PIE = The filling and baking of sweet and savory ingredients, enclosed by a casing of a mixture of fat, flour and water.  Doesn’t really sound all that appeling; but who doesn’t like a slice of Pie?  My favorite pie is banana cream of course made with the real whipping cream; however coming in a close second is apple!

From research that I have done, meat pies were among us before fruit and cream pies.  The Romans used to just eat the filling and leave the crust for the help.  Nice huh?  Fruit pies hit North America in the early 1800′s and they aren’t going away anytime soon!  I found a really interesting article about the complete history of the PIE.  Check it out!

I called my Grandma in Minnesota to ask her how to make a pie crust a few years back.  I think the key to any good pie is a good crust.  I don’t like a thick crust and it has to be flakey.  This is the recipe she gave me:  Just take some Crisco, a little salt, flour and some cold water and mix together with a fork.  What?  You don’t really have a recipe?  I guess she has been making pie crusts for so long, she desn’t need one   So I went to my good old stand by Betty Crocker cookbook and found this recipe!  It tastes just like Grandma’s!

Pastry for a one crust Pie (double this for a 2 crust pie)

1/3 cup plus 1 T. Crisco or if using lard you only need 1/3 cup

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

2 – 3 T. cold water

Cut shortening into flour and salt, using pastry blender or crisscrossing 2 knives, until particles are size of course crumbs.  Sprinkle with cold water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans sides of bowl.  If you need to add more water, you can do so, just add it at this point 1 tsp. at a time.

Gather pastry into a ball.  Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface.

Roll pastry into circle 2 inches larger than upside down pie plate.  Fold pastry into 1/4ths place in pie plate.  Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.  Check out Kuisine by Kathy’s facebook page to see a video of how to properly roll out pastry dough!

Since Banana Cream is my favorite pie, I will share with you my favorite recipe!

For cream pies you want to use a sweet pat in the pan crust:  This is my Aunt Mary Gertsema’s recipe, thanks Aunt Mary!

Mix together and pat into a 9 inch pie plate:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 T. milk

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups flour

After pressing into pie plate, prick the bottom of the crust a couple of times and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Let cool completely before adding filling.

Banana Cream Filling:

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tsp. cornstarch

1/8 tsp. salt

3 egg yolks beaten

3 cups whole milk

1  1/2 T. butter

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

4 bananas

Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy saucepan; stir well.  Combine egg yolks and milk; gradually stir into sugar mixture.  Cook over med

At our house, we always try to make a “good” breakfast on Sunday mornings.  It seems that during the week; we are so busy and just have time for cereal or toast.  I always try to think of something “new” to make for the menu, rather than just plain old eggs and toast.

This morning I looked in the fruit basket and seen that I had a few ripe bananas so I thought let’s jazz up those plain pancakes with a banana or two.  Once I added those, I thought a little cinnamon, vanilla and chopped, toasted pecans would be good too!

I always wondered how the restaurants got the light and fluffy pancakes?!  My mom’s recipe for pancakes were “okay” but were always really flat and never had that nice outside “crunch” to them.

I did some research a few years back and after reading several articles ( I really need to get a life) In order to make the “perfect” pancake, you must use buttermilk, baking powder and baking soda.  By combining these 3 ingredients together you will have a fluffy picturesque pancake!  In a nutshell, the buttermilk, soda and powder balances out the acidity in the batter – so when dropped on the griddle, the bubbles will rise and the pancakes will be fluffy!

A couple other tips that I may share…

Use a griddle rather than a skillet:  You can make 8 cakes at a time and they will all get done around the same time and won’t all meld together in the skillet.  You can usually pick up a griddle for around $20.00.

Measure out 1/4 cup of batter per pancake:  This will help the cakes cook more evenly.

Don’t flip the pancake until all of the bubbles “pop”:  If you wait until all of the bubble pop, then flip, your result will not be a doughy center.

After mixing your batter (don’t over mix)  let it set for about 5 minutes before starting the pancakes:  This will let the soda, powder and buttermilk do its’ thing.

Here is my recipe for Banana Buttermilk Pecan Pancakes:

2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 T. sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (use the real thing – I never have luck with my pancakes fluffing up when I add vinegar to milk.  You can also freeze buttermilk in an ice cube tray and take out what you need out of the freezer the night before)

2 eggs

6T. melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas – diced

2/3 cup chopped, toasted pecans - by toasting your pecans, this will bring out the “nuttiness” flavor

Combine the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, melted butter, vanilla.  Stir into the dry ingredients.  Fold in the chopped bananas and pecans.

Heat the griddle to 375 degrees & brush with vegetable oil.  When hot, measure out the 1/4 cup pancakes and place on griddle.  Don’t flip until all of the bubble are popped.

To keep the pancakes warm, just place in a 250 degree oven on a sheet pan until ready to serve.

Makes 16 pancakes.

You really can’t have pancakes without sausage.  Here is a great recipe to make with plain old ground pork & it doesn’t have the MSG that the prepackaged seasoned sausage has.  It is a little on the spicy side; but just give it a dip in some syrup to mellow it out

SPICY SEASONED SAUSAGE

1# lean ground pork

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. ground sage

1 teaspoon thyme

1 T. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

Combine all together and form into 2 inch patties.  Place in non stick skillet and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for another 5 minutes or until juices run clear!  Place on paper towels to get rid of any grease that you may have.

This sausage recipe is also great for making patties and grilling or using in lasagne or on top of pizza!

Happy Cooking!