Category Archives: pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Jul 12 4 comments
pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Brown Sugar Peach Pie

Remember that time, last week, when I was all excited about my birthday?  How we were going to go eat pie! and see magic! and bask in the glow of my 24th year of life? Remember that? Me too.  That was the day before my birthday.  Let me tell you about my actual birthday.  For starters, it was the hottest day in Baltimore for 27 years.  Only TWO DEGREES away from the hottest temperature ever!  Actually, that is the starter, the middle, and the ender.  It was so hot that eating dinner in a restaurant that had it’s ovens on (and questionable ac) was painful.  And the bar? The magic bar where they do MAGIC?  Closed.  Because it was so hot that the city was losing power.  The end result was us showering and laying very still next to our ac window unit.  And Dan feeling awful that his (amazing) plans got blown by an insane heat wave (one that, if put into the context of Baltimore’s record snow storm, makes the global climate crisis seem a little more real. AM I RIGHT DAD?).

In the context of last week’s extreme heat it seems a little silly (in retrospect) that I turned my oven on.  In my tiny, unairconditioned apartment.  With a kitchen that vents very poorly.  And is as far away from the window unit as physically possible.  Okay, so it was crazy to turn on my oven.  But, BUT, it was so worth it.  Because the end result was pie.  Delicious, peachy, flaky crusted peach pie that made up for the heat, made up for my sweaty birthday, made up for the whole sticky mess.  Behold, the power of pie.

I’m going to assume a few things when I tell you to go forth and bake this pie.  First, I’m going to assume that you have air conditioning, or at least live somewhere where turning on your oven is a possibility.  If you don’t (but you’re dedicated to the idea of pie) make this at night right before taking a shower and going to bed.  Cool, dark bed.  I’m also going to assume that you love peaches as much as I do, and that the idea of peach pie makes your mouth water.  Finally, I’m going to assume that you’re just like me and that making (and eating) pie provides you with enough joy that it outweighs all the other crap.  So eat pie!  Look on the bright side of life!

Brown Sugar Peach Pie

6-8 peaches, a mixture of ripe and unripe

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tbsp corn starch

Pie dough (recipe here)

1 egg

1 tbsp sugar

Peel and slice your peaches.  The peaches should be sliced thinly.  Combine in a bowl with brown sugar, lemon juice, flour, and corn starch.  Mix thoroughly.

Heat oven to 375. Roll out your bottom pie dough and place in pan.  Scoop in filling.  Roll your top pie dough out and, using a knife or a pastry knife, cut into strips.  Overlap the strips in a lattice pattern.  Whisk egg, and brush egg over the top of the pie.  Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Jun 20 1 comments
pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Blackberry Purple Basil Pielets

Last week we were in North Carolina for my brother Ryan’s high school graduation.  We spent a whirlwind 23 hours in Durham seeing family and friends, eating and drinking and laughing and dancing.  One of our last stops out of town was barbeque with my brothers at the famous Allen & Son’s in Chapel Hill.  As a way to pack as much south as possible in our trip, Dan and I had a (very late) breakfast of chicken biscuits about an hour before we were supposed to be at my brother’s farm.  So when we rolled into Reid’s driveway, I didn’t think I was in any position to eat anything, let alone slow cooked pork in a vinegar based sauce topped with cole slaw.  With a side of fried okra.  And sweet tea.

However, it turns out I am always in a position to eat something.  Which is what I realized when I spotted Reid’s blackberry bush, bursting with ripe fruit, and started stuffing my face.  I ate, and ate, and ate, and then I made a few references to children’s books about hungry bears.  And then I ate more blackberries.  And when we left North Carolina, I was unable to think of anything else.

At the Baltimore Herb Festival a few weeks ago I picked up a purple basil plant, something that  is the strangest combination of sweet and a little savory, warming almost.  I spent the drive home from North Carolina daydreaming about blackberries, then blackberries and basil, then blackberry and basil pie.  And ginger whipped cream. So while I was planning the menu for our housewarming party, I knew what was happening for desserts.  It was a give in.  It was all I could think about.

The day before the party I baked off eighteen or so little pie shells.  The pied dough was infused with honey and basil and baked the shells in a cupcake pan, all by their lonesome.  The next morning I hit a major roadblock when I realized (at the farmer’s market) that blackberries aren’t in season yet in Maryland.  So, I adjusted and mixed a pint of North Carolinian blackberries with two pints of black raspberries.  I tossed the berries in honey (that I purchased during our bbq lunch at Allen & Son’s) and minced basil.

