This is my catch up month. I have two pies to share with you in this issue. I made the April French Silk Pie recipe for Easter, so I couldn’t put it in the April issue. I’ve been running a month behind with my pies, but the fresh strawberries at the market convinced me it was time to make the May Strawberry Rhubarb pie. It was a lot of work, but it feels great to be back on track.
For April, I made a French Silk Pie. Here is the link for the recipe: https://www.shugarysweets.com/french-silk-pie/. It has wonderful step by step directions and helpful tips. It’s important to add the eggs one at a time and beat for 5 minutes at high speed before adding another egg. It’s a total of 20 minutes, but it’s a game changer. This is what gives your filling its silky texture, so no shortcuts.
I followed the directions exactly and I’m so glad I did because this pie is amazing.
For the whipped topping, I used Trader Joe’s shelf stable whipping cream and I did not add sugar because the unflavored cream adds a nice balance to this sweet pie.
As per the recipe, I melted chocolate morsels, spread them on waxed paper, rolled it up and put the roll in the waxed paper in the refrigerator to cool. The idea is to crumple the cold chocolate and it breaks into curls to decorate the top of the pie. I made my layer of chocolate too thick, but the idea still worked and I didn’t have to spend a few hours in the Emergency room of my local hospital like the last time I made chocolate curls for a French Silk pie.
I used the basic vanilla wafer crust recipe with a twist. Instead of Vanilla wafers, I used a box of Nabisco Chocolate Teddy Graham’s and I made the decision not to add any additional sugar. The crust was delicious with a rich chocolate flavor. The texture of the crust was perfect because the cookies have enough sugar in them. This is probably the most delicious crust I’ve made for this series.
Vanilla Wafer Crust
For May, I made a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and I used a buttery flour crust recipe. It’s been awhile since I’ve made a flour crust. My go to recipe from my mother is for a lard crust – it’s delicious, light and flaky, but I opted for a slightly healthier recipe I found online. The crust mixture combined easily and after being refrigerated, the dough rolled out easily. Little confession – I couldn’t find my rolling pin (my kitchen is tiny, so I have items I don’t use daily stored in other locations), so to avoid wasting time locating it, I improvised by using a plastic bottle. Trust me - if you can roll dough easily with a plastic bottle, it’s great dough! The crust was flaky and delicious and I will use this recipe whenever I need to make a flour crust.
Homemade Buttery Flaky Pie Crust – here is the link to Sally's Baking Addiction:
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/baking-basics-homemade-buttery-flaky-pie-crust/
The Strawberry Rhubarb Pie recipe I used was also from Sally’s Baking Addiction:
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/strawberry-rhubarb-pie/
Our regular grocery store didn’t have fresh or canned rhubarb and I didn’t feel comfortable checking multiple stores, so I ordered canned rhubarb online. I would have preferred to work with fresh rhubarb and I will definitely make this recipe again when I can find some. I omitted the white sugar, but not the brown sugar in the recipe since there is cane sugar in the canned rhubarb in strawberry sauce. I followed the other directions exactly. I didn’t have plain coarse ground sugar to sprinkle on top of the pie, so I used the green sugar sprinkles I put on my Christmas cookies.
This pie is delicious - not too sweet and just the right amount of tartness. The cornstarch helps the pie filling `gel nicely and keeps it from being soggy like some other fruit pie fillings. I served it with fresh whipped cream.
The directions are. Clear and the anecdotal info on the site is interesting. I’ll be going back to Sally’s Baking Addiction for more recipes.
Send your recipes and original photos to Fran at This Awful Awesome Life. My email is fran.thisawfulawesomelife@gmail.com. On the subject heading of your email, Please include your name and Pie of the month: ex. Pat Jones - April: French Silk Pie. You can send them a month before the feature month or during the month and I’ll feature them in the next month’s issue. The sooner the better. If you love to bake, you can contribute each month. In December, we will select one lucky baker who will receive a gift from Pampered Chef.
The 12 Months of Pie
January – Cream pie: Banana or Coconut
February – Cherry Pie
March – Lemon Meringue Pie
April – French Silk Pie
May – Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
June – Razzleberry Pie
July – Blueberry Pie
August – Peach Pie
September – Key Lime Pie
October – Apple Pie
November – Pumpkin Pie
December – Pecan Pie