Tag Archives: pie

Simple Strawberry Crumble Pie

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It’s the Friday before Good Friday! Are you prepping for Easter yet?

In my household, we’re not big on Easter candy or baskets. If we’re going to use up calories on candy, let’s go ahead and go all out with dessert. Cookies. Cake. Pie. Now I’m down for that!

After dinner, I was craving something sweet but like I said, no candy. I just want dessert. I looked around my pantry and fridge to see what was going bad. I came across these things – super ripe strawberries, almost expiring heavy whipping cream, and graham crackers from when we went camping. Hmmm, I like the combination of ingredients.

This resulted in a simple strawberry crumble pie! It takes 20 minutes to make and 1 hour to freeze and will result in an ear-to-ear smile!

Title

Simple Strawberry Crumble Pie
8-10 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 pack of strawberries, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar
  • Whip cream (Can be purchased, but I make my own whip cream by simply whisking heavy cream until it forms peaks)
  • 1.5 cups finely ground graham crackers
  • 6 tablespoons of butter, melted
  • Brown sugar

Directions:

1. Combine the lemon juice, sugar, and sliced strawberries. Place into the fridge while you work on the other ingredients. This helps soften the strawberries and adds sweetness.
2. Combine the melted butter with the graham crackers. Press 1 cup of the graham cracker mixture onto the bottom of a baking pan. Put the other half cup into another baking pan, spread evenly, as this will be used to top the pie. Bake at 375° F for 7 minutes. Then let it cool.
3. Spread whip cream onto the graham cracker crust, then layer on the sliced strawberries. Finally, sprinkle on the remaining graham cracker crumbles. To top it off, sprinkle a bit of brown sugar.
4. Freeze for 1 hour before serving.

Macerating
Macerate the fruit so that it’s juicy and sweet

Layering
Layering on the goods

Top
^^^ This is half the recipe

Cut
Yum!

Done

It may not be the prettiest slice of pie, but it sure is delicious! It’s a nice treat for a warm day. Or a nice treat when all you want is dessert!

Is this something you can recreate? What are some good strawberry dessert recipes you love?

Have a great weekend!
Jay

Yummy Fruit Tart Recipe

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Fruit tarts are like little delicate bites of goodness – flakey, sweet, creamy. Yum! No only are they tasty, but also eye candy, so pretty!

Delicious

My sister shared with me this amazing recipe and now it’s your turn to try it out. Typically I make one large fruit tart, but it can’t be easily served. If you have an amateur server, you sometimes get cheated of custard or fruit. I’m sure you know what I mean. You saw that strawberry fall off your piece but then it was served to the next person or worse, your server ate it! And you could have sworn that part of that custard was yours because you can see straight to the pie crust on your plate… The frustration. I get it!

Big tart
A big one is so pretty though!

For this recipe, I made mini fruit tarts because its easier for large parties (especially with Thanksgiving coming up). More importantly, you feel like you had your fair share, all the custard and all the fruits!

By the way, remember that homemade vanilla extract post? It’s time to use it!

Ingredients for vanilla custard:

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar, divided
  • 4 tablespoons of cornstarch
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

1. Combine milk and 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until it’s simmering.
2. Whisk egg yolks and the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar in a separate bowl. Then add cornstarch and mix until pale yellow and thick.
3. Slowly add milk into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Return to medium heat until mix is thickened.
4. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract.
5. Place custard into a bowl and cover the custard with plastic wrap, making sure that the wrap touches the top of the cream so skin does not form. Refrigerate until cold throughout (can last up to 2 days).

As the custard is cooling, work on the crust!

Directions for the pie crust: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar), 1.5 cups of flour, 3/4 cup of unsalted butter (softened and sliced). Knead until the dough feels tacky. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Spray the muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. Roll out dough, and flatten it  across each cup of the muffin pan (keep in mind that this recipe is for mini tarts). Bake for 10-12 minutes until light brown. Pop each pie crust out and cool on a rack.

mini piesI flattened each cup with my finger tips

crustTake a butter knife and pop each of these tarts out, one by one

Now put everything together! Scoop custard into the little pie crusts. Decorate with fruits. I also glaze the tops of the tarts with apricot jam (simply microwave the jam until it’s spreadable, let it cool, then brush it onto the tops of the tarts). Glazing is totally optional.

Fruit
Don’t use fruits that brown (fresh apples, fresh pears, fresh peaches, and bananas)

Glazed
Glazed. Told you, eye candy.

YumEnjoy!

What’s your favorite dessert? Are fruit tarts on the top of the list? If you’re making this, who will you be making it for?

I love little delicate bites of goodness,
Jay