When life gives you lemons, make lemon custard pie

Last Thursday I attended Fresno's Food Expo. It featured produce, food products and beverages from the central valley. It's amazing at how many things come from the valley: fruits, vegetables, cheese, milk, tortillas, beef, and wine. I came home with Buddy's Farm Fresh Lemons from Trinity Fruit Sales.

I went back to my Taste of Home pie recipe cards and found a Lemon Custard pie recipe. I used two lemons from the pouch of lemons. The pie lemon taste is not very strong; it is sweet enjoyable.

Lemon Custard Pie

unbaked pie shell

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon butter, softened

2 eggs, separated

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

whipped cream, lemon and mint, optional

Beast sugar and butter until well blended.

Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each.

Add the milk, flour and salt; mix well.

Stir in lemon juice and zest; set aside.

In a clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; gently fold into lemon mixture.

Pour into pie shell. Bake at 325 degrees 45 minutes to an hour or until lightly browned and a knife inserted the center comes out clean.

Cool. Garnish. Enjoy!

Eat my...Chocolate Pie

The Help has been receiving much recognition. As of last week, I hadn't seen it. The night before the Oscar's I made it a movie night to watch The Help. Then I understood the popularity of this movie. A story about respect, dreams, friendships and...food. I was cheering for The Help throughout the awards show. Unfortunately, they didn't win best movie but congrats to Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress. My favorite part of the movie was when Minny told Hilly "Eat my shit," as Hilly ate her pie. As soon as that scene happened, I knew what my next blog post was about...Chocolate Pie!

The chocolate pie recipe is from my Taste of Home recipe cards. The Chocolate Silk Pie is a baked pie crust, creamy chocolate pudding, and a layer of whipped cream. I skipped on the thick layer of whipped cream. In my opinion, I thought just a dollop of whipped cream was sufficient.

Chocolate Pie

1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches) (I made my own from my Cake Boss book)

1 jar (7oz) marshmallow creme

1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter, cubed

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee

1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Optional

Whipping Cream

Chocolate curls

1. Line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack.

2. Meanwhile, in a heavy saucepan, combine the marshmallow creme, chocolate chips, butter, unsweetened chocolate and coffee; cook and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Cool. Fold in whipped cream; pour into crust.

3. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls if desired.

After watching The Help, I was also inspired in making these sugar cookies with royal icing decoration. Hope you like them!

Frosty Lime Pie

Do you ever find yourself buying a recipe book and never use it? I've done this in the past. Last summer I bought the cupcake and pie recipe cards books from taste of home. I am determined to try at least half of the recipes in these books. So far I've tried pie recipes but not any cupcake recipes. Maybe I should make this my New Year resolution. We'll see how far I get.

Lately I've been hearing that this is the season for citrus. I went through my recipe cards for pies and found a "Frosty Key Lime Pie."
I prefer recipes that don't have too many fancy ingredients and is easy to make. This one seemed to do the trick. It only involves 4 ingredients!

1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
6 tablespoons key lime juice (I used 2 regular limes)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)

1. Combine milk and lime juice until smooth.
2. Whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Remove 1/4 cup of the whipping cream and refrigerate to use as a topping.
3. Fold a fourth of the whipping cream with the milk and lime juice mixture. Fold until it becomes smooth. Then fold in remaining whipping cream.
4. Pour into the pie crust. Cover and freeze overnight.
5. Remove the pie 30 minutes before serving so that it becomes easier to cut. Garnish with the whipped cream you have saved in the refrigerator and enjoy!

The pie is very tasty with a well balance of citrus and sweetness. Not too sweet, not too sour. It has a creamy texture to satisfy your dessert craving after lunch.