Oh my! Weird Pies!!

I made an excellent weird pie! Have you made any weird ones? Do tell!

This was inspired by someone saying she had made avocado mousse, and a package of frozen avocado pulp from one of the scratch and dent stores we shop at. We also just got a bunch of excellent flaked coconut, my mom expressed a desire for coconut cream pie. And me, I always want weird things we have never had before :)

Most of the recipes on this site were non-impressive, adding 1/2 an avocado to a cake doesn't make it an avocado cake, to me. This one sort of attracted my eye:  Avocado and Lime Tart and at the scatch and dent store I had also, for silly reasons, picked up a bottle of organic margarita mix, which is basically lime juice and sugar. I also have on hand my usual stock of frozen stuff, and basics... so I made this!



Came out fantastic! 10 out of 10 on this one...
Recipe (such as it is, I don't measure anything)

Crust: 1 chunk un-frozen cooked pumpkin, chopped peanuts, a bit of sugar, not a lot of whole wheat flour, one brown egg. Mixed till totally pureed, patted and shaped into a glass pie pan that had been greased and floured. Baked at 325 until it barely started to brown.

Filling: avocado, gelatin and chia to set it, margarita mix to taste, needed a bit of back flavor changed so I added about 1 ounce cream cheese. Put into cooled crust, in the fridge to set up.

Topping: Made at the same time as the filling, cooled in it's own bowl until the next day. Coconut milk, flaked coconut, honey, gelatin and cornstarch to set it, vanilla. Cooked as a pudding, when boiled, left to cool in the fridge overnight. The next day I beat it till it was semi-fluffy, then carefully put it on top of the avocado filling (which set, but not real solid) I couldn't use a knife to spread the topping, had to drop it by spoonfuls all over it, then wet my hands and pat the lumps together.

So what it tastes like is a graham cracker crust, with creamy lime pie filling, and coconut cream pie topping!

OH MY! Avocado Lime Pie!!   10 out of 10, I'll do this again. We LOVE it!

Have you made any weird pies?

good lord Pearl, you amaze me...from solar air heaters all the way to weird pies (with a good taste)   ....hope you had a good T day!

My grandmother made a pumpkin pie and somehow forgot to put the pumpkin in. When it came out of the oven she looked on the counter and realized that it was too late. So she got something, I think it was either custard or lemon meringue, but she poured something into it, and then cut it up and said we're having, whatever it was pie. Grandma wasn't one to get embarrassed about cooking errors, she simply switched gears and made it into something that we would eat. And it gave her a story, which she must have told a hundred times.
.......
When my brother Robin was three , my mother made a pie with a very tough crust. He asked if he had to eat the cardboard. Years later my mother sent this in to Readers Digest. They had a section called things children say. They printed it and she received $150. She immediately called everybody to crow about her good fortune and the fact that she had received $150 for a pie she cooked in 1969.

Orin Raichart wrote:good lord Pearl, you amaze me...from solar air heaters all the way to weird pies (with a good taste)   ....hope you had a good T day!

Thank you :) I don't do anything normally, so most of what I do is startling :D To quote my profile "and it only gets weirder...."  

I did have a good T day, worked a free dinner the local Habitat for Humanity puts on. Over 550 people fed! YAY!!
Did you have a good T day? Make any fun food? I always like weird ideas
:D

Your crust sounds really good! I can't imagine sweet avocado at the moment, so I'll take your word on the rest of it ;)

I wish I had a weird pie to tell you about, but mine's only slightly unusual...and it's not pie.

After I've cooked my squash, I sometimes discover it's not really tasty enough to just eat as is. So I make pumpkin pudding, basically pumpkin pie filling. I have no oven anymore, and am too lazy to make pie nowadays anyway :D

For every kilo of cooked squash I add about 100g of dates and 35g of tahini. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves to taste.  Some ground flaxseed if it's a wet squash. Blend it all up in a food processor and let cool until it sets up a bit.

I'm mainly just trying to find a way to get through a lot of inferior squash, not make a dessert. So heavy on the spices and just enough sweetness and creaminess that my brain thinks "pumpkin pie" instead of "yakky squash."

Hah Pearl - I think our kitchens must be separated at birth.  That avocado pie sounds delicious!

The one time I tried an avocado pudding, it was made in a commercial kitchen for an event, and had a weird off-tasting (spoiled) outside, but was tasty in the middle. So more excuses to eat your pie fast.