And it was so good.  They weren’t very sweet, but the honey was warm and inviting.  The blackberries and raspberries were tart and juicy, and the basil pulled everything together.  I was happy with them, and I think my guests were too.  The real star of the show, however, was the sprinkler.

Blackberry Purple Basil Tart

Pie Dough:

2 1/2 cups flour

3 tbsp sugar

Pinch of salt

Pinch of powdered ginger

5-10 leaves purple basil, minced

1 1/2 sticks butter (cold)

4 tbsp shortening

4 tbsp honey

1/3 cup water, cold

Filling:

3 pints blackberries (or black raspberries)

1/4 cup honey

Handful of purple basil leaves (or regular basil), minced

Whipped Cream:

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp powdered ginger

Start with the dough.  In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, sugar, ginger, and basil.  With your fingers, work in the shortening.  Chop the butter into squares and cut that in with your hands, until the texture resembles cornmeal.  Stir in honey and water.  The dough should form a loose ball.  If necessary, add more water/flour.  Wrap the ball in plastic and refrigerate for at leas an hour.

After your dough has chilled, break off pieces the size of ping pong ball and roll them out.  Place the dough rounds into a greased cupcake tin, trimming the edges so that they are neatly sized.  Bake the shells at 400 for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.  Allow to cool.

About 20 minutes before you’re ready to serve these, mix your berries in the honey and the minced basil.  Then, use a beater or stand mixer to whip the cream, sugar, and ginger until stiff.  Serve a scoop of blackberries in the shell, topped with whipped cream.

May 31 0 comments
pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Strawberry Lime Tart

This weekend was full of interesting things, such as cookouts (called “barbeques” by all our new Maryland friends (that I have now offended by correcting them, in person and on the interwebs)), and me offending even more people by stating that I think the Maryland license looks like something a 12 year old printed at home, especially compared to the glory that is the North Carolina license.  In there between offending people I photographed a three day old, played guitar hero (rock band?) for the first time, and nearly killed all my seedlings by exposing them to the July like weather.  Also, I made a strawberry tart.  For the cookout.

Let me just say that I’ve been experimenting with my doughs.  And while everyone knows you don’t mess with a good thing, I can’t help myself.  I’ve been adding sour cream, playing around with flour/shortening ratios, and changing my techniques.  The results have been hit or miss.  Sometimes they look and taste perfect, other times they look great but taste mediocre, and sometimes they taste amazing but look like something that got ran over.

This pie was the latter.  It looked just miserable, all squashed and deflated, but it tasted phenomenal.  My issue was a shortening to flour one, it just wasn’t right, so with this recipe I’ll give you my traditional, always works even when you *try* to mess it up, dough recipe.  You should try it, especially while strawberries are BIG and HUGE and full of BIG HUGE FLAVOR.  It’s pretty fail proof, unless, apparently, you’re me.

Strawberry Lime Tart

1 pint of fresh strawberries

2 limes

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp honey

Pie dough (recipe here)

1 egg

Make your dough, as instructed.

Slice your strawberries.  In a large bowl, toss in the juice from your limes.  Set aside approximately half of your strawberry slices.

To the remaining half add sugar and corn starch.  Toss, and then use a fork or pastry knife to mash.

Roll your dough out to 1/4″ thin.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer your mashed berries to the center of the dough.  Over top, arrange remaining strawberries in a circle.  Fold the edges of the dough over the berries so they are less than halfway covered.

Brush dough with egg.  Brush strawberries with honey.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

May 13 4 comments
pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Raspberry, Mint, & Mozzarella Skewers

Friends!  I have so much to tell you about, but no time to do it.  A lot has changed since I was here writing about the most delicious homemade granola bars ever.  In fact, the last two weeks have been a whirlwind, and I expect the next few weeks to get crazier.  First off, we found a place to live.  It’s ridiculously close to where I lived in Baltimore in college, but I’ve decided I’m fine with it because the apartment is amazing. It has a yard! a patio! a garden! and a wood burning fire place!  Not to mention beautiful dark wood floors and a pretty great kitchen.  A lot of other things have changed that aren’t ready to be released on the internet, but it’s all good news and we are very happy.

