A Pie Per Week: Hershey's Chewy Brownie Pie

Hershey Chewy Brownie Pie

Easter Celebration at the hangar

Brian:  We just returned from our trip to Florida, driving all Friday night, so we were pretty tired on Saturday.  We knew we were going to celebrate Easter in Bloomington on Sunday, so we were trying to think of a pie that would be moderately easy to bake.  We were short on Z’s and short on time. 

Angie:  Ever since Brian and I have started to blog and share our pie recipes on Facebook, lots of family and friends have started sharing recipes with us to try.  One that appeared on both of our walls in the last week was a Hershey Brownie pie.  It looked really good, and also seemed pretty easy to make.

The two sizes of Hershey's Candy bars.

Brian:  This pie reminded me of Derby pie, minus the pecans, in many ways.  It is really very simple to make, as most “cookie pies” are.  I did struggle a bit with getting the ingredients, as I am not a very detail oriented person.  When buying ingredients, I only grabbed one of the 6.5 oz. Hersheys Cookies and Cream candy bars.  As each pie would require 6 oz., I had to return to the store.  Unfortunately, I grabbed the 4 oz. size instead.  Doh!  I’m blaming it on the sleep deprivation.  J

Melting the butter, chocolate and combining sugar

Angie:  We decided to add some mini chocolate bars to make up the difference, and began making the pie.  Essentially you put the pan on medium heat and slowly start combining all the ingredients.  There is no crust to prepare, so once you pour all of the ingredients into the greased pan, you just need to set the timer and wait. 

Sweetened condensed milk is poured on top.

Brian:  We baked both of the pies and headed to Bloomington to celebrate Easter.  We set up banquet tables, there is a full kitchen to either create or heat up dishes, and we get the opportunity to enjoy good food and fellowship.

Angie:  Holidays in my family are a big deal, all of them.  If you ask my mom what her favorite holiday is, she'll say, the next one!  I love this about my mom and my family.  We love to be together, cook together, eat together.  Towards the end of our time together we always pull out our phones and get our next one on the calendar!  Since winters in Indiana are long and cold and this Easter was going to have good weather we decided to grill out.  Burgers, brats, potato salad, baked beans...  It was like the first taste of spring.

Hershey Chewy Brownie Pies

Brian:  After enjoying a nice Easter meal, we broke out the pie.  I enjoyed it, but the pie was a bit too rich for my taste.  When the ingredients include a chocolate bar, chocolate chips, sugar, butter, and condensed milk… you know it is going to be sweet.  I definitely advise having a nice cold glass of milk available to go with it.

Angie:  One word.  Rich.  This is the richest pie I've ever tasted.

Pie of the Week Recipient:

Our pie of the week goes to our good friends and neighbors Graeme and Tracy.  We have lived across the street from each other for years and have watched our kids play together since before some of them were born!  With a family of 6, we are confident the pie will not go to waste.

Graeme, Jayden, and JoLynn

Recipe From fahrenheit350.blogspot.com

Ingredients

6oz. Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme Chocolate Candy Bar

½ cup sugar

½ cup butter

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

Pinch of salt

7oz. sweetened condensed milk 

¾ cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

6oz. Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme Chocolate Candy Bar

½ cup sugar

½ cup butter

Melt over med low heat until melted

Whisk in 2 lightly beaten eggs and ½ teaspoon vanilla

Add:

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

Stir until mixture is incorporated and smooth

Pour into greased 9" springform pan

Bake at 350°, 20 minutes

Remove from oven

Immediately pour 7oz. sweetened condensed milk over top of brownies

Layer with ¾ cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips

Let cool

About Your Bakers

A Pie Per Week: Strawberry Pie

Henscratch Farms

Brian:  Angie and I decided to keep the pie blog going, even though we are on vacation.  However, as I am a huge Indiana University basketball fan, I was sorely needed at the TV today.  I thought we may be celebrating the team's season instead of a victory based on how we were playing, but I'm happy they won.  I think it is only fitting that we have a Cream and Crimson colored pie today.  :)

Brian's dad and Aunt Sue's granddaughter

Brian Celebrates the IU Victory

Angie:  This was definitely primarily a solo venture today, but we did have some family fun.  My inlaws live in Sebring, Florida, and we always are sure to visit Henscratch Farms.  Henscratch Farms is a winery that sells jellies, jams, chow chow, and other local food items.  Fortunately for us, they also offer the ability to go and pick your own strawberries.

