BUTTERSCOTCH CREAM PIE

Picky-Picky husband has declared this pie his all time favorite. I like it because of the sweet and flaky crust, the true butterscotch flavor and the stabilized whipped cream topping (I guess it is my favorite too).

BLUE RIBBON SWEET AND FLAKY PIE CRUST  (three 10" crusts)

4 cups all purpose flour
1¾ cups butter flavored Crisco
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg  lightly beaten
1/2 cup cold water

Cut the butter flavored Crisco into the flour (I have never made this with butter, so I can't comment on that). When the Crisco is about the size of a small pea, add the rest of the ingredients and mix with your hands until it comes together in a ball. Cover and let sit on the counter for about 15 minutes before you roll it out.

Roll one third of the pie dough out and fit it into a 9" pie plate. Cut off excess and crimp the top edge. Prick the bottom of the pie dough with a fork (see note). Bake in pre-heated 425°F oven for 15-18 minutes or until golden.  Remove from oven and let cool.

BUTTERSCOTCH FILLING  (fills one 10" pie)

1½ cups brown sugar (I use dark brown)
1/4 cup + 1½ teaspoons cornstarch
5 egg YOLKS only
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk (I use 2%)
3 tablespoons butter
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoons rum extract

In a saucepan that has a heavy bottom, mix the brown sugar and cornstarch FIRST. Next add the egg yolks, salt, and milk.  Whisk until smooth and run a spatula around the edges of the pan to make sure you get everything out of the corners.

Cook, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture is thick and bubbly (once it starts to thicken, it will thicken quickly). When it's nice and thick, remove from heat and add butter and extracts and mix well. If you don't have rum extract, just use all vanilla.

Pour into baked pie shell and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the hot pudding.  Chill for several hours or overnight before cutting.

STABILIZED WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder
4 teaspoons cold water

In a small cup, mix the unflavored gelatin powder and cold water until dissolved. Let this sit on the counter until it turns fairly solid.  After it turns fairly solid (takes a couple minutes) reheat the mixture until it turns back to a liquid. I do this in my microwave and it takes 2 or 3 seconds ONLY...don't let it get hot!!  Set it aside to cool off a little, you don't want it hot, but don't let it cool so much that it gets thick again.

Next Whip the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until you get very soft peaks. With the mixer still running, dribble in the softened gelatin and continue whipping until you get stiff peaks (this happens pretty quickly). 

Spread on top of the pie. I top mine with toasted sliced almonds.

NOTE: Make sure you use a fork to poke holes in the bottom of the crust before you bake it, this is called "docking" and it will help your crust bake flat. I usually just press the tines of the fork through the raw crust about an inch apart all over the pie bottom.

NOTE: I've always made this pie crust with butter flavored Crisco. I have no idea how it would turn out using butter.

CLASSIC CHERRY PIE

If you follow my blog regularly, you know that I enjoy combining recipes to get an end result that suits us. That's what I did with this cherry pie recipe.

The first cherry pie recipe I tried tasted OK, but there was a watery liquid in the bottom of the pie that seperated from the filling...not a good thing.

Next, I tried a recipe that used flour as a thickener, but it left a cloudy filling ... not what I wanted.

Next I tried tapioca to thicken the filling and it eliminated the cloudy fruit filling problem, but it was hard to guage just how much tapioca was enough and how much was too much; it also produced inconsistent results...not good.

So, as usual, I took a little bit of this recipe and added it to that recipe and then threw in a couple of my own ideas and came up with todays recipe. I served it on Father's Day and picky-picky husband actually said  "This is THE best cherry pie I've ever eaten!!"  After I picked myself up off of the floor (not literally, lol) , I knew I had a winner!!!

 

 

The filling is sweet and the crust is unbelievably flaky and delicious.  Some people freak out with a pie crust that uses shortening, however, not only does shortening produce a flakier crust, but it has HALF of the saturated fat of butter!! NOTE: I always us butter flavored Crisco in my crusts.

CHERRY PIE FILLING

(2) 14 ounce cans unsweetened tart pie cherries
1 1/2  cups granulated sugar     DIVIDED
4 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons corn starch
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract  (do not leave out)
2 teaspoons butter, room temperature

Drain the cherries but SAVE THE LIQUID.  Put one cup of the liquid into a heavy saucepan with the corn starch, salt and HALF OF THE SUGAR, mix well.

Bring this mixture to a boil, while stirring, and cook until it gets VERY THICK (only takes a minute or so once it starts to boil (keep stirring fast).

Remove from heat and stir in the butter, almond extract and the OTHER HALF of the sugar, mix well.  Gently fold in the drained cherries.  Let cool while you make the pie crust.

 

This is the all time best pie crust I have EVER made and I've made tons of them.  This dough handles beautifully (no need to chill the dough) and makes either 3 single crusts or a large 2 crust pie with some left over. Everyone I've served this crust to is wild about it.

PIE CRUST

4 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4  cups butter flavored Crisco shortening
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup ice cold water

Cut the shortening into the flour with a pastry cutter (or a couple of forks) until the shortening is about half the size of a green pea.

Mix the sugar, salt, egg, vanilla and ice water together, until well mixed, then add it all to the flour-shortening mixture. Work it with your hands until everything comes together in a big ball. Try to do this fairly quickly so that the heat of your hands doesn't melt the shortening. No need to chill this dough.

Roll out a bottom crust, on a floured counter,  to fit a 9" pie pan.  Put the cherry filling into the bottom crust and then brush the edges of the crust with a little egg white that has a few drops of water whisked into it (this will help "glue" the bottom crust to the top crust).

Roll out a top crust, on a floured counter, and lay it over the filled bottom crust.  Cut off the extra dough that hangs over the rim of the pie plate (see note). Pinch the top and bottom crust edges together (or use a fork). 

After you have pinched the two crusts together, brush the top pie crust with more of the egg white wash (the same that you used to "glue" the edges ) and then sprinkle the whole surface, lightly, with granulated sugar.

Cut several small vent holes in the top crust.  Bake in 375 preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown (I usually leave it in for 45 minutes). COOL PIE COMPLETELY BEFORE CUTTING.

 

NOTE: When you are trimming the excess unbaked crust from around the rim of the pie pan, leave it just a little long so that you can tuck under the edge before you pinch the pie edge into a design.

NOTE: I bake all of my pies on a cookie sheet just in case they spill over.