My friends have gotten to the point where none of them ask what's in X that I made until they've eaten it - and good friends know better than to ask for a recipe, because there isn't one. They just eat it. There's usually a vegetable at minimum hidden in there. A couple times, I've bragged to a friend that I've actually managed to follow a recipe "I just converted it to gluten free flour, added in guar gum, added an extra egg, substituted x for y, plus one or two other changes.." They point out that doesn't count as following the recipe :). Still, when we get together, they always want me to cook so I must be doing something right.

My weirdest pie was an attempt to make a lemon tofu cheesecake on short notice. I wasn't a fan, but the dairy free almost-vegetarian I made it for went back for thirds.  Not weird (to me), is carrot pie. Cooked carrots, blended, then made into a pumpkin-type pie. When I feed it to people, they never guess I skipped the pumpkin. I always use fresh ginger in my pumpkin/carrot pies for that extra zing every few bites. Leftover squash gets frozen and used for baking in my house. I tend to throw in a lb of squash to pretty much anything I bake to improve texture and moisture.

Catie George: You may be right! One of my sisters asked me once "Are you constitutionally able to follow a recipe?" I suppose I could, but why would I want to do that? :) That conversation was inspired by her demanding the recipe for something I had made, she was standing there with a pen, so I started saying "1/3 cup of this, 1/2 cup that.." at some point she realized I was just making a good guess of what amounts I had used. :D  This is the woman who sends me text of recipes "I'm gonna try this one!" Simple recipes. One was cucumbers with sesame oil, rice vinegar, sesame seeds, and salt... You need a RECIPE for that? Well you HAVE to use 1T seeds, I guess. Bzzzt. Nope.

At a party I heard a friend's kid, who had been eating things I brought to parties his whole life, (he was about 17 at this point) tell a friend he had brought to the party, when asked what he was piling on his plate "I Don't know, but it's in Pearl''s dishes!"  "which means what?" He thought for a sec, "It means it's vegetarian, it's full of nutrition, it's nothing you have ever had, it's weird, and it will be excellent!" His friend tried one, then started piling his plate deep too! It was mashed potatoes, spiced with Indian spices, rolled into balls, dipped in spiced tempura batter and deep fried. Those were VERY popular.

Would be fun for you and I to cook together!!

:D

Pearl - Yes, that would be fun! And those fried mashed potato balls sound amazing. I've never understood people who say they can't cook good vegetarian food, or gluten free food, or dairy free, or vegan food, or XXXX. Good food is good food, and working within constraints just brings out the creativity.

I have one friend who is like your sister and needs a recipe to make a stirfry or any other sweet or savoury dish - even a salad! I'm so confused. A stirfry is what happens when you have a bunch of veggies in the fridge you need to use up- how do you predict what veggies need using up in order to make a "recipe"? I've started to say - no, I don't have recipe for that, I have a "concept", which may be as vague as "veggies + oil + spices/seasonings + eggs/tofu/meat/beans = stirfry".

I used to try very valiantly to follow recipes for new dishes, but then i'd get to the end and have to do a bunch of last minute additions because it tasted boring. So, might as well cook it right from the beginning! I do, more or less, usually follow my own recipes.  I made myself the same pumpkin-based chocolate muffins as breakfast for 6 months, and eventually standardized a recipe as I worked to figure out the lowest possible amount of sugar + fat+ flour to pumpkin/applesauce +egg I could make work. I called them my "healthy-ish chocolate muffins".

Catie George: Have you seen the threads I started here named "concept cooking" then whatever? I don't recall how many I wrote vs how many I plan to write. at least 2 are in the cooking section.

Still getting work done tonight, tomorrow is a long day, lag till tomorrow PM....

Pearl Sutton wrote:Catie George: Have you seen the threads I started here named "concept cooking" then whatever? I don't recall how many I wrote vs how many I plan to write. at least 2 are in the cooking section.

Still getting work done tonight, tomorrow is a long day, lag till tomorrow PM....

Very interesting - I hadn't seen those ! I love how different people's "concept cooking" changes based on the cuisine you are accustomed to.  Most of my concept cooking is Central European or "Canadian farm cooking" inspired. Occasionally also Asian (thai/chinese/indian). Yours seems to be more Mexican/southern US inspired (which makes sense considering you're in Missouri and I'm in Canada!)

