Cooking Show--Baking Pies!

 We filmed another episode of the cooking show last week.

My friend, Trish, joined me and we baked up a bunch of pies.

Lemon Meringue Pie with Shortbread Crust.  

If you've never been a fan of traditional pie crust and prefer a shortbread crust, this is the pie for you.

Here is the printable recipe.

 Apple-Raspberry Pie with Almond Crumb Topping.

I admit it, this is my favorite pie ever.  Here is the printable recipe.

And finally, Whipped Strawberry Pie with a pretzel crust.  Here's the Recipe!

Whipped Strawberry Pie with pretzel crust adapted from Betty Crocker

Printable recipe

Pretzel Crust Ingredients:

• 4 cups pretzels ( crushed to approximately 1 1/2 cups crumbs)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Pie Filling Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1 pkg. (4-serving size) strawberry-flavored gelatin
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 1/2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 cups strawberries, slightly crushed

additional strawberry slices for garnish, if desired

Gather your ingredients.

The gelatin needs to be prepped in advance, and then chilled until thickened.  

Zest the lime until you have about 1 teaspoon of zest.

Juice the lime.  You want to have somewhere between 2 tablespoons and 1/4 cup of juice.

Zap the water in your microwave for 2 minutes, until it's boiling.  Put the gelatin into a bowl, and pour the boiling water over the gelatin.  Stir until the gelatin dissolves.

Stir in the lime zest.

Pour in the lime juice.  Stir to combine, and then refrigerate until it thickens.  You want it to be thick, but not jelled and set.  This will take at least a half hour.  While you're waiting, prepare your pretzel crust.

I like to pulverize the pretzels in my mini-prep food processor, but if you prefer you can place them into a large ziploc bag and crush them with mallet or rolling pin.

You want them to be crushed into small crumbs, with the largest pieces no bigger than about 1/4-inch.

Place the butter into a large bowl and microwave on HIGH for one minute, until melted.

Add the pretzel crumbs to the melted butter.

And the sugar.

Stir to combine.  You can't imagine how good this smells!!

After you've mixed the crust ingredients, put them into your pie plate.

Use the back of a large spoon to evenly pat them onto the bottom of the pie plate and up the sides.

Lightly crush your strawberries.

At this point, check your gelatin in the fridge.  I'm guessing that it's still a bit warm and hasn't begun to thicken yet.  Take a little break and do something nice for yourself!  Don't forget to set a timer (about 1/2 hour should do it) to remind yourself to check on the gelatin.  When the gelatin has thickened, continue:

Beat the whipping cream on a high speed, slowly adding in the confectioners' sugar.

You're done when stiff peaks form.

Beat the thickened gelatin with your mixer on a high speed, about 4 to 5 minutes until it loses its transparency and is thick and fluffy.

Add the whipped cream and the crushed strawberries into the bowl with the gelatin.

Gently fold the whipped cream and strawberries into the gelatin until combined.

Pour on top of the crust.

Spread the whipped mixture evenly over the crust.  Refrigerate the pie for at least 6 hours, until it's set.

Before serving, garnish with strawberry slices, if desired.

 Enjoy.