by on June 20, 2012   •   23 Comments Bakeshop

Rustic Rhubarb Custard Pies with a Walnut Crust & a Pie Party

I‘ve made buttermilk dinner rolls in a jar, as well as copious amounts of canned goods, but pie in a jar has eluded me until now. Something about patting the dough into the small jar had me reluctant to try it, although I have admired the trend from afar for some time.

Leave it to Shaina to come up with a quick and easy solution that I could execute despite my sleep-deprived baby brain, and with my pre-schooler ‘helping out’: a nutty crust that is pressed into the jars, thus eliminating the rolling pin.

In this seasonal dessert, walnuts, sugar and butter are whisked together in a food processor and pressed into the bottom of the jars for a simple crust that marries perfectly with the rhubarb and custard pie filling. Yes, we’re still enjoying an abundant rhubarb harvest, and these little pies are the very best way we’ve enjoyed rhubarb all season.

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by on July 5, 2011   •   35 Comments Bakeshop

Pie Party: Rhubarb-Raspberry Cream Pie Recipe

My neighbor has given me carte blanche with his handsome rhubarb patch, although at the time he probably had no idea just how close of an affection I have for rhubarb. While most of you have moved on to strawberries, blueberries and other summer fruits, I’m still hung up on puckery stalks of pink.

I tend to like this late crop of rhubarb best; it may be just my imagination, but it has a more pronounced flavor than its watery spring equivalent. Perhaps the summer heat contributes to a more intense flavor? All speculating aside, I’m still pushing back the leaves to get at the tender red shoots.

For this pie, I decided to marry the saucy rhubarb with the sweeter raspberries and the result, I am convinced, is a seasonal pie to rival any other. It is reminiscent of one of my favorite simple desserts, rhubarb compote with custard, only served up much more elegantly in a rich pie crust.

The words Cream Pie by themselves bring a smile to my face; couple them with the season’s most delicate berry and a brazen vegetable and you have a perfect pie. While some may argue that a classic strawberry-rhubarb pie can’t be beat – and indeed it is not a simple conquest – after this pie, I think I new classic should be established.

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