Mini Peanut Butter and Jelly Hand Pies

You know those Uncrustables?  The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the go?  

Well I used to be completely obsessed with them... like eat them every day at least once obsessed.

So when I had leftover pie crust from my Banana Cream Pie, I thought "Why not fill it with peanut butter and jelly"  And then I did it.  And they came out super yummy... the dough was rolled really thin so it was flaky and and I loved that the peanut butter and jelly melted and oozed out of the sides of the 'hand pies'.  My only complaint is that I couldn't fit enough filling in them, but other than that, great!

P.S.:

Holy Moly!!

I just want to say a huge thank you to whoever referred my blog to StumbleUpon yesterday because I've never had so many page views in one day! You made my day! :) So thank you, these are for you!

What was your favorite snack as a kid? 

Mini Peanut Butter and Jelly Hand Pies

Ingredients:
1 serving of your favorite pie crust, unbaked
1/4 cup peanut butter, smooth
1/4 cup jelly
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon egg whites

1.  Preheat oven to 350.
2.  Roll out dough as thin as you can get it without tearing, or as thick as you want it.
3.  Using a round cookie cutter, cut circles out of your dough.
4.  Fill each circle with 1 teaspoon peanut butter and 1 teaspoon jelly.  Fold in half and pinch off the edges.
5.  Brush each folded hand pie with egg whites and sprinkle with sugar.
6.  Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until the edges start to slightly turn brown.

Double Banana Cream Pie from Scratch

What do you do with 4 completely overripe, disgustingly brown bananas?

My first thought is always banana bread, but banana bread is so boring.  Plus, nobody can make banana bread like my mom.  I remember the first semester of my freshman year of college, my mom would make banana bread for me when I came home.  I would wait in anticipation while the smell wafted from the kitchen and ask, a million times of course, "Is it done yet??" When it finally was, it was well-worth the wait.

But since I wasn't up to the challenge of topping my mom's banana bread, I settled for making banana cream pie.  In my house, we've always used the box mix pudding to make cream pies, but I wanted to do it all from scratch. I searched for recipes, but all of the banana cream pies used vanilla pudding for theirs and I wanted banana pudding, so I adapted.  It turned out really well!  I added extra vanilla to my whipped cream to contrast the strong banana flavor in the pie and it tasted great.  I really loved the 'piece-y' texture of the pudding and the sweetness of the pie was complimented well by the semi-salty crust.  If you can't tell, I really liked it.  You will, too! 

P.S. I'm switching to collages for my step-by-step photos to make my page load faster.  I went to Numion, an online stopwatch to see how long it takes websites to load, and mine took 12 seconds, so I'm trying to cut that down a little bit!

What food does your mom or someone close to you make that can't be beat?

Double Banana Cream Pie from Scratch

adapted from: Food.com

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 overripe medium bananas

2 ripe (but still firm) bananas

1 9 inch pie shell, baked

whipped cream 

Directions:

1. 1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, flour, and salt; stir in milk and mix well.
2. 2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil; boil for 2 minutes.
3. 3. Remove from the heat.
4. 4. Stir a small amount of cream mixture into egg yolks; return all to saucepan.
5. 5. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly; remove from the heat.
6. 6. Add butter and vanilla; mix well; allow to cool slightly.
   7. Beat the two overripe bananas into the pudding mixture until texture is fairly smooth.
7. 8.. Slice the remaining 2 ripe bananas and place evenly in pastry shell; pour cream mixture over bananas.
8. 9. Cool; before serving, garnish with whipped cream.
   10. Refrigerate any leftovers.
   
   
9. 
   
   
   

Breakfast Pie

I'm so honored because I received the Operation Beautiful Award from Lizzie.

She's a wonderful new blogger so go check her out! :)  Thanks, Lizzie! <3

This is what you have to do:


-Write 3 things you like about your looks.
1. I like my face.
2. I like my hair.
3. I like my nails.

-Write 3 things you appreciate about your personality.
1. I like that I'm honest.
2. I like that I can (sometimes ;)) make people laugh.
3. I like that I would be willing to help anybody out that needed it.

-Write about something you find beautiful in other people.
I love when people are caring and compassionate.  I think that anybody can be beautiful as long as they're pretty on the inside.

-Award as many other people as you like and let them know!

