Walnut Pie and Key Lime Pie

It has been a while since I have posted about pies. Part of the reason is that I have been traveling and not making as many pies. Secondly, I started repeating pies from the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by the Elsen sisters. Instead of trying a new pie, I couldn't resist making the pies that I had enjoyed the most. But I am now on a mission to make the pies from the Elsens' book that I have not yet tried. This week, I made a walnut pie that is actually the "Black Walnut Pie" from the book. I was unable to acquire black walnuts, so just used regular walnuts with the rest of the recipe ingredients.

The crust of this pie is made in a springform pan, making it more of a tart than a regular pie. The crust is a cornmeal crust that is partially pre-baked. The filling consists of the walnuts, butter, sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, cornmeal and eggs. This is combined with an apple cider caramel sauce that is prepared first, and then cooled. The pie was delicious, with the apple cider being a good match for the walnuts. The cornmeal crust made the perfect tart. This pie disappeared very fast, so I think I will be making it again!

As it turns out, I needed to take a dessert several days later to a social event. I wanted to make a pie that most people would enjoy, but that would be fairly easy to make. Key lime pies have always been popular in Florida, so I decided to make one similar to a recipe that I had used previously.  This recipe had egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, cream, lime zest, and, of course, key lime juice. 

I try to use juice from fresh key limes when they are available, but this time I used a store bought key lime juice. The filling was poured into a graham cracker crust, which I bought prepared to save time.

After baking, I topped with homemade whipped cream (heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla whipped together). This key lime pie had a light, fluffy consistency, and a not too tart key lime flavor. The reviews of the pie were positive, so I will make this one again as well, as it was tasty but not time consuming.

Hopefully, this is the start of another year of pie making and blogging about new pies. Can't wait to try the next one, but will certainly have to keep up with my exercising!