Happy Birthday Matthew

September is birthday month. My husband also had a birthday, and my sister’s is tomorrow. Sorry, the first few posts with be surrounded by the “B” word.

For Matthew’s birthday, he wanted pie instead of cake. Pie, really? He says not much of a cake man, although whenever I make cake, or cupcakes, they quickly vanish.  But, being his “B” day, he gets whatever he wants. Unfortunately, he was pretty vague about what type of pie he wanted. I did, however, get him to narrow down his pie choices to three: chocolate cream, apple, and blackberry. So being the good wife that I am, I made all three. Now, I didn’t make three huge pies. That would be ridiculous. Instead I made mini pies.  I found some small cute tins that were the perfect serving size! 

I started with the crust my mom taught me how to make. She makes the best crust. Ask around. People will most likely use butter or shortening, or a mixture of the two. She uses butter flavored Crisco. The recipe for one crust is:

1/3 cup plus 1 tbs. butter flavored Crisco

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2-3 tbs. cold water

Like any other recipe, you combine the dry ingredients, cut in the shortening and then add water, one tablespoon at a time, ensuring that the crust doesn’t become too wet.

For the fillings, I winged it.  Apples, cinnamon, sugar. Blackberries, sugar, a bit of vanilla (cause I like it), and a touch of cinnamon. I always use cornstarch as a thickener. For me, it works better than flour. 

For the chocolate cream, I googled. I have only ever had a chocolate cream pie where the cook used a packaged pudding mix. GROSS! I don’t believe in packaged products, ever!  I found a couple of recipes that I thought might work well, and then mixed them together. Basically, it was your standard pudding recipe, but decadent and delicious.

I prebaked the crusts for the chocolate cream, while filling and covered the apple and blackberry.  I, of course, topped the chocolate with fresh whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa powder. Yum!

We decided that the chocolate cream was our favorite! Who can resist whipped cream? I sure cant!