Lately life’s been so busy! Seems like that’s the way it is for so many people these days. Your weeks fly by and your days are packed as much possible that “has” to be done. A lot of people are not just working 40-hour workweeks, but 50 or 60 hours a week. So that makes being able to relax on the weekends with friends even more appreciated. But with our work lives being so busy, it’s hard to “find the time” to prepare meals for company.
In light of that, I’ve included a lot of easy, do-ahead entrées in this blog that I like to serve to company. I’ve also POSTED a lot of desserts on this blog. You notice pretty quickly if you check out this blog that I like to bake desserts. But today I thought I’d post a couple more. These are for a couple of pies that are super-easy do-ahead desserts. If you work all during the week, you can make these pies up on a Thursday or Friday after work and they’re ready for a Saturday night dinner. They’re still homemade, but they’re not much work at all.
These are recipes I modified a bit from the 2001 Best of Country Pies cookbook.
BLUEBERRY CREAM PIE
Crust:
2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
½ tsp. vanilla extract
Filling:
½ cup granulated sugar
3/8 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
2 cups half-and-half (or 1 cup whole milk and 1 cup heavy cream)
5 large egg yolks, beaten slightly in a small bowl
6 T. butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Topping:
1 21-oz. can blueberry pie filling (cherry pie filling is also good!)
Combine the crust ingredients and press onto the bottom and sides of a deep dish 9-inch pie pan. Bake for about 10 minutes in 375 degree oven, until crust starts to brown slightly. Remove from oven and cool.
For filling, combine sugar, flour and salt in a medium-sized saucepan. Whisk in cream and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Lower heat and simmer 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and whisk half of the cooked mixture into egg yolks. Return this mixture to pan, mixing it with the rest of the pudding mixture. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more—until mixture mounds when dropped from a spoon. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Stir well. Spoon into crust. Put some plastic wrap on top to prevent a skin forming on pudding. Refrigerate at least 1-2 hours—until pudding layer is cooled and set. Then top with pie filling. Keep refrigerated until serving time.
KEY LIME PIE
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
½ cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup butter, melted
3 cans (14 oz. each) sweetened condensed milk
5 egg yolks
2 cups lime juice
Whipped cream for garnish
Combine graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and butter in bowl. Press into the bottom and sides of two 9-inch, lightly-greased pie plates. In mixing bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and lime juice and beat with a mixer a couple minutes, until thickened and smooth. Pour into crusts. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 22-25 minutes, until set. Chill in refrigerator several hours. Garnish with whipped cream.
To whip cream, whip 1 ½ cups heavy whipped cream with 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla and some whipped cream stabilizer (I use a packet of “Whip-It.”). Pipe onto pie.
Enjoy!
~Becky
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