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#50

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 20:33:51 +0100

Sour Cherry Pie

Happy Labor Day, internet! Labor day kind of snuck up on me this year and, when I realized that it had in fact arrived, there were immediate waves of guilt and shame for not making more fruit pies this summer. So, the end-of-summer fruit pie frenzy combined with my lingering frustration at having (somehow) never successfully made a cherry pie spawned this: My inaugural sour cherry pie. The weird thing is, I'm not even that huge a fan of cherry pie, but it was beginning to drive me nuts that I couldn't make one. Then, between cutting the first piece for the photos and now (about 2 hours at most) about half the pie is gone... leaving me to conclude that perhaps this pie is very good. The crust came out gorgeously, and with ice cream, the whole thing just smacks of late summer in all the ways I wanted it to, releasing me to dream guilt-free about the Fall pies soon to come. Stay tuned, there will be many.

Sour Cherry Pie
1 cup sugar (vanilla)
3 T corn starch
1/4 t salt
1 t cinnamon
6 cups pitted sour cherries
2 T butter (cubed for dotting)

Prepare crust, mix dry ingredients and toss the cherries in them. Then fill the pie shell, seal, wash the crust with an egg wash and sprinkle on some large grain sugar for prettiness, and bake at 375 for about an hour. When it's golden brown and bubbling, it's done. Let it set up for a long time before cutting it - mine was very runny.

#49

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 12:44:25 +0100

Almond Flour Crust

(peach coconut filling)

Good Morning, all. After several failed experiments I took a week or so off from baking to wallow in discouragement and work my way through the September issue of Vogue. Having accomplished both, I am happy to say that I'm back at it again and have enjoyed some success with something I've been wanting to do for awhile now: a gluten-free crust!

It's not so much that it being gluten free mattered to me, but more that I wanted a nutritional improvement on pastry for my pies. Without getting into it too much, pie crusts are the enemy - a delicious and flaky enemy. I'm not swearing them off, that would be impossible but, I like the idea of having a go-to crust that falls somewhere between the raw crust and the all-butter pate sucre on the nutritional spectrum.

Almond Flour Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 T honey
1 t vanilla

Making this is really easy, just combine the ingredients in a stand mixer in the order listed above. I chilled the almond flour before combining, and then again before rolling the mixture out. It's also really important that the coconut oil be solid, so if yours melts in your cupboard (summer problems...) just chill it in the fridge until it solidifies.

Now it's time for a few disclaimers: This is really good, but it's not a pie crust. It won't work as a substitute for a normal pie crust in any recipe, but it has a great flavor and a nice crumbly texture. It also doesn't handle quite like a traditional pie crust. It was easy to roll out between two sheets of parchment paper and, had I been using a normal pie dish, it's conceivable that it could have been draped successfully. However, I used a miniature spring form pan and ended up tearing off large chunks of the rolled dough and pressing them into place. As you can see from the top of the pie, it held together enough to lay a single patch over the top, successfully creating a double-crust effect rather than copping out into a crumb topping.

And lastly, a note on the filling. The filling in these photos is a peach-coconut concoction that looks a lot nicer than it tasted. Because this was ultimately a crust experiment, I was using this as an opportunity to get rid of some really lack-luster peaches (two birds, one stone). At the last minute, I became concerned that the peaches might be too juicy and could effect the structural soundness of the crust, so I added about a half cup of shredded unsweetened coconut and corn starch to help keep the filling on the dry side. The result was just okay, and would probably have been fine if the peaches hadn't been the little abominations that they were.

#48

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:55:19 +0100

Orange Blossom Chess Pie

So, in the "Not Pies" section of this site, I recently announced that I'm doing a chocolate chip cookie series (which is basically what it sounds like: a lot of cookies) and now I'm about to announce another (probably short-lived) series: The Chess Pie series! In which I shall experiment with various chess pies of my own design, featuring some of my favorite ingredients. The first is this: Orange Blossom Honey.

Filling
1/2 cup butter (browned)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange blossom honey
zest of one orange
1 T flour
2 T corn meal
4 eggs (would use 3 next time - 4 made it a little to eggy)
1/4 t salt

I combined the honey and the orange zest ahead of time, then browned the butter and let it cool before combining the ingredients in the listed order. I know. Really difficult. Good luck.

#47

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:19:20 +0100

Australian Meat Pie

Happy Thunderstorm Thursday, Internet. In response to these storms I bring you the long-asked for (by a certain boyfriend of mine) and late delivered (by yours truly) Australian meat pie - or rather, what we'll call an American's adaptation of the revered Australian Meat Pie. It seems fitting to be posting this tonight - these have a very distinct "comfort food" element to them, and this definitely qualifies as "comfort food" weather (not to be confused with "comfort food weather" - which would probably be very messy).

