maple pecan pie

When deciding what to bring to Thanksgiving this year I went immediately to this pie. Mostly because I was curious about substituting brown rice syrup for corn syrup. But then, with all else going on in my life... Turkey Raffles, SLT meetings, PTA meetings... I forgot to secure the syrup and couldn't find it at my local place.  I almost said, What the heck, and used corn syrup... but then I thought, Why not maple syrup? I have a ton of it in my fridge.

It worked out great - and added that wonderful maple flavor. Nice when things work out.

We had the good fortune to spend our Thanksgiving day upstate with friends in a winter wonderland - so majestic and stunning. Good food, good people, what more can a person ask for?

I hope you Thanksgiving was just a wonderful.


Maple Pecan Pie
Makes one 9 inch pie, adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

Ingredients

• One 9-inch pie crust (I used Mark Bittman's Flaky Crust and substituted in white whole wheat flour)
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 1/2 vanilla extract
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups pecan pieces, lightly toasted 

Instructions

1. Melt the cubes of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix the sugar, vanilla in abowl. Add melted butter. Add maple syrup, eggs and salt. Beat until smooth.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Add the pecans to the prepared pie shell. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Brush the edges of the pie crust with egg wash and transfer to a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet/and pie in the oven to bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the center has set (it may rise slightly) and the crust is golden brown. Be sure to check on it periodically throughout the baking process—if at any time the crust gets too brown, you can place a piece of foil over it to protect it from browning more.
3. Completely cool before serving. Garnish with vanilla ice cream.

apple turnovers

I have been writing this blog for a little over 4 years. It began as a way to express my joy of baking and my ability to learn how to cook. You see, I started off not being a very good cook, and not wanting to know how to be one. I trusted my partners to make our daily sustenance. In fact an ex-boyfriend called me recently, he'd seen my blog posts and queried, "So, now you cook?

So, now I cook. But my husband makes the lion share of the meals. He makes dinner almost every day and I am eternally grateful for it. I am slowly learning ho to make things without a step by step recipe to follow, and it is a huge relief. I am living proof that anyone can learn how to cook. And feel so much better for it.

I have always been a baker, but never been able to make flaky pie crust... until now. The trick, I discovered a few weekends ago, is do not mix the butter in. Do no use a food processor. Use two knives and keep it chunky. It will melt when cooked and become the wonderful crust you wish for. Truth.

Apple Turnovers
Makes 15, adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything cook book

Filling Ingredients

• 4 tart apples, cored, peeled, and grated
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Crust Ingredients

• Scant 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 15 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons ice water

Instructions

1.  Combine dry crust ingredients. Add butter, cut into small bits. Take two butter knives and chop up butter further until they resemble peas.
2. Add water one tablespoon at a time and work together with hands until combined. Place in fridge for 1/2 hour or freezer for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine all filling ingredients. Taste and add more sugar, cinnamon or lemon as needed.
4. Roll out dough to 1/4 thickness. Cut into 4-inch squares, or any shape that works.
5. Place 1-2 tablespoons of filling in center of each square, cover with dough. Score on top two or three times for air vents. Brush with water and sprinkle with sugar.
6. Place on parchment covered baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 40-55 minutes.
7. Serve hot or room temperature.

peach cherry pie

We've been partaking in the abundant fruit this season. But sometimes we over do it and have more fruit than we can eat in a timely manner.

And so our Cherry Peach Pie was born. Cherries and peaches are, after all, so much better eaten fresh and raw than in a pie, but how can you waste all that lovely goodness. So, pie it was. And so good too.

This post was written about a month ago. The season is so unseasonable this year we are all wearing sweaters in August! How bizarre. All of which to say, I am not sure if cherries or peaches are still in season, but here you are. A wonderful pie all the same, and my husband's favorite combination.

Peach Cherry Pie

Ingredients

• Two crust pie crust
• 2 cups pitted cherries
• 2 cups chopped peaches
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

1. Mix together all ingredients except the butter and flour.
2. Make your pie crust. Line the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan with one crust. 
3. Pour the filling into the pie pan. Dot with pieces of butter and dust with flour.
4. Place top crust on filling and crimp around edges. Poke holes in the top crust around the pie. Brush with milk and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar.
5. Place on a baking pan to catch the drips. Put into oven and bake at 375 F for 10 minutes. Lower heat to 350 F and bake another 45-50 minutes, or until pie crust is nicely browned.
6. Allow to cool a bit to allow filling to gel. Serve warm or cold.

simple apple pie

Ever since I began baking, I have had trouble with pie crust. It just doesn't come out flaky and tender, no matter what I do.