Brian:  Henscratch features lots of live farm animals, including chickens that they have roaming freely.  They offer little cups of food that you can feed the chickens with, and that is always lots of fun with the kids.  They also have a pig named Harley.  We went today with my mom and dad, my twin brother, two of my aunts.  My Aunt Sue also brought her granddaughter, and we all had a really good time.  I also got a chance to learn what muscadine and scuppernong jelly are.  Muscadine is a red grape variety and scuppernong is a white grape variety, and that is the short version.  Yay useless trivia!

The inside view of a paper bag full of strawberries.

Angie:  After we picked the strawberries, although we did get a fair amount, we did not have enough for the amount of pies we had planned.  So we ventured out to a farmstand to augment are handpicked varieties. We also made the decision to go with a store bought crust, just because we were on the road.  We have heard of a recipe made by one of the local residents that features an egg, and I'm not leaving here without it!

Brian:  The rest of the pie making was all Angie.  I helped preheat the oven and did get some of the crusts out of the oven, but Angie did the rest.  In my defense, IU really, really needed me to cheer for them.

Strawberries in the Pie Shell

Angie:  We ended up with 4 quarts of strawberries.  I washed and cut the tops off of all of them.  Then I took whole berries and placed them in the pre-baked pie shells.  I really wish I'd made them from scratch as they would have tasted so much better, I will definitely make them the next time!  I took the remaining strawberries and mashed them in a large saucepan with sugar and heated until boiling.  I added the water and cornstarch and simmered for 10 minutes then poured the mixture over the strawberries in the pie shells.  The other strawberry pies I've mostly seen are the ones with that big packet of glaze you buy in the produce department.  That glaze always tasted like those fluoride trays you get at the dentist, yuck.  Wow this is so much better!!

Mashing strawberries while adding sugar.

Adding the Cornstarch

Brian:  The picture of the pie looks soupy, but it really wasn't.  The flavor was good.  There is a famous cafeteria style restaurant in Indiana called Gray Brothers Cafeteria, and people always rave about the strawberry pie.  That pie does feature a sweeter tasting crust, and that combination with this strawberry pie recipe will be a winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Recipe from AllRecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked 1 quart fresh strawberries 1 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch 3/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Arrange half of strawberries in baked pastry shell. Mash remaining berries and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
2.	In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour mixture over berries in pastry shell. Chill for several hours before serving.

Pie Recipients of the week go to Brian's family, that we have talked about throughout.  The picking of the strawberries, and the eating of the pie, made a great family day.  The nice warm temperatures helped as well, as there is snow on the ground in Indiana, as we are having an unseasonably cold Spring.

Brian's twin brother Brent, and his mother Kathleen.

Your Bakers

A Pie Per Week: Butterscotch Pie

Butterscotch Pie

Pi Day at ExactTarget

Brian:  It was a busy week at the Richardson house.  Pi Day, which is set aside to celebrate our mathematical friend π, was held this week.  To celebrate Pi day, people frequently eat pie, and my employer actually provided pie to employees as part of the event.  Angie, thought it would be fun to provide some pie to her co-workers as well.  There was one small problem, Pi day is 3-14 (like the number 3.14,) and I made a mistake in scheduling.  I had our production start on Tuesday night, which was a day early.  Doh!  There is actually a National Pie day as well, and my goal is to not make the same mistake when that event rolls around.  J

ExactTarget Logo Pie

Angie:   I came home Tuesday night all excited about making apple pie for my husband’s office and for my co-workers.  Because this was an extra event, we will include the apple pie recipe at a future time.  Brian was working late so it was my sole duty to make these pies.  When he came home and I was showing him the pies, my oldest daughter came in and mentioned that Pi Day was Thursday, not Wednesday, and I had made the 3 pies a day early.  Uh oh.  I felt like the pie should be fresh baked so yes, I came home the next night and made 2 more apple pies.  We gave 4 away and kept one.  I was really proud of the pie for my husband’s company.  It turned out really neat, featured their company logo, and won a prize!

Our good friend Valerie!

Brian:  To be true to our code, to keep a pie and give away a pie, we did give one to our good friend Valerie.  Apple is her favorite, so she got a special surprise delivery at work.  We also gave away one of the small pies from last week’s derby pie to our neighbor Erin.  I would like to point out, in order to stay committed to my goal of just having one dessert per week, I did not partake.  I have lost weight by only having dessert once per week, but not as fast as I would like.  So, I've decided to be a little more restrictive.  I can only eat pie on Sunday, if I have averaged a one pound per week loss.  I have posted a chart for the next several months and what my weight needs to be each Sunday.  This weight loss thing just got real.

My brother Mark and Paula Dean.

