Dream Pie come to life?!

This backlog needs to get caught up! I will do my best to crank these out. In fact, I will stick two pies in this post (because one of them I have already sort of explained).

That would be Wednesday, June 29th's pie, Chocolate Strawberry Banana Pie. Don't get your metaphorical panties in a bunch; that Monday's will follow. I'm only getting out of order because that one actually has a whole recipe with it. This one is basically just the Chocolate Pie from a couple weeks earlier (whose meringue's failure you may remember inspired an egg imbalance), but with two kinds of fruit instead of the meringue. It was pretty tasty, but the extra moisture in the fruit made the custard set in a strange way.

Back to Monday the 27th for the remaining entry in Strawberry Banana Week(-and-a-bit), a Strawberry Banana Cheesecake. This was my first attempt at a Franken-recipe, using a banana cheesecake recipe and a strawberry cheesecake recipe. I think it turned out quite well, though next time I would use significantly less lemon juice in it. The tartness overpowered the banana flavor. I will do my best to reproduce the recipe that I created.

The crust was, as usual, graham cracker. I believe I used a slightly reduced recipe from the full size, 33 cracker squares version. I'm thinking I likely went with about two-thirds or three-quarter-ish, something like 22 cracker squares and 6 tablespoons of butter with 3/4 tablespoon of sugar. Bake that bad boy at 350F for ten minutes or so.

10 oz strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Prep this strawberry stuff first. Start out by slicing the strawberries up in little pieces, then toss them with the sugar. Let them sit in a strainer over a bowl for a couple hours or so to let the juices drain out. Squish the fruit to get as much of the juice out as possible, then take the juice over medium-high heat to reduce. Puree the solids, and mix them back into the reduced juice with the lemon juice. I think it's possible I used 2 tablespoons of lemon juice instead of 2 teaspoons, which would explain the overly tart result. Who knows.

16 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream

As with any cheesecake, make sure that everything is room temp before you start. Beat the cream cheese for a bit then add the sugar. Beat those for a few minutes before adding the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Then add the bananas and beat, then half to two-thirds of the strawberry stuff and beat that. Add the vanilla and salt, beat, and finally add the sour cream and beat. Pour it into the springform over the crust, and drop little bits of the remaining strawberry stuff to make it beautiful. Pop that bad boy in the oven for about an hour, until the edges are set but the center still a little wiggly. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool in the oven.

Quite tasty. Other than reducing the lemon juice, I might also add a third banana. 'Cause bananas are delish, and the banana flavor was a little understated.

More like Slacker-brary

GEEZ I AM BAD.

A week and a half of no posts!? Punishable by death.

Well, let's just get to it. I've got a week and a half of pies to tell you about! Let's go chronologically, so this is the pie for Friday the 24th. Now, you may remember that it was Strawberry Banana Week. I know, I know, who can remember that long ago? But it was, believe me.
And Friday was the Strawberry Banana Pie. It was pretty good even though I wasn't sure how it would work. I think next time I might try to increase the fruit portion. It was a little short.
The other thing I changed from the recipe was the crumble topping. I used half as much. It was still pretty dry, which is another reason to increase the fruit.

It starts with the standard pie crust again. I blind baked it at 375F for 10 minutes or so with pie weights. It will go back in the oven, so keep the oven on.

1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon nutmeg

1/4 cup apple juice (I used apple cider because I already had some in the fridge)
1/4 cup honey
3 ripe bananas, sliced
1 cup chopped strawberries
1/2 cup sugar

The first block goes in a food processor. pulse it up until it's combined, then pop it into the fridge.

In a saucepan, heat the apple juice and honey on medium-low heat. Add the bananas, then once the honey is fully melted, add the strawberries and sugar. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until the fruit breaks down a bit and the mixture is beginning to thicken. Pour warm mixture into the crust, then sprinkle the crumble topping on top. Then back in the oven for about twenty minutes, until golden brown on top. Let cool for 30 minutes or so.

