Welcome Back to Pie Town
Page 26
CINNAMON COFFEE CAKE
Topping
¼ cup sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
In a small mixing bowl, combine all of the topping ingredients. Blend with a fork until crumbly and then set aside.
Cake
1½ cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
¾ cup sugar
⅓ cup melted butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup milk
Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, beat together the beaten egg, sugar, and melted butter. Add the vanilla and milk. Stir in the flour mixture and mix well. Pour the cake batter into a greased and floured 9-inch layer-cake pan or an 8-inch square pan.
Sprinkle the topping crumb mixture evenly over the batter. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the cake tests done. Allow the coffee cake to cool partially in the pan on a wire rack before cutting it into squares. Serve immediately.
TRI-BERRY PIE
½ cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups fresh strawberries, halved
1½ cups raspberries
1½ cups fresh blueberries
9-inch double pie crust
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cornstarch and sugar. Add the berries and gently stir until the berries are coated. Line a 9-inch pie plate with one crust. Stir the berry mixture, then transfer it to the pie plate. Top with the second crust. Seal and crimp the edge. (To prevent overbrowning, cover the edge of the pie with foil.) Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes when using fresh fruit, and longer, 45 to 50 minutes, when using frozen fruit. Remove foil. Bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden. Cool on a wire rack.
BROWN SUGAR PIE
1 stick (¼ pound) butter
1½ cups dark brown sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
3 eggs
Pinch of salt
9-inch pie shell
Cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, unbeaten, with the salt. Bake in an uncooked pie crust for 45 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees.
CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
½ cup melted butter
1 ounce praline liqueur
1 cup finely chopped pecans
6-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
9-inch unbaked pie crust
Beat the eggs slightly. Combine the sugar and cornstarch and add gradually to eggs, mixing well. Stir in the butter. Add liqueur, pecans, and chocolate chips. Pour into the pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Cool. Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
MUD PIE
1 stick (¼ pound) butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 eggs
1⅓ cups white sugar
3 tablespoons white corn syrup
½ teaspoon vanilla
9-inch graham cracker pie shell
In a saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate, stirring often, until blended. Beat the eggs; stir in the sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg-and-sugar mixture and blend well. Pour the filling into the prepared pie shell. Bake 35 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Make sure filling is set. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.
STAY HOME PIE (AKA TOMATO PIE)
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
4 or 5 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled and sliced
4 green onions, chopped
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
9-inch deep-dish pie shell (baked at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes and cooled)
Sprinkle ½ cup of the cheese on the bottom of the baked and cooled pie shell. Top with salted tomato slices, allowing them to overlap in a circular pattern. Mix the mayonnaise, basil, oregano, pepper, green onions, and 1 cup of the cheese and spread this mixture over the tomatoes. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Serve cool.
HEAVENLY CHOCOLATE PIE
⅓ cup cornstarch
⅔ cup white sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks
3 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups dark chocolate chips
9-inch deep-dish pie shell (baked at 350 degrees for 10 minutes and cooled)
Stir the cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a large pot over medium heat. In a mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks and milk and then gradually spoon the egg-and-milk mixture into the ingredients on the stove. Stir constantly until the mixture boils, then continue stirring for two minutes. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla. Stir in the chocolate chips until they melt and the mix is well blended. Pour into the pie shell and cool for two hours. Add whipped topping and serve.
TRIPLE CHOCOLATE DECADENCE (AKA BROWNIE PIE)
Pie Crust
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup + 3 tablespoons lard
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
Brownie Filling
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
½ cup melted butter
¼ cup cocoa powder
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup milk chocolate chips
½ cup dark chocolate chips
Topping
½ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup milk chocolate chips
½ cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together, then cut in the lard until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of ice water over the dough and mix in with a fork. Keep adding water until all the flour is moistened and the pastry almost cleans the side of the bowl. Form the pastry into a ball and flatten with the palms of your hand. Dust a clean surface with flour and place the ball of dough in the center. Flour a rolling pin and then roll out the dough to 2 inches larger than an inverted 9-inch pie plate. Fold the crust in half gently, and then fold in half again (so that it’s folded in quarters). Put the pie dough in the pie plate and press firmly against the bottom and sides. Trim the overhang to about ½ inch, fold underneath crust on rim, and use your knuckles to flute the edge. Prick the bottom of the pan with a fork and bake for 10 minutes.
Mix together the sugar, eggs, melted butter, and cocoa. Add the flour, salt, and baking powder and blend well. Stir in the vanilla and baking chips. Pour the batter into the pie crust and bake for 20 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Let cool completely.
Put the milk chocolate chips in a microwave-safe container. Microwave for 15 seconds and stir. Continue until chocolate is smooth. Pour into a sandwich bag and press all the chocolate to one corner. Standing close to the pie, snip the corner of the baggie just a little, so that the chocolate will flow out in a thin stream. (Make a practice line on wax paper.) Draw a thin line on the top of the pie by starting at the top and working your way back and forth until you get to the bottom. (Go off the pie and then back on so that the crust is covered as well.) Rotate the pie by one-third and repeat with the white chocolate chips (melted the same way). Rotate once more and cover in the same way with the dark chocolate. Let cool at room temperature.
Submitted by Barbara Duck
First runner-up at the
Pie Town Festival Pie Contest, 2010
P.S.
Insights, Interviews & More . . .
About the author
Meet Lynne Hinton
LYNNE HINTON is the award-winning author of fourteen books, including the Hope Springs series, featuring the national bestseller, Friendship Cake. She has also written a mystery series under the name Jackie Lynn. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Lynne is available for speaking engagements and offers writing and spirituality retreats in New Mexico and across the country. You can contact her at www.lynnehinton.com. You can also find her on Facebook at Lynne Hinton Books. Lynne lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her husband, Bob Branard.
