Pie of the Week: Grampy's Strawberry and Danica's Banana Pie

My grandparents love me. But perhaps not more than a fresh strawberry pie since that's what they hung up the phone on me for. ;)

It seemed appropriate to stammer loudly into the receiver before *click* "You better send me that recipe!"

And they did! My grandparents love me.

I wasn't sure what to expect for the contents of a strawberry pie. I sort of imagined how gross cherries for cherry pie can look when cooked (despite the wonderful taste) and was already dreading seeing a pound of lovely strawberries under the duress of heat. But as it turned out, you used fresh strawberries and they STAY fresh! Now, in my version of the pie, there are bananas... this is because I accidentally bought the wrong jello mix. In a fit of anger and swearing as I realized my mistake over the boiling pot of sugar and jello power, my brilliant husband simply said, "why not just add bananas?" So I did!

This pie is a lovely "ice box" pie that is served after chilled and from the fridge – best for hot summer nights after a trip to the farmer's market.

Dairy- & Gluten-free Pine Nut Pie

Unbaked pie - bakes into a pretty, marbly surface!
I know that last week I wrote on my Pine Nut Pie recipe and that this week - if anyone was paying attention to the Pie of the Week widget off to the right - I was supposed to write on a made-up recipe for Banana Nutella, but to be honest, my Banana Nutella Pie did not turn out as well as I had hoped whilst my Pine Nut Pie seems to be improving!

This last week I made it for the birthday celebration of Paul Hoppe and then again for the in-laws, some of who cannot eat wheat and/or dairy. I learned some things and made improvements to my recipe, including a version that would not offend the stomachs of my loved ones!

Original ingredients:

(click here for the original recipe)

What I learned the second and third time around:

• Istead of dark brown sugar, light brown sugar! This lends itself to a more fluffy filling and doesn't get quite as dense.
• The flour is only necessary if you want to use dark brown sugar which mixes into a syrup that is thicker than the light brown sugar.
• Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread bakes very well with pies! I hardly noticed the difference between it and regular butter.
• On a similar note, this spread has a higher viscosity than butter when melted and is similar to the heavy cream - 1 Tbsp of this for the missing consistency of 3 Tbsp of heavy cream
• The best alternatives for gluten-free pie crusts are not potato flour ones, but cornmeal and nut based! This is Almond Tart Dough is vegan and wheat-free.
• Trader Joe's new press-in pie crusts are AWESOME. (Not Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-free)