Unfortunately, all this change (while exciting) means that I won’t be around here for the next week or two.  Perhaps if a certain cable company didn’t have a monopoly in our area and didn’t think it was appropriate to make someone who is simply transferring service 40 miles wait a week for internet, it would be a different story.  But a certain cable company does have a monopoly and also thinks it’s appropriate to charge someone $20 extra a month for less services just because they’re moving.  Stupid cable company.  Anyway, I’ve digressed.  Maybe the delicious combination of raspberry, mozzarella, and mint will calm me.  It’s done that before!  Seriously though, I know that this is all over the place but these skewers are delicious and my brain is all over the place because my apartment looks like this:

Which is why I’ve been pretending that I’m here instead:

You should too.  It’d be a great place to have a picnic.  With some skewers.

Raspberry, Mint, & Mozzarella Skewers

1 pint of fresh raspberries

1 small container of fresh  mozzarella balls

1 cup of fresh mint

Skewers

On the skewers, alternate mozzarella, raspberries, and mint.  Chill and serve.

For a twist, drizzle with a balsamic vinegar reduction sauce.

Mar 18 4 comments
pies, puddings, fruits, mousses, and tortes

Strawberry Rhubarb Hand Pies

I started this post all “this recipe came to me in a dream” but then I realized that sounded a little silly, mystical, and very B-movie-esque.  So now that I’ve acknowledged that it sounds like, you know, something Phoebe Buffat would say, let me tell you about my dream.  In the dream, I was talking with this pie maven.  I’m not sure who she represents in real life, but in the dream she was the be all end all of pies and pie dough, so I went to her with my pie concept and asked for her advice.  I knew I wanted to make hand pies with strawberries and rhubarb, but I was stuck on how to get the dough right- light and fluffy.  So she looks me square in the eye and she says sour cream.

Not one to turn down what is clearly a sign from the pie gods of my subconscious, I listened to my maven and incorporated just a tablespoon of sour cream into the pie dough.  And I’m so glad I did because damn was she right.  It was light, flaky, tender, and so delicious I was left annoyed with myself for only making three (I was test running the recipe).  It was so spot on, I’m considering taking future dream advice as literally as possible.  UNICYCLING IN ZERO GRAVITY?!? DONE!

The filling was pretty top notch too.  A combination of strawberries, rhubarb, and orange juice, it’s tart with the achingly familiar spring strawberry flavor.  And I know that a) I just posted a rhubarb recipe a few weeks ago and b) it’s just barely spring and these fruits are hard to find but I am going so stir crazy in March that I just had to.  This is my way of saying, INTERNET, THERE IS HOPE.  One day soon, there will be rhubarb and strawberries everywhere, and when there are you can scoop them up, throw them into hand pies, and DANCE.

I may be getting carried away, but I’m not kidding about the stir craziness.

Strawberry Rhubarb Hand Pies

filling:

3 rhubarb stalks

1 cup strawberries

1/4 cup orange juice

2 tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp orange zest

1/8 cup sugar

dough:

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 1/4 sticks butter

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp orange juice

1 tbsp sour cream

1/2 tbsp orange zest

Pinch of salt

1 egg, for wash

Sugar for dusting

Start with the dough.  First off, all ingredients should be cold, so an hour before you’re ready to start, put all ingredients in your fridge.  When they’re cold, combine flour, sugar, salt, shortening, and butter in a food processor.  Blend until it is coarse in texture.  In a separate bowl, whisk the water, zest, orange juice, and sour cream together.  If you have a food processor with a lid that allows you to add things while its running, turn it on and slowly add in the sour cream mixture.  If you don’t, just pulse, add a little liquid, repeat until they dough forms a coarse ball.  You may not have to use all your liquid- use just enough so that your dough forms a nice ball.  If you add too much liquid, just adjust with a bit of flour.

Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap, transfer the dough onto it, wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

While your dough is cooling, get your filling going.  Remember, these pies are small, so you want your fruit to be cut into smallish pieces.  Not minced, but diced.  So dice your fruit, and combine it with the remaining ingredients.

When your dough is cooled, take it out of the fridge and flour you counter.  Make sure the dough is heavily floured and gently roll it out to 1/4″ and get out your biscuit cutter.  My largest biscuit cutter (the largest I’ve been able to find) is 2 1/2″ wide.  If you can find one that is 3-4″, that’d be great.  Either way, cut your dough into rounds.  Using a slotted spoon, scoop 1/2 tbsp to 1 tbsp of filling into each round, placing center-right.  Fold the dough over the filling and press the edges together.  Use a fork to seal the edges and line the pies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Whisk the egg together and brush the egg wash over each pie.  Cut a slit on the top of each pie and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.