I've been trying to make a recipe a week with Jellybean. She really enjoys being in the kitchen so I'm trying to continually give her opportunities. Shortly after the baby came home, she decided that she wanted to make a strawberry pie. As luck would have it, my mother had a pretty good recipe that I thought Jellybean could help a lot with. So we got to work.
We needed to make a graham cracker crust first. We could have gone store bought, but what three year old doesn't enjoy crushing up graham crackers? I put some in a bag, handed the rolling pin to her and let her go to town.
I helped a little, but she did a pretty fine job of making graham cracker crumbs. It was also a good way of working on rolling with the pin.
Then we worked on stirring. I poured in the melted butter and sugar while she stirred.
Then I let her press the crumbs into the pie plate. I put the crust into the oven and then got distracted and didn't hear the timer go off (a very common problem lately). No real harm done, the crust was mighty tough though. I wouldn't recommend an over-baked crust unless you have a jack-hammer on hand.
While the crust cooled, I whipped up some Dream Whip and cream cheese and then I helped Jellybean cut up some strawberries. This was my first attempt at letting her use a knife. A butter knife was sufficient for cutting the strawberries and appropriate for her age. We talked a lot about knife safety and about keeping fingers away from the blade. Also, about the difference between this knife and Mommy's knives in the drawer that she isn't allowed to use.
Once the strawberries were all cut up, I filled the shell with the Dream Whip mixture and let her line the top with the strawberries. She was pretty proud of herself.
Last step, Danish Dessert. I couldn't find any in the store, so I settled for a Lighthouse Strawberry Glaze. It was essentially the same thing. I dolloped the glaze on the pie and Jellybean spread it around.
After a little decoration, the pie was complete.
This was a perfect recipe to put together with my Little Chef. She was able to help with almost every step. The pie was delicious (better the next day after the over-baked crust had softened a bit). Such a fun, simple recipe, too.
Here's the recipe to try with your little chef:
Strawberry Pie
Ingredients:
1 Graham Cracker crust (store bought or homemade)
1 Box Dream Whip
1 1/4 Cup Sugar (and a little extra to sprinkle on strawberries)
1 Cup Cold Milk
2 tsp. Vanilla
Cream Cheese (softened)
Strawberries (halved)
Strawberry Danish Dessert or Pre-packaged Strawberry Glaze
Method:
Whip two envelopes Dream Whip with sugar, milk and vanilla. Then incorporate the softened cream cheese. Pour mixture into cooled graham cracker crust.
Halve strawberries and sprinkle with sugar. Top pie with strawberries. Glaze top with cooled Danish Dessert or strawberry glaze. Add more whipped topping and strawberries if desired.
One of the nice things about having more cupboard space is that I can finally purchase some kitchen gadgets that I've been wanting and actually have somewhere to put them. So, last week I finally purchased myself an ice cream maker. I was in a hurry to make some ice cream, but didn't have the correct ingredients. I did however, have 3 very important ingredients for making some frozen yogurt.
Only 3 ingredients and oh my goodness was it delicious. Sweet, tangy and especially yummy with graham crackers crumbled on top. In fact, I'm thinking this would make a fantastic frozen pie. just pour it in graham cracker crust then top with a few more crumbs and fresh strawberries.
Strawberry Frozen Yogurt w/Graham Cracker Topping 3 6oz containers of plain greek yogurt (I used the Chobani brand, it's my favorite) 1 small carton Fresh Strawberries ( I didn't actually use the entire carton, as my strawberries had almost reached the end of their freshness.) 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
Prep strawberries by cutting them each in half and placing them in your food processor. Process for a few seconds until nicely pulverized. Mix strawberries, condensed milk and yogurt together in a small bowl. Now just follow the manufacturer's instructions on your ice cream maker. Crush some graham crackers for topping and enjoy! We definitely did.
My sister's rhubarb went nuts this year. So nuts that she cut a ridiculous amount for me and kept a ridiculous amount for herself. Neither of us had ever cooked with rhubarb. So we were left asking the question: What do we do with all of this rhubarb?
We decided to do a rhubarb pie bake-off. Of course.
We chose two different recipes. I enjoy a tart pie, so when I ran across a recipe for a raspberry rhubarb pie, I knew that was the ticket.
My sister opted for a more classic combination; a strawberry rhubarb pie. She decided to replace the double pastry crust with a graham cracker crust. This is an ideal substitution if you are trying to bake a pie while caring for a colicky baby (read: a baby that was crying all-day-long) and while potty training a two year old.
The Contenders
Raspberry Rhubarb
Strawberry Rhubarb
Because we are both highly experienced in the field of eating. We got together to sample and to critique the results of our labors. We discovered that both recipes were delicious, but both had some drawbacks. Here's the break down of the pros and cons to each recipe. (Links for recipes to follow)
Raspberry Rhubarb Pie:
Pros:
This pie is full of personality. The double pastry crust was buttery, flaky and suited the filling well. This was a fairly tart pie and the flavor had quite a bit of depth. We felt that the cinnamon was an interesting compliment to the raspberries. Beyond the rhubarb, this pie called for very few ingredients that weren't already in my cupboard. Major points for that.
Cons:
The subtle notes of the rhubarb were a bit overwhelmed by the raspberries. Plus, I'm not always a fan of raspberry seeds. Also, the crust was a bit of a pain to roll out.
Bottom line:
A nice, tart, enjoyable pie. Worth the effort that went into it.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:
Pros:
The flavor is sweet, tangy and pleasant. Strawberries are wonderful paired with rhubarb. The addition of the graham cracker crust added sweetness and made for more of a cobbler effect. The graham cracker also added a nice texture. Like the other pie, very few ingredients were needed from the store to make this recipe possible.
Cons:
This pie is sweet, but lacks some depth of flavor. We suspect that adding the optional orange zest would help with this. The graham cracker substitution needed some more tweaking as the crust turned out on the soggy side. My sister is still unsure of why arrowroot is preferable to a cheaper thickener like cornstarch.
Bottom line:
Definitely a sweet treat. With a little tweaking to the crust, this would be an amazing pie.
Just a word to the wise, both pies demanded vanilla ice cream. Okay, without further ado, here are the recipes: -Raspberry Rhubarb Pie taken from Gourmet. Go there to find a dozen more rhubarb recipes that look and sound wonderful.
