#24: Strawberry Cream Cheese

This Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie recipe came from "The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook" and helped me deal with some stray pecans and strawberries that I had on hand.  :o)

Actually this was a pretty simple recipe that made it possible for the little one to get involved.

Plus I loved the used of pecans in the crust. It gave the simple flavors a little extra WOW!

#17: Lime Pie with Gingersnap Crust

I decided to go citrus-themed this week.  I did consider doing a Key Lime Pie but I also know that people get very weird if you don't use key limes from FL.  So, instead of going down that road, I decided to do a plain ol' Lime Pie, which lead me to this interesting recipe from the Magnolia Bakery -- Lime Pie with Gingersnap Crust.

The hardest part of this pie has nothing to do with the recipe.  Really?!  A cup of lime juice.  Man!  Prepare to work your arms because it's hard to get juice out of a lime.  I guess it's something to consider then picking out the limes -- look for fruit with a little give when you squeeze it.  If you estimate a tablespoon of juice from each lime...that would be at least 8 limes...round it up to a dozen just to be safe.

On the bright side, your arms are probably thankful that you're also not rolling out a pastry for this pie.

Unfortunately, the oddest thing about this pie is the filling/crust combo.  While ginger seems like a great fit for lime, the cookie's heavy molasses flavor is an odd third wheel that can't be easily ignored.

If I make this pie again, a graham cracker crust would be a safer pairing.  But don't feel bad for that gingersnap crust because I do think it would go great with last week's custard pie.

#14: Fresh Strawberry Pie

So strawberries are finally in season and...more importantly...on sale!

I figured the best was to celebrate strawberries was to make a fresh strawberry pie and to do that I went with a recipe from America's Test Kitchen.

However, I opted to use a graham cracker crust for two reasons -- 1) I wanted to add a little sweetness to the pie and 2) I wanted to add a little crunch with each bite.  The graham cracker crust seemed like the best way to make this happen.

As for execution, this was a pretty fail-proof recipe.  I even let me 4 year-old help...which is a HUGE sign.  :o)

The results were awesome.  Yes, this pie is hard to plate but the flavor is over the top and a dollop of whipped cream hides all flaws.

#9: Banana Cream Pie

So in honor of National Banana Cream Pie Day I wanted to actually make a Banana Cream Pie.

The one thing that I find disappointing about most Banana Cream Pie recipes is that they don't use an actually banana cream.  Instead, they take a vanilla cream and then add sliced bananas.

That was until I found this Banana Cream Pie recipe in my "Momofuki Milk Bar" cookbook by Christina Tosi.  Not only did it use bananas but it used flavorful, ripe bananas.

Another thing I found interesting about this recipe was its use of a blender to pure and mix.  Love it.  (Especially bringing out the blender then just becomes an excuse to have milkshakes.)

I did cheat and use a store-bought Oreo cookie crust but mainly because I'm still scarred from my chocolate crumb crust debacle from last week. (Have no fear.  I'll get over it soon.  I just didn't want to tackle that along with the time pressure of hitting National Banana Cream Pie Day.)

The end result was good.  A nice banana flavor that went well with the chocolate cookie crust.  If you want a little more zing, you can top it with whipped cream for visual flare or drizzle with chocolate sauce for a tastebud overload.  :o)

#8: Mrs. Salter's Peanut Butter Pie

So for our 2013 Oscar Dinner Party, I decided to go with Mrs. Salter's Peanut Butter Pie, courtesy of Paula Deen.  If you're keeping track of my Oscar reasoning...well, here's what was going through my mind...

• Life of Pi:  It's a pie.  Yeah, it's a cheat but for a move about the lack of food...this was better than a raw fish and rice crackers pie.
• Beasts of the Southern Wild:  This is a recipe from the South's own Paula Deen, who I'm wild for.  (Was that a groan?  Well, it's only downhill from here so hold on to your seats.)
• Argo:  I went with peanut butter for the Carter (a peanut farmer for you young-ins) era setting of this movie.
• Zero Dark 30:  I added a layer of dark fudge to this recipe to represent this movie.  (I was going to do a chocolate cookie crust but I forgot to get the chocolate wafers.  That ''inspired'' me to make my own, which then went south...unfortunately, not very quickly.  However, I'm sure I'll talk more about that later when I decide to tackle that hurdle again.)
• Silver Linings Playbook:  The Philadelphia Cream Cheese used for this pie represents the setting of this movie.
• Django Unchained:  Dare I reference the whipped cream?  It's either that or pepper the reference with N-words like "nice", "nostalgic" and "nummy".
• Lincoln:  (I'm going to start hitting bottom very soon here.)  Well, as mentioned in my earlier post...this pie goes great with coffee (Lincoln's favorite drink).
• Amour:  Did I mention this goes great with coffee?  (I could have gone with "After one bite, you'll want to have...uh...more. Get it? Sounds like ''amour''.)
• Les Miserables:  I'm sure this would go well with a glass of red wine or a side of french fries.

OMG!  You made it!  Thank goodness the Oscars is only once a year.

As for the pie.  It was delicious, of course.  This is the first time I've made a mousse (and a peanut butter on, nonetheless) so of course I was afraid it wouldn't remain light and fluffy. As you can see, no need for me to fret.

I'm happy that I decided to add a layer of fudge for Zero Dark 30 because the pie wasn't super sweet and (I thought) it could use the extra ZING!  Hello...you can never go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter.

BTW, if you're wondering about our entire 2013 Oscar menu, here it is:

• Appetizers:  Crabby Snacks (Silver Linings Playbook)
• Main Course:  Persian Roast Chicken (Argo/Zero Dark 30)
• Sides:  Hushpuppies (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Roast Vegetables (Lincoln), Pita & Hummus (Argo/Zero Dark 30)
• Desserts:  Peanut Butter Pie (Life of Pi) and White Cake (Django Unchained)
• Beverages included Champagne (Amour and Les Miserables)