Y’all; I fought the battle, and I had lost. I made the fatal mistake of thinking I could do this simple pie recipe perfectly on the first try, without any guidance. I thought I had this in the bag; I thought I was gonna be the next Martha Stewart of Christmas pies.
Yeah… I was wrong.
I got it right on the second try, though!
In a weird sort of way, I hope that that’s actually an encouragement to those of you who are… you know… normal people, like me. I’m not some fancy cook — I’m a normal person who got this Christmas delicacy right on the second try. And if I can do it, I bet you can, too. Plus, even if you leave your pie raw, you can’t be worse than me – I’m pretty sure mine was still raw, and I entered it in my first pie-making contest anyway (true story, by the way).
So, proceed with the knowledge that whatever mistakes you make, or whatever pie-making victories you have, I’m right there with ya. All things said, this is a recipe that is actually quite simple to follow, and it is utterly delicious.
For this recipe, you’ll need the following:
Pie Crust
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes (“Normal people hint” – if you didn’t know this already, most sticks of butter have a line on the side telling you where to cut for a certain amount of tablespoons)
3 tablespoons of shortening (My recipe says to chill it and cut it up into cubes… but I didn’t. Do what you think here)
1 tablespoon of alcohol (I’ve never made it this way, but it actually did add a little something, and of course the alcohol cooks out. I put in some rum, but you can do brandy, cognac, etc)
1-2 tablespoons of cold milk
Cinnamon Pie
8 ounces of cream cheese, softened (AKA – leave it out on the table while you’re making the pie crust. Normal person tip – 8 ounces of cream cheese is one block)
1 cup of brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup + 2 tablespoons of cream
¼ cup of flour
¼ cup of cinnamon (It’s a cinnamon pie. Trust me… you actually do need this much)
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of nutmeg
For the crust, I got a “pastry blender” at Walmart for like 2 bucks. Believe it or not, not mixing in the dough with your hands is really important: it keeps the butter from melting, which keeps your dough flaky and soft when it’s cooked later. If you don’t have a pastry blender, you can put your dough in a food processor, or maybe try cutting the fat in with two forks.
So, without further ado, here’s the process.
1. Start with the crust, leaving your pie’s cream cheese out to soften on the counter. Put the crust’s flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl, and mix it a few times to mix everything together.
2. Add the butter – which should be straight out of the fridge if not even the freezer – and the shortening, and mix until it’s in eensy weensy little clumps. One recipe suggested it should look like “peas.”
3. Add the alcohol and the milk. Mix until it all comes together. (Normal person hint/confession – Pie crust is not my forte. It never “comes together” like it should – it’s kinda dry and clumpy. If that happens to you, know that it still worked for me, and my pie was delicious, crust and all.)
4. Dump out the dough into plastic wrap, flatten, and refrigerate for 30+ minutes.
Now, it’s time to start on the pie itself.
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Measure out the brown sugar. (When measuring brown sugar, you’re supposed to put it in your measuring cup, take a spoon, and press down hard to compact the brown sugar; continue until your measuring cup is full of hard, packed brown sugar)
3. Put brown sugar and the entire block of cream cheese in mixing bowl, and cream until it’s light and fluffy. You can use a hand mixer for this, or a standing mixer.
4. Put in all three eggs, and then beat them in.
5. Add all other ingredients, and mix until it’s really smooth and amazing looking. (Normal person hint — when you put in the cinnamon and the flour, BE CAREFUL – because they’re light and “dusty,” they will poof out at you when you’re starting to mix if you’re not careful. I took a spoon and lightly stirred them in first to make sure I wasn’t about to get a cinnamon facial)
6. Pour mixture into crust, and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Allow me to interrupt my recipe briefly. Here is where I lost the battle the first time, but won the war on the second try. I am terrible at knowing when baked goods are finished cooking. To tell the truth, I have adjusted my tastes to prefer what is virtually brownie batter rather than understand when brownies are actually finished cooking. So, yeah, I didn’t understand when my pie would be finished the first time.
However, on the second try, my amazing, Southern to the core, wonderful-cooking Mama showed me how to get it – and I actually succeeded.
The secret to a cinnamon pie that is cooked through is this – the surface of your pie shouldn’t be shiny and glossy, it should be matte; and also, when you jiggle the dish, it shouldn’t wiggle very much. “If the middly is wiggly like Santa’s belly,” it’s not done yet.
Irritatingly catchy, but true, and now you’ll remember it. You’re welcome.
7. When your pie is finished, take it out, let it cool on the stove, then refrigerate for several hours. It tastes best on the second day, but it’ll be amazing after a few hours, too.
The recipe sounds complicated, but it really isn’t when you get down to it. And the best part? You’ll look like such a professional cook, since this is an unusual recipe!
Actually, that’s not true. The best part is that you’ll have cinnamon pie. But the second-best part is the you’ll look cool thing.
