Christmas Pie Ideas

I came home a little earlier than usual for Christmas this year. So far I've had a sleepover with best friends in Chicago, visited favorite local haunts (and some new ones), and hosted a music party at our house with family friends. I've also done a bit of holiday baking, but we still haven't yet planned our Christmas menu. So if you're like us, here are a few ideas for Christmas pies from brunch, to appetizers, to dessert. If you can't quite find what suits your table here, check out this list of Thanksgiving pie ideas or visit the Recipe Index.

Chocolate & Nut
Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie
Chocolate Orange Pie with Mascarpone Cream
Milk Chocolate & Salted Caramel Hazelnut Tart
Peppermint Pattie Tart, pictured top right

Fruit & Nut
Cranberry Chess Pie, pictured bottom left
Fig-Pistachio Tarte Tatin
Pear Tarte Tatin
Shaker Orange Tarts, pictured bottom right

Preserves & Icebox
Almond & Grapefruit-Ginger Marmalade Crostata
Bakewell Tart with Apple Rosemary Jelly
Meyer Lemon Honey Marmalade Linzer Torte
Speculoos Icebox Pie, pictured top left

Savory
Ham, Gruyère & Caramelized Onion Galette with Fried Egg
Quiche Lorraine
Red & Golden Beet & Goat Cheese Tart
Tri-color Potato, Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese & Rosemary Galette

Whatever you bake,  from this list or not, I'd love to hear about it. Have a very Merry Christmas, all!

Mom Blogs: Christmas Quiche Lorraine

My mom shared this story and recipe from our Christmas morning brunch--Quiche Lorraine. For a change from my usual habits, the only things I did to help with this "pie" were take photos and eat-- and it was DELICIOUS! Take it away, mom!

Quiche Lorraine is a pie-loving family's choice for Christmas brunch. Our breakfast tradition is a collaboration between the men and women of the family. Grant slow-cooks the bacon to seal the flavor, reasoning that slightly undercooking the bacon ensures the perfect flavor. Joe grates the cheese and dices the onion.

We often debate the choice of cheese. I always pick Gruyere, instead of the standard Swiss. Joe and Grant lean toward sharp Cheddar. I however, don't completely assert my preference for fear of losing my kitchen help. Instead, we compromise, and the cheese and onion selections are a surprise waiting for me after I prepare the crust. This year Joe presented red onion.

I've abandoned my Crisco crust recipe inherited from my mother and grandmother for Emily's Nothing-in-the-House all-butter crust. The recipe we used this year, adapted from my disintegrating Betty Crocker Cookbook follows. I used this same recipe for my first quiche on Christmas morning, 1975-- 37 years ago.

Quiche Lorraine
Adapted from The Betty Crocker Cookbook

Ingredients
Nothing-in-the-House pie crust, halved
12 slices of bacon (about 1/2 lb.), crispy or slightly crispy fried and crumbled
1/3 c. Gruyere and 2/3 c. sharp Cheddar, shredded
1/3 c. onion (red or white), diced
5 large eggs
2 c. whipping cream
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. sugar

Directions
1. Prepare half of Nothing-in-the-House pie crust as per the directions. Let chill while you cook the bacon and grate the cheese.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Once crust dough has been chilled, roll out and fit into a greased and floured 9 or 10-inch quiche or pie pan (We used a 9 1/2-inch quiche pan), fluting decoratively. Sprinkle cooked bacon, cheese, and onion on the bottom of the pastry.

3. In a medium bowl, beat eggs slightly, then beat in the remaining ingredients. Pour the egg mixture into the pastry. Bake 15 minutes.

4. Reduce temperature to 300 degrees F and bake 30 minutes longer or until a knife inserted 1-inch from the edge comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Serve in wedges. Makes 6 main course servings or 8 appetizer servings.

Jamie's Easter Quiche

Leek and Gruyere!

Other reported menu items at this Boston, MA Easter brunch were boiled artichokes with bearnaise, crepes with grapefruit marmalade and brandy, and broiled grapefruit.

Golden Birthday Pie Party Potluck!

On April 26th, my 26th birthday, I drove up to Stoneset Farm, the home of my friends Nathan & Clara and their young daughters, Eleanor and Magpie, in Brooklin, Maine. They had organized a beautiful pie potluck party for my birthday and the birthday of their friend Fred (the day before). I arrived (with a pear-ginger pie in tow) a little late, to this dreamy scene of a picnic table full of delicious pies (at least 10), dear friends, kids and dogs running about, the start of spring on the farm, and a new little baby Magpie (how apropos) to meet.
 The pie table--note Eleanor's little custard pie in the red dish, and Alison's amazing leeky cheese pie (leeks and all the leftover cheese in her house.) Some other favorites were Clara's (she also took these lovely photos) custard pie with eggs from their chickens, a spinach mushroom eggy pie, a banana cream pie, and a wild Maine blueberry with a few strawberries pie. The spread made for quite a colorful and copious plate of pie and by the end of the afternoon, EVERY pie was completely gone, leaving us wondering how many more pies would we need to add for there to be any leftover? We followed the pie with some fiddle tunes and swinging. I'm so grateful to Nathan and Clara and their friends for making my golden birthday so special--I can't think of a better way to have spent the day. Thank you!