This time I did something new. I followed the recipe.

Simple, right? Wrong. You see the recipe states the following:

Mix flour with salt. Okay so far.
Cut in butter so that it look like granules or little peas. Okay, but I tend to over cut - making the peas small.
Sprinkle cold water a tablespoon at a time until batter comes together. HERE is the problem. The 6-7 tablespoons they suggest never get the batter to come together and I end up using 8, 9, 10 tablespoons of water. Then it becomes too tough.

This time, even though the dough did not come together, I stuck to the 7 tablespoons of water. I separated the flour into two crumbly masses and rolled one out.

Amazingly it held together and became one pie crust. I was able to get the top on and crimped just fine. Only problem was that the part I crimped did become a bit tough but the rest of the crust was light a flaky just as it was mean to be!

Maybe the next pie I make will have flaky edges too. Baby steps and soon I will have the perfect pie crust.

Simple Apple Pie
Makes one 9 inch pie

Ingredients

• Two 9-inch pie crusts
• 8-10 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon flour

Instructions

1. Make the pie crust and roll out and place the bottom one in a pie pan and in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
2. Toss all ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Pour filling into pie crust and cover with second crust. Bake in oven at 425F for 10 minutes. Then lower the temp to 350F and complete baking for 40-45 minutes until top crust is browned.

cranberry eggnog pie

I love the geometry of the gingerbread house. This was my first attempt.

I've been making sure to have a kale salad every day - my own home remedy flu prevention.

Another first for me - candied orange peel dipped in chocolate. They came out a bit crunchy due to the turbinado sugar. I would use finer next time - or not cover them in sugar at all. This recipe calls for keeping as much pith on as possible. I prefer it to the recipes that require all the pith be removed.

I made this tart for Christmas day. It was a huge success. Something about cranberry and cheese cake makes for a lovely combination. Because I had a 9.5 inch tart pan with a one inch rim and the recipe calls for a 10 inch tart pan with a two inch rim, I had excess filling which I put in ramekins and baked with the tart - Bonus!!

We had our second third Santa visitation (my son reminded me of one I'd forgotten)... and more presents!! Will it ever end??

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

pie day at spring glen woods

Our Second Annual Pie Day at Spring Glen Woods was a huge success. About 50 people joined in the eating, both savory and sweet. Everything from pizza pie to quiche, triple citrus meringue (made by June at Fancy Pies) to raspberry-chocolate pudding. There was even cake and salad. It was quite a spread.

I made the two top pies pictured, a broccoli-onion frittata and an inside-outside Mounds pie. Both were gone by the end of the afternoon. We ended the festivities with our annual pie-in-the-face extravaganza. I got some whipped cream on my face too. For tradition's sake.

Inside-Outside Mounds Pie
From Mark Bittman's Food Matters Cook Book
2 cups shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped {or in chip form}
1 cup coconut milk {light is fine}

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Combine the shredded coconut, sugar, egg whites, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Bake until the tart shell is firm and lightly toasted, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine the chocolate, egg yolks, and coconut milk in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, whisking almost continuously, until the chocolate is completely melted and stteaming, but don't let the mixture boil and separate.

3. When the tart shell comes out of the oven, spread the chocolate mixture in it. Let the tart cool and become firm before cutting into wedges and serving. The tart will keep, covered and refrigerated, for a day or two {but I don't suppose it will last that long}.


Broccoli-Onion Frittata
By Sandra Meadows
2 tablespoons canola oil
One large yellow onion, sliced
2 cups steamed broccoli
8 eggs, mixed
1/4 cup goat cheese
Salt and pepper

1. Heat oil in an 8 inch saucepan. Add onion and cook on medium heat until wilted but not browned. Add broccoli, cheese, salt and pepper to eggs and pour into saucepan and let sit over flame. Cook until mostly firm. Finish off in the broiler to set and brown the top. Serve warm.

rosemary-peach galette

Peaches are in season. I have been trying to make a peach dish ever since those fuzzy little critters splashed on the Green Market scene but things keep getting in my way. Mostly, they are just too tempting all on their own. By the time I've decided on a dish and assembled the ingredients they're gone from the fruit bowl.

This time I was prepared. I had everything I needed and made this galette as soon as I got home with them. Only problem is I had only one cup of flour left. So I roughly halved the recipe.

The rosemary-honey is so good. I ate it on toast. You can mix it into cream cheese, or any other thing for a wonderful sweet spread.

Rosemary-Peach Galette
Serves 1-2. Adapted from Food 52's White Peach and Lemon Thyme Galette

1/4 cup honey
2 sprig rosemary
3 peaches, peeled and sliced into wedges
1 cup, plus 1 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons vegan butter

1. bring honey and rosemary to boil, take off heat and set aside. Put flour in the freezer for 15 minutes.

