Monday, August 27, 2007

Pie



A pie is a baked food, with a baked shell usually made of pastry that covers or completely contains a filling of fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, cheeses, creams, chocolate, custards, nuts, or other sweet or savoury ingredients. Pies can be either "one-crust," where the filling is placed in a dish and covered with a pastry/potato mash top before baking, or "two-crust," with the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Some pies have only a bottom crust, generally if they have a sweet filling that does not require cooking. These bottom-crust-only pies may be known as tarts or tartlets. An example of a bottom-crust-only pie that is savoury rather than sweet is a quiche. Tarte Tatin is a one-crust fruit pie that is served upside-down, with the crust underneath. Blind-baking is used to develop a crust's crispiness, and keep it from becoming soggy under the burden of a very liquid filling. If the crust of the pie requires much more cooking than the chosen filling, it may also be blind-baked before the filling is added and then only briefly cooked or refrigerated. Pie fillings range in size from tiny bite-size party pies or small tartlets, to single-serve pies (e.g. a pasty) and larger pies baked in a dish and eaten by the slice. The type of pastry used depends on the filling. It may be either a butter-rich flaky or puff pastry, a sturdy shortcrust pastry, or, in the case of savoury pies, a hot water crust pastry.
Occasionally the term pie is used to refer to otherwise unrelated confections containing a sweet or savoury filling, such as Eskimo pie or moon pie.
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Ginger Dandy Apple Pie Preparation..
From Not Your Average Pie
Serves 8 to 10Active: 30 min/Total: 1 3⁄4 hr

Planning Tip: This pie is best the day it’s baked, but it can be refrigerated, covered, up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature to serve.
1 box (15 oz) refrigerated ready-to-bake pie crusts3⁄4 cup sugar3 Tbsp cornstarch1⁄2 cup golden raisins1⁄3 cup chopped crystallized ginger2 tsp grated lime peelAbout 7 medium (2 3⁄4 lb) Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Braeburn or Northern Spy apples2 Tbsp fresh lime juice2 Tbsp cold stick butter, cut up2 tsp each milk and sugar

1. Place oven rack in lowest position. Heat to 375°F. Have ready a 9-in. deep-dish pie plate, 1-in.-long teardrop-shaped cookie cutter (or other 1-in. cookie cutter) and a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.
2. Fit 1 crust into pie plate. Unroll or unfold remaining crust on work surface. Using cookie cutter, cut about 10 teardrops from crust. Reserve teardrops.
3. Mix sugar, cornstarch, raisins, ginger and lime peel in a large bowl.
4. Peel, halve, core and cut apples in 1⁄4-in.-thick wedges. Add apples and lime juice to bowl; toss gently to mix and coat. Spread in pie plate, tucking in apples to fit. Scrape any juices in bowl over apples; dot with butter. Top with crust with cutouts. Gently press edges together, turn under and flute, if desired. Brush crust with milk. Decoratively place dough teardrops on crust; brush with milk. Sprinkle pie with sugar.
5. Bake 1 1⁄4 hours or until apples are tender when pierced through a teardrop opening, juices bubble and crust is golden brown. (If top browns too quickly, drape loosely with foil.) Remove to a wire rack to cool. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.


Per serving (for 9):

427 cal, 1 g pro, 74 g car, 3 g fiber, 15 g fat (7 g sat fat), 15 mg chol, 203 mg sod



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