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About the book
Reading Group Guide
The book starts with a Navajo medicine man. How does the medicine man add to the story? What do you know about shamans in the Native American cultures? What stories have you heard about medicine men and women? In what other books have you encountered this role?
When Raymond returns home he certainly demonstrates signs of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) with his out-of-control drinking, inability to sleep, and issues with anger. Family members and friends who recognize the personality changes nevertheless don’t push him to get help. How might Trina, Frank, Roger, and George have handled things differently when Raymond first came home?
After she is injured, Trina must make a decision about staying with Raymond, and one of the issues she considers is whether Alexandria should live in the same house with him. What do you think she should have done? Do you think she should have forgiven Raymond for what he did?
Why is Francine surprised to find love with Bernie King? How is their relationship different from those of the younger couples in Pie Town?
Why is Roger angry about being the last one to find out about what really happened between Raymond and Trina? Was Malene right not to tell him the truth? Should people in a relationship tell each other everything?
Father George acknowledges that he did not expect the town to be so supportive of Raymond. What about you? Did it surprise you to see how they rallied around one of their own?
Raymond claims that it was the support of his hometown that had the biggest impact on his healing. How important is it to have a community stand behind you when you’re in trouble or in need?
Why is Raymond labeled the town “hero”? What do you think makes a hero?
How much do you know about PTSD? What is being done in your community to help young veterans who may be dealing with PTSD? What do you think should be done?
Do you think the novelist Thomas Wolfe was right when he wrote the famous line, “You can’t go home again”? What does it mean to “go home” if you have experienced a trauma? How do communities help or hinder people when they come home?
Read on
More by Lynne Hinton
FRIENDSHIP CAKE
Lynne Hinton’s beloved bestselling classic, Friendship Cake, is a beautiful, poignant, and funny novel of five small-town women friends that offers inspiring life lessons in faith, love, strength, survival, and community—as well as a host of delicious Southern recipes.
When the five women from the Hope Springs Community Church in North Carolina form a committee to create a church cookbook, they embark on a project much more meaningful than they could have ever imagined. As novice pastor Charlotte Stewart, no-nonsense Margaret Peele, maverick Louise Fisher, steadfast Jessie Jenkins, and busybody Beatrice Newgarden meet to share recipes, they begin to open their lives and hearts as well.
HOPE SPRINGS
Filled with mystery and wonder, Hope Springs, the second book in the Hope Springs series, will lift your spirits and warm your heart.
The ladies of Hope Springs Church have finished the cookbook that brought them together, showing them the true meaning of friendship. Now these bonds are put to the test and relationships are altered when Margaret is stricken with a deadly illness. Through tragedies and triumphs, the women come to realize that true friendships, like healthy plants, are acts of faith, and faith is a garden that needs to be nurtured and tended.
FOREVER FRIENDS
In Forever Friends, the third installment in the beloved Hope Springs series, join Louise, Jessie, Charlotte, Beatrice, and Margaret for a celebration of friendship and a farewell that Hope Springs will never forget.
The bonds of friendship between the women of Hope Springs Community Church are tested again when Margaret learns whether or not she is cancer-free, and Beatrice discovers some surprising secrets about life in Hope Springs—and about the value of trust in any relationship. The friends are shocked to discover that Charlotte is leaving, but the community rallies for a potluck dinner send-off using the recipes that initially brought the women together.
CHRISTMAS CAKE
Christmas comes to Hope Springs in Christmas Cake, a heartwarming story that movingly addresses issues of life and death, faith and love—and good cooking.
With the holiday season drawing near, the ladies of Hope Springs, North Carolina, are making plans for a cake cookbook—a project that will hopefully lift the spirits of Margaret, downhearted now that her cancer has returned. To fulfill her Christmas wish, the women take an impulsive trip across the country for a Lone Star State reunion with Charlotte, and over the course of a remarkable journey they will rediscover the greatest Christmas gift of all: eternal friendship.
WEDDING CAKE
In Wedding Cake, another delightful chapter in the ongoing story of Hope Springs, Lynne Hinton has cooked up a wonderful confection that is comfortable, warm, and satisfying.
After a difficult year, the ladies are banding together to find the perfect husband for a dear friend. The search for Charlotte’s perfect life mate is turning up many unexpected things—Beatrice’s daughter has special news, the last person Louise would ever expect to see turns up on her doorstep, and Jessie’s husband wishes to recommit to her forever. But one way or another, there will be a wedding, and perhaps more than one . . . with cake!
PIE TOWN
Welcome to Pie Town! A delectable treat for fans of the Hope Springs novels, Pie Town is the touching and funny tale about the unexpected changes a sleepy little southwestern community undergoes when faced with big changes in life.
Pie Town, New Mexico, was once legendary for its extraordinary pies. But it’s been a while since these delectable desserts graced the counter at the local diner. The townspeople like to think of themselves as family, especially when it comes to caring for Alex, a disabled little boy. But Pie Town’s fortunes are about to take a major turn—due to the arrival of a new priest who seems unprepared, and the young hitchhiker Trina, who some townsfolk just know is trouble. . . .
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Also by Lynne Hinton
Fiction
Pie Town
Friendship Cake
Hope Springs
Forever Friends
Christmas Cake
Wedding Cake
The Things I Know Best
The Last Odd Day
The Arms of God
The Order of Things
Nonfiction
Meditations for Walking
Writing Under the Name Jackie Lynn
Down by the Riverside
Jacob’s Ladder
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Credits
Cover design by Mary McAdam Keane
Cover photograph by Tomi/PhotoLink/Getty Images
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
WELCOME BACK TO PIE TOWN. Copyright © 2
012 by Lynne Hinton. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-204512-6
EPub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780062045133
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