Big family feasts and holiday meals are the best! That’s when all the best tasting food comes to the table (and the best leftovers)! However, after a few days, I tend to get a little bored of eating the same leftovers. So, instead of eating the same meal over and over again, I like to bake the leftovers into some puff pastry (or pie crust, whatever you have) and eat it as a hand pie.

Hand pies are exactly what they sound like, pies that you can hold in your hand and eat! There are some traditional hand pie recipes, but they can really be any combination of flavors or leftover that you have.

I always have leftover scallop potatoes and ham from Easter dinner, and they seemed like a perfect hand pie filling. I tucked my leftovers into some store bought puff pastry (found in the freezer section) with some Tillamook Swiss Cheese. Make sure your scallop potatoes (or whatever leftovers you are using) are cold when you load them into your shell, that way they aren’t too gooey when you seal the hand pie.

Layer your leftovers in the middle of your pastry dough (make sure to leave enough room around the edges to seal the hand pie). Brush the edges with an egg wash (mix together an egg yolk and a little water) and then seal the pie by pressing the two sides together; mark the edges with a fork.  Poke a few holes in the top to keep the pies from bursting while cooking and then brush the top with egg wash. Throw them in a 400 degree oven until they are gold brown (about 15-20 minutes).

We always seem to have a colony of chocolate bunnies around the house after Easter, so I cracked off a few pieces of chocolate and baked them into a cherry hand pie.

You will want to let them cool a little, but they are definitely best served warm out of the oven!

The options are truly endless; ham, swiss, and honey mustard or how about roast beef, horseradish cream, and provolone. What leftovers would you make a hand pie with?

By Candace

Peach Melba Pie with butter on top

It’s November and tis the season for yummy pies! Truthfully, I think pies are good any time of the year, but there is something about November with pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate pie…

Pie recipes often call for shortening and we wanted to know, can butter be substituted and still make a flaky crust? Since I am still trying to figure out how to make a perfect pie crust (and I took Home Ec, too!), I put my mom to the task. She makes the best pie crusts. The fillings are really good, too. She set about substituting Tillamook Butter for shortening in her favorite pie crust recipe. And the result: “The crust was REALLY flaky,” she said.

Just in time for you to make your favorite Thanksgiving pie, here’s the pie crust recipe and a pie that my mom just happened to whip up, and my dad got to enjoy, for this little experiment.

Mary Jo’s Pie Crust (Nope, my mom’s name isn’t Mary Jo)

Yield: 6-7 single crusts or 3 double crusts

Ingredients
5 cups flour
2 cups cold Tillamook Unsalted Butter (1 lb)
1 teaspoon salt
1 whole egg

Preparation
Place several ice cubes and about 1½ cups of water in a 2-cup measuring cup and then set aside. Break egg into a 1-cup measuring cup, beat slightly, and then set aside. Cut the butter into small cubes and then set aside. Mix together the flour and salt.

Using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut the cubes of butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a crumble. Do not over mix. The tiny balls of butter will make your crust flaky.

Pour enough of the iced water into the measuring cup with the beaten egg to make 1 cup. Pour the egg/water mixture into the crumble and mix with a spoon or your hands just until all of the flour has been incorporated. Divide into 6 balls.

On a floured board, immediately roll out the crust(s) you plan to use right away. Chilling your crusts after shaping and placing them in pie plates while you make your filling or before baking will reduce shrinkage.

This crust keeps well for several days in the refrigerator and also freezes well. Tightly wrap the balls of dough you will not be using in plastic wrap. Place the wrapped balls in a freezer bag or foil and refrigerate or freeze. Thaw frozen balls in the refrigerator when ready to use. If you don’t want to make a crust every time you want a pie, just pull out a ball of dough, defrost it a little and voila, you are ready for your filling!

