Fathers Day Pie

I came home this afternoon and finally got to see everyone. I'm celebrating Fathers day with both of my dads on Saturday and Sunday. As soon as I got home I stopped by the grocery store and picked up a few things for the.. wait for it...

Frozen Grasshopper pie

It was really fun to make. I got to show my mother my new mixer and she thought it was great.. just like a power tool. Hey it's a different kind of power tool but it's still incredibly useful. My mother and I had and interesting debate about the pieces of candy and chocolate that we put into the pie. It's basically a chocolate mint pie. So to make it extra yummy and minty we put pieces of Junior Mints and slivers and shavings of bars of dark chocolate. I said that it would be best to have smaller pieces, so that you could eat it easily. It sucks when you try and cut into a slice of pie and have a sliver of chocolate messing up half of the piece because it's being pushed up and down by the knife and what not... ok well I'm not really explaining it right but there you go. Anyway she said that it's better to have bigger pieces so you don't just have everything mushed up into one thing. It's good to have different textures. There was something in there about the practices of Ben and Jerry's and their cherry garcia ice cream.

So we compromised and put a bit of both sizes in it, with shavings sprinkled on the top. It was really pretty. It called for mint extract, which we added, but then we added just a bit of Creme de Minthe; which should shake things up tomorrow morning. Then we added green food coloring, so it looked kind of minty. Then more whip cream on top, with a chocolate graham cracker crust. Unfortunately they didn't have any Oreo crust, but plain old chocolate will do just fine.

I've recently found out that they sell the graham cracker crumbs in a box, so you don't have to chop them yourself, you just mix them with whatever you're doing. It's really nice and convenient. I remember I had to crush the graham crackers with a spoon in a little zip lock baggy when the blender only powdered them. It's called graham cracker crumb crust for a reason.

And it tastes... Very Minty!

So it's not so much a mint chocolate chip pie as it is a Mint pie with chocolate candy in it. So I have resolved to add more chocolate the next time I make it. I'm sure that it will do just fine with some melted chocolate or some such like that. Or at least chocolate cookie crumbs instead of bits of Junior mint. It felt like I was eating breath mint after breath mint. Oh well, as least I have an alternative to after dinner mints. :)


MB

Frozen Grasshopper Pie (Very Minty)

prep time: 10 min
total time: 4 hr 10 min
makes: 8 servings

what you need
1 jar (7 oz.) JET-PUFFED Marshmallow Creme
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP LITE Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 tsp. mint extract
4 to 6 drops green food coloring
15 thin chocolate mint wafers, chopped (about 1/2 cup) [I would use just chocolate wafers if you want the pie to be more chocolaty]
1 OREO Pie Crust (6 oz.)

Make It

BEAT marshmallow creme and 2 cups of the whipped topping in large bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Add mint extract and food coloring; mix well. Gently stir in chopped wafers.

SPOON into pie crust.

FREEZE at least 4 hours or until firm. (Pie will be firm, but not frozen solid.) Top with remaining whipped topping just before serving. Store leftover pie in freezer.

The Crust....

So unfortunately I am here to report that my crust didn't turn out as perfect as I would have liked. It was flaky and wonderful in a texture sense, but then the taste was a little off. It tasted like some baking powder like substance in it; what I mean is it was kind of bitter. I put an egg glaze on the top 9 think that's what it's called) so that it could brown and what not instead of butter. Maybe I'll try butter next time. One problem I did have was when I was rolling it out I needed to use flour to keep it from sticking and I think I just used too much flour so it gave it a bitter aftertaste. My grandparents seemed to like it so that was a good thing. I left them with most of the pie, but they insisted I take a chunk back with me, so I have a chunk of apple pie in my fridge. So much dessert. One of my coworkers said something the other day that speaks to this. If you eat any more of that "you'll be big as the side of a house". Hopefully I got that right, but you get the gist. I'll be going exercising tonight with my roommate. I don't think I can skip that anymore if I continue to do this. :)

I also have a piece of the leftover cheesecake in my freezer saved aside for my mother. She says she doesn't much like cheesecake, but especially the dense kind, so I'm glad she's willing to try the fluffy kind!

Anyway, a new post coming up... a surprise!


MB

2 am Pie

So I just got done with the apple pie for my grandparents tomorrow (lots of running around at the last minute for groceries and gas). It smells wonderful; the whole apartment smells like the holidays and apples. Mmmmmm. Unfortunately the wonderful apple goo bubbled over onto the bottom of the oven, so I'll have to figure out a clever way to clean that up tomorrow. And I made my own dough tonight! I'm not sure it was the best but at least I jumped that hurtle when I came to it.

Every pie that I've done, I've picked up something new. Besides the new recipes and ways to cook things, I have learned to make sure that the recipe actually has the cups, teaspoons, etc beside it. Otherwise you have a fraction and no measurement to go by... very disconcerting. So tonight I looked over the whole thing and got out all of the ingredients and made sure everything was labeled and whatnot. This recipe also had an ingredient missing. Who knew all of these people would forget these kinds of things? It wasn't major so it was alright. But next pie I do, I will put a pan underneath the pie to catch any drippings. Yay for learning from your mistakes!


MB

crossing fingers for dough to turn out right!

Cheesecake!!