I've made a few batches of these now and, I have to admit, they're pretty good. I've begun using a cheddar cheese pastry for the crust, which I roll out to be as thin as I can possibly get it, and boyfriend and I have agreed that the pies are good (if not better) after freezing and re-heating in the oven. So one could - hypothetically of course - make these in batches throughout the week, wrap each one in tin-foil, and put them in the freezer, thus allowing a perpetual and easily accessed supply of meat pies. And then one could maybe, join a gym... As pictured below, these are served with ketchup and, in a perfect world, with Ginger beer. Sometimes for breakfast (not naming names).

I have to be honest though: I have designs on these meat pies. I see lots of potential for meat substitutions, vegetable additions, and pastry experimentation. For this inaugural series of meat pies though, I have indulged the anti-vegetable sentiments of the one who so patiently endured my hesitation in making these pies happen. (1. As a diagnosed sweet tooth, the "meat pie" didn't really appeal to me 2. There is some pressure associated with making a beloved national dish, and an anxiety about botching it that comes from being not of that nation).

But that's all in the past now, so let's get to it.

Cheddar Cheese Pastry
2 1/2 cups flour
1 t salt
1 T sugar
3/4 cup butter (cubed and chilled)
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar (shredded and chilled)
1/2 cup water (cold)

In a food processor: (flour + salt + sugar) + butter + cheddar + water.
When the dough begins to pull together, remove from processor, form into a disc, and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. For this crust I was having some inconsistencies in the last step which I am attributing to some problems with my food processor, but I found that adding half the liquid in the processor, then removing the dough and working in the last bit of water by hand produced much better dough in the end.

Filling
20 oz ground beef
1 T olive oil
1 small red onion
1 T corn starch
3/4 cup beef stock
1/8 cup tomato paste
1 T worcestershire sauce
1 beef bouillon cube

In a small bowl combine 1 T of the beef stock with the 1 T of corn starch and mix thoroughly.

In a saucepan, combine the oil and onion (finely chopped) and cook until the onion softens and becomes clear. Add the beef and cook, breaking it up, until you can't see any more pink. Then add the rest of the beef stock, the tomato paste, the worcestershire sauce, and the bouillon cube. Bring the mixture to a boil. Last, mix in the corn starch mixture (whisk again just before adding). Bring the mixture back to a boil, and stir until the mixture thickens and remove from heat. Let it cool some before pouring it into the pie shells.

To assemble, I recommend lining the pie dishes with the pastry, pricking the dough, and then chilling in the freezer. Fill each pie with the beef mixture, then cover with pastry. Wet the rim of the pastry and the edge of the top crust and work them together with your fingers in order to thoroughly seal them. Brush the top crust with cream before baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes, until fragrant and brown on top.

#46

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:19:41 +0100

Nectarine Blueberry Pie

This is a catch-up post - I made these little pies awhile back and never got around to posting them. The truth is, I'm not a huge fan of crumb toppings, so I wasn't especially proud to have used one in this case, but it actually worked really well for this pie. I find that crumb toppings are often on the sparse side, so I really layered it on here. Throw on some ice cream, and you really can't go wrong (provided you have good nectarines to begin with). I used a cream cheese pie crust, and introduced very little sugar to the fruit filling - 1/8 cup or less. Whenever I bake with nectarines, I use almond and nutmeg to flavor them. In my experience, stone fruits and almond generally have very compatible flavors, so I just get out of the way. Which is all to say: I didn't really measure anything for the filling. You'll find some approximations below (Sorry).

Filling (?)
4 blanched nectarines
1 cup blueberries
1 T corn starch
1/8 cups sugar
2 T lemon juice
1 t nutmeg
2 t almond extract

Almond Crumb Topping
3/4 cups whole almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 t salt
6 T butter (cubed and chilled)

In a food processor, combine the almonds and sugar, then add the flour and salt. Scatter the butter on top and pulse until the mixture gets crumby, then transfer the mixture into a bowl and work it with your hands until slightly larger crumbs form.

Bake the pie without the topping for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees, then sprinkle the almond crumb topping over top and bake for another 30 - 40 minutes.

#45

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:19:55 +0100

Cherry Peach Pie

Good morning, internet. Today is the first of what may be many posts about combination fruit pies or, fruit pies that combine multiple fruits (think "strawberry rhubarb"). I've recently had several experiences that have reaffirmed my belief that cabin fever is great for culinary creativity - so is having an arbitrarily stocked kitchen (*note: only true sometimes - other times disastrous). A combination of these two circumstances have fostered some of my best (and many of my worst) experiments. For instance, this pie was borne of a late-night urge to bake and an inadequate supply of any one particular produce so, voila: combination fruit pie. (Stay tuned for the cake that I made while trapped in my internet-less studio apartment awaiting the arrival of the cable guy).

