Cup Pie Flavors of the Month: Winter 2010

You just can't beat this lovely little Christmas pie treat; it's got all the right flavors, is rich and creamy with a little peppermint spice to jazz it up. Santa will love this Christmas recipe!

1 candy cane double pie crust recipe (or use your favorite plain pie crust recipe if you don't want the candy cane flavor)
1- 4.6 oz package of white chocolate cook and serve pudding mix
1 1/2 cups eggnog
2 tsp rum or rum extract
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups of freshly whipped cream or your favorite whipped topping
Garnish: whipped cream, colored sugar crystals, whole mini candy canes, etc

Pre-baking pie cup crusts:

Prepare your cup pie crusts and chill them 15 minutes. Poke holes on the bottom of the cup pie pastries for venting.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put a paper muffin cup inside each pie cup. Fill the paper cups half-way with pie weights or dried beans. Put the pie cup crusts into the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool 5 minutes. Remove the paper muffin cups and beans. Return the crusts to the oven for 10 to 20 minutes until fully baked, browned and beautiful. Do not over-bake. Allow them to cool fully to room temperature, at least 2 hours.

Making the Filling:

Pour eggnog into a medium pot and set on medium heat. Add nutmeg and pudding mix.. Stir continuously until mixture thickens and begins to boil. Remove from heat and stir in extract. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Fold whipped cream into pudding mixture. Spoon or pipe mixture generously into cooled, pre-baked candy cane cup pie crusts. Garnish for the perfect little Christmas pie dessert.

My Own Invention!: Candy Cane Crust Recipe:
(makes 6 to 8 cup pies
2 All-Purpose cups flour
4 regular sized candy canes
(or 8 mini canes)
6 tbsp vegetable shortening
6 tbsp butter
4 to 7 tbsp water
Pinch of salt

Put the candy canes in a bag or grinder and crush them until they are mostly a fine powder, with a few small chips and chunks still visible. Whisk it with your chilled flour and salt. Cut in your butter & shortening. Add chilled water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together nicely... for more tips on crust making and preparing cup pies in muffin tins, see my main Cup Pie lens.

I don't know about you, but after all of that holiday sweetness, I needed something savory. These rich, creamy savory pies are not just excellent for dessert, but make a great mini pie side dishes to go with your dinner or tote to the pot luck. They also make an excellent, easy take-along lunch!

1 pie crust recipe for double crust
1 egg yolk
tablespoon of water
4 Medium Sweet White Onions
1 stick sweet cream butter
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher or Hawaiian salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup bacon bits plus more for garnish

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Prepare your pie cup crust rounds into your muffin pan. One double-crust recipe should give you 6 to 8 pie cups, depending on how think it's rolled and how wide the edges. Flatten and crimp the edges of the crust down against the pan.

Beat the egg yolk with a tablespoon of water and brush them all over the inside and edges of the cup pie crusts. Refrigerate them.

Cut each onion in half, from stem end to tip. Peel and slice them into very thin half-circles. Put the butter in a large pan on medium heat with the onions. Sweat the onions for a few minutes, until they are soft and translucent. Remove them from the heat.

Mix the eggs, sour cream, flour, 1/2 cup of cheese and the 1/2 cup of bacon bits (I like to use the real bacon bits, but you can use the imitation ones, the vegetarian ones, or finely chopped home-cooked bacon). Scoop the mixture into the pie crusts, heaping it in.** Sprinkle the top with remaining cheese and a few bacon bits.

Spray the dull side of a sheet of foil with nonstick cooking spray and lay it over the cup pies. Put the pies into the oven for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 350, remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or so, until the crust is browned and the filling is set.

Remove them from the oven; you can serve them hot or cold; top with a little sour cream and some chopped chives for a nice presentation.

** If you have any onion mixture left over, it's great to mix with cubed par-boiled potatoes in a baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 until the potatoes are thoroughly cooked and the onion mixture is set.

Where I live, February is strawberry season. Huge, perfect, luscious, red ripe berries start to go down in price and become available all over. It's gotten so that Valentine's Day doesn't feel complete without some kind of red strawberry snack.

1 double-crust pie crust recipe
5 quarts strawberries (frozen or fresh)
1 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
1 cup of sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp berry juice (strawberry, raspberry, cherry even)
Pinch of salt
1 cup whipped cream or topping (fresh or container; not canned)
1 cup whipped cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Prepare your cup pie rounds and line your muffin tins for "blind baking," which means you are going to bake the crusts first, then put in the filling when cooled. One double-crust gets you about 6 to 8 cup pies.

Place a paper cupcake liner into the cup pies and add dried beans or pie weights. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes. Remove the liners and weights and bake another 10 to 15 minutes until browned and perfect looking. Remove them from the oven and let them cool to room temperature.

Hull and cut 3 quarts of strawberries into large chunks. Put them into a saucepan and put them on medium-high heat. Stir frequently for about 20 to 25 minutes until the berries cook down and look like a chunky strawberry jam stir in the pinch of salt. Remove it from the heat.

Mix juices and gelatin in a bowl with a fork. Set it aside for a few minutes, then add it to the strawberries. Put it back on the heat and stir to bring it to a simmer. Let it simmer about 2 minutes while stirring then remove it from the heat and set it aside for about 30 minutes, and you will have a very rich, red strawberry sauce.*

Meanwhile, hull and cut the remaining berries into chunks. Normally for strawberry pie I'd just halve or quarter the berries for large bites, but fruit cut into small 1/2 inch squares sit much better in cup pies. Set aside a few small, pretty berries to set on top of the cream when it's done, or cut the tips of some large berries and set them aside for garnish.

Mix the cut up berries into the berry sauce and stir to coat. Spoon the mixture into cool cup pie crusts and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Put cream cheese and sugar into a bowl and mix it with a hand mixer for about 2 minutes on high, till creamy. Add the mixture to whipped cream or whipped topping and fold it in until well blended. Use the mixture to top the cup pies, and add your garnish on top.

*The best thing about strawberry cup pies (as opposed to regular strawberry pie) is that you don't have to worry about it gelling up too much to set because you don't have to slice your cup pie-- so your berries can be nice, gooey and saucy! You can cut the gelatin out all together if you like, but then reduce the lemon juice to 1 tbsp and cut out the berry juice because it will make it too liquidy without the gelatin.