Pucker Up Pies: Lemon Meringue & Key Lime

The end of summer not only brings the sting of sunburns, the pinch to fit in as much fun as possible, and the dreaded back to school packing, but also my family's annual bbq.  While the menu has come to be somewhat of a tradition-sausages, fruit salad, potato salad, deviled eggs...the usual picnic fair-my dad, mom, sister and I decided to try out some new desserts.  A prize-winning lemon meringue pie runs on my mom's side of the family and a key lime pie has been on my to-bake list for a while, so the two were perfect additions to the summer bbq.  I usually leave the pies to my mom; she's the expert and I have to admit pies scare me a bit.  But, after making and sharing these sweet, puckery, yummy pies my fear is gone just about as quickly as the pies were!  So, from my family's bbq to yours, here are the famous lemon meringue pie and the newest member key lime pie.  Pucker up and enjoy!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Crust Ingredients
1 1/3 cup          flour
1 tbsp              sugar
1/2 tsp             salt
1/2 cup            chilled shortening
3 tbsp             ice water

Lemon Filling Ingredients
3                     egg yolks (save the whites for the meringue top)
1 can (14 oz)      sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup             lemon juice
1 tsp                 grated lemon rind

Meringue Top Ingredients
3                     egg whites
1/4 tsp             cream of tartar
1/4 cup            sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Whisk together pie crust dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt).
3.  Cut in shortening using a pastry blender.
4.  Add water one tbsp at a time, using pastry blender to fully combine each.  Dough will be crumbly.
5.  Form dough into disk.
6.  Flour rolling surface and rolling pin.
7.  Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness and wide enough to cover and fill pie pan.
8.  Lightly press dough into pie pan and trim excess.
9.  Pinch edges of crust into desired design.
10.  Fork bottom and sides of crust dough to prevent puffing.
11.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.

12.  Meanwhile, beat 3 egg yolks and stir in sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and rind.
13.  Pour into pie crust shell.

14.  Beat 3 egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.
15.  Add sugar.
16.  Beat until stiff peaks, careful not to dry out.
17.  Spread meringue over pie, making sure to seal meringue around the crust.

18.  Bake 10-15 minutes or until meringue is golden.

19. Slice and dig in! This pie is definitely one of my favorites and is just as pretty as it is tasty!

Key Lime Pie

Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients
1 pack (about 2 cups)       honey graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup                           packed brown sugar
1/2 cup                           melted butter

Key Lime Filling Ingredients
1 can (14 oz)                     sweetened condensed milk
3                                    egg yolks
1/2 cup                            key lime juice (I used Nellie & Joe's Keywest...in the juice aisle...and I think it's perfectly puckery!)
1                                      lime zest (I couldn't find key limes but the regular ones gave great color and a touch of sour to the filling)
1/2                                   lime juice

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Combine crumbs and sugar.
3.  Stir in melted butter.
4.  Press into pie pan.
5.  Bake 8 minutes.

6.  Meanwhile, combine sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, key lime juice, and lime zest and juice.
8.  Blend until smooth.
9.  Pour filling into pie shell.
10.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

11.  Let stand for 10 minutes then refrigerate.
12.  Top with whipped cream and garnish with lime slices to serve.
The tangy tart bite of this pie is perfectly countered by the rich brown sugar sweetness of this great crust. This pie packs a punch and is a refreshing end to a summer meal!

Brownie-Bottom Funfetti Cupcakes...Finally!

So, I may have baked these heavy duty cupcakes as soon as I walked through the door but I definitely did not post them quite as quickly...I'm hoping that added a bit of suspense!  I promise, and I really do promise this time, that I didn't go 13 days with chocolate frosting on my fingers.  A little work, some packing, and a lot of family vacationing in Hawaii got in the way of sharing this sooner.  But, without further ado, here is the recipe for my brownie-bottom funfetti cupcakes...easy, impressive, and deadly!

Brownie Ingredients
1 box brownie mix (plus oil, water, and eggs according to instructions)
1 bag chocolate chips...I think the mini chips are great for this smaller layer of brownie, but if you have a bag of regular-sized chips in the cupboard those work great too!
A small handful of flour (for stirring into the chocolate chips so they don't all sink to the bottom!)

Funfetti Cake Ingredients
1 box funfetti cake mix (plus oil, water, and eggs according to instructions)

Frosting Ingredients
1 can milk chocolate frosting

Plus sprinkles of choice (rainbow jimmies are my favorite) for decoration

Just as easy as 2 boxes, a can, and some sprinkles!

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line cupcake trays with paper cupcake liners.
3.  Prepare brownie batter according to box instructions.
4.  Mix chocolate chips in small amount of flour, just enough to dust them.
5.  Mix chocolate chips into brownie batter.
6.  Set aside brownie batter.
7.  Prepare funfetti cake batter according to box instructions.
8.  Fill cupcake liners about 1/4 full with brownie batter...ice cream scoops are quite handy for this!  Make sure to smooth out batter so it reaches all sides of the liner.

9.  Scoop funfetti cake batter into cupcake liners until about 3/4 full.  Make sure the cake batter completely covers the brownie batter!