This pie also marked my first (and as yet, only) frustration with the cream cheese pie crust. The lattice on this pie revealed to me that the cream cheese crust is really too puffy to do any kind of artisan crust. That said, I think it's a great easy solution for a single-crust pie. However, it puffs up so much in baking that fluting details are lost, and the lattice rises rather than spreads, resulting in a crust that looks weirdly threadbare. These are admittedly the firstest of first world problems, but... now you know.

Crust (Makes enough for a double-crust)
2 cups flour (chilled)
1/2 t salt
1/4 t baking powder
12 T butter (cubed and frozen)
5 oz cream cheese (chilled)
3 T heavy cream
1 T apple cider vinegar

For this pastry, I actually can't fit all of the ingredients in my food processor, so I halve all of the ingredients and just make each crust separately. I also chill all of the ingredients in the freezer for about 10 minutes (longer, for the butter). Keeping everything cool really makes a huge difference in keeping this crust workable.

So, process in the following order: [flour + baking powder + salt] + butter (until sandy) + cream cheese (until crumby) + [cream + vinegar (don't combine until just before adding)]

Process until everything is just combined but not until you do lasting damage to your food processor (I once let it go longer than I needed to, and now my food processor smells like burning plastic often enough to be concerned).

Filling
2 peaches (blanched and sliced into 1/4" slivers)
1 cup blueberries (approximately, may have been closer to 3/4 cup)
1 lemon (zest and juice)
3 T sugar
2 T corn starch

As for the recipe, I was using inferior produce (bought incredibly cheaply from a street vendor) so I soaked the peaches and cherries in the zest and juice of one lemon for about 20 - 30 minutes before sweetening. I've found that overripe fruit makes for a great pie texture, but sometimes the flavor has already retreated. Soaking the fruit in lemon juice freshens the taste, and as a result I use a lot less sugar. After soaking the fruit, I sprinkled it with the sugar, and then the corn starch.

For the first time, I have an oven that actually achieves precise temperatures, has a timer, and cooks evenly. My previous oven was essentially an oversized drafty toaster oven that had something against me. So, it is with great pleasure that I will give you precise baking instructions. Ready? Here goes:

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 25 - 30 minutes - or until there are long slow bubbles in the filling (As opposed to volcanic spewing of fruit juice. Trust me, the difference will be clear...)

Happy Saturday!

#44

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:20:10 +0100

Mango Pie

Welcome to summer - let the fruit pies begin! I maintain that mangos make the perfect fruit pie and, after a week of long & uncomfortably hot summer days, it was time to start tapping into some of the silver lining of summertime. For me, that means mango pie. I think this is my favorite pie. It's absurdly simple to make, the mangos do all of the flavor labor (ha) and, given a healthy amount of post-cooking set-up time, it always comes out beautifully. I used Martha Stewart's pate brisee crust, and served it with Greek yogurt this time around. I just acquired a copy of Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts cookbook, so be prepared for a series of Stewart inspired posts.

Mentioning the pie crust reminds me - I've recently switched from normal butter to Plugra European style butter (translation: "I've started spending an obscene sum on butter.") and, frivolousness aside, the difference is AMAZING. If ever you have some extra money to throw at your baking habit, this should be the first upgrade you make. "European style" butter is butter that has a slightly higher butterfat content than normal butter, and the effect is that it's creamier and tastier, and whatever you make with it benefits as well. I don't know that I would have noticed the difference if I weren't making pie crusts, but the fact of the matter is that I am and I did and I couldn't be happier. If you're new to pie baking and the idea of making the crust from scratch makes you nervous (so, I think that covers everyone...) then I really recommend using European style butter. It not only improves the flavor and texture of the finished product, it makes the dough easier to handle and has generally just facilitated the whole process for me. It's hard to believe that just 3% more butterfat makes such a difference, but it really does. As for the nutritional implications... sorry, I have to take this.

Filling
3 mangos (which were slightly underripe, but still turned out nicely)
1 t nutmeg
4 T butter (chilled and cubed)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and slice up the mangos - I used pieces that were about 1/4" thick and 1 to 3 inches long. Drain off any extra juice, then toss the mangos in the sugar, nutmeg, and corn starch. Pour the mango into the pie shell, dot with butter, and cover. I brushed the crust with an egg wash and sprinkled it with turbinado sugar to (what I find to be) a very nice effect. I baked this at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then lowered the temperature to 350 for probably about an hour before the crust browned sufficiently and the filling began to bubble. I let it cool in the oven then set it out to set up overnight.

