Surprise pies?

While I was working on the Rhubarb Cheesecake yesterday, some friends offered to drive me out to the supermarket, in case I needed some things. Being that I didn't know what I would need in the coming days (since I have yet to plan out any of the pies I'm baking), I declined. But when they offered to pick up ten bucks of SURPRISE PIE INGREDIENTS, I was intrigued. They obviously had a lot of fun picking things out, and after hearing some of their ridiculous ideas (including cleaning supplies (???) and energy drinks), I was excited about what they did bring back. I'll let you know when I use them in the pies to come.

In other news, I baked a pie yesterday!

Wait, you probably knew that...

Anyway, the recipe I used on allrecipes.com had a flour/butter/sugar mixture for the crust that I was doubtful of, so I went with the good ol' standby graham cracker crust. I've realized that the graham cracker crust I posted last year was flawed, so here's the one I used yesterday, straight from Alton Brown's cheesecake recipe.

33 graham cracker squares
1 stick butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar

Put the graham crackers in a ziplock bag, and pound them with whatever you prefer to smack things with. I just punch 'em. Then transfer them to a large bowl and mix in the sugar and butter. Spread about a third of the crumbs on a baking sheet and press the other two thirds in the bottom of a springform pan. Bake both at 300F for about ten minutes.

The filling comes in three bowls. As long as your cream cheese is at a nice warm room temperature and the rhubarb is already chopped, they all mix up while the previous step is in the oven. However, the oven temperature changes each time, so after the crust is done, raise the temperature to 375F and let it preheat.

Bowl One:

3 cups chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour

Toss 'em all together, put them onto the crust, and pop 'em in the oven for fifteen minutes. Reduce the oven to 350F after the fifteen minutes are up, but in the meantime...

Bowl Two:

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

Beat the cream cheese with the sugar until it's creamy, then add the eggs one at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition is combined, and beat for a few seconds after the last scrape-down. As soon as the fifteen minutes from the last step are up and you lower the temp, pour Bowl Two's mixture onto the rhubarb and pop it back in for 30 or 35 minutes, until set.

Bowl Three:

1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

You can prolly wait twenty minutes or so before mixing this one up, because it's pretty quick. Once Bowl Two's cooking phase is done, turn off your oven and pour Bowl Three on top. Spread it all out, then pop it into the fridge to cool.

I'll let you know how it goes over!