Oh gosh, there are too many people that I want to give this to!
How about if you're reading this, you can do it on your blog and say it's from me! :)  You're all deserving of it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news, I made a breakfast pie.

Kellen hates pie.  Somehow we got to talking about whether or not he would like a savory pie and he said he didn't know.  So... I made one.  And it was delicious!!

:)

Breakfast Pie

Ingredients:

1 unbaked pie shell
4 sausage patties
4 eggs
1 potato
3/4 cup cheese
Seasoned salt to taste

Topping (optional... I kind of thought it was too much with the crust):
1 cup all-purpose flour1 teaspoons baking powder1/8 teaspoons salt4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces1 tbs milk or buttermilk

Directions:

1.  Peel potato and cut into small pieces.
2.  Boil potato until it starts to get soft, but not completely cooked.  Set aside.
3.  Cut up sausage patties and microwave for 1 minute, or until warm, but not completely cooked.
4.  In a saucepan, combine potatoes, sausage, and eggs.  Keep stirring on stove for about 1 minute.
5.  Layer pie shell with the 3/4 cup cheese and potato, sausage, and egg mixture.  Salt to taste.
6. *Optional: Mix first 3 ingredients in a small bowl.  Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until it forms small crumbs.  Add milk.
7.  Layer topping over the pie.
8.  Bake 30-40 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Granola Bar Pie

When I wake up from naps, I'm always ravenously hungry.  Every time.  It never fails.  Is that weird?  I woke up from a nap a couple of days ago and had a serious craving for a granola bar.  We didn't have any, so I decided to make some. 

I threw together some ingredients and right when I was about to put them in the oven, I remembered that my dad dropped my pyrex dish... with cinnamon rolls still in it... it shattered everywhere... Luckily I'm not bitter about it.  But anyway, I didn't have a dish to put them in.  I was just going to put them in two mini pyrex dishes, but then I saw a pie plate and decided to get creative.

Leave it to me to take a perfectly healthy snack and turn it into a sweet, chocolatey concoction.  I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I decided that you can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter.  I was so, so right.  The "crust" was chewy and the center was gooey and the melty chocolate middle really accentuated the peanut butter in the crust.  Please make these.  It would make me happy. :)

 Put all ingredients in a bowl.

 This is the marketside vanilla dip

 Mix all ingredients together.

 Add the middle layers.

Add the top layer and bake.

Granola Bar Pie

"Crust":
3 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup yogurt or Marketside vanilla dip (pictured below)
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Filling:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Combine all of the crust ingredients together in a bowl and mix until incorporated.
3.  Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a standard sized pie plate.
4.  Sprinkle chocolate chips and coconut evenly over the crust.  Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the pie.  It may seem like a lot, but you've got a lot of crust.  It works, trust me.
5.  Lightly press the remaining half of the mixture over the pie.
6.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cut once cooled. 

Pumpkin Pie

 
If your family is a little strange like mine, then giving this recipe to you now is perfect.

My family isn't having Thanksgiving until Sunday this year, but that's okay. 

I don't know about you all, but I am feeling super thankful today.   I have a great family, boyfriend, and friends.  A great job, a wonderful home and neighborhood, clothing, food, etc.  I have absolutely zero room to complain.  I'm glad that there's a holiday that makes people stop and realize what they have.  It's sometimes very easy to get caught up in every day life and take things for granted.

So stop and think about all that you're thankful for today.   I would love to hear why, so leave a comment!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Eat some turkey for me today :)


Libby's Pumpkin Pie
From:  Libby's Pumpkin Can

 Beat the eggs.

 Combine dry ingredients.

 Add the rest.

 Mix, mix, mix!

 Add evaporated milk.

 Fill your crust.

Please don't judge my ugly pie!

Ingredients

• 1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can NESTLE® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

Creamy Homemade Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

I have a corny sense of humor.

I love jokes that are so stupid you just have to laugh at them.

Why did the golfer wear two pairs of paints?
In case he got a hole-in-one.

Haha!  Funny, right?

Well anyway, you can imagine my disappointment when, on Sunday, I tried making this ice cream concoction and my (moms) ice cream machine wasn't cold enough so I wasn't able to name this post "Ice Cream Sunday".

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to provide you all with such a clever title, which I'm sure has never been used before.

