West Virginia Honey Pie

Eat pie, work as hard as a honeybee!

While I was growing up, my family would spend a few weeks each summer in West Virginia, visiting my maternal grandparents. Their farm was on a mountaintop, with barns, chickens, gardens, acres of forest, and a swift creek running through. My grandpa was a retired coal miner who enjoyed his golden years tooling around his vegetable gardens, hunting, and caring for his bees. The beehives were set out by the barn, under an old silver maple tree a few hundred yards away from the house. Although I was scared of them, I was also mesmerized at the sound and deliberate activity of the bees as they worked in and out of the hives. My daddy always claimed that we all should work as hard as honeybees, as he too kept bees as a teenager during World War II.

Grandma would make pans of corn bread for breakfast and dinner, and I would happily drown my corn bread with Grandpa’s golden wildflower honey, infused with pieces of chewy honeycomb in every bite. I created this pie recipe in memory of those summer days.

Recommended: Flaky Classic Piecrust, frozen (page 1)

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 partially baked, approximately 8 minutes.
4. Carefully lift the pasta-filled foil from the crust.
5. Continue with the directions for the filling below.

Filling

4 eggs

2 egg yolks

²/₃ cup honey—preferably wildflower, buckwheat, or clover

1 tablespoon butter, melted

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Zest of 1 lemon

¹/₈ teaspoon salt

2½ cups half-and-half

1 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch, sifted

Garnish—Optional

Fresh or frozen sweetened raspberries

Confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks in a medium bowl.
3. Add the honey, butter, vanilla, lemon zest, and salt and continue to mix thoroughly.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the half-and-half and cornstarch until well mixed.
5. Mix into the honey mixture.
6. Pour into the piecrust.
7. Bake for 50 minutes or until the center is set. Cool on a rack and keep at room temperature.
8. Before serving, add a ladle of fresh or frozen sweetened raspberries over each slice. Powder the edges of the pie with confectioners’ sugar right before serving.

I absolutely love this pie with orange blossom honey!

Linda’s Best Browned Butter Coconut Chess Pie

Eat the best pie, love life!

I could talk pie for hours with Terry, a former colleague, friend, and fellow ardent pie lover. We discussed everything pie: cream pies versus fruit, canned cherries versus fresh, crumb topping versus lattice, meringue or not, and on and on. He wasn’t very picky about his pies, which is where we disagreed immensely. My thoughts were, and continue to be, that if a pie isn’t amazing, then I’m not interested. Terry, on the other hand, believed there to be only two kinds of pie: good pie and better pie! This always makes me smile and may be true for many readers. But for me, the only pie worth eating is the best pie.

I am quite certain that it’s the experience of eating average pies over the years that has led me to my destiny. This is why I have a pie shop, ship pies, teach baking classes, and perform pie demonstrations across the country. I want to share what I have learned to ensure no one settles for a good pie, or even a better pie. I want everyone to have only the best pie. I have always said, if I can make a pie close to as good as your favorite pie baker, than I have done my job.

This pie is so yummy warmed up and served with butter pecan ice cream!

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 is partially baked, approximately 8 minutes.
4. Carefully lift the pasta-filled foil from the crust. Let the crust cool.
5. Continue with the directions for the filling below.

Filling

¾ cup butter

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

1½ cups coconut, toasted

4 eggs

¾ cup heavy cream

½ teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon flour

Garnish—Optional

Toasted coconut

Confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Melt the butter on low heat until it’s browned, watching carefully so it doesn’t burn. Let it cool for 10 minutes.
3. Combine the browned butter, sugar, brown sugar, and eggs in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and combine until well mixed.
5. Pour into the piecrust and bake for 45 minutes or until the pie is set in the middle. Cool.
6. Dust the edges of the pie with toasted coconut and confectioners’ sugar right before serving, if desired.

Dad Hundt’s Maple Chocolate Swirl Pie

Eat pie, make your family feel special.

My husband’s father was a master carpenter and proud father of thirteen children. He worked six days a week his whole life and loved building beautiful, sound homes. He was always willing to go the extra mile to see that his best work was his only work. Dad Hundt felt blessed to have the life he had, and worked hard to make sure his family was raised with values of faith and love. John and his siblings loved him dearly and, like most kids, couldn’t wait until he came home at night, through the back door and directly down the stairs to take off his work boots and coat, then put away his lunch box. With this, five or six of the younger kids would scurry down to welcome him home with hugs and laughter. The tradition was for him to gather his beloved kids in his arms, and on his back, as he gingerly and joyfully walked up the stairs to a delicious homemade dinner. My father-in-law loved anything sweet, and my mother-in-law, a fantastic baker, would make her family delicious cakes, cookies, and pies every day to show her love.

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 on next page.

Filling

2 cups half-and-half

1 cup whole milk

½ cup maple syrup

4 egg yolks

1 cup brown sugar

¹/₃ cup plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch, sifted

¹/₈ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon maple flavoring

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ounce (2 squares) sweetened baking chocolate, melted

Garnish—Optional

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

Chocolate shavings

Maple sugar candies

1. Mix the half-and-half, milk, maple syrup, egg yolks, brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium pan.
2. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens. Add the maple flavoring and vanilla.
3. Reserve 1 cup of filling in a separate medium bowl.
4. Add the melted chocolate to the reserved filling and mix until smooth.
5. Pour the chocolate filling into the bottom of a piecrust.
6. Whisk the remaining filling until smooth. Pour on top of the chocolate filling.
7. Take a spoon and lift the bottom layer of chocolate filling to the top and swirl. Repeat once. Stop yourself from continuing to swirl or you will end up with a muddy-looking pie.
8. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Garnish to taste with Whipped Cream, chocolate shavings, or maple sugar candies, if desired.