2. Mix 1 tablespoon flour with peaches until covered. Mix in 2 tablespoons honey.

3. Mix flour, sugar and salt together. Place in a food processor and add butter. Mix until a clumpy sandy mixture. At this point the original recipe says to add ice water until the dough comes together. My dough was already very wet so I skipped the water. Roll out into a rough circle. Place on pie tray. Place peaches in center and fold the edges up around the peaches, going in a circle. Leave a little peach showing in the center.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

cherry-apricot pie

Did I mention my husband makes pie? Most people who know him would be surprised to hear this. He's a bit of a Marlboro Man, the strong, silent type. But he is a really good pie maker (not the crust - that we store bought). He didn't add anything to make this pie congeal and it came out absolutely perfect. It also didn't last long.

This month we celebrated our five year anniversary. Five years. It feels like a life time and the blink of an eye, all at once.

Thank you. You make my life complete.

Cherry-Apricot Pie
2 store bought pie crusts
2 cups cherries, pitted and halved
2 cups apricots, pitted and quartered
1/4 cup sugar

1. Mix fruit and sugar together. Fill pie crust. Cover with second pie crust. Poke holes in top crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-50 minutes (until crust is browned and fruit becomes wet. Serve warm or cold.

blueberry-basil ice cream tart with intensely chocolate crust

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but convenience is a close second.

I've come up with some pretty weird combinations but I think this may be up there near the top. It arose from a huge batch of basil wilting in my fridge and a ginormous amount of blueberries in our house (one of those, I thought we needed them and my husband thought we needed them and then we  were at Costco and bought some there as well, and you might say, Never can have too many blueberries, but there are limits.).

Did you know it is not only National Blueberry Month but it is also National Ice Cream Month? What are the odds?

So there we were, too many blueberries, a lot of basil and this exhausting heat wave. Some ice cream was in order.

I made Mark Bittman's tofu ice cream, substituting blueberries and basil for chocolate. My husband said it tasted "too green." But once it was frozen on top of the chocolate crust, it was heaven. And I owe it all to the wonderful chocolate crust. I was not sure it would work as one since the recipe is for cookies, but it did work... wonderfully. Thanks again to Deb at Smitten Kitchen.

(My tart is not gorgeous because I used a flan pan instead of a tart pan... ooops)

Blueberry-Basil Tofu Ice Cream
Adapted from Mark Bittman's Chocolate Tofu Ice Cream.

12 oz tofu (silken is better but I used firm)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
10 leaves basil
1 cup blueberries

1. Heat sugar, water, blueberries and basil in a sauce pan until sugar has dissolved and berries and basil have softened. Let sit to cool. Remove basil.

2. If you have an ice cream maker by all means use it. I do not so this is instructions for someone without one. In a food processor, mix tofu and rest of ingredients until smooth. Place in a freezer safe pan. Freeze for 40 minutes. Take out and mix up to remove ice crystals. Keep doing this every 30 minutes until it is hard but still soft enough to spread.

3. Spread mixture onto already prepared tart crust. Freeze.

Intensely Chocolate Tart Crust
Adapted from Deb's Intensely Chocolate Sables at Smitten Kitchen

1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup vegan butter (mine is salted so I skip the salt in the recipe. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt if your is not)
1/2 cup sugar
1 splash vanilla
3 1/2 ounces 70% chocolate (not sure if that is bittersweet or semi-sweet), grated (I used my food processor)

1. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda in a bowl.

2. Cream butter, sugar, and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add dry ingredients. Press into a tart pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Set aside for the ice cream.

strawberry rhubarb basil tarts

Deb at Smitten Kitchen is superstitious about pie making. I can relate. Mine have never come out perfect. I am also a bit disorganized about keep my recipes straight. I have forgotten which worked better than others. This time around I tried a vegan almond tart crust. It includes maple syrup, and after that wonderful salad I made with maple syrup dressing I was eager to repeat the combo.

The crust is very nice. I especially liked how I was able to handle it a lot without making it tough. Once cooked it stayed crumbly even though I had mashed it around quite a bit while preparing the shells, pressing it into my muffin tins. I think it might have been a little better with some sugar grains sprinkled over the tops, but it was just fine.

Strawberry Rhubarb Basil Tarts
Makes 12 tarts

2 cups rhubarb, thinly sliced
2 cups strawberries, sliced
1/3 cup sugar
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 basil leaves, sliced (I didn't taste the basil much so I would use more like 5-6 leaves next time)

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Make tart crust as recipe indicates. Press into muffin tins, leaving a bit leftover for the top crust. Leave in fridge until ready to fill.

