From India to Elvis

So I haven't posted in a while but that doesn't mean I haven't been baking. My first creation was Cornish pasties with and Indian spiced filling. I call them "Pasties to India" and I tested them out on my family. I learned that making pasties is hard. It is a combination of perfecting a technique and making the filling taste the way I want it to. When I get those things down I will be posting a recipe. The nice thing is I can justify the pasties as dinner and hopefully freeze the leftovers. My other inspiration was Elvis, and it took the form of cheesecake. A peanut butter, fried banana cheesecake with a crushed pretzel crust and marshmallow fluff on top to be specific. I tested this cheesecake out on Friday, and with a few tweaks, the recipe will soon be ready for posting. Not everything can be an instant classic I guess. On the horizon is an orange cheesecake with dark chocolate and a savory beet pie. I hope to have some recipes to post soon. Well that's all for now. Just remember that really good pie is worth it and cheesecake is pie.

Craisin For You Mixed Nut Pie

I wanted something rich and sweet. Crunchy and fruity. This is the result.

1 9 inch unbaked pie shell
2/3 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of melted butter
1 cup of dark corn syrup
1/2 tsp of salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup of pecan halves
1/2 cup of unsalted cashews
1/2 cup of slivered almonds
1/2 cup of craisins

Mix together melted butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt and eggs until thoroughly mixed. Fold in nuts. Spread craisins in bottom of unbaked pie shell. Pour in the nut mixture. Bake at 375 for 45 to 50 minutes until the center is set.

Holidays and Homemade Pies

I have always loved the holiday season. Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve is my favorite time of year. This is a time of family and homecoming. A time when we, as human beings, draw together against the long cold dark night and offer one another warmth and light. It is a time of magic and miracles. For gathering close not only those that we love, but those most in need of magic and miracles in their lives. It occurs to me that the true spirit of the season is the courage of human beings to create a season of thanks, love, joy and light in the midst of what truly is our darkest time of year. For my family the holiday season always means homemade pie. At least two for Thanksgiving even if there are only four of us for dinner. This year I decided to do a twist on the traditional pecan pie. May it bring some love, warmth and a little bit of magic into your holiday season!

Am I Blue Lemon Berry Pie

1 8-inch baked pie crust

1 to 1 1/2 cups of fresh or thawed frozen blueberries

2 tsps of sugar

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

the grated peel of 1/2 of a lemon

1 TBSP of flour

3 eggs

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup of lemon juice

1 tsp of grated lemon peel



Mix together blueberries, sugar and flour. Squeeze in 1/2 of a lemon and then grate in peel. Mix together until flour and sugar are thoroughly mixed with the liquid. Spread blueberry mixture in bottom of crust. Mix together eggs, sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup of lemon juice and teaspoon of grated lemon peel on medium speed with electric mixer until thoroughly combined. Pour over blueberries in crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes then cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Top each slice with whipped cream and blueberries that have been mixed with 2 teaspoons of sugar and the juice of half a lemon.

Summer's Last Gasp

It was brought on by surplus of blueberries and an unusually hot September. I adore lemon pie. In fact, the first pie I ever made on my own was a lemon meringue pie. This combined with the huge bag of blueberries taking up space in my freezer inspired a new pie. I call it Am I Blue Lemon Berry Pie. It made it's first appearance at my friend Julie's birthday celebration at the end of September, and although everyone assured me that it was a delicious first run, I felt it needed a tweak or two to make it perfect. So I reran the pie at my parent's house and came up with the perfect combination of tart lemon custard over a layer of slightly sweet blueberries contained in a perfectly flaky pie crust. I like to spoon some blueberries (that have been soaking in lemon juice and little bit of sugar to make them saucy) over the pie and top with a dollop of whipped cream. It tasted just like a little bit of summer.

Chocolate Covered Almond Swirl Cheesecake

This is a re-mix of a an old standby cheesecake recipe. I use Penzey's real almond extract for maximum almond flavor. I have found this recipe works best in an 8 or 8 1/2 inch springform pan. Anything larger is too big.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. (Fahrenheit of course)

Chocolate Mixture:

Combine

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup of sugar

Heat until chocolate is melted and set aside. I do this in the microwave.

Crust:

1 & 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup of melted butter

2 Tbsps of sugar

Mix together and press firmly into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the side of a springform pan.

Batter:

2 8oz packages of cream cheese softened. (I use neufeutchel cheese which is lower in calories)

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of sour cream ( I use Breakstone's light sour cream. Just as rich as regular sour cream)

1 tsp. of almond extract

4 eggs

Beat cream cheese until light and creamy. Gradually beat in sugar (I do 1/4 cup at at time). Mix in sour cream and almond extract. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Divide batter in half. (I never measure so this is never exactly half for me. Just do the best you can.) Stir the Chocolate Mixture into half the batter. Pour the chocolate batter into the crust and then pour the regular half of the batter over the chocolate batter. Swirl with a butter knife by carefully thrusting it into the batter and moving it slow swirls. Bake for 50 minutes or until only a 2 to 3 inch circle in the center moves. Cool at room temperature for 10 minutes. Take a knife and loosen the edges and then cool for one hour.

Topping:

1/4 cup (or so) of slivered almonds

Toast almonds in the oven. Turn oven up to 425 degrees and place almonds in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Toast for about 4 or 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them they burn quickly. Remove them from the baking sheet immediately or they will continue cooking. Set aside.

1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 Tbsps of butter

1/2 tsp of almond extract

Melt together butter and chocolate chips in microwave and then stir in almond extract.

Pour chocolate mixture over the cheesecake that has cooled for an hour and then sprinkle with toasted almonds. Refrigerate overnight. If you let the cheesecake warm up a bit before cutting, it will be easier to serve.

A Corkscrew, a Corkscrew, my Cheesecake for a Corkscrew

It was because of our annual wine soaked pilgrimage to the woods for a dose of culture that I invented a new cheesecake. In an attempt to class up an old favorite and celebrate a dear friend's belated birthday, I turned chocolate swirl cheesecake into Chocolate Covered Almond Swirl Cheesecake. Hauling a cheesecake out the woods for a pre-play picnic, especially when it does not fit in your cooler, is a difficult undertaking. That is why I decided to leave some essentials at home like wine glasses and a corkscrew. To be fair my bottle was a cava and needed no corkscrew. Well, I was not the only one who did not bring a corkscrew, and we ended up with three bottles of wine we couldn't open. Luckily we were able to borrow a corkscrew from some kind picnickers a few feet away. As a reward we gave them the rest of the cheesecake thereby solving the problem of what to do with the leftovers. Not only did my friends enjoy the cheesecake, but the other group seemed to find it delicious as well. For this reason, I have decided that cheesecake is indeed pie and I will be posting the recipe for this particular cheesecake on my blog. Enjoy!