besides working her awesome opera singer and voice teacher job. Amazing right?

Pregnancy cravings make you kinda batty for weird things. So when Amy, is loving all things with sweet and salty...I completely understand and I can totally sympathize. There were a couple weeks when all I wanted to eat were a basket of french fries with a large cold glass of lemonade. Actually I still crave this salty and sour combo, and I still get weak in the knees for my go-to comfort food of the moment.

I had seen a recurring theme in the past couple months from Amy's blog of caramel-related posts. Her take on Southern Caramel cake (inspired from the book/movie "The Help:), caramel popcorn, and salted caramel pumpkin blondies (which are totally perfect for Thanksgiving dessert). I knew that I wanted to make something with caramel and apples because they go together like peanut butter and jelly. I used the pie dough from my go-to pecan tart recipe, the apple filling from my go-to apple pie mixed with salted caramel sauce. It was a blissful bite-sized treat that I'm pretty Amy will love and a great dessert to share for this all-sweets themed baby shower.

Don’t miss any of the celebration and be sure to check out all of the other wonderful sweet treats at Sing for Your Supper and Apple a Day. Lots of well wishes for Amy and Joel on their upcoming precious little singer!

Salted Caramel Apple Bites

Original Krystal recipe
Printable Recipe
Sweet Pie Dough:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature (1 stick)
1 bar of cream cheese, room temperature
1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Salted Caramel Sauce (store bought or use this recipe)
Apple Filling:
2 1/2 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced, and diced into 1/2 inch bits  (recommend Granny Smith, about 3 apples)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon tapioca pearls
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped finely
Garnishment: Sea Salt (if desired)

Preparation:

Prepare salted caramel sauce or use store bought (recommend Trader Joe's Fleur de Sel Caramel). Warm the salted caramel sauce in the microwave, and set aside.

In the bowl of the stand mixer, combine the cream cheese, and butter. Mix until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix until combined. Make sure to scrape down the sides with a spatula to mix it together or you may have to use your hands to incorporate all the dough together. Almost kneading the dough if necessary, the dough feels like sticky play dough. Set aside.

Peel, halve and core the apples. Cut each half into thin slices and small bits. Place apples in a large bowl and stir in the warmed salted caramel sauce, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Sprinkle the tapioca pearls in and mix to combine.

Prepare little balls of dough, about a quarter size to fill mini muffin pans. I use a mixture of mini muffin tins. (24 Cup Minis but I prefer these denser 12 cup ones). Place the balls into the muffin tins. Repeat with the rest of the sweet dough.

Using your fingers, shape the balls into the mini muffin tin and carefully press into the pan forming a mini tart crust. Make sure the bottoms are not too thin or the filling will seep through. Add about 1 tablespoon of apple filling into each tart. Top with 1 teaspoon of chopped pecans and if desired a pinch of sea salt on top of each bite.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let rest in the pans for at least 5 minutes, and place on cooling rack.

Yield: 2 dozen

Review: Sweet apple pie perfection. As I was sitting in the kitchen prepping away the batch, the lingering smell of sweet apples and caramel waved around our house like a tease. My husband and I were in love with them, and they were the perfect bite size treat. I also brought a platter to a family dinner and they were equally loved and devoured. It's a toss-up between these apple bites or my pecan tarts that everyone wants for Thanksgiving.

Apple Pie

Dear Apple Pie,

You are food of the gods. Apple pie is one of America's top signature desserts and its one of those desserts that we especially love to eat. (It's my husband's most favorite pie). I feel that it is somewhat of a fall ritual to prepare an apple pie from scratch because you are at your peak during these fall months. Coincidentally, my mom had given me a giant basket full of apples from her last harvest and I knew that baking an apple pie would be inevitable.

Luckily I have a great resource for the ultimate apple pie recipe. My coworker's mother used to compete in Betty Crocker bake-offs and submit many of her delicious pies back in her heyday. Lo and behold - this is one of the award-winning recipes from the early 1970s given to me from my wonderful coworker, KB. (Thank you again so much). I know that the family secret recipes are never meant to be shared but this dessert is too good to be true. I absolutely loved the flaky and buttery crust and it is prepared with it's natural juices combined with cinnamon, vanilla and sugar. This was one of the best apple pies I have ever tried, it's food of the gods on a plate.

Thank you apple pie, you are absolutely scrumptious and forever adored.

Apple Pie
Adapted from KB (coworker)
Ingredients:
Dough:
14 tablespoon Crisco shortening (about 3/4 cup + 2 T)
2 tablespoon butter
1/4 boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour (plus 1/4 to 1/2 cup more if needed)

Apple Filling:
4 cups apples (recommend Granny Smith apples)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon tapioca pearls
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons butter, cubed into small pieces
powdered sugar for dough
1 egg, mixed with 1 teaspoon of water, for egg wash

Preparation:

Prepare the dough:  Pulse the Crisco, butter and boiling water until fluffy. Add the sugar, salt and flour and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Lay out 2 sheets of plastic wrap and divide the dough between the sheets and pat each into a disk. Wrap the disks tightly and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

Prepare the filling: Peel, halve and core the apples. Cut each half into thin slices and toss with the sugar, cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apple mixture and cook until apples slightly soften, about 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle the tapioca pearls in and let it cool.

Carefully roll 1 disk of dough in between 2 pieces of powdered sugar parchment paper. (Powdered sugar surface helps the dough thicken without having to add more flour). Flip the disk of dough in the parchment paper onto a 9 1/2 inch deep-dish pie plate and crimp the corners. Add the filling, and dot with the 4 tablespoons diced butter. Chill the pie while you roll the remaining dough into a 12-inch round.

