Patriotic Pie

This pie is kind of a challenge to make, but it is so cute that it is worth the effort once a year.

Patriotic Pie

Crust for double crust pie
1 large can cherry pie filling
1 small can blueberry pie filling
milk
sanding sugar
plastic sheet from a bacon package

Cut plastic tray so it can be folded into a wedge shape. Taper edges to fit against the side of the pie pan.
Place bottom crust in pie pan. Place plastic in pie pan so that it separates the upper left fourth of the pie from the rest. Fill the upper left corner with blueberry pie filling.Fill the rest of the pie shell with cherry pie filling. Gently remove the plastic piece.

Roll out top crust, cut into ½ inch strips and about 7 1 inch stars. Arrange the strips to be stripes over the cherry filling. Trim and flute edges. Place the stars on the blueberry filling. Brush stripes and stars with milk and sprinkle sanding sugar on top.

Bake for 10 minutes at 425º then reduce heat to 350º and continue to bake for about 30-35 minutes or until light golden brown.

Meat Pies

 For the first couple of years of our marriage we didn’t have a washing machine. We did our laundry every Saturday at Allan's mother's house. I would go to my mom's house on Wednesday's to wash diapers in her wringer washing machine (but that's a different story). We would usually eat dinner with Allan's family on Saturday evening. His mom almost always served Morrison Meat Pies. Allan grew up eating them. I had never heard of them before I met Allan. When Allan's dad was growing up, the Morrison Meat Pies factory was across the street from his school, Lincoln Junior High on State Street.  He would quite often stop there on his way home from school to get a meat pie, for a nickel, for a snack. So, Morrison Meat Pies were a long standing Strong family tradition. We always eat them covered with  Campbell's vegetable soup. Some people serve them with chile or with gravy. A few years ago, the Morrison Meat Pies factory company went out of business. Allan was very disappointed and went on a quest for the perfect meat pie recipe. After much trial and error, this is what we came up with.

Scotch Meat Pies

Crust

2 cups flour

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg yolk (for egg wash)

Filling

1 small onion (chopped)

1 teaspoon butter

1 pound lean ground beef

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

4 saltine crackers crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 4 4” ramekins or spring form pans with cooking spray.

Put Flour in a mixing bowl, form a small well in the middle.

Place water, butter and salt in a pan and bring to a boil.

Carefully pour water mixture into flour. Stir until flour is wet.

When cool enough to handle, knead flour mixture just long enough to mix completely.

Set aside 1/4 of the dough. Form the rest into four balls. Place in fridge until the meat mixture is done.

Sauté onions in butter. 

Mix with raw hamburger, salt, pepper and cracker crumbs in a bowl and set aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator and roll each small dough ball in to a circle large enough to cover the bottom sides of the ramekins.

Roll the larger ball of dough into a larger circle. Use a ramekin or four inch cutter to cut into four circles. Set aside.

Add 1/4 of the meat mixture to each dough lined  ramekin, making sure meat is pressed into the corners.

Top with the pastry rounds. Pinch sides and top together to seal.

Brush top with egg wash and cut a small vent hole in the center.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until it reaches a temperature of 160 degrees.

Serve with vegetable soup, chile or gravy.

Grandma Fern Miller Strong's Banana Cream Pie

 This is Allan's grandmother Strong's recipe for banana cream pie. It includes instructions for coconut and pineapple variations.note that the amounts of some of the ingredients in the pineapple pie are different.

 GRANDMA FERN MILLER STRONG’S BANANA CREAM PIE

2 Eggs

1 Cup Sugar

1/8 tsp Salt

2 Tbsp Flour, Heaping

2 Cups Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Prepared Pie Crust, Cooked  

 In a heavy saucepan, beat the eggs. Mix in the Flour, Sugar, and Salt. Stir in the milk gradually. Cook until it comes to a boil, is thick, and smooth. Start at medium heat and gradually turn it up to medium high, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and add the Vanilla. Pour at once into a prepared pie crust. Let it cool on the counter top and refrigerate before serving. Top with whipped cream.

