Easiest Cherry Pie

My friend Margy loves cherry pie so I made one for her birthday.  I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but everything was store bought and tweaked to look homemade.  Thankfully, Margy is the type of friend who probably won't mind. 

Ingredients:
1 pkg. Marie Calendar Frozen Pie Crusts
2 cans cherry pie filling

Thaw pie crusts at room temperature for about 15 minutes.  Pour the two cans of pie filling in to the bottom of one crust.  Remove 2nd crust from pan.  When soft, lightly roll it out on a piece of saran wrap.  Lift it on top of pie and then pinch the edges together to look homemade.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-50 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Prior to placing top crust on the pie, I used a small, heart shaped cookie cutter to cut four hearts out and then repositioned them on top of the pie to make it look decorative.  If you don't cut out any shapes on the top crust, you need to cut slits in the top of the pie to vent it. 

Peach Pie

O.K., are you sitting down? This is hands down, THE BEST pie crust recipe I have ever seen, made, or tasted. I was so proud of how this pie turned out that I honestly carried it around showing it to everyone before I could even cut in to it. Isn't it GORGEOUS?! And, shhh....it was even better than Evelyn use to make. Hard to believe, I know, but true.

For the Crust:

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour

2 Tbs. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cubes COLD butter, cut in to small cubes

4 Tbs. ice water, plus more if needed

Place flour, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor. Process until mixture resembles fine sand. Add the ice water and pulse again just until mixture begins to form a ball (add more water, 1 Tbs. at a time) if it doesn't come together. DO NOT OVERMIX. Remove from food processor and divide dough in half. Shape in to 2 disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.


For the Filling:

10 ripe, firm peaches

Juice from one lemon

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2/3 c. flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

3 Tbs. butter, cut in small pieces

1 egg


Peel peaches by dipping them in boiling water for about 20 seconds (the skin will slide right off). Remove pit and cut in thin slices. Place peach slices, the juice from the lemon, and the almond extract in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes (this 10 minutes is a great time to roll out both dough disks in to 2 large 9-10 inch circles). Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together until well mixed. Stir in to the peach mixture.


To assemble:

Place the bottom pie crust in to the pie plate (I used a 9 inch pie pan). Pour peach mixture in to the pan. Place small pieces of butter all over the top. Cut bottom crust in to strips, then place on top of pie, overlapping and crisscrossing them. To finish pie, pinch the edges all around the edge and trim off extra dough if necessary. Mix the egg with a bit of water and brush egg mixture over the top.




To Cook:



Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake the pie at 450 degrees for the first 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 50 minutes. Remove pie from oven and allow to sit for at least 30 minutes before cutting and serving.

Homemade Coconut Cream Pie

The crust for this pie isn't homemade, but the filling is. We love to bake up a couple of pie shells and make one coconut cream and one banana cream. Here's the recipe for our favorite coconut cream.



1 pkg. Marie Calendar's frozen pie shells

2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. milk
4 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
2 T. butter, cut in to pieces (use REAL butter, not margarine)
1 cup coconut + more for toasting

Remove frozen pie shells from the freezer and cook according to package directions (this recipe only makes one pie). Cool pie shell. While oven is on, sprinkle a little bit of coconut on a cookie sheet and bake for about 3-5 minutes until nicely toasted. Remove from oven and cool.

In a saucepan, mix the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in milk, a little at a time and stir well to dissolve the cornstarch. Next, whisk in the egg yolks. Whisking constantly, cook over medium heat until mixture starts to thicken and bubble. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking for one more minute. Remove from heat. Stir butter and vanilla in to the hot pudding. Slowly stir in the 1 cup coconut. Pour mixture into the pie shell and allow to cool. Sprinkle with the toasted coconut and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (overnight is best).

**TIP. I often bake up both of the pie shells and make one coconut and one banana cream. You can even use this same recipe for the banana cream, but instead of stirring in coconut, cool the pudding first and stir in fresh sliced bananas instead and sprinkle the top with a bit of crushed graham cracker crumbs.

Taylor's Peanut Butter Pie

I love it when I can get my kids in the kitchen with me and this past Sunday Taylor was my cookin' buddy. She made this entire pie by herself. It is extra rich and goes a long way. Isn't it beautiful?!

1 prepared graham cracker pie crust
1 small box chocolate pudding
1 small box vanilla pudding
2 cups milk
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 medium carton Cool Whip
4 oz. cream cheese (half of an 8 oz. brick)

TIP: I never buy store-bought pie graham cracker crusts because I like homemade so much better. For this pie, I just mixed 3 cups crushed graham crackers with 1/2 cup melted butter and then pressed it in the pan.

Mix chocolate pudding and one cup milk with whisk for about a minute until it starts to thicken. Pour into bottom of pie crust and carefully spread across the bottom and up the sides. Next, mix the cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Using the other cup of milk, slowly add about 1/4 cup of the milk to the cream cheese and blend until smooth, then add a little more and a little more until it is smooth and creamy (if you try to add the milk all at once to the cream cheese, you will get big lumps of cream cheese). Add the vanilla pudding mix and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Slowly blend in the peanut butter, then fold in half of the cool whip. Pour this in to pie shell and spread around. Top with remaining Cool Whip. Drizzle the top with melted chocolate and melted peanut butter. Refrigerate before serving.

***TIP: An easy way to melt the chocolate and peanut butter for drizzling on top is to place a small amount of chocolate chips (or a tablespoon or two of peanut butter) in a ziploc baggie and then microwave it 10-20 second intervals until melted. Simply snip a small corner off the baggie, squeeze and drizzle all over the top, then discard the baggie for easy clean up.