Lay the dough over the filling and press the 2 crusts together the edges. Fold the overhanging dough under itself and crimp with your fingers. Brush the egg mixture over the top crust and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon powdered sugar. Pierce the top with a knife a few times to let steam escape. Let it chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees while the pie is resting. Bake for for 15 minutes and reduce the heat to 350 and cook for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Review: Oh holy smokes batman...this apple pie is out of this world. The flaky and buttery crust and the sweet cinnamon apples are heavenly. The addition of the tapioca pearls thickens the apple pie mixture and it's like velvet. Oh what a heavenly apple delight this pie was. Smacktastic and I can't wait to make another pie for myself and for Eric, because it disappeared quickly in my kitchen.

Key Lime Pie

Last month Eric and I took a little Floridian 9 day vacation to visit his parents. We enjoyed some of the lovely humid and beach-going weather. We took a small overnight trip to one of the most beautiful beaches, Siesta Keys in Sarasota. While we were there, we did a little Man v. Food excursion because I'm always on the hunt for good eats and it sounded like fun to eat at the same places as shown on the Travel Channel. I remembered that Adam Richman had said Yoder's Amish Restaurant served the best homemade pies. Everyone was intrigued and hungry for a wonderful slice of pie. We all ordered a slice of pie, and the one that left us wanting more was the Florida Key Lime pie.

Florida Key Lime pie is a simple mixture of a couple of things: condensed milk, eggs and Florida key limes. Those key limes are smaller than regular limes but have a very distinct flavor - very tart and sometimes bitter. However, when you mix Florida key limes in a pie...oh baby, it's sweet and tangy and oh so creamy. I searched high and low for a comparable recipe for Yoder's Amish Restaurant. Emeril Lagasse's recipe came up first in my search engine, and it had high reviews. I put my trust in Emeril's pastry chef, and our taste-testers (family) had approved the Key Lime Pie. Sweet, creamy and tart..it instantly brought me back to the beaches in Sarasota.  Enjoy!

**Don't forget that I have a Rick Bayless Cookbook giveaway, enter to win here!**

Key Lime Pie
Adapted from Emeril Lagasse
1/3 of the box from graham cracker
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick butter) melted
2 (14-ounce) cans condensed milk
1 cup key lime or regular lime juice
2 whole eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lime zest

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a food processor, add the graham crackers, sugar and butter and pulse into a coarse mixture. Press the mixture into a 9-inch pie pan, make sure to spread the crumbs evenly. Bake until golden brown about 17 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before filling.

Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

In a separate bowl, combine the condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest and eggs. Whisk until well blended and place the filling in the cooled pie shell. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, combine the sour cream and powdered sugar and spread over the top of the pie using a spatula. Sprinkle the lime zest as a garnish on top of the sour cream and serve chilled.

Review: This was also the first pie that I have made myself, so I was pretty pleased with the results. This was a pretty close recipe - it was a mixture of things - velvety, smooth, equally sweet, and tart. My graham cracker crust on the other hand was a little burnt because I think I overcooked it from my new oven. Make sure to check on your crust between the initial baking time between 15 to 20 minutes. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the sweet reminder of Sarasota, and this definitely peaked my interest in making other pies, too.

Strawberry Empanadas

For our bbq, I had made these sweet little treats. They are from Martha Stewart Living, but she calls them Handpies or turnovers, but I recognize from their spanish dwelling, empanadas. I love strawberry season, and since its coming to and end. I really wanted a chance to make these before I would regret it. Little did I know would these be a PITA to make them!!!! I would overfill them at times, and couldn't close the seams...I had a couple that busted out. They still tasted good, and everyone enjoyed them. But I don't think I'll make them again because the process was long. It was also a PITA because I packed up my rolling pin, and I didn't know what box it was in. So I was rolling the dough out with a glass, some looked pretty decent, and the broken ugly ones...well I taste-tested those ones. hehe **I will give credit to Katie from WC, http://goodthingscatered.blogspot.com/, she made these look beautiful.**

Ingredients:

1 recipe sweet butter pie dough (see below if needed)

3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled & quartered

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Powdered sugar for dusting

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment. In medium bowl, combine strawberries, granulated sugar and lemon juice and set aside. Turn dough out unto a powdered sugar-dusted work surface and cut pie dough in half (re wrap other half and place back in fridge to stay cold).

Roll one half of pie dough out about 1/8 in thickness. Using round pastry cutter (or trace knife around small plate), cut out about 5-6 inch rounds. Place round onto baking sheet and place about 2-3 tablespoon strawberry mixture into center. Using pastry brush dipped in a small amount of egg, brush the edge of half of the round. Fold dry edge onto egg brushed half, forming semicircle shape, and press edges together to seal with the tines of a fork.

Brush the top of the pie with egg mixture and sprinkle with sugar. Use a small knife to make a 1 inch slit in the top of the pie for steam to escape. Repeat with pastry dough. Place in oven and bake until tops are beginning to turn golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 7-10 minutes, and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 10-12

Sweet Butter Pie Dough

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 in pieces

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

6 ounces of cold buttermilk

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preparation:

In a small bowl, combine vanilla & buttermilk, stir to combine and set aside. In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, salt & lemon zest and whisk to combine. Use pastry cutter or two knives to cut butter into flour mixture until resembles coarse meal or until all pieces are less than pea-sized. Add buttermilk mixture and stir in until dough comes together. Transfer dough to powdered sugar-dusted work surface and shape into flat disk. Wrap disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour.