I’m not sure there’s anything more lovely than a joyful heart. People with joyful hearts are like human magnets: Everyone is immediately attracted to them. They bring a spirit to every situation that lifts the atmosphere to a happy calm. I think we all can capture and spread more joy in our lives if we truly appreciate all our blessings every day. Think joy!

Our lives and pies must be bursting with joyful filling.

Mom Hundt’s Apple Almond Pie

Eat pie, love your children.

My husband, John, grew up in a family of thirteen children! His parents did a wonderful job raising them, ensuring that they all had charming childhoods, teaching virtues such as hard work, integrity, respect, faith, and love. John’s mother was a wonderful cook and baker and insisted that all thirteen children had happy, celebrated birthdays. On their special day, each child was allowed to choose their favorite dinner for the evening, including their favorite dessert. My husband and his twin sister always chose the same birthday desserts year after year: Josie selected German chocolate cake, and it was all-American apple pie for John. (Clearly John was destined to be my husband, for he understood at an early age pie’s allure and magnificence.) After dinner, much-anticipated birthday gifts were opened, balloons were passed out, and the whole family romped in the living room with smiling faces and contented bellies in magical “birthday land” euphoria.

Recommended: Sweetie-licious Cream Cheese Crust, frozen (page 2)

Almond Filling

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon almond paste, crumbled with fingers

¼ cup butter, softened

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 ounces cream cheese, softened

1. Using a pastry blender or fork in a medium bowl, combine the sugar, almond paste, butter, flour, and salt until the mixture is crumbly and fine.
2. Measure out 1 cup of this almond filling mixture to serve as a topping in a separate small bowl. Set aside.
3. Add the softened cream cheese to the remaining almond filling mixture, using your fingers to crumble it in until well mixed.

Apple Filling

6½ cups peeled, thinly sliced Michigan Cortland or Ida Red apples (5 medium–large)

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

1½ tablespoons flour

1 cup heavy whipping cream

¼ teaspoon almond extract

Garnish

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. In a large pan on medium heat, combine the apples, sugar, cinnamon, salt, butter, and flour. Stir constantly until the apples are just tender, approximately 10–15 minutes.
3. Add the whipping cream and stir for 5 more minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the stove and stir in the almond extract.
5. Crumble the almond filling into the bottom of a frozen piecrust.
6. Pour the apple filling on top of the almond filling.
7. Sprinkle with the reserved almond filling.
8. Bake for 50 minutes or until a knife slides easily into the center of the pie. During the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle on 2 tablespoons almonds for garnish.

You’ll love this pie—the creamy almond layer mixed with apples is so amazingly delicious! Be sure to use a high-quality almond paste, as it makes a big difference.

Betsie’s Cool Key Lime Pie

Eat pie, share in life’s little excitements.

We are a pie-loving family and have celebrated birthdays with pies instead of traditional birthday cakes for generations. One year for my birthday, my husband decided to surprise me and make me my favorite key lime pie. He enlisted the “help” of our daughters, Ellie and Betsie, swearing the girls to secrecy on this special pie mission. The day before my birthday, as I set out grocery shopping for a few hours, John and the girls hurriedly made my birthday pie surprise, leaving not a trace of evidence. Upon my return, I was greeted at the door by all three of them bearing huge, suspicious smiles. The secret proved to be too much for sweet little Betsie, as she blurted out that my birthday pie was secretly made while I was out, and that it was going to be delicious! Of course, John and big sister Ellie were initially disappointed that their pact was broken so quickly. However, we all soon laughed wildly and we went on to celebrate my birthday—including the best key lime pie I have ever eaten, made with love.

“Whoever is happy, will make others happy too.”

—Anne Frank

Recommended: Sweetie-licious Graham Cracker Crust (page 2)

Filling

28 ounces sweetened condensed milk

8 egg yolks

Zest of 2 limes

1 cup key lime juice

Dash of vanilla extract

Garnish—Optional

Sweetie-licious Whipped Cream (see recipe on page 8)

Lime zest

White chocolate shavings

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Mix the condensed milk and egg yolks in a medium bowl. Add the lime zest, lime juice, and vanilla.
3. Pour into a pie shell and bake for 25 minutes or until the center is completely set.
4. Refrigerate for 3 hours.
5. Garnish with Whipped Cream, lime zest, and white chocolate shavings.

I still have this pie for my birthday!

Grandma Rosella’s Lovely Lemon Meringue Pie

Eat pie, take joy in life’s little setbacks.

My father grew up during the Depression on a small farm in Michigan. Like most folks during that troubled time, they did not have much money. Fruit that didn’t grow in your own backyard was considered special and hard to come by, so when my grandmother made lemon meringue pie, it was for special occasions only. One summer Sunday in 1937, Reverend Frye was scheduled to come to dinner at my father’s farm. My grandmother awoke at dawn to make the special lemon pie. Years later, my father could still recall the sound of the fork clicking on the glass bowl while she whipped the egg whites into soft meringue clouds. After a few hours of baking, she set her lovely pie on the dining room window to cool while the family went off to church.

