Pie Slam Profiles: Lunchbox Pie Recipe and Story by Brook McDonald

CakeSpy Note: Here's the first in a series of Pie Slam Profiles, featuring the recipes and stories of each of the 9 entrants in last week's Pi(e) Day Pie Slam! This entry, for a toothsome concoction of banana, honey, whipped cream, peanut butter, and chocolate covered potato chips(!) was made by Brook, a freshman at Seattle University, who is "getting a business degree so that I may open my own bakery one day, which is my greatest dream and passion."

Here's the poem Brook read to introduce her pie: 

Lunchbox Pie by Brook McDonald

There was once a girl who loved to bake pies
And for her age, she was quite wise
So with a twist of her wrist
And a flick of the whisk
She began to improvise.
 
She went to school in the city of Seattle
Though only elementary she was quite tactful
Her heart was full of love for the food that she would create
Especially her pies now that was no debate.
 
At school everyday she ate the same lunch
Her stomach still grumbling as she began to munch
In the box were ruffles and milk chocolate chips
With a sandwich so delicious she could not stop smacking her lips.
 
Her eyes gleaming bright as she began to stare
Peanut butter banana and honey a sandwich with some real flare
A carton of milk to quench her thirst
And an idea that popped into her head that was just about to burst.
 
She ran straight home with idea in hand
Bursting through the door with ingredients that were anything but bland
She grabbed her crayons and soon began to draw
This was to be the best pie ever, the greatest of them all!
 
Her mother first helped her by rolling out the dough
She mixed her ingredients and watched her idea grow
Flour began to fly and her hand grew sticky still
As she twirled and spun with the greatest of thrill.
 
A dollop of honey and spoon full of peanut butter
Cream whipped so high, it began to flutter
Bananas all chopped up and glazed with sweetness
But the ruffles dipped in chocolate were the true greatness.
 
She layered the pie with the greatest of skill
Only to wait till the pie could stand still
She jumped around, waiting for her masterpiece to be complete
At last her hard work was finished and she could not wait to eat!
She pulled out a piece with the greatest of care
And took a big bite completely unaware
That she had created the most delicious tasting pie
Lunchbox pie she called it, a one of a kind, “Oh My!”

and here's the recipe. It's a monster, but it's worth it: this was a very, very delicious pie.

Lunchbox Pie

For the crust

• 1 1/3 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick well-chilled Crisco® Baking Sticks All-Vegetable Shortening
• OR 1/2 cup well-chilled Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening
• 3 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

Procedure

1. BLEND flour and salt in medium mixing bowl.
2. CUT chilled shortening into 1/2-inch cubes. Cut in chilled shortening cubes into flour mixture, using a pastry blender, in an up and down chopping motion, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some small pea-sized pieces remaining.
3. SPRINKLE half the maximum recommended amount of ice-cold water over the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir and draw flour from bottom of bowl to the top, distributing moisture evenly into flour. Press chunks down to bottom of bowl with fork. Add more water by the tablespoon, until dough is moist enough to hold together when pressed together.
4. Tip Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not add any additional water. If the dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball when pressed together.
5. SHAPE dough into a ball for single piecrust. Divide dough in two for double crust or double deep-dish crust, one ball slightly larger than the other. Flatten ball(s) into 1/2-inch thick round disk(s).
6. ROLL from center outward with steady pressure on a lightly floured work surface (or between two sheets of wax or parchment paper) into a circle 2-inches wider than pie plate for the bottom crust. Transfer dough to pie plate by loosely rolling around rolling pin. Center the rolling pin over the pie plate, and then unroll, easing dough into pie plate. Tip For ease in rolling, wrap dough in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes or up to 2 days.
7. Thoroughly prick bottom and sides of unbaked pie dough with fork (50 times) to prevent it from blistering or rising. Bake crust in lower third of oven, at 425°F, 10-12 minutes or until edges and bottom are golden brown.

For the filling

PEANUT BUTTER FILLING

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• Two 3-ounce packages full-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 ¼ cups smooth peanut butter
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature

BANANA CREAM FILLING

• 1 package vanilla or banana cream instant pudding mix
• 2 cups cold milk
• 2 bananas
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1-2 tablespoons brown sugar

  CHOCOLATE COVERED POTATO CHIPS

• 1 bag of plain ruffles
• 1 bag milk chocolate chips

TOPPING

• 1 package cool whip
•  1 ½ tablespoons honey

 Assembly and preparation for the entire pie

1. Prepare the crust and press it into the bottom and up the
2. Side of a 9 1/2 –inch deep-dish pie pan. I like to use Classic Crisco Pie Crust. Bake and let cool thoroughly before filling.
3. Using a medium sized bowl and chilled beaters, whip the cream with an electric mixer until stiff but not grainy. Do not overbeat! Cover and refrigerate.
4. In a large bowl cream the cream cheese and peanut butter with the mixer on medium speed until evenly blended. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar, then the brown sugar, until blended. The mixture may look lumpy, like cookie dough. That’s the way it is supposed to be, so don’t worry. Blend in the vanilla. Add the whipped cream, and slowly blending with the mixer until smooth.
5. Clean and dry the beaters. Using a clean medium-sized bowl beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Fold them into the peanut butter mixture with a rubber spatula or gently beat them in with a mixer until evenly blended. Scrape the filling into the chilled pie shell until about ¾ full. Smooth with a spoon and cover loosely with aluminum foil and freeze until firm enough to slice cleanly but not rock solid, about 4 hours.
6. While cooling, begin to cook the pudding and refrigerate until firm.
7. Use a double broiler to melt one package of milk chocolate chips, dip ruffles according to your liking and place on a piece of wax paper to let cool, you may also refrigerate these if you choose.
8. Cut 2 bananas into small silver dollar sized pieces, and gently mix with honey and brown sugar in a medium sized bowl, (If you choose, you may also cook them in a skillet for more of a glaze type banana.)
9. Combine the pudding with the bananas, you only need to coat them graciously with the pudding, but not completely submerge them, do this by continuously adding dollops of pudding to the bananas.
10. Gently Spread banana mixture over the Peanut butter Pie, place in fridge.
11. Gently mix one tablespoon honey to cool whip mixture until fluffy, spread over pie until covered, place chocolate covered potato chips over the top, and cool until served.

Comments

[stephanie]

With a few more registered food products, that really looks like a bake off winner. She should make some large food corporation proud. I know I sound snide, but she really could make some big money with that ingredient list if the pie is as good as claimed. Maybe a cool million. http://www.pillsbury.com/bakeoff

[Jodi]

Oh, man....this looks soooooooo goood!!!! Sweet, salty, banana, peanut butter -- it's like I've died and gone to heaven :)))) I need to make this....thanks for posting it! Best wishes to Bakerella...I read her blog, too, and she needs everyone's prayers...

[Amy]

We had chocolate-covered potato chips at our wedding 5 years ago and I was fascinated by them. So delicious. Perfect blend of salty and sweet. Mmm...gonna have to go buy some Ruffles so I can make them again. Weight Watchers be damned.