What I can provide you with, though, is an extremely delicious ice cream recipe!  We had some blueberries in the fridge and I still hadn't thought of an ice cream to make yet, and from there it's all history.  The pieces of frozen pie crust in this are so delicious, and the whole blueberries/blueberry sauce add a very nice touch to the whole thing.  Mmm!

Put together oil and water.

Roll out dough and poke holes in it.

Baked pie crust.

Break cooled pie crust into pieces.

Somewhere in between here, make the blueberry filling.

Make Ice Cream mixture

Make ice cream according to ice cream maker's instructions.

Put in a cup.

Admire the gobs of blueberries and broken pie crust.

Devour!

Blueberry Pie Ice Cream

Ingredients

Mom's Pie Crust:
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
(Or use a store bought pie crust/your own recipe)
**You will probably only use half of this recipe.

Blueberry Filling:
1 cup blueberries
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Ice Cream:
Adapted From:  Cuisinart
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375.
First, make the pie crust.  Fill a measuring cup 1/3 cup full with water.  Add 2/3 cup oil, add in a couple of ice cubes, and mix until combined and cold.  Put flour in a bowl and slowly pour the oil/water mixture into the flour, combining with your hands.  Mix with hands until just combined. Do not overmix!
Let dough chill in the fridge while you make blueberry sauce.
For the blueberry sauce, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan on low heat until the mixture thickens a bit, adding more water if needed.
Once your blueberry mixture is finished, chill in the refrigerator.
Get out the pie crust.  **You will only need half, unless you want your ice cream to consist mostly of crust.  Freeze the other half or refrigerate for later use... like for this!: Delicious Symphony Bar Pie.  Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface.  Once rolled out, place on a cookie sheet and poke holes in the dough.  Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until dough is firm.  It will not be darker.
Let the crust cool, break into small pieces and store in freezer for later use in ice cream.
Now, make the ice cream.
In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Turn the machine on; pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20 to 25 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture.
At this point, go ahead and pour in your chilled blueberry mixture and desired amount of broken up crust.
If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.
Enjoy! :)

Symphony Bar Cookie Pie... Help!

I've baked 3 times today.

I'm starting to worry that Intervention is going to show up at my house... maybe they'd leave if I baked them something? 

Anyway, I have excuses.  We went to visit my sister (who will be updating her blog soon.. right?) and my great aunt today, so some dessert was obviously in order.  I promised my Auntie I would make her a pie next time I came to visit, so I made her an Apple Berry Pie today.  And my sister needed (yes, needed) something, too, so I made some Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies.  (I'll put recipes up soon).  So, see, these were necessary. 

For the first two times, at least.  I have no excuse for the third one, but after you see the pie, I think you'll agree that it was completely necessary, too.  This pie almost made me feel bad for giving my family the other things.  It's that good.

It was supposed to be a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, but I realized I didn't have any chocolate chips, so I rode my bike to Walgreens to get some.   Guess what..they don't have chocolate chips!  What is wrong with you Walgreens?!  Don't you realize that I had to ride my bike a grueling 5 blocks to get there and I had to make this pie? If I had driven, I probably would have left and gotten some somewhere else, but there was no way I was about to ride my bike a jillion miles to Walmart, so I made due.  I made better than due!

I was walking down the chocolate aisle trying to decide which substitute to use when I saw Hershey's Symphony Bars on sale... 2 for 2.79, or something like that.  Have you ever had a Symphony Bar??  It's a milk chocolate candy bar with almonds and toffee in it.  Yum.  I was planning on substituting the nuts in the recipe with toffee bits anyway, so I figured this was perfect, since it has both nuts and toffee in it.  So I bought it, rode my bike back home, and made one of the yummiest pies ever.

Symphony Bar Cookie Pie
Adapted from:  How Sweet Treats

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature**
• 1 cup chopped up Symphony Bar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 unbaked pie shell (This is a good one: Pie Crust IV)

Preheat oven to 325. In large bowl, beat eggs until foamy.

Beat in flour, sugar and brown sugar until well blended.

Blend in melted butter.  **Make sure you let it cool to room temperature or all of your chocolate will melt from the butter and sink to the bottom.  Stir in Symphony Bar pieces.

Pour into unbaked pie shell.

Bake for 60 minutes.  Middle will be gooey, but will harden a little after cooling.

Serve warm with ice cream.