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Temple ladies
appreciate apricot pies

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The ladies of the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin are the inheritors of a noble tradition: the venerable cookbook series, "Island Cookery." But this time, one of them needed a recipe.

Mary Tanouye had an oversupply of dried apricots and wanted to make a double-crust pie. I made her a deal: I'd find some recipes if she would help test them.

This is how we ended up at the temple last week with two pies -- her double-crust and my meringue, with a layer of bananas. We had many willing tasters and both pies were proclaimed well-worth both effort and calories.

So, choose your weapon, apricot fans.

Apricot Pie

Sun-Maid Growers

2 6-ounce packages dried apricots
2-3/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter
9-inch double-crust pie pastry, unbaked

Bring apricots and water to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Cool, then drain, reserving liquid.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line bottom of pie pan with pastry. Arrange apricots in pie shell.

Combine sugar, cornstarch and nutmeg with 3/4 cup reserved apricot cooking liquid and pour over apricots. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust (make lattice strips, if desired). Seal and flute edges.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes, until pastry is golden brown and liquid bubbles. Cool on rack.

Banana-Apricot Pie

www.cooks.com

2 cups snipped dried apricots
1-1/2 cups water
1-1/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups sliced bananas
1 9-inch pastry shell, pre-baked and cooled
>> Meringue:
3 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring apricots and water to simmer. Cover; simmer 10 minutes.

Combine sugar, flour and salt; stir into apricot mixture. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Scoop a small amount (about 2 tablespoons) of hot filling into egg yolks to temper them, then add all yolks to hot mixture. Cook and stir until well-combined. Stir in butter. Cool slightly.

To make meringue: Beat egg whites with vanilla and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.

Arrange bananas in bottom of pastry shell; top with apricot filling. Spread meringue over filling, all the way to the edge. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Cool before serving.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Correction

Last week's recipe for Papaya Seed Dressing called for 1 tablespoon mustard. That should have been 1 tablespoon dry mustard. The ingredient was incorrectly listed in the "Best of the Best from Hawaii Cookbook."

See the Columnists section for some past articles.

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Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.