Here's an Eastern European inspired concept for you - marinated veggie salad. Salted overnight and then rinsed shaved cucumbers (preferably bitter ones with the skin peeled) + diluted vinegar + pepper, paprika, sugar (no more sugar than either of the spices, but the sugar is used to balance the vinegar). Same recipe plus a titch of oil for tomatoes, carrots and most other veggies. If desired, add a finely sliced onion and/or serve with sour cream (i rarely do). I go through buckets of the stuff during the summer, though cucumber salad and tomato salad are the best. You can sub dill or garlic for paprika (or try hot paprika or smoked paprika for a change) and change the nationality or region of your salad.

My other weird tip is mayonnaise + nutritional yeast makes an AWESOME dairy free cheese-like garlic bread topping.

You all are doing fine without a recipe, but should you want one...

I can't find where I got this, but it's really tasty - kind of lemon-meringuey but richer.  And super easy to make.

Avocado Pie

1 -  8 or 9 inch graham cracker crust (or make your own)
1 large avocado
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 F

Cut avocado in half and remove the pit.  
Peel the avocado halves and cut into 1/2 inch slices.  
Mix with lemon juice in a small-ish bowl.  
Beat egg yolks until thick in a large bowl.
Add avocado/juice.
Add vanilla.  
Beat until smooth.  
Pour into graham cracker crust.  
Bake for 20 minutes.  
Cool pie (on counter or in refrigerator or whatever)

Prepare topping while pie is cooling. (note from me:  Yes, do wait - the topping separates a bit if it sits too long)

Topping:
1/2 pint sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat ingredients together.  
Pour over pie and chill thoroughly before serving.

Wonderful thread!
Pearl,  your idea of a great T day is like mine.
I spent thanksgiving cooking at our church.
We host an thanksgiving dinner for anyone who wants to drop in.
45 people came and went,  with plenty of leftovers/side dishes coming and going as well.

My punkpotato pie did not get made this year,  but it's basically a sweet potatoe/pumpkin pie, inspired by my mixed race/culture family.
It's more an act of love than of deliciousness, but my kids love ask for it  every year.
Fortunately there were many great  homemade pies of both pumpkin and sweet potatoe, so I ate them side by side.

My grandfather made mystery  pie for his guys when he was a cook in ww2.
They has been eating carrot everything for months,  and we're tired to death of them, so he came up with a heavily spiced carrot pie.
Guys who were used to pumpkin pie thought it was that,  guys who who missed sweet potatoe pie thought it was that,  and he said nothing either way!

I have a nice cheesecake recipe that can be heavily modified and still succeed.
Cheesecake is just cream cheese pie as far as I'm concerned.
My favorite variant so far is a sour cream pie, so good!
KeishThis year I plan on using it to make an eggnogg pie with gingersnap crust.

Onion pie and green pea pie are on my list of savory pies to try,  so if anyone has a good recipe,  let me know.

Quiche is another pie by another name,  and a neat way to eat protein.
I like mine green from blending in kale and spinach.

I think the weirdest pie is Stargazey Pie, what with the fish heads poking out, but my actual entry here involves tomatoes, beef, cheese, onions, etc...

So, you make 2 crusts, a top and bottom. You fry up a bit of beef, fry and crumble some bacon, slice and saute mushrooms, slice and caramelize onions, chop some dense meaty tomatoes roughly, mince some fresh garlic, add herbs of your choice, use a handfull of a sharp cheese, and beat some eggs.

Fill the bottom crust with the stuff I listed, add the top crust, cut steam slits, brush top with beaten egg yolk. Bake until the eggs are done and the crust is golden brown.

While that is Baking, Get out a small jar of unseasoned tomato sauce and heat it up. When the pie is cool enough to cut, but still somewhat hot, cut some slices and serve them with the tomato sauce drizzled over the top. I call it Hobbit Pie.

It is developed over time from this recipe: http://www.councilofelrond.com/recipe/a-hobbits-delight/
And it is interesting to note that the second time I made it, I added eggs and removed the wine.
The 3rd time I made it I added cheese.
Then, at some point I ate an Aussie Meat Pie. And I was struck by how perfect a combo would be.
And Hobbit Pie was Born!

Pearl Sutton wrote:

OH MY! Avocado Lime Pie!!   10 out of 10, I'll do this again. We LOVE it! [/color]

Have you made any weird pies?

