cool whip

No-Bake Eggnog Pudding Pie

December 26, 2014

I love a good challenge so I really loved making a pie for every Friday. Pie Day Friday!

Anyway, let’s do a fun little recap…

Handmade Pie Crusts are the real deal! And I think that Ina Garten’s recipe is awesome! I used it for the Cranberry Apple Pie and Fruitcake Pie. I swear it’s the vegetable shortening in the dough. #win

No Bake Cookie Crusts are awesome for pudding pies.

I gave away a lot of pie. A LOT.

As much as I made a lot of pies I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface on making pies. I want to to get better at making lattice topped pies,

Price’s favorite pie was the Caramel Pie.

I loved all the pies for different reasons. My favorite chocolate pie: Thin Mint Cookie Pie. My favorite chess pie: Lemon Chess Pie. My favorite fruit pie: Streusel Topped Peach Pie. My favorite pie inspired recipe Overnight Apple Pie Breakfast Pudding. My favorite savory pie: Supreme Pizza Pot Pie.

And twist my arm favorite is the Reese’s Cup Marshmallow Peanut Butter Cookie Pie. OMG so good!!!

This No-Bake Eggnog Pudding Pie was another great pie. It actually feels good to end the year with this pie. It is a pie that is guaranteed to make holiday lovers happy. It’s so holiday.

Sure, I could have done something complicated to show off all the sweet skillz I learned but I’m already in confident in what I learned this past year. Plus, it’s the busy holiday season so let’s stick with something easy!

A quick graham cracker crumb crust and a just as easy eggnog flavored pudding based filling. Perfectly!

As eggnog is very rich, this pie is very rich. Normally I would cut a pie into 8 slices but I would actually cut this into 12 slices. I know, smaller slices. Ghastly! But trust me on this on. It’s delightfully rich so just pace yourself.

I really hope that you enjoyed The Year of Pie as much as I did! It was a blast to try something to challenge myself.

No-Bake Eggnog Pudding Pie

Makes a 9″ deep dish pie, 12 slices

Ingredients

For the Crust

1 1/2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
6 Tablespoons butter, melted

For the Filling & Topping

8oz of cream cheese, at room temperature
2- 1oz boxes of instant vanilla pudding
3 Cups light eggnog
1- 8oz container of Cool Whip, softened at room temperature
1 Tablespoon graham cracker crumbs
pinch of cinnamon

Process

To make the crust, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Pour the crumbs into the deep dish pie plate. Chill for 30 minutes.
To make the filling, beat the cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add the instant pudding. Slowly beat the mixture while gradually pouring in the eggnog. Scrape down the sides as needed.
Gently fold in the Cool Whip until the filling mixture is well blended.
Pour the filling mixture into the chilled crust. Sprinkle some graham cracker crumbs and cinnamon in the center of the pie.
Return to the refrigerator for at least an hour prior to serving. Keep chilled for up to 3 days.

Butterfinger Pie

October 24, 2014

We are currently in Miami!!!

I extended a work trip and dragged Price and Autumn along with me. Totally dragged them along. So while I am working today they get to hang around the pool at the hotel. So tough!

…

The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford Pie

August 29, 2014

You guys, Labor Day is just a few days away. I can’t even…

How is the unofficial end of summer here already? It’s like a slap to the face I tell you! I just don’t want to believe that the days are getting shorter (you know what I mean), it’s already getting cooler in the mornings, and before I know it I’ll be muttering swears under my breathe as I shovel snow off the walkway in front of our house. Or my favorite, mop up melted snow water that sneaks away from the mat at the front door in hopes that the bamboo floors don’t get water damage there. Seriously, thanks previous owner- it was super smart to put a sensitive wood right at the door in a climate where is snows for like 8 months of the year. dumb. And that’s just the beginning of the crap they didn’t or did do.

Since September is just about here I am making this ‘The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford Pie’ because it’s Price’s favorite pie and his birthday is coming. So let’s pretend this is an early birthday pie. Or is it a late birthday dessert since I never made him the German Chocolate Cake brownies that I owe him for his 2013 birthday. I am the worst.

Speaking of being the worst, I can barely remember to do my time sheet every week before the system closes on Saturday at midnight. And yes we get reminder emails that I just delete because I’m dumb. That means I have to do it manually in excel on Monday mornings, which is bad because it creates more work for a coworkers as he then needs to enter it in the system in some sort of back way sort of way. And when I said Monday mornings I really meant Wednesday morning, which is exactly what happened this week since I was traveling on Tuesday… ugh. how am I not fired yet? So I bought him a breakfast burrito and left a note at his desk asking him not to hate me. Hello, tangent…

Anyway, this pie is great. I had never heard of it before Price asked for it years ago. I did manage to make it for him in a somewhat of a timely manner then. ha! So you should do yourself a favor and make this asap since it’s the bee’s knees.