Thanksgiving - It Happens

Thanksgiving at Meghan and Gahlord's this year was somewhat subdued but very homey and fun. The dinner was delicious, particularly Angela's brussel sprouts, Meghan's vegetarian gravy, Stacy's spicy stuffing and my cranberry sauce, if I say so myself!

So after lots of liquor and laying around, the pies arrived, some fresh from the oven!

Here's Meghan's pumpkin pie. I rolled out the crust on this one, so it was a little funky, but the pie itself was smooth and spicy - a classic.

Here's Meghan's apple pie. Again, I rolled out the crust, so funkiness occurred. Perfectly seasoned (with help from Ben P.B.), the apples were melt-in-your-mouth awesome.

Here's my cherry pie. Not too sweet with a doughy crust, this pie was almost not healthy-tasting! Stacy liked it.

Here's Stacy's pumpkin pie, which had an awesome flavor and gorgeous look but kinda fell flat due to underwhipped chiffon, not that anyone would've known if Stacy hadn't been so pissed about it!

Ah, lounging. It was good to see Adam and some new faces, too. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Alright, back to my cherry pie breakfast. Love, Mandy

PS Meat pies! I totally spaced. 'Hey, Mandy, got any room for meat pie in that story?'
One was a tourtière, made by J.B., which people just adored. This style of meat pie originates in Quebec, is enjoyed by people with (and without) Quebecois ancestry throughout Canada and Vermont and is usually made with ground pork and/or veal and/or beef. I believe J.B.'s pie involved venison, but I'm not sure. With a perfect flaky crust and great mix of meats and vegetables, I have no doubt this meat pie would make many a meateater's 'best of' list.

The second pie was a meaty quiche by Tanner. I am not positive what it involved, though I think it was sausage. I did note how lovely the meat and veggies looked on the top of the quiche. Yum.

Book Club/Pie Breakfast

The Pie Breakfast/Brunch Buffett. Also featured on the table: Allaire's book report, blueberry almond muffins, beet and orange salad, blueberry almond coffeecake, and ketchup (brought to you by the Ketchup Advisory Board which concerns the American public with the inquiry, 'are you getting enough ketchup?')

Last Saturday was my first Seamonster Book Club (we met at Seth and Allaire's chalet in Fairfax and discussed America Over the Water, by Shirley Collins-- An English folksinger who traveled with Alan Lomax in 1959), combined with a pie breakfast/brunch. An impromptu bbq kept me from making my pie the evening before, so I got up early Saturday morning to make a creamy pear pie. I found the recipe online and was quizzical of the addition of cream to the actual pie filling, but when I saw the accompanying quote "Outstanding Creamy Pear Pie! I cook this for the men's league at my golf club, and they love it!," I thought, well hey, that has to be good. It's quite a novel concept to put the cream in the pie, instead of the post-bake cold whipped variety. The recipe is as follows: 

Creamy Pear Pie
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min

Ingredients:
Bottom:
·1/3 cup white sugar
·2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
·4 cups peeled and sliced pears
·1 cup sour cream
·1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
·1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (I used real lemon juice instead)
·1/2 teaspoon almond extract
·1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Topping (I found it needed a bit more of all of these):
·1/4 cup all-purpose flour
·2 tablespoons brown sugar
·2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
·1/4 cup slivered almonds (I added this to the original recipe)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
2. Stir together white sugar and 2 tablespoons flour. Add pears, and toss to coat. Stir in sour cream and vanilla, lemon and almond extracts until pears are evenly coated. Pour into the unbaked pie crust.
3. Combine 1/4 cup flour and brown sugar. Mix in butter with your fingers until the mixture is crumbly. Add almonds. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the pie and coat with remaining almonds
4. Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until pears are tender.


 I really enjoyed the combination of pears and almonds. Mandy said the texture was a nice blend and described the taste as 'comforting' and 'delicious'. For two more pictures of it, showing the cross-section, see the photo stream at right.

More pie-traits:

Michelle made a DELICIOUS quiche with spinach, pine nuts, and potatoes.

Meat-y quiche by Meghan. ham and scallions, perchance?

and Meghan's classic apple pie!

Howard takes no pie, but he does enjoy a spot of tea.