Banana Creme Pie

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Amy of Sing for Your Supper. To be honest, I don't remember much of this dessert - I remember it coming together easily, and being worried that I added too much cornstarch because the filling was so stiff, but it all spread out fine in the end. I sort of rushed this one, then dropped it off at my brother's house on my way out of town, sneaking in a little slice on the way.

I'm particularly fond of bananas, and I had all the other ingredients readily on hand, so I'm sure this is another one of those recipes I can make when I start over-accumulating ripened bananas (the staples so far being banana bread or banana pecan ice cream). Only problem is that it'd disappear too quickly at that point. And I'd be assuring myself that it's healthy to eat the whole pie since it has fruit in it.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, pp. 342-343

Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is a combination of two Thanksgiving dessert favorites - pumpkin pie and pecan pie. It was selected by La casserole carrée. This pie is made with a layer of perfectly spiced pumpkin pie filling, and then topped with pecans and covered with brown sugar spiced syrup like any pecan pie.

I've never made pumpkin or pecan pies before (though I've eaten my fair share over the previous years of Thanksgiving), but I was surprised with how well the two layers go together. I think if you made non-Dorie pumpkin and pecan pie fillings (the standard sort you'd put in a pie) and tried to layer them, the flavors would be lacking.

I ended up cutting mine into thinner slices than Dorie suggests - there's an awful lot of sugar and butter in each bite, and I figured it was rich enough to up the servings. Given the size of the pies (8-12 servings) and the relative ease with which this recipe comes together, this is an easy recipe to build via assembly line and pop out 2 or 3 at a time for Thanksgiving events. It would be unfortunate if someone didn't get to have a taste of this delicious pie because there wasn't enough to go around.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, p. 321

Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie

Beach party for the 4th of July...what to bring, what to bring. Oh, how about some blueberry pie? Convenient, because that's what was picked for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. It hit the spot perfectly after a lunch of burgers and hot dogs.

I figured that brand new camera + beach ≠ happy camera, so I left it behind (I don't have a case for it yet, and there was an incident with someone else dropping their camera in the sand, making me glad that I left mine at home). It wasn't until I was heading out the door as dawn was breaking that I realized I hadn't gotten any pictures of it - and wouldn't get a nice picture of the interior. I quickly pulled the foil off and snapped just a couple shots before I headed out, thus the poor quality of photos in this post.

Yep, that's a peach and some leftover sourdough at the bottom. Yum, breakfast.

The recipe came out well, though it's not one of my favorites out of Dorie's book. Everybody enjoyed it, and it was unanimously agreed upon that the crust was delicious. I plan on making more of this crust whenever I have a pie to bake now - it might have been my favorite part of the pie.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan, pp. 361-363