Cherry Pie with Crumble Topping

The second pie for Father's Day was cherry pie. I really wanted to make a peach pie, but I didn't buy peaches far enough in advance for them to be ripe enough to bake with. This cherry pie called for a pie top that was made with pie crust bottom, but I decided to use the crumble topping that was used for the peach pie recipe. I will also post the crust recipe separately. It's the only recipe I use for pie crust and is the best in my opinion.

I only made a 1/2 recipe of the pate brisee. Whatever you don't use can be put in the freezer for later use.

Ingredients

Bottom Crust: Pate Brisee (Full recipe, thank Martha Stewart for its greatness)

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

8 ounces (2 sticks) of cold unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups of flour

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water as necessary

Pulse flour, salt, sugar and cut up pieces of butter in food processor for about 10-15 seconds. Add water until mixture just begins to hold together. Make 2 disks of dough and refrigerate at least 1 hour before use.

Topping: (combine below ingredients until crumbly)

1/4 cup Flour

1/4 cup Oatmeal

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

Filling:

2 lbs of bing cherries pitted and halved

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch (could substitute with tapioca as well)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

If you are going to make a cherry pie you should invest in a cherry pitter. Completely affordable and a big time saver in the kitchen.

Combine cherries, granulated sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Pour into prepared bottom crust.

Place pie on rimmed baking sheet, bake for 60-70 minutes. Tent with aluminum foil when crust starts to brown.

The pie turned out delicious, but I think I should have added more cornstarch to thicken up the juices.

Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie

Every Father's Day I bake two pies for my Dad. Usually I let him pick at least one pie he would like me to make, but this year I really wanted to make sure I made a Key Lime Pie so I didn't give him any options.

I wasn't sure how much juice I would need to get 1/2 cup of key lime juice since the key limes were so tiny, but you only need a 1-lb bag. Key limes are sweeter than the limes you are used to seeing. Lucky for me, they carry key limes at my local grocery store. Key Limes originate from the Florida Key's. I'm planning a trip to the Key's in the fall, I will let you know how my pie compares to the experts!

Ingredients

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup freshly squeezed key-lime juice

1 tablespoon grated Key Lime zest, plus more for garnish

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled

2 tablespoons sugar

Instead of making my own graham cracker crust I used these mini individual graham cracker pie crusts. It made for easy serving!

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Gently whisk together condensed milk, key-lime juice, zest and egg yolks. Pour into pie crust(s). Bake until the center is set, but still jiggles when nudged (15-17) minutes. I did less time since I used the mini pie crusts. Once cooled completely I put them in the frig.

Before serving combine heavy cream and sugar, whisk with electric mixer until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Spoon over pie, garnish with zest and serve immediately.

I'm not a fan of zest so I didn't grate what was necessary for the recipe or garnish the pies. I've only had key lime pie once in my life and I have to say that I loved my attempt. It was delicious. I stored the left over pies in the frig, they were still just as delicious a couple days later and held up very well.