Lemon Cherry Sunset Pie

This has been a post I've been wanting to write for a long time, and in a moment, you'll see what I mean.  About five years ago I bought a GT Express after seeing an infomercial.  If you don't know what that is, it's a cooking device that you plug in, and it has two wells in which food cooks.  I bought it, well, because I'm a sucker for gadgets, but I thought my girls were old enough at that time to make stuffed burritos in it, vegan grilled cheese, etc.  We've used them quite a bit.  I also posted a recipe for GT Express Pizzas  where you can see a photo of what one looks like.  Anyhow, the product came with a booklet of recipes, hardly any of which, of course, are vegan.  So, I've had fun tweaking them to see if I can change them up.  I have been working on their Lemon Cherry Pies recipe for over a year.  I've actually posted a photo of their original recipe for you to see.  And, I thought it might interest some of you how I create a recipe on my own.  Granted, I got the inspiration from their name, but as you'll see, my notes look nothing like their original.  Anyways, the pie has been tested multiple times on my family, and I've changed it and changed it again.  Most recently, my parents got in on the testing act, and everyone agreed that it's finally ready to post.  One of my challenges was to make sure the fillings were soft like the canned versions, so not too firm. The end result is a creamy, unique pie flavor that I think you'll really like.  Let me know what you think!  (By the way, I often spend several tries trying to get a recipe right before posting it.  I just thought of finally posting that process for fun.)

Lemon Cherry Sunset Pie

This is the original recipe.  Notice just three ingredients are required.  Since we don't eat colorings or corn syrup, the pie fillings were out.  Even if there ends up being a more "natural" brand out there, I wanted to make this from scratch.  Also, I don't use refrigerated pie crust, so I knew I couldn't use the GT Express.  This would be baked in a regular pie pan.

Here are my notes to create my recipe.  The pink slip on the left is actually my sweet pie crust recipe I use for a double crust pie that I just halved for this recipe.  Don't you just love how I keep recipes for myself?  The sheet on the right is the birth of the Lemon Cherry Sunset Pie.  Lots of tweaks and changes over a period of about ten attempts at making this pie.

Finally, a slice of Lemon Cherry Sunset Pie!  At last.

Lemon Cherry Sunset Pie

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup vegan sugar
1/4 cup cold (stick) vegan margarine, cubed small
3 Tbs. cold water
Flour for rolling out crust
(Beans or rice for weighing down)

Pie Filling:

1/2 cup vegan sugar
2 Tbs. corn starch
1/3 cup water
1 and 1/2 cups frozen cherries, halved
1 and 1/2 pkgs. (12oz. each) of silken firm tofu
1/4 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. lemon extract
1 cup vegan sugar

Directions:

Crust:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a food processor with the pastry blade installed, add the flour, salt, sugar and margarine.  Run the machine until blended and it looks like pastry granules.  With the machine running, pour the water into the feeder hole.  Run until the dough clumps up together; it's perfect if it sort of balls up.  If you need to add a few drops of water more, do so with restraint.  [Alternately, you can put the first ingredients into a bowl and mix with a pastry cutter or fork.  Then mix well with the water.]  On a lightly floured surface, roll out your crust evenly into a circle large enough to cover your pie pan, about nine inches across.  Lightly fold your crust over in half and lift to the pie pan.  Carefully unfold and lightly press into the pan, making sure that all parts of the pan are covered by crust.  If you've got sections of crust hanging over the edge of the pan and other areas that are missing crust, simply cut away one part and press onto the other.  Take a paring knife and run it along the edge of the pan, removing any uneven crust edges.  Then pinch the crust edge between your fingers creating a scalloped look.  Lay a piece of wax paper on the bottom of the crust and cover it with a layer of beans or rice to weigh it down. You are prebaking the crust at this stage.   Bake for 15 minutes.  Pour off the beans or rice into a bowl - these are still good to prepare in a later meal.  Discard the wax paper.  Cool the crust on a cooling rack.

Pie Filling:  In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, corn starch and water.  Add the cherries, and turn the heat on to medium.  Heat to boiling, which will take five to seven minutes, stirring frequently to constantly.  Watch carefully, for this will thicken up quickly.  When it thickens, remove from heat and cool down.  After about a half hour, chill cherry filling in refrigerator until needed later.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  While the cherries are chilling, prepare the lemon filling.  Using the food processor again, this time with the cutting blade, add the tofu, turmeric, lemon extract, and sugar.  Blend until well mixed, at least a minute.  You are looking for a completely smooth texture.  Pour the  lemon filling into the pie crust and bake for 30 minutes.  Cool on rack for a half hour, then chill for at least two hours in the refrigerator, longer if you have the time.  Take the pie crust with the lemon filling out of the fridge, as well as the cherry filling.  Carefully layer the cherry filling on top of the lemon filling...and...chill again, for at least 30 minutes.  The longer you can chill, the better this will set up.  This will still be soft when cutting, so use a gentle hand.  If some cherry topping slides off during the slicing process, deftly replace it, and no one will suspect a thing.  A unique flavor, one that my family loves, and I hope you do too.  A beautiful end result.  Feeds five hungry vegans and a couple of grandparents.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Thanksgiving, 2012

I'm finally getting my Thanksgiving post up!  At least it's in the same month.  :-)  As usual, I let each member of my family pick out what they want for dinner and dessert and truly make it a meal for which we are thankful.  See below for our menu and for a new recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  This cake was super moist and delicious.  I veganized one of several recipes easily found on the web.  When I followed the directions, I found I had to make adjustments and corrections to the recipe along the way.  One thing I will probably adjust in the future is the amount of brown sugar used; I kept the original measurement in the recipe, but I will probably halve it next time I make the cake.  It was a huge hit with the fambly, though!

