We Made Room For Dessert 29 - Air Fryer Hand Pies

It has been a LONG time since I posted a dessert recipe. This week we are making room for a little something sweet! And it uses one of my favorite kitchen devices - an air fryer!!! Super simple and super quick cooking, this dessert is sure to please. And it is very adaptable as you could use any type of filling you want. I used apple pie filling but you could use blueberry, cherry, lemon, pumpkin, etc. And you could also get creative and use pudding as the filling to have a creamier version, or even something cream cheese based.

Apple Air Fryer Hand Pies

Ingredients:

• 1 box of pie dough (2 crusts) - I use Pillsbury; you can make your own if preferred!
• 1 can pie filling - I used Comstock apple
• 1 cup powder sugar
• 1/8 cup milk

Directions:
Cut rounds out of the pie dough. I got 10 out of 2 crusts using my handy set of biscuit cutters. You could also use a large glass or small bowl. Put a small amount of filling in each round, fold over, and crimp with a fork to close. Place 4 at a time in your air fryer. Cook at 370 for 8 minutes. Place on rack to cool for about 20-30 minutes. Mix together powder sugar and milk while pies are cooling. Dip each hand pie completely in glaze. Place back on rack to dry. Enjoy!

We Made Room For Dessert 27 - Easy Peanut Butter Pie

In honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day, I thought I would post a sweet treat that is easy to make for your loved one(s). I made this in the last week and could not believe how simple it is.  I am positive it will be a household favorite.  There are only a few ingredients, and they are mostly store bought so this does not take very long at all. Simple and delicious, plus it's a time honored classic combo of peanut butter and chocolate. Yum!

Easy Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients:
1 ready made graham cracker crust (I used chocolate)
1 tub of whipped topping
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8oz brick of cream cheese, softened (I left mine on the counter overnight)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tbs heavy cream

Directions:
Whip together cream cheese and peanut butter with a hand mixer.  Fold in powdered sugar and then beat on low for a couple minutes. Fold in whipped topping and beat on low for a couple more minutes. Pour mixture into pie crust.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  Microwave chocolate chips and heavy cream, stirring every 30 seconds until chocolate is melted and you get a smooth consistency.  Pour over top of pie and refrigerate at least one more hour.
Enjoy!

We Made Room For Dessert 22 - Blueberry Tarts

Summer is the season of blueberries! I have always been a fan of this little round fruit, and I eat a ton of them in the summer.  On cereal, in fruit salads, plain by the handful, and also in desserts!  It's so easy to make these little tarts.


Blueberry Tarts

Ingredients:

• 1 pint blueberries
• 1/2 a lemon, juiced
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbs cornstarch
• water
• refrigerated pie dough

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Add first 4 ingredients to a saucepan and heat over medium on the stove.  Add in a bit of water, I usually use about 1/4 of a cup.  Cook for 15-30 minutes until some berries burst and sauce thickens up.  Take off heat and let cool.
To make the tarts like I do, cut 4 rounds out of 1 roll of refrigerated pie dough.  If you don't have a little pie maker like I do, you can also make one big pie.  Just place whole round of pie dough in pie plate.  
Fill dough with blueberry filling, just spoon four equal parts into dough,
Bake for 30-45 minutes until crust is cooked (but not too brown!).  I serve mine with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!

Bacon and Cheddar Quiche - Pinterest Pick #8

This week's recipe is a Pinterest pick!  It's easy, tasty, and can be used as a main dish, a side dish - or breakfast, lunch or dinner! The cheese and bacon make it delicious.  And it's fairly affordable.  Check out my pin HERE and get the original recipe HERE.

Bacon and Cheddar Quiche

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 8 oz shredded cheddar (I used Sharp White Cheddar)
• 1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 refrigerated pie crust
• salt and pepper
• cayenne
• smoked paprika

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375
Roll out pie dough and press into pie dish.  Top dough with 2/3 the bacon, and 2/3 the cheese.  Beat together the eggs, cream, milk, and spices.  Pour custard mixture into pie.  Sprinkle top of pie with remaining cheese and bacon.  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Enjoy!
***Note, I served mine with a caesar salad and it made a delicious dinner!

