Basic Pie Crust

Makes one 9” pie crust

Ingredients
1 ½ cups of All Purpose Flour
5 Tbsp Cold Butter, cut into cubes
¼ cup of Cold Vegetable Shorting, cut into cubes
½ tsp Salt
3 to 5 Tbsp of Ice Water

Process,

1) In a food processor add the flour and salt, pulse once to incorporate.

2) Add the butter and shorting, pulse about 10 times or until the butter is about the size of peas and distributed evenly.

3) While pulsing and 1 tbsp of ice water until the dough comes together when pinched between fingers.

4) Dump the dough in a lightly floured surface and quickly form into a disk.

5) Wrap dough and pop it in the fridge for about half an hour before using.

You can use this pie crust recipe for all pie I have in this blog. Super easy...and turns out awesome and yummy!!

Enjoy!

Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients:
¾ cups of Sugar
½ cup of Water
¼ cup Light Corn Syrup
¾ cup of Heavy Cream
2 tbsp of Butter at Room Temp
¼ tsp of Salt
½ tsp of Vanilla Extract, optional
3 bananas, sliced
1 Store Bought 9” graham cracker crust (I have this recipe myself)
1 cup Whipped Cream

Substitute for Corn Syrup

**For each cup of light corn syrup in a recipe, substitute 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup water. For each cup of dark corn syrup, substitute 1 cup of packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup water.

For the pastry cream:
5 Egg Yolks
½ cup Plus 2 Tbsp of Sugar
2.5 Tbsp Cornstarch
½ tsp Vanilla Extract
1 ½ cups Milk, scalded (scalded just means below boiling point)
Zest of 1 Large Orange
1 tsp Unsalted Butter

Process,

For the Pastry Cream:
1) In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolk and sugar until thick and pale, about 1 minute. Add the cornstarch and whisk to combine.

2) Slowly add the scalded milk and whisk to combine. Pour this batter into a medium saucepan and cook on low heat whisking constantly until the cream thickens. Once this mixture has thickened turn the heat off and add the orange zest, cognac and butter, whisk to melt the butter in the hot custard. Pour the custard into a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the custard and refrigerate until cold.
For the Pie:

3) To make the caramel, in a large non stick pan combine the first 3 ingredients, cook over medium low until the sugar dissolve without stirring ever! Just swirl the pan around. Once the sugar ahs dissolved, turn the heat to high and let it bubble away until it turns a deep amber color, about 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to low at this point and add the warm heavy cream slowly. Be careful because it will bubble vigorously. Keep whisking until everything is combined and turn the heat off. Add the butter, salt and vanilla and whisk in until the butter melts. Set aside to cool completely.

4) Add the caramel sauce to a large bowl reserving about 1/3 of it to drizzle over the top. Add the sliced bananas to the caramel sauce and place this mixture at the bottom of your pie crust. Add the pastry cream and smooth out the top.

5) Top it all off with the whipped cream and place it in the fridge to set for about 3 hours.

Serve with the remaining caramel sauce.

**Source LVitale

Banana Chocolate Chips Muffin

Ingredients:

½ Cup of Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
½ Cup of Sugar
3 Mashed Bananas
¼ tsp of Vanilla Extract
1 2/3 Cup of All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp of Baking Soda
¼ tsp of Salt
¼ tsp of Cinnamon
1 Cup of Chocolate Chips

Process,
1) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12 piece muffin tin with muffin liners and set aside.

2) In a small bowl add the chocolate chips and 3 tbsp of flour and mix until all the chocolate chips are coated in the flour. Set aside.

3) In a large bowl add the first 5 ingredients and mix until all combined.

4) Add the flour and baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, whisk until all combined.

5) Fold in the chocolate chip and flour mixture.

6) Using a large ice cream scoop divide the batter into your muffin pan and bake for about 18 minutes.

Enjoy!

**Source LVitale

Apple Pie

Ingredients

Double layer pie crust (same crust as the pumpkin pie crust, just make sure to double the amount because you will need 2 pieces)

6 golden delicious apples, cored ,sliced and tossed in 1 tbsp of lemon juice
¾ Cup of Sugar
2 Tbsp of Flour
1 tsp of Cinnamon
¼ tsp of Salt
¼ tsp of Nutmeg (**Refer to my substitute suggestion below)
Zest of 1 Medium Orange
Egg Wash, (1 egg mixed with 2 Tbsp of water)

Preparation,

1) Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

2) Spray a 9” glass pie plate with non stick cooking spray and set aside.

3) In the same large bowl that your lemon tossed apples are in, toss in all of the remaining ingredients. Toss everything very well to coat each piece of apple with the spices and orange zest. Set aside wile you roll out the pie crust.

4) Lightly flour your counter and roll out 1 of the pie crusts. Make sure that there is 1 inch overhanging the sides of the pie plate.

5) Put the apple mixture into the pie plate lined with the crust. Using the egg wash brush it all over the boarder and set aside wile you roll out the second pie crust.

6) Roll out the second pie crust, and top the apples. Pinch together the 2 crust and cut off any access pastry, leaving only 1 inch overhanging. Fold the pinched crust under and crimp all of the boarder.

7) Brush the top with the egg wash and sprinkle with about 1 tbsp of sugar and about 1 tsp of cinnamon all over the crust.

8) Place the pie on a aluminum foiled lined baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. If the edges start turning to brown to quickly cover them with aluminum foil.

9) Let stand for about 1 to 2 hours before serving.

**Source LVitale

Substitution :

1. Nutmeg : Cinnamon; ginger; or mace (Or click on my Substitution Chart Page here)

Apple pie is one of those things that just scream home to me. This recipe is so fool proof anybody can make it.

I use the same pie crust recipe that I use for my pumpkin pie, simply because that’s my go to pie crust. It never fails. Just make sure you double the amount of ingredients because you are making a deep dish apple pie so naturally you need 2 pieces of pastry. Whenever I make pie crust I make 3 or 4 batches and then individually wrap them and freeze them. This way whenever I need it it’s ready to be thawed out overnight in the fridge and ready to use. And I don’t know about you but having homemade pie crust in the freezer at all times, definitely makes me happy!

I am a huge apple pie lover and I have so many different variations of it, but this is a classic and you really cant go wrong with a classic now can you?!

Make this pie one time and I guarantee you will never buy one from a store again!