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How to Make Whipped Cream

November 11, 2015 by Laura 33 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Of all the food I make from scratch, whipped cream is the one that tends to really surprise people who are unfamiliar with the simplicity (and deliciousness) of real food cooking.

“You can make whipped cream!?!?” they ask, incredulously. That’s when I tell them that they, too, can make this treat. Then I hand them the beaters and watch as they follow my ever so simple instructions to make whipped cream. (Stand, hold beaters in bowl of cream, move beaters around a little bit, watch fun patterns forming, stop when it’s thick.) After they’ve whipped the cream, thus creating whipped cream, they can’t believe that this is all it takes. I explain that this is how whipped cream got its name. It’s all very fascinating.

strawberry_shortcake_2Cool Whip has us all a bit confused. I remember thinking that Cool Whip was whipped cream. As a matter of fact, Cool Whip used to be my favorite part of a holiday meal when I was a little girl. I did not even want the pie that went with it. Why would I want pie when there were tubs of Cool Whip in abundance? My cousin Rebecca and I would each get a bowl and fill it with Cool Whip. We’d sit back, giggling, licking spoonful after spoonful of Cool Whip. Our mothers and our aunts and our Nana would chuckle at us and we’d be like, “What?! This is the reason the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower.” We left the pie (and the coffee they drank with it) to the adults. Weirdos.

I’m all grown up now (she says, as she takes a sip of coffee). I’m over Cool Whip. I like the real stuff now. Real whipped cream is one of the easiest treats to make. Because it is real, it tastes absolutely amazing. Our bodies recognize it, so we don’t even have to be like “oh no, I’m eating so much fat, this is so bad for me.” On the contrary, our bodies don’t recognize and don’t know what to do with hydrogenated vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup, sodium casienate, artificial flavor, xanthan and guar gums, polysorbate 60, sorbitan, monostearate, sodium polyphosphate.

Those are just some of the key ingredients in Cool Whip. Please don’t think it’s healthier. Or actual food. For the love of all things real, please whip cream.

How to Make Whipped Cream

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5.0 from 2 reviews
How to Make Whipped Cream
 
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Author: Laura
Ingredients
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar or 10 drops liquid stevia
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
  1. Place ingredients in a high power blender. Whip on high speed for about 30 seconds or until cream has thickened. OR
  2. Put all ingredients into a large bowl. Whip with a hand mixer on high speed for 3-4 minutes or until cream thickens and forms stiff peaks.
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Make it Ahead

I recommend making Whipped Cream one day in advance or the morning of a big holiday meal. Prepare as directed, cover, and place in a bowl with a lid in the refrigerator until serving time. DO NOT STIR this after it has been whipped or it may deflate and become liquidy.

Easy Blender Whipped Cream

My new favorite way to make whipped cream is to pour cream, stevia, and vanilla into my Blendtec. I turn it on and have whipped cream 15-30 seconds later. It is so easy. The Blendtec is amazing in many ways (because hello, whipped cream in seconds). But beware: leaving the cream to whip much longer will produce butter. This is not a problem (because hello, butter in minutes) unless you wanted whipped cream for your pie. Butter is not the same.

How do you make Whipped Cream?

Here are the quick links to all the recipes we covered in this series:

  • Make-Ahead Turkey
  • Stuffing Muffins
  • Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
  • Oh Good Gravy
  • Green Bean Casserole
  • How to Make Frozen Pies
  • Simple Whipped Sweet Potatoes
  • How to make Whipped Cream
  • Whole Wheat Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls

Getting Ahead for the Holidays

Have you been a Cool Whip lover like I was in the past? Funny how now I can’t even stomach thinking about it. Now that I know the real deal is so easy and delicious, I don’t even see a comparison. Mmmm, real food how I love you.

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Simple Meals is here! It’s saving my brain (and many of yours too!). If you haven’t joined yet, now’s the time. Get all the details here!

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Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How To Make Your Own Frozen Pies

November 9, 2015 by Laura 40 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Last I checked, Sara Lee charges over $3 for her frozen pies. I don’t blame her. I’d charge $5. But when I make my own pies, it can cost as little as $1 and I know what ingredients I’m including. Plus I’m making mine with love and all that. (Priceless, no doubt.)

Making a frozen pie is as easy as making a not frozen pie. Not that making a pie is easy. Nor is it really hard. You just have to commit, you know? You have to be like, “Today I am going to mix together and roll out pie crusts. I’m just going to do it and get this job out of the way. Everyone will love the pie. It’s not as hard as it sounds. Let’s do this.”

Then, after you mix and roll your crusts, you add whatever filling you want (pumpkin, apple, etc). You wrap them well, and you freeze them.

This is exactly how Sara Lee does it. Only she puts hers in a box. We’ll skip that part.

This post is chuck full of pie-making tips, recipes, and instructions. Shall we begin?