Angie:  This week I decided to use the Queen of the South’s pie crust recipe, Paula Deen.  I actually had the opportunity to see Paula perform in Atlanta with my brothers, mom, and John.  We all went together to the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show.  We met Paula and her husband in our hotel lobby.  She was very gracious and posed for pictures.  Back to the pie…   The crust came together really nicely and rolled out like a dream and I was so excited that I might have found THE recipe for me.  However, after it baked the crust dropped down the inside of the pie pans.  So my crust quest continues…

Crust before it decided to shrink.

Brian:  It was really strange.  When Angie rolled out the dough, it overlapped perfectly with the pie crust.  It virtually looked like every homemade crust we had ever used, but after cooking it in the oven, it just shrunk up like a “lay flat only to dry” shirt you accidentally put in the dryer.  One part of the instructions she didn't follow, was to let it set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  Could that be the "flaw in the slaw?"

Butterscotch Cooking... mmmm

Angie:  The filling and cooking instructions are very similar to that of sugar cream pie.  We were given several great recipes, and I ended up using a hybrid of them for this pie.  One of the recipes stated to cook the filling after it reaches a boiling point for two minutes, and the other recipe encouraged waiting until the mixture thickened.  I opted to cook it for additional 5 minutes, constantly stirring to ensure that it would not burn.

Brian:  Much like the apple pie, I was not as much a factor in the baking this time.  I was really interested in helping with the crust, but since this was a new recipe, I made sure to let Angie work with it as she is the true talent of this duo.  I was more of a sous chef, gathering ingredients, separating eggs, and helping to keep things moving.  I took on my role of “trophy husband,” but I really am interested in learning how to make crust.  The kids on the playground might beat me up if they hear I have to get my wife to bake my own pies.  How embarrassing would that be?

Angie:  I loved the taste and texture of the crust, yum!  The filling was very sweet and not the creamy texture I’ve had before.  The flavor was fantastic!!

Brian:  I enjoyed the pie, but I agree with Angie that the filling was really sweet.  It almost had a caramel taste, but since I like caramel, that was just fine with me. 

Pie Recipients

This week pie recipient is Jen.  We became friends in Bloomington about 18 years ago, and both families ended up moving to the same part of Indianapolis.  Butterscotch is her favorite, so we made sure to include her next.

Jen is pictured on the left as this week's recipient.  Erin is on the right with Keaton, Raenah, and a photo-bombing Levi.

Our friend BJ does not like crust, so we made him a crustless pie. Otherwise known as pudding.  He shared.

What pie should we make next?  Please feel free to comment with any suggestions, and if you have a family recipe you would like for us to try, please include that as well.

Here is the link to Paula Deen's pie crust recipe.

I was given recipes by three different friends this week, Jennifer, Laurie and Vonda.  I didn’t stick to one in particular, but sort of melded the three and ended up with the following…

Butterscotch Pie

1c light brown sugar

1/3c corn starch

1/3t salt

2c Milnot, scalded – I put in microwave for 3 minutes

3 eggs, separated

2T butter

1t vanilla

In a heavy saucepan over medium to medium high heat, blend sugar, corn starch and salt. Slowly stir in hot milk. Cook and stir until mixture thickens, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and add 1/3 of well beaten egg yolk, stirring constantly.  You do not want scrambled eggs yolks here!  Stir in the rest of the egg yolks.  Stir and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat.  Add butter and vanilla. Pour into baked pie shell. Cover with meringue, place in preheated 350 oven and brown the meringue.               

A Pie Per Week: Derby Pie

Derby Pie

Brian:  The state of Kentucky has many things it is known for, and we will feature two of them in this week’s pie.  Bourbon whiskey and Derby pie are staples in Kentucky, and we will include both with our Derby pie and bourbon cream sauce.  We have found many family and friends who aren't familiar with Derby Pie, so here is a link to provide some historical context.

Angie:  We knew that we were spending Saturday with my family.  Periodically we have “movie night” with my family in Bloomington.  We try to create a cuisine that goes with the movie, and past choices have been “Casablanca” and Moroccan Food, and we featured breakfast offerings for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”  We put on a full blown wedding for “Wedding Crashers!”  This week featured the movie “The High and The Mighty,” and since the setting of the movie is on an airplane, the food was served on trays as if you were on an airplane.

My Mother Pat rolling out a pie crust

Brian:  We knew we had to take our show on the road, so we tried to choose a pie we could pack everything we needed to bring with us.  We also wanted to work with Angie’s mother Pat, who is a great cook in her own right.

