A bumper crop of pies
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Last Wednesday at the Farmers Market was quite the event.
Despite the heat, there were a record number of pie submissions for the first Murphy’s Menu Cook-Off of the year.
Nine wonderful and diverse pies were laid out for shoppers at the market to taste. Everyone who tasted voted for their favorite pie, and the lucky winner — Judy Conway — received a reusable shopping bag full of treats from Country Mart and Price Chopper. Nancy Garcia put it together. In addition to all sorts of helpful things, it held all the ingredients for a key lime pie. Hurrah!
Here are the cooks, in numerical order. It was Judy’s “Pie No. 2” that took the prize.
1. Elizabeth Willard, lemon pecan pie
2. Judy Conway, blackberry pie
3. Dr. Richard Bennett, apple pie
4. Norma Dixon, sour cream raisin pie
5. Beth Seimears, cherry pie
6. Emily Cheever, California Gold Rush pie
7. Abby Maycock, banana cream pie
8. Abby Maycock, peanut butter pie
9. Kelsey Cheever, Triple Layer Thin Mint pie
We would never have made it through the hour without the help of market volunteers Becky Smith, Casey Woods and Judy Conway. Dishing up individual servings of nine pies to about 140 people is a Herculean task and I can’t thank the three of them enough.
Often a raisin pie is like eating a Fig Newton — super dense! But Norma’s pie was more pudding-like, with raisins sprinkled through. It was really good on a hot day, I tell you!
NORMA’S SOUR
CREAM RAISIN PIE
1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
Dash salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup sour cream
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup milk
1 cup raisins
2 tsp. lemon juice
Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally until it begins to thicken, then boil for one more minute, stirring constantly. Pour into a baked pie shell and cover with meringue.
VVV
Elizabeth Willard’s entry was so tasty, and perfect for a hot day. The richness of the eggs was balanced with the tartness of the lemon, and a hint of pecan just made it that much more interesting.
Elizabeth adapted this from a recipe on a place mat in a restaurant in Oklahoma. She says you can use a mix of half sugar, half Splenda if you like.
ELIZABETH’S LEMON PECAN PIE
6 whole eggs
1/3 cup melted oleo (do not
use whipped oleo)
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3/4 cup pecan pieces
1 tsp. lemon extract
1/4 cup lemon juice (about)
Mix ingredients in the order given. Pour into an 8-inch unbaked pie shell and bake about an hour at 350 degrees.
VVV
Judy’s pie was hard to beat. She grows her own blackberries and had picked them fresh the night before! The crust was nice and flaky, and the pie not too sweet. Those blackberries were a luscious color and full of juice.
Dr. Bennett’s pie was excellent. The apples were thinly sliced so they layered well and cut cleanly when serving. His crust was light and very crisp on top — a nice crunch when tasting. In contrast, the cherry pie Beth Seimears brought was oozing with sweet cherries, and the crust was moist with a buttery flavor. That was a pie waiting for a pot of coffee!
Several Girl Scouts showed up with their pies on ice. They were trying out different recipes that involved Girl Scout cookies. Save these for next February so you can put all your Girl Scout cookies to use!
Kelsey is a senior Girl Scout from EHS Troop 30022. I could have eaten this entire pie all by myself, if I could have gotten it away from Casey.
KELSEY’S TRIPLE LAYER THIN MINT PIE
1 box Girl Scout Thin Mint
cookies (32 cookies)
3 Tbsp. melted butter
2 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O
chocolate instant pudding
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1 tub (12-oz.) Cool Whip
whipped topping, thawed, divided
Remove 10 cookies and set aside. (Now, this would be just too much temptation for me, so I think a second box would be necessary). Crush or process remaining cookies. Mix the crumbs with the butter and press mixture firmly into a 9-inch pie plate to form a crust.
Pour milk into a large bowl. Add both of the pudding mixes and whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. Mixture will be thick.
Spoon 1 1/4 cup pudding into a separate bowl and stir the peppermint extract into this. Pour over crust. To remaining pudding, mix in 1 cup of whipped topping. Spread on top of chocolate mint layer.
Chop the reserved cookies and mix them with about 2 1/2 cups of whipped topping. Spread this on top of the chocolate layer. Kelsey says the pie might look a little messy at this point, so clean up the edges.
Chill for 4 hours or until set.
To garnish, place the last of the whipped topping in a plastic zip-close bag. Snip off a corner at about one-half inch and squeeze the topping in decorative shapes around the edge of the pie. If you like, further decorate the top of the pie with thin zigzag lines by pouring a little cold chocolate syrup in another zip-close bag, snipping the corner just a tiny bit and drizzling it all over.
VVV
This next pie was a creamy, coconutty pie that we all thought must have been made with Samoas, but it was the caramel-and-coconut Caramel DeLites that formed the crust. Emily Cheever is a Brownie from Logan Avenue Troop 30027. She decorated the top of this pie with a funny face made from different cookies, and even though it got a little soupy in the heat, it was still tasty.
EMILY’S GOLD RUSH PIE
1 box Girl Scout Caramel
DeLites cookies
1 quart vanilla ice cream
3/4 cup caramel topping
Grind cookies in blender or food processor. Press mixture into a 9-inch pie plate. Fold caramel topping into softened ice cream and spoon into pie shell. Store in freezer until ready to serve. If desired, garnish with whipped topping, chocolate curls and toasted coconut.
VVV
Abby Maycock is a special kind of Girl Scout. She’s a “Juliette,” which means she’s sort of a free agent right now. As soon as she affiliates with a troop she’ll get one of the regular designations, but for now she can still participate in Scouting until she knows which troop will be best for her. Great idea!
ABBY’S BANANA
CREAM PIE
1 box Girl Scout Shortbread cookies
4 Tbsp. butter
1 small pkg. vanilla pudding
3 bananas
1 1/2 cups milk
1 small container whipped topping
Grind or process the cookies along with the butter. Press this into a 9-inch pie plate to form a crust.
Cut bananas into medium slices and lay all over the pie crust. Prepare pudding according to the directions, but use only 1 1/2 cups of milk. Pour pudding over the bananas, cover with whipped topping and garnish as desired.
VVV
Great job, everybody! Just you wait for the next cook-off July 18. It will be “Coffee Cakes.” Next week I have some ideas for the humble iceberg lettuce and after that some information on the various national cooking competitions for the State Fair.
Do you have food ideas or recipes? Send them to me at 517 Merchant St. or murphysmenu@yahoo.com. Let’s get cooking!