How to Make a Whole Wheat Pie Crust

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1.0 from 1 reviews
How To Make Your Own Frozen Pies
 
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Author: Laura
Serves: 1 crust
Ingredients
  • 1¼ cup whole wheat flour
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ⅓ cup Palm Shortening (or butter)
  • 4-5 Tablespoons cold water
Instructions
  1. Place flour, salt and shortening in food processor.
  2. Blend until shortening is cut throughout the flour and the mixture resembles crumbs.
  3. Drizzle in the water while the food processor is still whirling.
  4. Continue until a ball of dough forms.
  5. Roll out your dough into a circle on a well floured surface.
  6. Fold the circle in half. Then fold it in half again.
  7. Place your dough in your pie dish with the folded corner in the center.
  8. Unfold the dough, shape it into the dish and make the edges pretty. (see tutorial video below)
  9. Poke your dough a few times with a fork to keep it from poofing up in the oven.
  10. Bake at 450° for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Or, fill it with pie filling and bake as directed in specific pie recipe.
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How to Shape a Pie Crust

You can look through a picture tutorial on this post to see the specifics of how to roll a pie crust and place it in a pie pan.

Want to watch me shaping a pie crust a few years ago? Watch the video below. (Click here if the video doesn’t show up for you.)

How to Make a Frozen Pie

How to Make Your Own Frozen Pies

To make a frozen pumpkin or fruit pie, make it according to the directions but do not bake. Wrap the unbaked pie very well in plastic wrap. You might even consider putting the wrapped pie into a freezer bag for extra freezer protection. Label the pie. Freeze for up to three months.

To bake your frozen pie, take it out of the freezer and put it directly into a cold oven. Turn on the oven and bake as directed allowing a little extra baking time if necessary. See how easy this is?!

apple pie freezer 2

If you plan to make a cream pie, bake your crust as directed, allow it to cool, then wrap and freeze. Thaw crust and add your cream filling before serving.

Holiday Pie Recipes

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

2 cups canned or frozen pumpkin
2/3 cup brown sugar or sucanat
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
1 ¼ cup heavy cream

Whisk together all ingredients. Pour into unbaked pie crust. Freeze if desired. Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pie comes out clean.

pumpkin_piesApple Pie Recipe

5-6 apples (any variety)
1/4 cup sucanat or brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Wash and slice apples. Stir in sucanat and cinnamon. Make a double pie crust recipe. Place one crust on the bottom of a pie pan. Spread apple pie filling into the unbaked crust. Place the second pie crust on top. Seal and shape as shown in the video above. Freeze if desired. Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes.

I usually have prepared Apple Pie Filling in my freezer, making this super simple.

Dutch Apple Pie Recipe

Make as directed above, only make a single pie crust. Top apples with crumb topping recipe found here.

apple_pie_palm_shortening_sm

If you’re hoping to Get Ahead for the Holidays, I highly recommend making your pies soon and putting them into the freezer to pull out for easy baking the day before your meal!

Here are the quick links to all the recipes we covered in this series:

  • Make-Ahead Turkey
  • Stuffing Muffins
  • Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
  • Oh Good Gravy
  • Green Bean Casserole
  • How to Make Frozen Pies
  • Simple Whipped Sweet Potatoes
  • How to make Whipped Cream
  • Whole Wheat Stir-and-Pour Dinner Rolls

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Simple Meals is here! It’s saving my brain (and many of yours too!). If you haven’t joined yet, now’s the time. Get all the details here!

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Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Healthy Fruit Crisp

September 28, 2010 by Laura 94 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I think that making a fruit crisp is one of the easiest desserts to make. But that may be because of a little short-cut I like to take.  Hey, I’m all for making special treats and doing it the lazy easy way.

Here’s my trick:  You know how a fruit crisp has a “crumb topping”? All the recipes I’ve seen say to “add all the dry ingredients together” then “cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs”. I am REALLY not a fan of “cutting in the butter” in any recipe. It takes extra effort and makes an extra mess and now that I am all grown up and not in Home-Ec class anymore, I have become a butter cutter inner rebel. I believe we should all take a stand against things we feel strongly about. And so, I hereby stand firm on my belief and I refuse to cut in butter.

I hope you can still respect me after that confession. If you still choose to cut in your butter, we can still be friends.

As a replacement (aka lazy) option to cutting the butter into the dry ingredients in a fruit crisp, I have chosen to simply MELT the butter and stir it into the oat and flour mixture. I KNOW. And check it out…I have still made crumbs:

I love this fruit crisp recipe because you can use any fruit you want. This time, I made peach fruit crisp because it just so happens that I got to go pick some lovely peaches at my friend Kim’s house. Depending on the kind of fruit you use, you may want to add more sucanat (sugar), but I’ll leave that up to you!

Healthy Fruit CrispYum

5 cups sliced fruit (apples, peaches, pears, cherries, blueberries or a combination of all)
2 Tablespoons sucanat or brown sugar

Stir the fruit together with the sucanat and place in a small baking dish (8×8 inch).

Make your Crumb Topping…

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup sucanat or brown sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cup butter (MELTED, for Pete’s sake)
1/4 cup chopped nuts or coconut flakes (also optional)

Mix together oats, sucanat, flour and cinnamon. Stir in melted butter and joy upon joy, it creates crumbs with little to no effort. Add nuts or coconut flakes.