10.  Bake for about 25 minutes.  It's perfectly fine if the brownie on the bottom is a bit gooey so pay most attention to the cake when deciding on bake time.
11.  Let cool completely...this is the hard part!

12.  Frost with softened milk chocolate frosting and decorate with sprinkles of choice.  The Sprinkle Side Roll (at the top of this post) is my favorite, perhaps my signature, style :)

Brownie-Bottom Funfetti Cupcakes: A Sneak Peak

All week I've been planning and looking forward to baking my Brownie-Bottom Funfetti Cupcakes.  I was so excited I could almost taste their soft layer of funfetti cake combined with a gooey layer of brownie and topped off with smooth milk chocolate frosting.  When the time came today to get started on these combo cupcakes I made a disappointing discovery...no eggs!  Saturday my mom, sister and I had crepes for breakfast...6 eggs down...and today the family had a backwards night (breakfast for dinner)...10 eggs down, leaving me egg-less and cupcake-less.  Mom is headed to the store tomorrow and I put eggs at the top of her grocery list.  I promise I'll have these baking as soon as I make it through the door after work tomorrow, and I'll post them as soon as I can lick the chocolate frosting off my fingers.  In the meantime, I just have to share a little sneak peak of what's to come...

                        ...my stomach is growling already!

Cherry Bomb Pie Poppers: A Star Spangled Treat for 4th of July

These little pies, packed with a punch of tart cherries and a sprinkling of sugar, were the perfect finale to 4th of July celebrations.  My mom and I spent the morning in a flour-clouded kitchen rolling and cutting dough, spooning cherry filling into crust lined cupcake pans, and dusting crust stars with sugar.  Meanwhile my sister/manager snapped pictures, snuck a taste or two, and coined the name Cherry Bomb Pie Poppers.  With the family touch, a couple cans of cherry filling, a few pie crusts, and a bowl full of sugar, Cherry Bomb Pie Poppers made their debut with oohs and aahs!

Pie Crust Ingredients
1 1/3 cups          flour
1 tbsp                 sugar
1/2 tsp                salt
1/2 cup               chilled shortening
3 tbsp                 ice water
     * 3 batches of crust for 24 pie poppers topped with stars

Cherry Filling Ingredient...yep, just one!
2 1/2 cans             Comstock Country Cherry Pie Filling
     * Fills 24 pie poppers
     ** Leftover List: Dip ice cream sandwich into leftover cherry filling or pour over ice cream!

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Spray cupcake pans with nonstick baking spray.
3.  Whisk together pie crust dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt).
3.  Cut in shortening using a pastry blender.
4.  Add water one tbsp at a time, using pastry blender to fully combine each.  Dough will be crumbly.
5.  Form dough into disk.
6.  Flour rolling surface and rolling pin.
7.  Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.

8.  Use a large cup or circle cookie-cutter to cut out pie popper shells.
9.  Lightly press shell into individual cupcake holes.
10.  Use a star cookie-cutter to cut out pie popper tops.
11.  Place star toppers on parchment paper or plate.
12.  Slightly dampen star toppers with water.
13.  Sprinkle star toppers with sugar.
14.  Spoon 5 cherries with filling into pie popper shells.

15.  Place star topper, sugar-side up, onto each pie popper and lightly press corners of star into pie popper shell to hold.
16.  Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.
17.  Reduce oven to 325 degrees and bake for 16 minutes.

18.  Let cool for a few minutes then gently remove using a butter knife.
It'll be tough to wait for these to cool so pop these little cherry bomb pies with caution!!!

Peanut Butter Cookies: The Classic and a Twist

Peanut butter itself is an undeniable guilty pleasure in my family's home-we've all been caught eating spoonfuls right out of the jar-and it only gets better as the star of our peanut butter cookies.  These cookies always surprise me with just how good they are and by just how quickly they disappear!
This time I was feeling like mixing it up a bit and trying a new twist on this favorite classic.  My little twist was a bag of chocolate chips.  I definitely can't argue with the chocolate, peanut butter combination and especially not after making, well really after eating, these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  I must admit that I was second guessing my decision to add an entire bag of chocolate chips into half of the peanut butter dough as the mixer grumbled and I had to search through the chips to find some dough.  But, after biting into just a few of the chocolate chip studded peanut butter cookies I was perfectly pleased!

Ingredients
1/2 cup        shortening
1/2 cup        butter
1 cup           peanut butter  (creamy JIFF is my one and only!)
1 cup           sugar
1 cup           brown sugar
2                 eggs
2 1/2 cups    flour
1 tsp            baking powder
1 1/2 tsp       baking soda
1/4 tsp         salt
Extra sugar for rolling
Chocolate chips if you're up for a twist!

1.  Mix shortening, butter, peanut butter, sugars, and eggs.
2.  Mix in dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt).
       * Mix in chocolate chips here!
3.  Chill dough about 2 hours...or a little less if you're impatient too!
4.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
5.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
6.  Roll dough into balls about the size of a golf ball.
7.  Roll dough balls in sugar.
8.  Place on baking and use a fork to flatten in a crisscross design.
9.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.

I made one batch of dough and split it in two...half classic peanut butter and half peanut butter chocolate chip...perfect for an indecisive sweet tooth!