For Coconut Cream  add 2 1⁄2 Tbsp of Coconut. 

For Pineapple Cream use 1 small can of crushed Pineapple, 1 cup Water, 1 cup Milk, 1 Tbsp Cornstarch, and 1 tsp Lemon extract.

Grandma Fern Miller Strong's Butterscotch Pie

 Grandma Diane Strong made pie for dessert almost every Sunday. I believe it was a tradition started by Allan's grandmother, Fern Miller Strong. When Grandma (Diane) Strong got older she started making cake instead of pie most weeks. She used Fern Strong's recipes when she made pies.

GRANDMA FERN MILLER STRONG’S BUTTERSCOTCH PIE

1⁄4 Cup Butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar 1 Cup Water

1 Cup Milk

2 Eggs

3 Tbsp Flour

1 1⁄2 Tbsp Cornstarch

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Prepared Pie Crust, Cooked

In a heavy saucepan, melt the Butter over medium heat. Add the Brown Sugar and Water. While that is cooking mix together the Milk, Eggs, Flour, and Cornstarch. Stir it into the Butter mixture and cook on medium high until it comes to a boil, is smooth, and thick. Stir constantly. Remove it from the heat and add the Vanilla.

Pour it into the pie crust and let it cool on the counter top. Refrigerate it overnight or 2-3 hours before serving. Top with Whipped cream.

Boiled Raisin Cake

 Allan's mother made this every year for Thanksgiving when Allan was young. She stopped making it when she quit hosting Thanksgiving dinner. We started hosting Thanksgiving when she stopped and for several years she didn’t make it. One year Allan mentioned that it had been one of his favorite memories of Thanksgiving. She brought it every year after that. It made in loaf pans and is really more of a bread than a cake.

Boiled Raisins Cake

1 lb. Raisins

2 cups sugar

3 cups water

Bring to a boil. Boil 3 minutes and add rest of ingredients.

1 cup shortening

4 cups flour

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Soda

1 tsp. Cloves

1 tsp. Nutmeg

1 cup nuts

Grease and flour 3 small loaf pans. Pour batter into pans

Bake at 375 60 minutes.

Cool and top with chocolate frosting.

Marshmallow Cream Sauce

 This tastes exactly like marshmallow cream only stickier and runnier.  It will separate when it is stored for a while, but you just need to warm it up in the microwave for a minute and stir it up and it is just fine

Marshmallow Sauce

• 1 cup ( 8floz/225ml) water divided
• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups (12oz/340g) sugar
• 1 cup (10oz/283g) light corn syrup ( there is no substitute for corn syrup)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  
• Place half of the water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle over the teaspoon of unflavored gelatin, set aside.
  
• Put the remaining water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a small saucepan. Allow the sugar to dissolve over medium-low heat. You can gently swirl the pan to help the sugar dissolve but do not stir as this can cause the syrup to crack. Once the sugar has dissolved simmer undisturbed over medium heat until the syrup reaches soft ball stage or 240°F (115°C) when read on a candy thermometer. 
  
• Next, pour the hot mixture into the bowl with the bloomed gelatin mixture. Whip on a low speed for two minutes to cool down the mixture. Once cool and slightly frothy add vanilla, and whip on high speed for 10-12 minutes, until the mixture is thick, white, and fluffy. 
  
• Store Marshmallow Sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for 8 weeks. 

Toasted Coconut Syrup

 Almost everyone likes this syrup. A couple of people in my family are allergic to coconut, so they don’t like it. But it is some of my kid’s favorite.

Coconut Cream Syrup

• 14 oz coconut milk
• 1 1/2 C butter
• 3 C granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup Toasted coconut

        Combine the coconut milk, butter, sugar and syrup in a LARGE sauce pan.

• Bring the mixture to a boil on medium heat and boil for 5 mins, stirring constantly.
  
• Remove it from the heat and continue stirring and add the vanilla and baking soda (the mixture will get HUGE when you add the soda, just keep stirring and it will go back down).
  
• Serve when warm, pour on pancakes. (keep excess refrigerated)