Sprinkle crumb topping over fruit. Bake in a 375° for 30-35 minutes or until fruit is tender and topping is golden brown.

Easy_Fruit_Crisp

If you’ve made and canned Apple Pie Filling, just dump it into your baking dish, sprinkle on your crumb topping and bake. SO easy!

I just have to know…are you a butter cutter inner, or a butter cutter inner rebel like me? Never thought about it before? Yeah, I figured I was the weird one with butter cutter inner issues.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Apple Pie Filling

September 21, 2010 by Laura 74 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Malachi_apple_pie_1

Yum

What started out as seven grocery bags full of apples to trip over in our kitchen is now down to only three grocery bags full of apples to trip over. We’ve shared some (meaning we’ve begged people to take some off of our hands), made applesauce, dried apple rings and now apple pie filling.

Oh yeah, and we’ve eaten a bunch.

This was my first time to try canning apple pie filling and I am pleased with the results. It’s a little time consuming to make, but it isn’t hard. Will the hard work be worth it in February when I make a quick Whole Wheat Pie Crust, pour out the contents of the jar and bake a pie? Oh yes, I think so.

To make Apple Pie Filling you will need:

About 25 medium sized apples
1 1/2 cups sucanat or brown sugar
3 Tablespoons cinnamon
3 Tablespoons cornstarch, arrowroot powder or flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice

(This amount makes 3 quart sized jars – enough for three nice sized pies.)

Peel, core and slice your apples.

Add remaining ingredients.

Stir and cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes until
a nice little syrup has formed and your apples are slightly tender.

Scoop apple pie filling into sterilized canning jars.
Hot water bath the pie filling for 25 minutes.

apple_pie_filling_5

To make pie:

Prepare this Whole Wheat Pie Crust and place it in a pie pan. Dump contents of Apple Pie Filling jar into the crust. Use bits of leftover crust to put little cut-outs onto the pie, or make a crumb topping. Bake at 350° for one hour.

Malachi_apple_pie_1

And now a little Q&A…

What kind of apples should I use for this apple pie filling?

I would suggest using the kind you get for free. Those taste best in a pie. Otherwise, granny smith makes a really good apple pie. Some of you want to share your favorite apples for pie making?

Can I freeze my pie filling?

You can certainly freeze this apple pie filling if you’d rather not can it, or if you don’t have canning equipment. I chose to can it because all of my freezers are pretty well full of meat, green beans, corn, strawberries, peaches… Wow God is good!

Can I use this apple pie filling to make an apple crisp?

Oh look – here’s a recipe for a Healthy Fruit Crisp. :)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Whole Wheat Pie Crust

April 20, 2010 by Laura 247 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Making pie crusts has never come easy to me. In fact, if you recall…I put out an all call many months ago and used YOUR recipes to put together the free ebook, For the Love of Pie!

Since that time, I have discovered a delicious and healthy way to make whole wheat pie crust! I am SO excited!

The secret ingredient is Tropical Traditions Palm Shortening. We all know to stay away from regular shortening (like crisco) right? I’ve tried making pie crusts with butter, and that works too (especially in these Mini Apple Pies). But, since I tried using Palm Shortening from Tropical Traditions, I feel like my days of frustration with pie crust may be over. When I tried making a whole wheat crust with Palm Shortening, it formed perfectly. It rolled out like a dream. I could be heard shouting out Whooops and Woohoos from my kitchen for miles around. I’m telling you, this from the lady who never could make a pie crust.

Here’s how you make the crust…

Whole Wheat Pie CrustYum

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup Palm Shortening (or butter)
4-5 Tablespoons cold water

I found this recipe to work best in my food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you can cut the shortening into the flour with a pastry blender.

Place flour, salt and shortening in food processor. Blend until shortening is cut throughout the flour and the mixture resembles crumbs.

pie_crus_palm_shortening_three_sm

Admire the crumbs…

pie_crust_palm_shortening_8sm

Begin adding water and processing (or stirring). If your dough looks like this, it doesn’t have enough water in it yet…

pie_crust_palm_shortening_five_sm

Add little bits of water until your dough will form a nice round ball.

pie_crust_palm_shortening_sm9

Roll out your dough  on a well floured surface. Fold it in half.

pie_crust_palm_shortening_10sm

Then fold it in half again.

pie_crust_palm_shortening_11sm

Place your dough in your pie dish with the folded corner in the center.

pie_crust_palm_shortening_12sm

Unfold the dough, shape it into the dish and make the edges pretty.

Whole Wheat Pie Crust

Here’s a little video tutorial I made that will maybe (hopefully) give you an idea about how I shape my pie crust. There are all kinds of different ways to make it pretty…this is just the way my grandma taught me.

Poke your dough a few times with a fork to keep it from poofing up in the oven.

Bake at 450° for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Mmmm…pretty dutch apple pie! (I just used this Mini Apple Pie filling and crumb topping recipe with the crust for this pie…in case you feel like you must try it right NOW!)  I must say, a glass of milk helps this pie go down real nice.

apple_pie_palm_shortening_sm

 

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