Now let's see if I can crank out the rest of these recipes for you.

The Pie of your dreams.

Well, mine. Sort of.

So after I finished my Strawberry Banana Pie (which is really just strawberry pie with bananas), I tried to watch a movie, but I fell asleep. This lead to dreams, as it often does.
However, last night was not just any dream.
It was a dream about pie.

Basically, I was baking a pie for my younger sisters, now ten and eight years old. It was a great pie, and within this week's delicious theme! I made a chocolate custard and added the sliced bananas and strawberries. Apparently my psyche realized the flavor possibilities granted by chocolate even before I did.
But it makes sense, right? Chocolate and bananas? Decadent. Chocolate and strawberries? Luscious. Chocolate and strawberries and bananas? WHOA.

So I might have to make an extramural pie this week. Unless my wonderful readers (all thirteen of you) can come up with two more ideas! Then Strawberry Banana Week can continue to next week.
I really enjoy when events defined as periods of time extend past the stated period of time. Like when Pokemon Profile Picture Month became Pokemon Profile Picture Year-and-a-half. And when Commando Week became Commando The-rest-of-my-life.

Well, back to business: Strawberry Pie plus Bananas

Now, this is sort of a repeat recipe. I'm using the Strawberry Pie I posted last year (the first one; the second one wasn't nearly as good) but with some bananas instead of half of the strawberries.

So crank out a crust, then blind bake it at 425F, ten minutes with weights, ten to fifteen without. This crust won't be getting any more cooking time, so it's gotta be all the way done.

Then, the filling:

2ish bananas
1/2 quart strawberries, mashed
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Mix the water and cornstarch to get them to combine. Also, mix the sugar into the strawberry pulp on medium heat until it boils, which shouldn't take very long. Then slowly add the cornstarch and water after mixing slightly again to make sure none of the cornstarch has settled out. Once it's all in there, cook until it thickens; prolly around ten minutes. Then line your crust with sliced bananas. I sliced mine nice and thick again, and used about two and a half sort of small bananas. Then pour the strawberry goop on top, and let cool. You could even chill it.

Pretty simple, right? I think it would be good with some whipped cream.

Oh, I just thought of another possibility for Strawberry Banana Week!! Cheesecake! Occasionally Cheesecake Mondays being a thing and all, why not?

Strawberry Banana week! Monday: banana plus strawberry

So my roommate Chris has been getting adventurous with pies this summer as well. He asked me a week or so ago if I had come across a Strawberry Banana Pie recipe. It's one of the most common fruit combos out there, and there ought to be a pie, right?! Well, it's proven sort of tough to find a recipe I could get behind that wasn't just one or the other with some extra fruit. Chris eventually found one that, while I have my reservations about, looks like it might work.

We begin, then, with a Strawberry Banana Cream Pie. Basically a Banana Cream Pie plus Strawberries.

I used a graham cracker crust, which I think was a poor choice. I mean, usually when I try to pack a graham cracker crust in a pie plate, it doesn't quite work out. I reduced the recipe as follows, so it would at least fit in the plate, but it soaked up some liquid from the pie innards, and it's just not a graham cracker crust without the crunch! So I think next time I would go with a standard pie crust, baked at 425F for ten minutes with weights, then ten or so more without, to crisp it up.

Then, custard!

2 cups whole milk
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter

The recipe I used (at least for the custard) is a little complex. In my experience, you can just throw the stuff together in a pan and cook on medium heat, stirring constantly. Then after it thickens, take it off the heat and add the butter and vanilla. Stir again until completely incorporated.

Then slice some bananas and line the bottom of the crust. I cut my bananas pretty thick, and used about one and a half nanners. Then I put some custard on top, then sliced some strawberries nice and thick and made a layer of those. Then some more custard, and then some whipped cream. If you remember the whipped cream from last summer, that's the good stuff.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. I JUST fixed the egg imbalance. Now I've posted two more yolk-heavy recipes! Oh well. I'll figure it out. Don't let it keep you up at night.