We Made Room For Dessert 21 - Brownie Pie

We are making room for dessert this week!  Every now and then my sweet tooth flairs up and I just need a treat.  For the past month or so on Facebook I have seen several people post about brownie pie.  It's so easy to make!  Plus it's super affordable, I got the brownie mix BOGO (my cost for this box was $1), the graham crust was only 85 cents at my local Aldi, and I got the whipped topping at Aldi for 89 cents.  Factor in the small amount of egg and oil used, and I spent under $3 to make the whole pie.  Some recipes call for having a homemade brownie batter, but I used a box mix and I think that saved even more time.  It's very rich but so yummy.  And you can easily add to it with things like pecans, walnuts, etc.  And you can change up the topping by making your own flavored whipped cream.  Or even better, make it a S'mores Brownie pie by topping it with marshmallows (when it's done baking), and broiling for a minute OR by just topping with marshmallow fluff after baking.

Brownie Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 premade graham cracker crust
• 1 box brownie mix (plus an egg, 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 water to make batter)
• whipped topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Begin by making brownie batter (in my case, following package instructions).  Pour batter into pie shell.  Bake for 35-40 minutes.  Let cool 30-60 minutes.  Top with whipped topping.
Enjoy!

We Made Room For Dessert 14 - Oreo Pie

We are making room for dessert this week!  Not that I really need it, I think I've been packing on some pounds lately.  But I keep coming across all these great recipes so you know I just HAVE to try them!

Per usual, I came across this recipe on Pinterest.  You can find the original recipe here, on another food blog.  If you love Oreos, this is the dessert for you!

Oreo Pie

Ingredients:

Crust: 
1.5 sleeves of crushed Oreos
1/2 stick of melted butter.

Pie:

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter 
1 cup powdered sugar 
1 medium tub cool whip 
3 oz. box instant chocolate pudding 
1 1/2 cups cold milk
1/2 sleeve crushed Oreo Cookies

Directions:

To make the crust, crush up 1.5 sleeves of Oreos and mix with melted butter.  Then deeply press into a pie pan.  Refrigerate while making filling.
For the pie, mix together the cream cheese and the butter until smooth. Carefully fold in the powdered sugar and half of the cool whip. Then pour over the Oreo crust, and set aside.
To make the pudding layer, whisk together the chocolate pudding mix and the milk and let it sit for a few minutes (it should start to thicken fairly quickly).  Then pour it over the first layer. Add oreos, stir in to pudding.
Spread the remaining cool whip over the top.
Refrigerate for one hour

Chili Cheese Pie - Home Cooked Recipe 41

I have already given you my delicious Chili recipe, and I made it again this week.  I had it for dinner, then leftovers another night, but still had some left over.  While wondering what I could do with the rest of the chili (nachos, etc) I saw someone on TV talking about pies and quiches.  Then an idea struck!  What if I turned my leftover chili into a chili cheese pie??? I had one 9 inch round of refrigerated pie dough and decided to go for it.  Here is the recipe for my idea of what to do when you have chili leftovers!

Chili Cheese Pie

Ingredients:
2-3 cups of Chili (get my recipe here), use your favorite, cooled
8 oz shredded quesadilla cheese (or monterey jack or pepper jack or cheddar jack)
4 oz finely shredded cheddar
1 9 inch round refrigerated pie dough (or use your favorite recipe)
***optional garnishes: green onions, sour cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
Unroll pie dough and place in pie pan.  Cover the bottom of the pie crust with half of the quesadilla cheese.  Spoon chili over the top and spread in an even layer.  Top with other half of quesadilla cheese and cheddar cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Let cool for 30 minutes.  Serve with sour cream and/or green onions if desired.
Enjoy!

Savory Cheese Pies - Home Cooked Recipe 36

Happy New Year Everyone!  I hope all my readers had a wonderful holiday season, and wish you all a Happy 2013 filled with love, happiness, prosperity, and good food!
Today I am going to be giving you a recipe that I made with one of my Christmas gifts.  And then on Friday I am going to be doing a special post noting the most popular recipes on this bog in 2012.  So make sure you come back later this week to read that.
I mentioned in my last post that for Christmas I received a gift called My Lil' Pie Maker.  It is a kit that has a silicone baking tray that holds 4 mini pies, 4 silicone disks to put in the bottom of each cup to vent the bottom of the pies, two cutters (one that cuts dough to form the base of your pies, and one that is dual-sided and allows you to cut a plain dough top or turn it over to cut a decorative dough top), and a instruction/recipe book.

I thumbed through the recipe book and saw a recipe for cheese pies that looked absolutely delicious.  I decided that would be my first cooking experience with my new kitchen equipment!
What prompted this gift in the first place was that I was browsing through the stores just after Thanksgiving and saw a Bella Personal Pie Maker.  For $15, it was it's own device that you could bake mini pies right inside without having to use the oven.  How convenient!  Especially for someone like me who is not an expert baker.  I did some research and saw a YouTube video and it looked like something I could enjoy in my kitchen.  I also saw that Keebler makes one as well, and that retails for around $20.  So I had mentioned to some friends and my boyfriend how enthralled I was with this device, and for Christmas, my boyfriend went shopping, saw in Target they had the My Lil' Pie Maker, and here we are!  Unlike the Bella and Keebler models, this is not self-contained, and you still have to use your oven.  But it was along the exact same vein of what I wanted, and after using it, I am hooked!