In Colombia they sell Avocado helados which are like creamy ice pops. They are awesome! and i made chocolate pudding using avocado and cocoa that was really good.
Now, earlier this year i had the opportunity to have guava cheese cake. i know its not really weird but i had never heard off/thought of it before. and its AMAZING!!😍🥰

Vanessa Alarcon wrote:
Now, earlier this year i had the opportunity to have guava cheese cake. i know its not really weird but i had never heard off/thought of it before. and its AMAZING!!😍🥰

OOOH, that's right up my alley! Two of my favorite things!

My wife was always weirded out by my Italian grandfather's "spaghetti pie" that he used to make.  I did some googling and it looks like it's called pastia, a sort of custard spaghetti pie traditionally served at Easter.  He used to add a few maraschino cherries too.  I always liked it!  It's almost Easter....I need to make some to see if it matches my memories.

I looked up pastia recipes. I think I'd be more inclined to use spaghetti squash. Sounds good though! I think if I did use noodles, I would cook them in something like a heavy cinnamon spice water.  
I bet that recipe was made up when there were more guests for dinner than cake ingredients in the house, add noodles to it to extend it. Kind of like bread pudding.

Pearl Sutton wrote: I looked up pastia recipes. I think I'd be more inclined to use spaghetti squash. Sounds good though! I think if I did use noodles, I would cook them in something like a heavy cinnamon spice water.  
I bet that recipe was made up when there were more guests for dinner than cake ingredients in the house, add noodles to it to extend it. Kind of like bread pudding.

What  great idea to use spaghetti squash! my mother used to make calabaza natilla. calabaza is a pumpkin like seminole squash and natilla is like a hard custard that you can cut into and it holds its shape (like a firmer flan) it has all the same ingredients of traditional natilla but you add calabaza to it. it was really good with a hint of savory. i imagine that's how the spaghetti scquash pie would be. Its usually served for Christmas.

Weird pie of the week! Making a second one because the first one was SO excellent. When it was baked, it was late, so I just put it in the fridge. The next morning we wanted to taste it, I got a fork, gave mom a little bite, was getting a fork for me when she said "OH my god!!!" It's excellent! So here you go:

Oh My! Pumpkin Chai Pie!!
Started with an organic Galeux d'Eysines Pumpkin from a street vendor. Baked it. Flavor is so rich and smooth it doesn't need much. Mixed some with a touch of milk, cinnamon, and a few eggs. Put it in a greased pan.

Swirled it with something weird I made: I cooked rice (jasmine, possibly a bit of sushi rice with it) with chai spices (fresh ginger, cardamon, fennel) in milk, and put a decaf black tea bag in it for back flavor (I don't need caffeine in my pie!) When the rice was cooked, I removed the tea bag, and put it into the food processor to turn to mush. Had to give it milk for liquid. Gave it a bit of oat flour for body, as it felt weird textured, and some honey, and a few eggs. Poured it slowly onto the pumpkin in the pan, and kinda half swirled it (too wet to swirl it right.) Baked it up, and OH MY!! Pumpkin Chai Pie!!

I'm very glad I used only half my rice mix in the first pie, pie #2 is baking right now :D   Pie #1 didn't last long at all!

I highly recommend this concept! It's an incredible one!!

:D

Considering how I stalk Pearl, it's hard to believe I completely missed this thread for so long! Pearl, that pie looks and sounds wonderful!

You know how you aren't supposed to go shopping hungry? I think I just added another "might not be the best idea..." thing to that list. Tomorrow is Christmas, and I don't have a menu ready. And I hadn't eaten yet. Making up recipes when hungry may be dangerous to your jeans fitting!! Hang on, this might get complex...

In the Christmas Cookies thread, Anita Martin gave a recipe for thumbprint cookies https://permies.com/t/152313/Christmas-Cookies#1195616  that involves bread crumbs. I made some, I loved the texture. I have always liked my thumbprint cookies to be a shortbread type, so the next batch was shortbread, with close to half the flour replaced with bread crumbs. I had to pack it into itty muffin tins, wouldn't hold it's shape enough for jam to be added. OH YES! Made them delicate and almost fluffy. Jay Angler (anyone know the link? PM it to me) is making chai spiced cookies.

So. I'm making pies, and I am not a fan of normal crust, I don't care how flaky you make it, it just has no thrill for me. So I'm making chai spiced shortbread with bread crumbs cookie stuff for crust for at least one of these pies. I melted butter yesterday, put spices into it to infuse, will use it for the crust stuff.