2. Combine filling ingredients in a large bowl. Fill tart shells. Use your favorite small cookie cutter to make the top crust with leftover dough. Place on top of filling.

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until crust is browned but not burned. I started with 20 minutes and after checking it put it back in for 10 minutes more.

{tart crust recipe}
 

meyer lemon tart with raspberries

Have you felt it? In the air? Hearts aglow? Pink-whipped, candy-colored feeling of warmth and good will?

No? Well, I have.

What I didn't feel for Christmas and the New Year, this year, I am feeling for... the cheesiest holiday on the planet: Valentine's Day.

Call it Saint Valentine's Day, or the Feast of Saint Valentine. Call it Heart Day, for all I care.

Wikipedia says:
The most popular martyrology associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry, and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire; during his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer Asterius and before his execution, according to the legendary account, he wrote, "from your Valentine" as a farewell to her.

<sup>I give you this lemon tart in honor of St. Valentine's Day {a little early}. 

And it is heavenly. It called for the juice of 2-3 Meyer lemons {or 1/3 cup} but when I squeezed my 2 ginormous Meyer lemons I had 2/3 cup, at least. I used it all. I also used 2 lemon's worth of zest. This made for a VERY tart tart. I recommend you do the same.</sup>

{recipe}

nutty tarts with pistachios and almonds

Do you remember the first time you went ice skating?

I do.  It was a mess.  I was on my face more than my feet, my clothes soaked wet with melted ice, shivering and praying to stay upright.  I never went back again.

Almost as much a mess as the first time I went skiing, rollerblading, bike riding, and skate boarding.  But those are stories for another day. 

My son has been invited to go ice skating for the first time.  My three-year-old son.  And I have to say I am a little nervous. 

But I am also angry at myself for my scaredy cat behavior.  I should have stuck with it, mustered some perseverance, if only enough to enable me to participate in birthday parties where skating was the entertainment.  I am hoping that I can keep smiling while my son tries his hand at this balancing act.

Wish me luck.

And try these lovely tarts while you're at it. They are the answer to the question, What the heck am I going to do with all that pistachio cream?

I used this recipe for the pistachio cream, which I found on Susan's blog, Rawmazing.

And this recipe for the almond tart crust, which I found on Erin's blog, The Goodness Life.

Both are raw and vegan. Win-win.

inside outside almond joy tart {food matters project}

I am dating myself here, but do you remember those commercials for Mounds and Almond Joy candy bars? The slogan, 'Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't?' Well, I never felt like a nut. Not once. Could explain a lot.

Given a free hand to choose whatever recipe we wanted this week over at the Food Matters Project, and keeping the holiday in mind, I found a no-brainer the instant I began my search.

It didn't hurt that I had all the ingredients sitting nicely in my cupboards, just waiting to be used.

Coconut Tart with Chocolate Smear, from the Food Matters Cookbook, page 567
2 cups shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped {or in chip form}
1 cup coconut milk {light is fine}

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Combine the shredded coconut, sugar, egg whites, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Bake until the tart shell is firm and lightly toasted, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine the chocolate, egg yolks, and coconut milk in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, whisking almost continuously, until the chocolate is completely melted and stteaming, but don't let the mixture boil and separate.

3. When the tart shell comes out of the oven, spread the chocolate mixture in it. Let the tart cool and become firm before cutting into wedges and serving. The tart will keep, covered and refrigerated, for a day or two {but I don't suppose it will last that long}.

boozy orange un-pumpkin custard pie

Well, this is embarrassing. Having planned to make a yummy orange-pumpkin custard ginger snap crust pie for Christmas dinner, you know the one, the orange-pumpkin custard that I made for the Food Matters Project way back in November, I erred.

Because I am a really bad planner - I mean really bad - I bought the ginger snaps, tofu and pumpkin weeks ago. Then this weekend, for some inexplicable reason, I decided to make the darn thing {really, don't ask, it would not have lasted until Christmas} only to remember that I'd used the pumpkin for my wontons, last week.

There I am, all ready to add the 3 cups cooked pumpkin, only to find... there is no cooked pumpkin. There is no raw pumpkin. There is no any kind of pumpkin in the entire house.

What would you do? If you read the title of this post you might have an idea... I added booze. A splash of bourbon, to be exact. Mostly inspired by this recipe but also out of desperation. And what an inspiration that was! I ended up with a yummy orange-flavored cream cheese pie with a spicy, crunchy crust. Only to prove, the best discoveries come by accident.

What will I make for Christmas? It's anyone's guess.

{original recipe}