Thursday, July 15, 2010

Blogging and Pie

My friend Rachel has mentioned my blog to me a couple of times recently and it's made me think...hmmm I should do something about that.  I just looked at my last post and honestly didn't realize it had been since February.  Life has been interesting lately between my mother passing and our move, and I just haven't had room in my life for other things. Of course I've been baking, just not blogging about it.

As you can see I'm playing around with the template a bit.  I didn't really like how dark it felt before and wanted to change it up.  I'm still not done, so more changes to come.  I should really just make up my mind already and stick with it!

So I have a few recipes that have been on my mind.  First off, for the fourth of July I made a raspberry pie.  I usually make a mixed berry pie because that was my mom's favorite, but I decided to be crazy and do just raspberries.  Radical, I know.  Most berry pie recipes are very similar, but I wanted to try out a recipe I found online that used brown sugar instead of the traditional white sugar and I thought it turned out really nicely.

As a decorative tip, to make pretty or interesting cut out top crusts, it's really easy to use a refrigerated (gasp!) roll-out crust and go to town with your cookie cutters.  I thought it looked really cute.

Raspberry Pie
3 C Raspberries
3/4 C Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons Cornstarch

Use your favorite pie crust recipe (mine is technically a tart recipe) then place raspberries in the crust.  In a bowl mix together the sugar and cornstarch to get out all the lumps.  Pour evenly over berries.
Now from here you can leave it untopped, add a second full crust, or play around with cut-outs.
Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
I like to let my pies sit for at least a few hours so it gets a little more set up.  I don't like to eat it too runny.  And of course it's not complete without a healthy dose of freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Although this pie is not mixed berry like my mother loved, it's still a tribute to her in my way, by using her favorite pie plate and topping it with hearts.  It's a Pie O' Love.  Miss you mom!