Berry Pie

While I'm still gathering Thanksgiving recipies from friends here is another one that comes from Brenna Palkki. I usually just make the Marie Calendar Rassleberry pie, which is pretty good, but this is better.

filling :
6-8 cups berries (thawed)--we use a mix of blackberries and rasperries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt

topping:
1/2 cup flour
2 Tbs butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
oats if desired--we use 1/2 a cup or so

1. Mix together sugar, flour, salt. Add berries.
2. Let mixture stand 1/2 hour. Stir again.
3. Pour into unbaked crust. Crumble topping mixture on top.
4. Cover edges of pie with foil. Bake 375degrees F for 20 min. Remove foil.
Bake 25-30 min more until golden. Cool on wire rack.

Serve with vanilla ice cream!

So Good Chocolate Pudding Pie

This pie is so easy and so good! A fun dessert to take somewhere. It's always gone in seconds! What makes it so yummy is the fudge layer with the buttery graham cracker crust. Mmmm! It's definitely a favorite at our house. And this is not a picture of the actual pie, just a google search of something that looked close enough. :)


1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
5 Tbsp butter, melted

Mix, press in pie pan. Bake @ 350 for 6-8 minutes. (Better to make this from scratch and not use a ready-made crust because I think it tastes so much better.)

3 squares semisweet baking chocolate, melted
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Mix together and melt in microwave for 20 seconds. Stir, melt another 20 seconds, stir. Repeat until melted, being careful not to burn chocolate (usually just takes 2 or 3 times.) Pour fudge mixture into slightly cooled crust.

2 pkgs (4 oz each) instant chocolate pudding
2 cups cold milk
8 oz Cool Whip, thawed

Mix milk and pudding with wire whisk. Spoon over fudge. Spread cool whip on top of pudding. Chill for 3 hours. Serve.

Wonderful Fresh Peach Pie

With peach season coming up, I thought you'd enjoy this recipe for fresh peach pie (I got it from a friend, Camille, who is a great cook). This recipe makes two 8-inch pies.

2 shortbread, graham cracker crusts, or regular pie crusts (see recipe for pie crust below)
1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 ¼ cups sugar
6 ½ cups of sliced peaches, skinned (approx. 7-8 large peaches)
½ cup orange juice
3 Tbs. cornstarch
¼ cup lemon juice

Mix the cream cheese and ½ cup sugar until smooth, spoon half in one crust and half in the other. Spread around to cover the bottom of the crust. Be careful when using the shortbread because it is very fragile and will crack easily.

Blend (in a blender) together: 1 cup of peaches (approx 1-2 peaches), orange juice, ½ -3/4 cups sugar (depending on sweetness of peaches) and cornstarch until smooth.

Stir mixture over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens (about 4-5 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice. COOL for about 25 minutes! Stir occasionally.

Slice the peaches and neatly layer over the cream cheese mixture. When the glaze is cool, pour the glaze over the top of the peaches, make sure all peaches are covered equally. Cool for about 1 hour in the refrigerator before serving.

Shortbread Pie Crust (makes 1 crust)

3 cups butter, softened
5/8 cup light brown sugar
5/8 cup confectioners' sugar
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Using your hands, mix butter, brown sugar, white sugar and flour together in a large bowl. Squeeze and work dough until it holds together. Press into a 9 inch pie pan and chill for 2 hours. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly brown around the edges.

Lemon Truffle Pie

This is a recipe that I got from my sister-in-law Parri. Sooo yummy.

baked 9" pie shell
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp sugar
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
1 cup vanilla chips
8 ounces cream cheese
8 ounces cool whip

Put water and 2 Tbsp sugar in saucepan and bring to a boil. In a large bowl mix egg, cornstarch, 1 Tbsp sugar and zest of lemon. Slowly add hot to egg mixture in bowl to temper it. (If you pour too much hot water in the eggs cook). Then pour entire mixture back into pan. Heat until thickened, stirring often. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and butter. Stir until mixed.

Pour 2/3's of filling into bowl. Add vanilla chips to filling remaining in pan. Stir until chips are melted. Put cream cheese in bowl. Add filling with vanilla chips to cream cheese and beat together. Spread this mixture in bottom of pie shell. Spread remaining 2/3's of lemon filling on top. Chill for 2 hours. right before serving top with whip cream or cool whip.