Black Bottom Raspberry pie and mixed berry pie...

Let's start with dessert first!! I have a fear of pies as these two pictures will attest. LOL. They did taste very good though, they are just really unattractive. My MIL's favorite dessert is pie( Id much rather bake a cake) so pie she got. As you all know by now, Robin doesnt like fruit, so I made a chocolate cream pie from Epicurious.com. Its called black bottom raspberry pie( I subbed black berries). It was fairly straightforward. A press in chocolate cookie crumb crust, bake for 10 min, cool and add a basic chocolate pudding filling. The pudding was nice and easy because you didnt have to temper the eggs. The filling consists of milk, dutch procces cocoa, bittersweet chocolate, 1 egg, 1 yolk, some butter and sugar. That must chill overnight, then berries are added and some sweetened whipped cream is spooned on top.

The fruit pie was my second attempt. I accidentally bought lard instead of crisco. I proceeded to make the recipe on the lard package which used 1lb of lard. Big mistake. I ended up with a blob of solid fat. I tried to use my cuisinart to my detriment. I didnt bother to use it, I just tossed it in the trash and went up to the grocery store and bought some frozen crusts( Pillsbury refridgerated crusts are not sold here). The filling is rhubarb, raspberries, and blackberries. I used some instant tapioca for the thickener. As you can see, I overfilled it and it bubbled over. What a mess. Thankfully, the pie was really tasty.