Menu:

Tofurky with roasted potatoes - picked by me
Tofurky gravy - picked by me
Hot and Sour soup from one of our favorite Vietnamese restaurants - picked by SR
Steamed rice by same restaurant - picked by JK
Jerky in several flavors - picked by GR
Purple sweet potatoes fried with facon - picked by G
Sauteed kale - picked by me
Cranberry sauce, both kinds - picked by SR
Soy nog - picked by me

Pineapple Upside Down cake - picked by G
Black Tie Cheesecake  - picked by GR

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

My thanksgiving feast sans the rice.  I could not finish this meal!  So full.

Here are this year's Thanksgiving desserts.  Sorry the coloring is so orange in these pics.

I was going to put my slices on a fancy plate, but SR didn't want to wash any more dishes, so green paper plates it was!  Couldn't finish these either.  But, they were so yummy.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegan margarine (could probably use less)
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar ( could probably use less)
1 - 20 oz. can of sliced pineapple rings in natural juice
Maraschino cherries (you can find naturally colored ones at Sprouts or Whole Foods)
1 box of Dr. Oetker Organics cake mix in vanilla
1 and 1/2 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
6 Tbs. water
2/3 cup almond milk
1/2 cup canola oil

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat margarine over medium heat in a cast iron skillet.  When completely melted, remove from the heat.  Sprinkle the brown sugar over the margarine, patting down to cover it up to the edges of the pan.  Lay the pineapple rings in a circle around the edge of the pan and one in the center.  Add a cherry to center of each pineapple ring.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl,  add the remaining ingredients, and beat for two minutes or until completely mixed.  Pour over the pineapple slices,  making sure the batter goes to edges of the pan.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Let cool for ten minutes, then flip over onto a serving platter.  You can finish cooling on a rack.  Very moist and tasty.  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Candy Cane Coffee Cakes

Every year my parents come over to my home for Christmas breakfast, and then for dinner we all potluck with extended family. I've decided to show you what we had for breakfast and what I brought for dinner and dessert. Following the photos, I'll have my recipe for my Candy Cane Coffee Cakes, my dessert contribution. I veganized a recipe several years ago from a newspaper clipping. They are labor intensive but worth the work and time. By the way, any glaze that happened to drip onto the platter, or even threatened to, was quickly scooped up by my three blessings!

For the breakfast we had:
Tofu Scramble with broccoli and red bell pepper
Waffles with boysenberry and homemade maple syrups
Fried Potatoes with red onions
Fruit Plate (courtesy of my mom)
Mixed nuts in their shells
Turkish Delights
Eight kinds of homemade Christmas cookies
Happy Birthday, Jesus, Cake
Coffee
Hot Apple Cider with cinnamon sticks
Hot cocoa

For dinner I brought:
Tropical Seitan Pasta Salad

For dessert I brought:
Candy Cane Coffee Cakes


Candy Cane Coffee Cakes


Christmas Breakfast

Tropical Seitan Pasta Salad (I will post this recipe at a later date.)

Candy Cane Coffee Cakes

Ingredients:

Filling:
1/2 cup vegan sugar
3 Tbs. water
1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tbs. water
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 tsp. dried grated orange peel

Bread:
5 to 6 cups flour
1/2 cup vegan sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
2 envelopes RapidRise yeast
2 tsp. salt
1 and 1/4 cup soy milk
1 Tbs. vinegar
3/4 cup vegan sour cream
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegan margarine
1 Tbs. egg replacer mixed with 4 Tbs. water
Pam

Glaze:
1 and 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 and 1/2 Tbs. soy milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
maraschino cherries

Directions:

Make the filling first, so it has time to chill. In a medium pot, stir together the sugar and water over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. And the dissolved cornstarch and stir. Add in the cranberries and cook until they begin to pop, about three minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the orange peel. Chill in refrigerator. For the dough, first mix together the soy milk and vinegar in a medium pot with no heat under it. Let it set until it thickens into a vegan buttermilk, about five minutes. While that is setting, in a large bowl combine with a whisk 1 and 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar, baking powder, yeast and salt. Set aside. Heat the pot with the vegan buttermilk on medium, and add in the sour cream, 1/2 cup water, and margarine until all is mixed in well and very warm. I touch the liquid with my fingertip, and if it's too hot, it's ready. Don't get it to the boiling point. Mix in the warm buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture on medium speed with an electric mixer for two minutes. Add the egg replacer mixture and another cup of flour and beat two more minutes on high speed. If your beaters start to overheat, turn it down to medium. The consistency of the dough will begin to change into a stretchy appearance. Using your hands or a large spoon, add enough of the remaining flour, a 1/2 cup or so at a time, to make a soft but not sticky dough. Turn it out onto a lightly floured board, sprinkle the top with a bit more flour and knead for ten minutes. Dust with additional flour as necessary, if it gets sticky while it is being kneaded. Cover with a dish towel for ten minutes. Take your filling mixture out of the refrigerator. Divide the dough into three equal parts, and roll each into an approximate 6x15 rectangle. Transfer each one to its own cookie sheet that's been sprayed with Pam. Spread 1/3 of the filling down the center of each rectangle. With a sharp knife, make cuts from the filling to the edge on both sides about one inch apart all the way from top to bottom. Now, fold each of these strips over the center at a downward angle, starting at the top, alternating back and forth, all the way to the bottom. Shape each rectangle into a candy cane. Cover with dish towels and let rise for 45 more minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees and bake each coffee cake for 20 minutes. Cool completely on cake racks. When cool, mix together the first three ingredients for the glaze, and drizzle on the coffee cakes, following the pattern down the center. Where each pair of strips meets in the center, nestle in a maraschino cherry. Lots of work, but it makes three - one to eat, one to give away, and one to freeze. Feeds more than five hungry vegans.