#43

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:22:28 +0100

Pistachio Tarts

First: I have relocated from my previous HQ in east central nowhere to New York. I mention this for two reasons (1) to account for my recent hiatus from baking and blogging (2) you'll see the skyline in my photos.

Second: I'm going through a pistachio phase. I attribute it to my discovery of Momofuku Milk Bar's pistachio croissants in conjunction with the abundance of pistachio gelato and ice cream that are available and whose consumption is defensible given the heat wave and the amount of pedestrian exploration I've been doing.

That said, let's begin. These pistachio tarts are what I consider assembly-required baking, meaning that you prepare three different components and then combine before serving. There's a pastry curst that needs to be blind baked, a pistachio paste (which should also be baked with the crust because there's an egg involved), and a custardy pastry cream. I made these into little tarts, but I could (and you can) just as easily make a full-sized tart. Just blind bake the crust until it begins to puff up a little, then add the layer of pistachio paste and bake until brown. Let these cool and then add a layer of pastry cream (a little bit goes a long way) and sprinkle on a layer of chipped pistachios.

Crust (makes two 9" single-crusts)
2.5 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 t salt
1 cup butter (cubed)
2 large egg yolks
2 - 4 T ice water

Note: It's always a good idea to chill all of the ingredients that are going into a pie crust - even the dry ones.

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and process until the mixture is a sandy texture, then add the egg yolks and water. Process just until the mixture begins to come together, then form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 30 - 40 min. After the dough chills, roll it out on a floured surface and/or press it into your tart pans (depending on how you're constructing your pastry/pastries).

Pistachio Paste
1 cup pistachios
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg

This one's easy: In a food processor combine the ingredients in the order listed.

Pastry Cream
2 cups milk
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch

This is prepared just like the average custard - the key to which (in my opinion) is: never stop mixing anything. The easiest way to ruin a custard is to let it sit still (for even a moment) and therefore cook unevenly. So, keeping that in mind:

In a separate bowl, break and mix the yolks and set aside so they're ready when you need them. Over medium heat, combine and bring to a boil (stirring constantly) the milk, sugar, and corn starch. When the milk mixture begins to thicken and bubble, pour approximately 1/3 of the mixture into the yolks, mixing thoroughly, then pour this back into the rest of the milk mixture in the saucepan (again) whisking constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil, allowing it to thicken.

(!)

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:22:40 +0100

Pie Week!

It seems fitting that my hiatus from baking and blogging is coming to an end just as Pie Week on NPR begins. So, before business really gets going again, I'm easing my way in by directing your attention to some Pie Week posts from The Salt.

Enjoy!

"Pie Making 101"
"Afraid of Pie Crust?"
"5 Facts About Pie That Might Surprise You"

#42

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:21:34 +0100

Raw Lemon Cashew Pie

Happy Sunday! Let's get started, we have a lot to cover today. This recipe, adapted from this Lavendar Honey "Cheese" Cake on Roost has become somewhat of a game changer for me. I actually made this awhile ago (two weeks?) and in the time between making it and getting it up on the site, a fair amount has happened: I completed grad school and, in so doing, freed up a lot of time in my day to day. With said leisure time, I have begun reading AJ Jacobs' Drop Dead Healthy in which he tries and reports his experience with all things healthy. This book has sent me on more Wikipedia binges than I would even like to admit and, in researching all of the various diets and studies he covers, I've been thinking a lot about branching out in my own baking and cooking. Right now, I'm just calling this "healthy baking" - when clearer criteria emerge, I'll work some schnazzy title out of them, but as of today I'm just looking to infuse my pies and other undertakings with some nutritional content.

We will now turn our attention to the Raw Lemon Cashew Pie that started it all. This basically just blew me away - and not in a "it's good (for health food)" kind of way. In a "let my phone go to voicemail because right now is about me and this fork full of lemony heaven" kind of way. The crust is just a simple blend of dates and raw almonds pressed into a springform pan, and the filling is blended cashews, honey, and a healthy dose of lemon juice and zest. I served it with strawberries because I thought it looked pretty, but it's great on its own.

Crust

1 cup almonds (raw & soaked)

1 cup dates

Filling

3 cups cashews (raw & soaked)

3/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup honey

3/4 cup coconut oil

vanilla

1/2 t salt

I'm aware that my written instructions for a lot of my recipes are seriously lacking or oversimplified, and I'm willing to concede that it's often due to laziness. However, this time I'm not being lazy when I say that ALL you have to do to make this pie, is put the ingredients in a food processor. The crust should be a little on the chunky side, but the filling should be very smooth. Like I said, just press the crust into a spring form pan, then spread the filling. Freeze it overnight, then let it thaw in the fridge before serving. Once it's thawed, it'll keep in the fridge for about a week.