The traditional pies are my favorite for Thanksgiving, but sometimes it’s nice to try something a little different. Need a pie idea for your holiday meal? How about this one? It is also really great for summer with a scoop of Tillamook Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

Peach Melba Pie

Yield: 1 pie

Ingredients
4 cups fresh peaches (peeled and sliced)
4 cups fresh raspberries (rinsed)
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoon Tillamook Butter (cut into small pieces)
2 pie crusts
Egg wash

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and then roll out and place one crust in a pie plate. Using a knife, trim the crust to the outer edge of the pie plate. Chill. Roll out the second crust and then place it on a cookie sheet and chill until ready to use.

Place the peaches and raspberries in a large bowl. Mix together the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Pour the sugar mixture over the peaches and raspberries and gently toss, trying not to break up the raspberries. Pour the fruit mixture into the chilled pie crust.

Place the small pieces of butter on top of the fruit. Slightly wet the outer edge of the crust with water. Place the second crust on top of the fruit, pressing the edges to seal. Using a knife cut off the extra dough from the top crust leaving about ½ inch beyond the edge of the pie plate. Tuck the extra dough UNDER the edge of the bottom crust to fully seal. Crimp the edge and prick or cut the top crust to vent.

Make an egg wash using 1 egg and a small amount of water, and lightly brush the top crust with the egg wash. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the crust is golden. Serve with Tillamook Vanilla Bean or Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream.

Note: This pie is juicy, especially if the peaches are very juicy and/or the raspberries break up during mixing.

By Chandra

With the holidays rapidly approaching, it’s time to start planning menus and perfecting pie recipes. No pie, or dessert for that matter, is complete without a scoop of Tillamook Ice Cream! Did you know that Tillamook has three, yes three, different flavors of vanilla to choose from!?

I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to the delicious and dramatically different vanilla variations:

Old-Fashioned Vanilla
This is the classic stuff. Vanilla, straight and simple.

French Vanilla
Tillamook French Vanilla is rich, creamy, and custard-like.

Vanilla Bean
Traditional vanilla kicked up a flavor notch with loads of real crushed vanilla beans. If you’re a fan of this flavor, you might also like Tillamook Vanilla Bean Yogurt and Tillamook Light Vanilla Bean Yogurt.

If you haven’t tried them all, there’s no time like the holidays to get scooping!!! What’s your favorite flavor of vanilla ice cream?

By Amalya

When I was asked to do a blog post for Chocolate Lovers Month I thought…that’s easy enough. I’ll write something about how amazingly delicious the new Tillamook Vanilla Chocolate Chip or Mudslide Ice Creams are, say how much my wife loves them, and call it good. But that’s too easy :)! Instead I wanted to try a few recipes with the new Tillamook Light Yogurt and this month’s favorite, chocolate! The first is a recipe that my mom used to make us growing up: a frozen yogurt pie. The second is a twist on a February classic: chocolate covered strawberries.

The saying “easy as pie” is often a misnomer, but with this pie it’s actually true. The foundation for any good pie is a GREAT crust! Because yogurt has a slightly tart flavor, I wanted to sweeten it up a bit with a shortbread cookie crust. Bake one batch of your favorite shortbread cookies then crush them into tiny pieces. Spread the crumbs evenly on a pie pan and place in the fridge to cool. While the crust is cooling, set-up a double boiler system – I used a standard pasta pan with a metal bowl on top -to melt 1 large bar of chocolate. The double boiler will melt the chocolate evenly without the risk of burning. After about 10 minutes take the pie crust out of the fridge and drizzle some of the melted chocolate on it, then put it back in the fridge to cool. While the crust is cooling, mix 5 cups of Tillamook Light Raspberry Yogurt with ¾ – 1 cup of Cool Whip. Whisk these together until fluffy but still creamy. Grab your pie crust, pour in the yogurt/cool whip mixture and level with a spoon so it’s evenly distributed in the crust. Place the whole pie in your freezer until it’s frozen solid. I left it in overnight, but it should freeze in 1-2 hours. Once frozen, finish it off by drizzling more melted chocolate on top and arrange some fresh raspberries, if you’re really daring! Done. See – easy as pie!

Looks decadent…but it’s healthy – well mostly!