It’s super quick to make since it uses the good stuff like Cool Whip and instant pudding mix, however it takes several hours to set up. Sooooo plan accordingly. And be sure to tell people that you are not make it for right just now. My mom is visiting and was kinda disappointed to learn that she would have to wait for it. So she just stole some of the cream cheese & Cool Whip layer and went back to watching TV and reading. #multitasking

The first piece kinda has to be scarified since it just doesn’t come out of the pan that nicely so that is the one you get to set aside for a midnight snack. Or you can eat it for breakfast, like what Price did. Now that is not the worst.

The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford Pie

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
2 (8 ounce) containers frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 (5.1 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups milk
1/8 cup grated semisweet chocolate

Process

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the flour, butter, and chopped nuts. Press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 x 2 inch pan. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
The the bowl of a stand mixer/large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add 1 container of whipped topping and mix until combined. Spread evenly over the cooled crust. Attempt to not kill Pricer for screwing it up!!
In a large bowl, combine the pudding mixes and milk well until thick. Spread evenly over the cream cheese filling.
Spread the remaining container of whipped topping over the pudding layer. Sprinkle grated chocolate over the top.
Refrigerate for 6 to 8 hours before serving.

Sourced from All Recipes

Caramel Pie

April 4, 2014

I had really planned on sharing a pie post last week. So bummed I missed sharing a great pie but I’ll be sharing it next week instead so not is all lost!

It’s just that the week got away from me. Such a busy week for work and stuff going on with Autumn. Price took Autumn to the Dr on Wednesday for her 4th month check up so it gave me the chance to stay really late to catch up on hours at work. Which, of course, put things behind for me for blogging.

Then I worked from home on Friday since she then had 2 appointments at Boston Children’s Hospital. But those came with good news as they cleared her from having to use her hip brace! Horray!!

Anyway, she’s still our little bean. When Price took her to the Dr’s they said she’s 50 percentile for length and head circumference but 5 percentile for weight. She weighs a whopping 11lbs 2oz. I think I’ve eatten bigger burritos than her (I kid!). So the 0-3 month (8-12 lb) stuff still fits just fine and she’s 4 1/2 months.

I think she needs a slice of pie to help her gain some weight! ha!

Anyway, this Caramel Pie is LEGIT.

Tomorrow is National Caramel Day so I had to make a caramel pie. Obviously. And let me tell you that this pie is awesome. Really sweet but really awesome. If you are the kind of person that doesn’t like sweets then just cut a smaller slice since you might find this too sweet but you should not pass it up.

Plus, it’s super easy. It takes time to prepare but it’s so easy.

The caramel is made by putting cans of sweetened condensed milk into a pot of water and simmering it for 3 hours. Yes, that takes a l-o-n-g time but that’s it. You just have to make sure that water is always covering the cans, but that’s it. Then the rest is just about baking a pie crust and thawing up some prepared whipped topping prior to assembling it all together. Sure, you can make your own pie crust and whipped cream but I’m all about ease at this point. You do what works for you.

In fact, I prepared the caramel filling the night before I assembled the pie because that is what fit into my buys schedule. The filling was chilled and therefore denser than if it was still a bit warm so I just ended up scooping it out of the cans and putting it in the still warm pie shell. That helped soften it up to be able to smooth things out.

Whip up this pie and you’ll be in love with every bite!

Caramel Pie

Makes 1 9″ deep dish pie

Ingredients

2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 (9-inch) prepared pie shell (I used a Marie Calendar’s Pie shell)
1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
Garnish- chocolate chunks/mini chips

Process

1. Place the unopened cans of condensed milk in a large pot. Add enough water to completely cover cans. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 3 hours, adding water as necessary to keep cans covered. Carefully remove from water and then set aside to cool enough to handle.

2. Meanwhile, bake your pie shell according to directions; set aside to cool. As well, thaw the whipped cream topping just prior to assembly.

3. To assemle, open the cans and pour the caramel into the pie crust. Even out the top of the caramel prior to spreading whipped topping over the filling. Top with the chocolate and then chill for 1 hour or overnight.

Sourced from Culinary Covers