I just finished my humongous piece of cheesecake and boy was it amazingly fluffy. It's got that mousse texture almost. Though it didn't have much flavor, which incidentally was because I had to leave out the amaretto liquor because of my coworker with the nut allergy. I had some Kahlua in the freezer but I didn't want to make it taste like coffee. I mean it would have probably been good, but....

There was a lot of cheesecake still left when I left work. I think that Mondays are bad days to bring it in, because everyone is so busy getting everything started for the rest of the week.

I have 8 or so weeks of this, and I'm really excited to keep going with these pies. I'm not sure which one I'm going to do next. Maybe the "Strawberry Oasis" pie, or a lemon chess pie, my mother says they are supposed to be really good. I made a list of a whole bunch of pies, oh this one called Peanut Butter Chocolate pie I think it was called. That sounds good too.

At times I think that it's a bit silly what I'm doing, especially if you notice how much pie stuff is. Oh well, like I said I'm hopefully going to get good at this and use this skill eventually, like as gifts and what not, for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Mmmm "Marshmallow Mermaid" pie would be great for Easter :) Another pie from Waitress.


MB

Baby Screamin’ Its Head Off In The Middle of the Night & Ruinin’ My Life Pie



4 8-oz. cream cheese, softened

1 C. unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 C. sour cream

1/2 C heavy whipping cream

1 3/4 C. white sugar

1/8 tsp. cornstarch

1 fl. oz. amaretto liqueur

1 tsp. vanilla extract

5 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 C. chopped pecans

1/2 tsp. nutmeg



1. Bring all ingredients to room temperature. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wrap outside of 9-inch springform pan with foil. Generously butter inside of pan.

2. In large bowl,beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in sugar and cornstarch. Blend in sour cream and whipping cream. Add amaretto and vanilla. Stir in eggs and egg yolk one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

3. Pour batter into pan. Place pan in another pan at least 1 inch wider and add water to outside pan (prevents cracks). Bake on center rack for 70 minutes.

4. Turn oven off and let cool with door open for 1 hour. Remove cake from water and chill at least 3 hours before removing cake from pan. Top with crushed pecans and dust with nutmeg.



Serves 8.

Another Cheesecake...

So my dad wanted a cheesecake for his fathers day present. So I made him another cheesecake and this time added the almond flavoring. And by the way, for any of you thinking that a fl. oz is anything close to a tablespoon it isn't.

1 fl. oz = 6 teaspoons or = 2 tbsp

But more than likely if you are not using, the amaretto liquor, for instance, and you want to use almond extract instead, there is a definite difference between the potency of the two. So that's why I only used a teaspoon of almond extract for the cheesecake recipe. It was even a little too much, so you may want to use 1/4 or 1/2 tsp.

It was good all the same I guess, but I'm still having a problem with the top browning... it just keeps getting worse. I'm going to have to sit down and actually research why this is happening. I have this Bake Wise book from my mother that I borrowed and it didn't have anything in there about the top browning on a cheesecake, so we'll see.

MB

Anniversary Pie

My grandparents are having their 49th anniversary and so I'm going to make them a pie. My grandmother is a cooking fanatic you could say, and she's really good at it. She makes some of the best southern food I have ever tasted. So when I posed the idea of making a pie for their anniversary she seemed excited.

Unfortunately I lost my really good apple pie recipe, hopefully I'll find it again. On that note I've got to find a better filing system since I'm actually doing this recipe thing, and I should really keep track. But I found one on a recipe website and it sounds good; people also thought it was good, so we'll see if they like it. It even has it's own crust recipe. I'll have to see how that works. It's always good to find a good crust recipe.

My cheesecake is finished, still in the pan because it has to set for another hour, but it smells good. The top is a little more brown than I would have liked but I'm not sure how or what made it do that, so I'll have to look into that. I had this crazy idea that I would cut the browned top off, but realized that it would probably mess it up beyond repair (or make it look awful afterward) so I'm just going to put the nut toppings on and keep on going.

So I'll blog to tomorrow on how it went; see what the coworkers think. :)

MB

Perfect Apple Pie




Submitted By: Judy Oudekerk

Prep Time: 25 Minutes
Cook Time: 55 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

Servings: 8


Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shortening
4 tablespoons cold water (I needed a bit more)
FILLING:
7 cups thinly sliced peeled baking apples
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
A dash of Salt

Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening. Gradually add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing lightly with a fork until dough forms a ball. Chill for 30 minutes. On a floured surface, roll half of dough into 10-in. circle. Place into a 9-in. pie pan.
2. In a bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg; add to apples and toss. Pour into crust; dot with butter. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie; cut slits in top. Place over filling; seal and flute edges. Beat egg yolk and water; brush over pastry. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F; bake 40-45 minutes more or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com

Alright Here It Goes, Pie #2

So today I'm going to make my next pie: a cheescake. Ok so maybe it's not exactly a pie, but it's a dessert and it's pie shaped. I feel like it's going to be really difficult, I don't know maybe because it's one of the most revered desserts in places like NY and Chicago. How can I beat that right? So this is going to be my little Southern Cheescake. It's going to have that southern belle touch and hopefully it's going to knock those other out of the running.

Hehe alright it's not a competition, but it's going to be tasty none the less. 32 oz of cream cheese? How can you go wrong. I have a coworker at work who is allergic to nuts and since it calls for nuts as a topping I'll cut out a little piece for him before I do the nuts. Why should a food allergy deny someone the joy of cheesecake right? So anyway, In a few minutes I'm going to start my first cheesecake. w00t!


MB