Blueberry Pie

Sweet, juicy berries baked in a flaky crust.  Delightful.

4 cups fresh blueberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 t. fresh lemon zest
2 T. fresh lemon juice

Pie dough

Preheat oven to 400º.  Roll out crust and fit into a pie plate.  Roll out the rest of the crust and cut into 1/2-inch wide strips with a pizza cutter or knife.

In a large bowl, toss the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Pour berry mixture into the pie shell.  Weave a lattice over the top with the pastry strips. Trim and crimp them to the bottom crust.  Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 400º for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 350º and continue to bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the berries are bubbly and the crust is golden.  Tent with foil if the crust is getting too brown. This pie is like apple pie, when the filling bubbles up and over (and makes a mess of the oven) then it is finished.  I like to put a baking tray on the rack below to catch drips.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Thanks, Heather, for another great recipe.


Just so you know:

Before it's rolled: DOUGH
After it's rolled: PASTRY
After it's baked: CRUST

Yummy Apple Dip

Heather made this yummy apple dip that you might like to try.  It is EASY.  For one Sunday dinner, Chelsea brought apples and dip for the appetizer and it tasted very refreshing.

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. lemon juice

Beat cream cheese well.  Add sugars a little at a time.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Optional: add toffee bits.

Gingersnap Coconut Creams

"When Christmas is around the corner, we want gingerbread and macaroons.  I combine the two for gingersnap sandwhiches filled with sweet coconut." Darlene Brenden Salem, Or field Editor TasteofHome.com  Dec. 2014  pg. 44 recipe

I was curious about this recipe since I love gingerbread and Matt loves coconut.  Also this recipe is smaller scale than my normal gingersnap cookie with a kiss that dad likes so much.  Win - Win
I loved the sandwhich cookie idea and filling inside is GOOD.

 Prep: 35 Min.
Bake: 10./batch + cooling
Makes: (I made about 18 complete cookies using small cookie scoop...recipes says 4 dozen?)

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses (I used dark molasses and I think that is why my cookies turned out darker than magazine pic)
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

FILLING:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp. orange extract (didn't have orange but used coconut and it was great - a citrus hint would be fun to try too, but I think I'll stick with coconut extract!)
1/4 cup flaked coconut

1) Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and molasses.  In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves; gradually beat into creamed mixture.

2) Drop dough by level teaspoonfuls 1 in apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  Bake cookies 6-8 minutes or just until edges begin to brown.  Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

3)  For coconut filling, in a small bowl, mix butter, confectioners' sugar and orange extract until blended; stir in coconut.  Spread on bottoms of half of the cookies; cover with remaining cookies.

per sandwhich cookie 58 cal., 3 g fat (2 g. sat. fat), 10 mg. chol., 50 mg sodium, 8 g carb., trace fiber, 1 g pro.