My daughter Emilee working the crust

Angie:  Brian went out Saturday 
evening, and since the crusts have added significantly to the cooking time, I worked on the crusts with my mother and my daughter Emilee.  My mom gave me some good tips on working with crust and I was finally able to roll out a decent crust after watching her.  I used one of the crust recipes from last week’s post, and it worked much better this week.

Pecan Pie Crust

I also made a pecan crust, which comes from my mother-in-law Kathleen, which we use for a different dessert.  In hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have pre-baked the pie crusts as these pies cook in the oven for a considerable time.  Pre-baking them made them a bit crispier than normal.

Brian:  I woke up Saturday morning, and I was in charge of making the pie filling and the bourbon cream sauce.  Some derby pie recipes feature bourbon in them, but we chose to omit that from the recipe.  Though there was some debate on whether or not to include pecans, since I was making the filling, I won that debate.  J

Finished pie crusts

Angie:  I enjoy toasted pecans on salads.  I love pecan pie.  I do not like pecans in my chocolate chip cookies, they get stuck in my teeth and drive me crazy.  I was also too tired to argue.  The combination of springing forward for Daylight savings time, and being awoken by my nephew’s cell phone alarm at 6:30 a.m., made for a tired Angie. 

Adding in the pie filling

Brian:  Quite frankly, it is a really quick and easy filling to make.  You simply combine the butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla, and stir in the chips and pecans.  My friend uses a balloon whisk to make the bourbon cream by hand, but I chose to use what he called the “sissy way” by using a hand mixer.  My excuse is that I was that I made the sauce with my daughter, otherwise I’m sure I would have done it the manly way.  I always defer to Angie to help determine when the pie is done.

My Nephew Riley

Angie:  The pie was golden brown on top, but still soft in the center.  We left the other pies in a bit longer so they would cook through.  The crust was a bit crumbly which I’m sure came from pre-baking the crust.  We won’t do that next time.  I suffered though the pecans because the delicious, gooeyness was just amazing!

My Nephew Hunter

Brian:  The pie was probably a bit underdone, but I think of a derby pie like a big chocolate chip cookie, and the less you bake a cookie the more ooey and gooey it gets.  I added the bourbon cream sauce, and the complimentary flavors were outstanding.  My nephews Hunter and Riley gave the pie high marks, and it is my favorite pie we have made so far.

Angie:  Pie of the week goes to…  The pie with the pecan crust goes to the company my mom works for, Gentry Group.  They are a fantastic local builder in Bloomington and they are comprised of some pretty amazing people.

We made a smaller pie for my mom’s boyfriend, John, who does so much for us and is a wonderful cook.  He also provided the bourbon.   We couldn’t leave him without a pie.

Pecan Crust Recipe

1c flour
1/2c pecans
8T melted butter
1T cold water 

Directions: Stir and spread in pan, bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Bourbon cream

1 cup heavy cream

¼ cup confectioners (powered) sugar

1 generous tablespoon bourbon (I generally use Knob Creek or Buffalo Trace…you could also use Bakers (Jim Beam Small Batch) as it has a richer and sweeter hint of vanilla flavor to it)

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract (or preferred is 1 vanilla bean)

Directions:  Use a metal bowl (copper is best but stainless works too) place it in fridge for about 30 minutes to get it cold and make sure all liquid ingredients are cold too.  Pour the cold cream into the cold bowl and mix – I use a balloon whisk but you may also use a hand mixer – until soft peaks start to form.  Add remaining ingredients and continue to whip until stiff peaks 

About your bakers

A Pie Per Week: Your Bakers!

We are just a husband and wife team who love pie!  In an effort to lose weight, Brian decided to adopt a Zig Ziglar principle to simply have dessert once a week on Sunday.  He wanted to make it special, and being a big lover of pie, the dessert became a "Pie Per Week."

Angie loves to cook, and thought it would be a lot of fun to join in the kitchen with her husband baking pies together.  She also had the idea to give a pie away each week, so each week we have a pie recipent to share with.  Hopefully by reading you will capture a good recipe, a new cooking skill, or enjoy a bit of humor along the way.

Angie Richardson is currently an office manager for a dental practice and has 5 years of restaurant experience.  From a family of cooks, she is a follower of The Food Network and The Pioneer Woman.

Brian Richardson is a Global Product Instructor for ExactTarget. He is a social media fan, Improv novice, lover of all types of music and a movie nut. Go Hoosiers, Colts, Pacers, and Reds!  Follow him on Twitter here.

Brian and Angie have been married for 18 years and have three children and a Yorkie named Sophie.

A Pie Per Week: Lemon Meringue Pie

Brian:  Angie and I are going to try and both contribute to the blog, so you will see cues to know who is talking.

