Pie Baking Class: Apple Pie, Mermaid Pie & Cheesecake!

At my office I am known as one of the few resident bakers. Many times, I will bring in one of my confections & my coworkers will make comments like "wow, I wish I could do that"...and I thought "you know, it's not really that hard & I love showing people how to bake..."

Thus was born my first official baking class! I have recently been hired to do a few baking classes at the Boston Center for Adult education (first one in December!) so this was a great opportunity to get some practice in.

The reason for the pie theme was the time of year! I wanted to show my coworkers how to make a classic home made pie crust, an apple pie, and then a few other fun desserts!

The menu ended up being two pies: Apple & Mermaid (from the movie The Waitress) as well as a decadent New York Style Cheesecake! The experience was a huge success, they each took home some delicious slices of pie that they made & the confidence to try it out this holiday season :).

The apple pie was the same recipe I shared with you from my friend Alexa. You can find that recipe here or by navigating through previous posts.


I highly recommend these other two recipes as well - they're really easy & fun to make. The Mermaid pie is perfect if you're baking with kids! The filling actually tastes quite a bit like chocolate chip ice cream! For the cheesecake, we ended up making a sort of raspberry sauce that was perfect on top!

Without further adieu, I give you Mermaid Pie & New York Style Cheesecake!

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie
(from the movie “The Waitress”)


9 graham crackers
1/2 C. sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted
5 Tbs. butter or margarine, melted
34 lg. marshmallows (8 oz.)
1/2 C. whole milk
1 1/2 C. heavy or whipping cream
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form.

2. Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack.

3. Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.)

4. In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight.


5. Top with mini marshmallows and rainbow sprinkles. (Maraschino Cherries optional)




Serves 8. **The next time I make this, I may toast the marshmallows before serving so that they stick a bit better to the rest of the pie.

NEW YORK STYLE CHEESECAKE


1/4 c. butter
1 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c. sugar
4 (8 oz.) cream cheese (Philadelphia)
1/2 c. flour
4 eggs
1 (14 oz.) condensed milk
1 tbsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Melt butter. Stir in crumbs and sugar. Pat firmly on bottom of buttered 9-inch springform pan or pie pan.


In large bowl, heat cheese until fluffy.


Beat in flour and eggs; mix well.

Add condensed milk, and vanilla.

Pour into pan over crumbs.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. This ended up being a little too long for my oven. I would start at 40 minutes & start testing the cake every five minutes. It should still be a little giggly like pumpkin pie is when you take it out - refrigerate for it to finish congealing to the correct consistency.

Cool to room temperature. Garnish as desired. I mashed up some fresh raspberries & added about 2 tbsp sugar for garnish. This was perfect - fresh & sweet!