Unfortunately, Zip the beagle found the pie too much to resist. Upon the family’s return, nothing was left of the beautiful pie but an empty pie pan and a contented dog sleeping with meringue stuck to his nose. Zip was sent to the barn from that day forward, and poor Reverend Fry never got to enjoy Grandma’s pie. The sweet part of this saga is that the story has been told year after year at family gatherings, evoking joyful laughter each and every time. It solidifies the notion that sometimes, all we can do is … laugh!

Recommended: Sweetie-licious Cream Cheese Crust, frozen (page 2)

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Line a frozen piecrust with one layer of aluminum foil and fill with one layer of uncooked pasta.
3. Bake in the oven until the bottom of the crust is light brown, approximately 25 minutes.
4. Carefully lift the foil from the crust. Let the crust cool.
5. Continue with the filling instructions below.

Filling

1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

¼ cup cornstarch, sifted

¹/₈ teaspoon salt

1½ cups water

1 cup fresh lemon juice, strained from 3–4 lemons

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

4 large egg yolks

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

In a large saucepan on medium heat, combine all of the ingredients and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens. Pour into a piecrust.

Meringue

1½ cups egg whites

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

¼ teaspoon lemon extract

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup sugar

1. In a medium mixing bowl using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and lemon and vanilla extracts on medium speed until soft peaks form.
2. Gradually add the sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, beating on high speed until stiff glossy peaks form.
3. Immediately spread the meringue over the pie, sealing the edges of the crust to prevent shrinkage.
4. Bake for 7 minutes or until light brown.

Fresh lemon juice and zest are musts in this pie!

You may need to turn the pie for even browning.

John’s Perfect Fresh Peach Blueberry Pie

Eat pie, find wondrous joy in all things.

I remember the first time I saw my husband, John. We were in our high school cafeteria line, and I decided he was so cute I had to flirt with him. After an awkward one-sided conversation, I realized that he either wasn’t interested in me or was painfully shy. He was the latter. Besides his good looks, I find three things to be most endearing about him: his rock-solid work ethic, his tremendous family values, and the way he sees the world with joyful wonder. John’s joy in nature is soulful, as he relishes every sunset, autumn leaf, and homegrown peach. His love for Christmas is also legendary, as each and every Christmas bulb, ornament, and gift is placed or purchased with tender thoughtfulness. But it is John’s appreciation for desserts, especially pie, that always brings excitement to our family’s kitchen table. His face lights up at every bite!

Recommended: Flaky Classic Piecrust, frozen (page 1), Sweetie-licious Crumb Topping (page 6)

Filling

5 cups peeled, sliced fresh in-season peaches

1 cup sugar

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon tapioca (minute variety)

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon orange zest

¼ teaspoon almond extract

½ cup fresh blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the peaches, sugar, tapioca, lemon juice, orange zest, and almond extract. Stir until well mixed.
3. Let stand for 10 minutes or until the tapioca is softened to the touch, being watchful of time—you don’t want the peaches to sit too long as the filling will be soupy.
4. Gently mix the fresh blueberries with the peaches and pour into a frozen piecrust.
5. Cover with Crumb Topping, covering all of the pie filling. Be especially generous around the edges.
6. Bake for 50–60 minutes, or until the filling bubbles over. Best eaten on the first day.

To bring out zingy, yummy fruit flavors, use citrus anything! Try orange, lemon, and lime juices or zests for more flavor pop.

Summer’s Frozen Creamy Strawberry & Lime Pie

Eat pie, cherish the joys of summer in your soul.

I have many perfect summer memories from my childhood: hot summer nights when all five of us kids would hover around the living room floor fan, trying to keep cool while wailing nonsense noises into the fan’s soft breeze; endless bicycle rides with my twin sister and friends, destination unknown; best of all, the faint melodic tune of the ice-cream truck and how our hearts raced as the tune became louder when it approached our home. And how excited we kids would get when our mom gave us each a quarter to get something cold and icy. I remember the pure summer bliss of sucking on an ice-cold Popsicle on our front porch in the scorching heat. The flavor combination of frozen lime and strawberry is also absolutely unforgettable in a pie! The cooled contentment will certainly take you back to the simple loves of yesteryear.

“All succeeds with people who are sweet and cheerful.”

—Voltaire

Recommended: Sweetie-licious Graham Cracker Crust (page 2)

Filling

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

¹/₃ cup fresh squeezed lime juice (2–3 limes)

Zest of 2 fresh limes, divided

1 quart fresh in-season strawberries, washed, hulled, and slightly crushed, sweetened with ¾ cup sugar, or to taste, OR
1 large package frozen sweetened strawberries, thawed

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until creamy. Gradually add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and almond extracts, lime juice, and half the lime zest.
2. Pour into a crust. Freeze for at least 4 hours.
3. Mix the strawberries, sugar, and remaining lime zest. Refrigerate. If you’re using frozen strawberries, omit the sugar.
4. Take the pie from the freezer, slice it into individual pieces, and ladle strawberries on top.
5. Keep the pie frozen.

Super easy and refreshing—crushed fresh strawberries make this wonderful.