Angie:  Pie crust, you and I are not yet friends.  I start this post with the feeling of pie crust still beneath my fingernails… 

We worked on making pie crust from scratch today.  I hope we are still friends after.   I prefer to buy the refrigerated pre-made and rolled crusts for a double crust pie or a frozen crust for a single crust pie.  I know that a homemade crust would taste better, I’ve just never been able to get one to work.  Today is no different from all the others.

Brian:  I’ve finally found something that irritates my wife more than me… pie crust.

Angie:  We found a recipe that was “easy” gathered all the ingredients and went to work on it.  The dough totally fell apart as I was trying to roll it out.  I did get one of the three to work with our first recipe.  Today we are making two pies so I needed two.  I went to the freezer and found a single frozen crust and then thought, no, you will not beat me today pie crust!  Brian had another recipe given to him by a friend so we pulled out the food processor and started another batch.  We were able to get one more crust out of the double batch we ended up making.  We have another recipe we will try next time… you will not get the best of me flaky, delicious, pie crust!

Brian:  The biggest thing I am learning about pie crust, is that there is this line of overworking the dough.  Once you cross it, there is no turning back.  I have also learned what pie crust ingredients are.  It reminds me of the first time I found out how gravy is made, which includes a healthy dose of fat (butter or grease.)  Pie crust is made of a disturbing amount of Crisco.

Angie:  Our pie this week is lemon meringue.  Between making the crust and completing the pies, I took our youngest daughter to a birthday party and our son to the tuxedo rental place to get his order in for prom this year.  My first baby going to prom.  I really hope he doesn’t mind me tagging along ;)  Back to pie…  Brian made the filling while I was out.  

Brian:  I noticed the filling wasn’t turning yellow, which is what I’m used to seeing in the dessert case.  But after pondering the ingredients, it makes sense.  The zest of lemons is yellow, but the juice and the rest of the ingredients are not.  We added a couple of drops of food coloring to make it more yellow, but using food coloring makes me feel like we cheated.  Please, don’t judge me.

Angie:  I love lemon meringue pie.  The wonderful scent of lemon while zesting and juicing the lemons reminds me of summertime, which it is not right now.  I made the meringue when I got back and mmm…  it looks so good.

Brian:  It is always fun to learn new things, but if we are going to make pie crust from scratch, I think we need to investigate making it the day before.  Once we get the art down (and when I say “we”  I am referring to Angie,) we can perhaps add it back into our day.  Right now it is taking quite a long time.  

We’ve decided to keep a pie and give away a pie each week.  Our pie recipient this week, Christy, is a dear friend and neighbor.  I hope she likes it and can overlook the mess I made of the crust.

What should next week’s pie be?  Do you know someone that deserves a pie?

Who we are

Pie Recipe:  (From All Recipes)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup white sugar                                               1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour                         2 lemons, juiced and zested

3 tablespoons cornstarch                                    4 egg yolks, beaten

1/4 teaspoon salt                                                 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked

2 tablespoons butter                                            4 egg whites

                                                                              6 tablespoons white sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1.        Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.        To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.

3.        To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.

4.        Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

Crust Recipe: (FromPioneer Woman)

Ingredients

1-1/2 cup Crisco (vegetable Shortening)

3 cups All-purpose Flour

1 whole Egg

5 Tablespoons Cold Water

1 Tablespoon White Vinegar

1 teaspoon Salt

Preparation Instructions

In a large bowl, with a pastry cutter, gradually work the Crisco into the flour for about 3 or 4 minutes until it resembles a coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat an egg with a fork and then pour it into the flour/shortening mixture. Add 5 tablespoons of cold water, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir together gently until all of the ingredients are incorporated.

Separate the dough into thirds. Form 3 evenly sized balls of dough and place each dough into a large Ziploc bag. Using a rolling pin, slightly flatten each ball of dough (about ½ inch thick) to make rolling easier later. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer until you need them. (If you will be using it immediately it’s still a good idea to put in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes to chill.)

When you are ready to use the dough to make a crust, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw for 15 minutes. On a floured surface roll the dough, starting at the center and working your way out. (Sprinkle some flour over top of the dough if it’s a bit too moist.) If the dough is sticking to the countertop use a metal spatula and carefully scrape it up and flip it over and continue rolling until it’s about ½ inch larger in diameter than your pie pan.

With a spatula, lift the dough carefully from the surface of the counter into the pie pan. Gently press the dough against the corner of the pan. Go around the pie pan pinching and tucking the dough to make a clean edge.