Being a Pinterestaholic, I am always seeing awesome things from incredibly creative people. Recently, I came across the recipe for stuffed fruit, and I had to try it for myself using chocolate dipped strawberries and Tillamook Light Vanilla Bean Yogurt. Using the same double boiler technique as above, begin melting 2 large bars of chocolate. While it melts, puncture each strawberry lengthwise all the way through using a straw. Any plastic straw will work, but the stronger the better. Set them aside to dry. Once the chocolate is melted completely and your strawberries have dried, begin dipping the bottom 3/4 of each strawberry in the warm chocolate. When the first coat of chocolate has hardened, coat them again! Why? #1 – more chocolate is always better, and #2 you need enough chocolate to seal the bottom hole of the strawberry. When the second coat of chocolate has hardened, use a spoon to fill the top hole of each strawberry with your favorite Tillamook Light Yogurt. When all the berries have been filled, place the them in the refrigerator and let cool for 20 minutes. Serve chilled with champagne for a special occasion!

The Light Vanilla Bean Yogurt adds a nice tartness to the otherwise sweet chocolate and strawberries.

~ Matt of the Tillamook Team

By Matt

I love, love, love this pie. The pie tastes just like a candy bar! It is incredibly rich, so a little goes a long way. I usually enjoy it with a glass of milk. The recipe has been in my family for more than 30 years, although its origin has been lost in history. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

1 cup Tillamook Butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 squares of unsweetened chocolate (melted and cooled)
4 eggs
1 baked and cooled pie crust
sweetened whipped cream
crushed Heath Bars or toffee

Beat butter with sugar until pale and fluffy. Blend in chocolate and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time, taking 5 minutes to beat in each egg. Beat until shiny and buttery looking. Pour into baked pie crust. Chill for several hours. Frost the top of the pie with whipped cream. Sprinkle the crushed Heath bars or toffee over the whipped cream.

Note: This pie contained raw eggs, an ingredient that should be avoided by women who are pregnant.

By Chandra

My mom adapted this pie from a recipe she saw in The Oregonian in 2001. It originally was published in “Miss Ruby’s Cornucopia” by Ruth Adams Bronz in 1991. Everything about the Harvest Pie screams Thanksgiving. In fact, it has become a regular addition to our Thanksgiving groaning board right alongside the traditional pumpkin pie. It made its way there because everyone who tries it loves it. In my opinion, it is best served warm with a large scoop of Tillamook Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Delicious!

HARVEST PIE

Use your favorite pastry recipe for a two-crust pie crust
1 ½ cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
4 cups peeled and cored apples cut into chunks
½ cup chopped pecans
1 ½ cups sugar
4 Tablespoons flour
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ cup cranberry or cran-apple juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Tablespoon Tillamook Butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry rolled to 1/8-inch thickness. Toss together the cranberries, apples, raisins and pecans with the sugar, flour, cinnamon, cran-apple juice and vanilla. Spoon the mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Place dots of butter on top of the fruit mixture. Use the remaining pastry dough to make a solid crust for the top of the pie or cut it into strips and make a lattice over the top of the pie. Bake in a preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes. This makes a very full pie, so it may bubble over.

By Chandra

Up until my bridal shower, I had no idea what a whoopie pie was! My sister-in-law shared this recipe with me that day. It was passed to her from her Aunt Debbie and is quickly becoming a family favorite. The pumpkin adds that perfect fall touch. YUM!

MY SISTER-IN-LAW’S PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES

INGREDIENTS (for whoopie pies)

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup oil
2 cups solid pumpkin
3 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ cups sugar
4 eggs

PREPARATION

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients and blend well. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool. (FYI, these cookies are also great without the frosting, with chocolate chips, or even just plain.)

INGREDIENTS (for frosting filling)

1 (4 oz.) package cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ stick Tillamook Butter
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
drops of milk (if needed)

PREPARATION

Beat together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Add sugar and a little milk if needed. Put frosting between two cookies.

This is also a great recipe to make with little kitchen helpers. My niece frequently jumps in to help her momma!

Photo courtesy of Alison Fayre.

By Gillian