The kit is easy to use, and did exactly what the package said it would (which is not always true with the "As Seen On TV" products).  My pies easily came out of the dish, clean-up was a breeze, and the pies themselves were perfect!
These cheese pies in particular were EXTREMELY easy to make, and would definitely make a great brunch item, a nice lunch if paired with a salad or soup, and were the perfect side to our dinner that I made them for.  We both agreed the recipe was good, and I was impressed that the pies came out perfectly.
I don't normally endorse specific product brands on this site, but I'm telling you, this is a good one.  You can make sweet or savory pies, and I think you might be seeing a lot of mini pie recipes from me in 2013!  I'm excited to make some sweet versions, some quiches, and some pot pies with my new equipment.  And of course we will be having these cheese pies again!
Here is the recipe, I am doing it as the mini pie version, but I am positive you could adapt the filling to make a regular pie.  So don't be afraid to try it (and email me if you have any questions about making a full-sized version at nodessertpodcast@gmail.com, I'll be happy to help!)

Savory Mini Cheese Pies
***recipe slightly altered from My Lil' Pie Maker actual recipe***

Ingredients:
1 9in refrigerated pie dough round (or make your own dough)
6oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup grated parmesan (use fresh or the cannister kind, both work)
Fresh ground black pepper (I like a lot, I used a tablespoon, but adjust it to your taste)
1 tsp onion powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Place silicone baking tray on a cookie sheet.  Place vent discs into each cup.
Using cutter that comes with kit, cut out 4 bottom rounds (you can get 3 from the dough round by itself, then reroll the dough and cut your fourth, there should be more than enough dough for this) and press into cups in baking tray. 
Make filling.  Combine all cheeses with pepper and onion powder in a bowl.  Mix well.  Spoon filling into each cup (I went all the way to the top of each cup with no problem).

If desired, make crusts for top of pies using leftover dough from round.  Use the top cutter, decorative side or non decorative side.  I did two with decorative top crusts and two without top crusts.  I did not put a whole top crust on any, but if you do, cut slits in top to vent steam.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.  Let cool before removing from tray, at least 10 minutes.
Enjoy!

Coconut Custard Pie - We Made Room For Dessert 3

Even though the title of this blog is No Room For Dessert, occasionally we do make room for dessert. I do like sweets, but in moderation.  Also, I am more of a cook then a pastry/dessert maker, hence the name of the blog.
This week's recipe is embracing the sweeter side of life.  I had a can of sweetened condensed milk laying around, and wanted to make something new.  I searched for recipes that used this ingredient and saw several pie recipes.  I already had pie dough in the freezer, and a bag of flaked coconut, so I went with a recipe for Coconut Custard Pie.
I encountered some difficulties making this pie, not because of the recipe (which is VERY easy to follow), but probably because of my baking jinx.  Either way, the pie was delicious when it was done, and I feel like I learned a few things along the way.  I'll note my issues and possible solutions along the way in the recipe.
 Coconut Custard Pie
Ingredients:
1 9inch refrigerated pie dough (or make your own dough)
1 1/4 cups hot water
3 large eggs
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup flaked coconut, toasted
1/2 cup flaked coconut, untoasted
1 tbs vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
*optional 1/2 tsp coconut extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425.  Bake pie crust 8 minutes; cool slightly. It is helpful to use pie weights during this process, or a couple cups of dried beans (placed over foil or parchment paper).  My crust shrank down and lost some shape during this blind-bake process, probably due to the fact that I did not use weights or beans.
Beat eggs well in a medium bowl. Add sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, salt and nutmeg (and coconut extract, if using); mix well. Add water in slowly, a quarter of a cup at a time, stirring very well.  My custard was not as smooth as I would have liked it to be, and I think that was because I didn't temper the eggs with the water correctly.
Next, Stir in untoasted coconut. Pour custard mixture into crust. Sprinkle with toasted coconut.
Bake pie for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F; bake an additional 25 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool.
We ate the pie while it was still warm (only 30 minutes out of the oven) and it was yummy.  This pie tastes great, warm or cold.  I would recommend leftovers be kept in the refrigerator, because of the eggs in the recipe.
Enjoy!