The Baking Answer Book (37 page)

The quantity of thickener will depend on the water content of the fruit you are using (juicy fruits will need more thickener than relatively dry fruits) and how much sugar you are adding to the fruit (sugar itself is a thickener, so more sugar means less cornstarch or tapioca). Whichever thickener you choose, mix it with the fruit and sugar and let the filling stand, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes before adding it to the pie shell and baking. During this time, the starch will have a chance to dissolve evenly around the fruit, resulting in
an evenly thickened pie filling.

Q
I’d like to make a cherry pie with fresh cherries, but I’ve heard that Bing cherries, the ones I usually see in the supermarket, are not good for pie. What should I look for instead?

A
Bing cherries, the dark maroon ones grown in California and shipped all over the country, are wonderfully sweet when eaten out of hand, but lose their flavor when baked in a pie. Sour cherries, the bulk of which are grown in Michigan but increasingly shipped to farm markets and specialty produce stores in July when they are in season, are much preferable.

If you can’t find fresh sour cherries, you don’t have to resort to canned cherry pie filling, a scary concoction with a lot of red dye and not much cherry flavor. IQF (individually quick frozen) sour cherries from Michigan do make their way to some upscale markets and are available online (see Resources, but be prepared to pay a high price. Less expensive options include jarred domestic sour cherries packed in water that some American growers are distributing, and Morello cherries in light syrup imported from Europe, both of which make flavorful and juicy pies.

PITTING CHERRIES WITHOUT A CHERRY PITTER

In my opinion, even if you make a cherry pie or cobbler only once a year, it is well worth the savings in grief to invest in an inexpensive cherry pitter to help with the task (see Resources). But say you have just been given a basket of fresh sour cherries and must bake that pie tonight before they spoil. You don’t have a cherry pitter. What do you do? A quick Internet search reveals that many people in a similar predicament have found clever ways to accomplish the task. Be aware that pitting cherries by any method is a messy task. Watch out for flying pits, definitely wear an apron, and consider wearing thin rubber gloves if you don’t want semipermanent stains on your hands and underneath your fingernails.

Four Cherry-Pitting Techniques

Use a
paring knife
to cut around each cherry from one side of the stem end to the other. Then pull the cherry apart and squeeze the pit out.

Open a clean, unrusted
paperclip
into a skinny S shape. Push one rounded end into the stem end of the cherry, hooking the pit with it, and then pull the pit out. Or use a clean
bobby pin
(no need to open it in this case) and use the same push and pull method.

Place a
metal pastry bag tip
on a cutting board. Push the stem end of the cherry into the tip and down toward the cutting board, leaving the pit behind.

Remove an eraser from the
end of a pencil
and wash the end so it’s clean. Place an empty beer bottle on a countertop. Place a cherry, stem end up, on the opening of the bottle and use the metal edges of the pencil where the eraser used to be to push the pit into the bottle.

Q
What is the difference between canned pumpkin and canned pumpkin pie mix?

A
There is usually only one ingredient in a can of canned pumpkin — puréed pumpkin. Canned pumpkin pie mix has added sugar and spices. It’s always better to be able to add as much or as little sugar as you’d like, and fresh spices will make a zestier pie than ones that have been marinating in purée, so I’d always choose canned pumpkin over the pumpkin pie mix. What to do if you’ve accidentally bought the wrong one and it’s Thanksgiving morning? Proceed with the recipe that you’d planned on using, increasing the amount of pumpkin by half (there’s less pumpkin in a can of pumpkin pie mix than in a can of pure pumpkin) and leaving out the sugar and spices.

Q
How can I make a pumpkin pie with a crisp, not soggy, crust?

A
The challenge with any custard pies is to get the custard to set up in the oven before it can seep into the crust and dampen it. There are a few precautions you can take to prevent this from happening.

Most pumpkin pie recipes call for blind baking the crust. Don’t be timid when you do this. The crust should look dry and already be a light golden brown color before you add the filling. The more crisp it is when you add the filling, the less chance that it will become soggy later.

It also helps to time your baking so that your crust is just out of the oven when your filling is ready to go into the pie. The hot crust will help the filling start to set sooner, with less time for it to seep downward before solidifying. A lot of recipes will tell you that you can make your filling ahead of time and refrigerate it, but using ice-cold filling is a mistake because it will take that much longer for the custard to bake. Let it come to room temperature before using it, or even better, look for a recipe that calls for heating the filling before adding it to the hot pie shell for extra insurance against crust damage.

Q
Is it normal to have water on top of a cooled pumpkin pie?

A
A small amount of beaded water on the surface of the pie is normal. This happens with cheesecakes, too, as they cool, especially in the refrigerator. Use a paper towel to gently blot the water before slicing the pie.

If, however, your pie is watery when you cut into it, you have a more serious problem. When custard pies, including pumpkin, are overbaked they will curdle, becoming lumpy and watery. Pumpkin pie is less likely to curdle than cheesecake, because there are proportionately fewer eggs, but it can happen if you don’t remove the pie when it is just a little wobbly in the center.

Q
What causes the cracks in the top of my pumpkin pie?

A
Pumpkin pie, like cheesecake (see
page 223
) and other baked custards, can crack if overbaked. Make sure to following the baking instructions and remove the pie when it is still a little wobbly in the center. Another cause of cracking is baking the pie in the top third of the oven, where the surface is exposed to more intense heat than it would be if baked in the bottom third. A “skin” may form over the filling before the rest of the pie is baked. This skin will crack as it cools and contracts. To prevent this, bake pumpkin pie in the bottom third of the oven, which will help the custard set up quickly.

Q
Can I make Key lime pie with regular limes? Will a pie made with Key limes taste better?

A
Key lime pie originated in the Florida Keys in the 1850s, where residents combined the juice from the local limes with newly invented condensed milk (a boon to locals, since dairy cows were scarce in the area) to make the creamy and tart dessert. The dessert’s popularity spread, and eventually it became a standard in the American baker’s repertoire. Originally made with a pastry crust, most Key lime pie recipes today call for a graham cracker crust. And most are made with Persian lime juice.

Key limes are smaller and rounder than the more common Persian limes sold in every supermarket. They are grown in
Florida in small quantities, and not widely available in other parts of the country. Except for the sake of authenticity, there is little reason to seek out Key limes to make a Key lime pie. Persian lime juice will give your pie the same sweet-and-tart flavor, and they are easier to juice than tiny, thin-skinned, and seedy Key limes. To get ½ cup of juice you’ll need three or four Persian limes, but upwards of a dozen Key limes.

Q
No matter how brown my meringue gets on the outside of my lemon meringue pie, the underside is undercooked. What can I do to prevent this?

A
Spread your meringue on top of the lemon custard as soon as the custard is cooked and put the pie back into the oven to brown the meringue. The underside of the meringue, coming in contact with the hot custard, will then cook at the same rate as the top.

Q
What is an icebox pie?

A
Icebox pies can be filled with ice cream, Bavarian cream, mousse, custard, chocolate pudding, or any number of other creamy, cold fillings. What unites them is the fact that they aren’t baked (if you don’t count crisping up a crumb crust in the oven for a few minutes). A filling is simply smoothed into the pie shell and refrigerated or frozen
until it is set. The pie must spend an adequate amount of time chilling, instead of baking, to achieve the proper consistency.