Then you get to the innards, and topping. Start with topping. I made a pie a while back with a good rich custard to top it. That kicks whipped cream RIGHT out the window for me, I loved it! But it was kinda heavy. I am planning to cook it, cool it, and do the bit where you whip it with softened gelatin to make it fluffy and hold the peaks.

Custard uses just the egg yolks, that gives me a pile of whites, what to do with them? You can make a cake fluffy by beating them stiff and stirring them into the cake. We wanted a sweet potato pie, so I'll be adding stiffened egg whites to make it fluffy! In chai spiced crust, and then putting the fluffed custard on top.

And hey, in the fridge I have some beets that need to be eaten. I'm thinking a beet pie, same crust and topping, also lightened with egg whites. Needs a bit of pizazz though... I jarred up some cherries a while back, and I'm thinking cherry, chocolate and beet fluffy pie, in shortbread crust with crumbs, topped with death by custard.

So that's the plan! My breakfast is eaten, and I'm in the kitchen, let's see what happens!!

:D

And it's time for another weird pie, with an elaborate recipe!
I was in the mood for apple pie... but it's NEVER that normal with me...

Part of the complexity started the other day, I made bread stuff. A heavily egged, sort of cream puff, with half a dozen heels from Ezekiel 7 grain sprouted bread, whole wheat flour, etc. Quite good little half puffed things, kinda like an English muffin?
To make the crust I started with some of those. I sliced them in half, the heavier bottom half got diced up fine, and put to soak in eggs and coconut milk with vanilla, so it's basically french toast.
The lighter top half got shaved off so the crusty part was gone, and they waited for a bit.

I sliced up and cooked half a beet in red wine vinegar, Chinese five spice, about 1 tsp sugar to cut a bit of the vinegar (but not much, wanted them sour) and when they were cooked they sat and soaked too. When they were about to be used, they were drained (and the juice kept for another recipe.)

Mom was given pecans! A bunch of them got chopped up fine, half were in butter that was melted, and mixed with apple cider, then the saved tops were soaked in that.
The other half of the pecans got a bit of the melted butter, about a teaspoon of sugar, and cinnamon and they sat and waited.

A big bowl got apple cider, cinnamon, anise, a bit of cloves, some cornstarch and a spoonful of Vitamin C powder (ascorbic acid, it was closer than the lemon juice was, so I was lazy!)
Mom got on clearance a bag of small red delicious apples (which I will admit are red, but not delicious, boring little sugar balls) and two granny smiths. They were peeled, cored, sliced and stirred into the bowl of juice as they were cut. I didn't keep seeds from the red delicious, but those two granny smiths had 19 seeds between them! They got saved.

So. To assemble it, greased the pan HEAVILY. It's a steamer tray, about 9x7x2, heavy stainless. It's a good size for the two of us, we get 3 or 4 days worth of dessert out of it.

First layer: The french toasty crust.
Second layer: Half of the sliced apple mixture.
Third layer: Beets.
Fourth layer: The rest of the apple mixture.
Fifth layer: The soaked bread tops with their pecans.
Sixth layer: The sugared and spiced pecans.

I put foil over it, and baked it.

OH MY. That's good! Lots of flavor, did you notice only 2 tsp sugar used? The apple cider and apples were more than enough. It doesn't taste "sweet" it tastes like rich, spicy fruit. It's EXCELLENT.  I'm not a fan of things that taste "sweet!" I don't care what you use to sweeten it with, I don't like things overly sweet.

I think it's the best apple pie I have ever made!

The non-glamour shots, it refuses to cut neatly into pieces to show off.

Oh my! Appe Pie!

Oh my! Appe Pie! The non-glamour shot

My weird dessert for Christmas was a mousse, which is stuff with whipped cream, firmed up with gelatin.
I call it "Sunrise Mousse."
Me being me... it's 6 layers of sweet potatoes, beets, coconut cream and flavors with gelatin. And it's a sunrise!
Oh so pretty, and oh so tasty!  
AND I managed to assemble all the layers without any crashing to the floor, which was a VERY high risk at one point. I'm smug :D

Pearl Sutton wrote:My weird dessert for Christmas was a mousse, which is stuff with whipped cream, firmed up with gelatin.
I call it "Sunrise Mousse."
Me being me... it's 6 layers of sweet potatoes, beets, coconut cream and flavors with gelatin. And it's a sunrise!
Oh so pretty, and oh so tasty!  
AND I managed to assemble all the layers without any crashing to the floor, which was a VERY high risk at one point. I'm smug :D

Yum! I'm SO trying this!