A Pie for Mikey - Peanut Butter Pie

Peanut Butter Pie for Mikey

Late one night, I read many tweets that @JenniferPerillo's husband died suddenly. I've never met Jennifer, but my heart ached for her and her two young children. If you read her tweets, one minute she was canning vegetables, and then next she said, "He's gone. Any my heart is shattered in a million pieces."

Jennie posted that she wanted everyone to make Peanut Butter Pie to honor her late 51 year old husband and to "share it with someone you love. Then hug them like there's no tomorrow because today is the only guarantee we can count on."

The food blogger community came together to make many pies and so many virtual hugs for Jennie. The Food Network and CNN have articles (just don't read some of the completely idiotic comments on CNN). For the recipe, please see Jennie's blog (I made half the recipe for two 4" springforms).

Watch this beautiful video by WhiteonRiceCouple. Bring a hankie.

Hugs to you Jennifer Perillo and your family. My deepest sympathies.

A Tourtely Apple Tart - Tuesdays with Dorie

A Tourtely Apple Tart   

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Jeanette of The Whimsical Cupcake chose A Tourtely Apple Tart on pages 306 and 307 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

For a bunch of crazy reasons, I didn't have access to my mini tart pans so I did these free form hand pie thingies. With a knife, I cut two steam holes in the center...but when they came out of the oven, they look like a little heart. Ahhh...tart/pie love.

An apple, raisin, nut and spice applesauce is cooked on the stove and cooled. I skipped the nuts in the filling and tart dough, but didn't miss it. I could eat this applesauce all day long. I made the crust dough by hand...yes, those white pieces are butter. I made 1/2 the tart dough so that made two little tarty pies.


This is like a grown up and much more delicious version of a McDonald's apple pie! :)

Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers and see their creations...and to see how it is supposed to be made in a tart shell!

Recipe:
Jeanette of  The Whimsical Cupcake blog,
or, Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours (page 306)

Pumpkin Pie - Libby's from the Can

Libby's Pumpkin Pie.
As American as Apple Pie. What? No. Pumpkin. Oh, you know what I mean.

Remember my spring cleaning? No, not my closets (although that could use it) nor my emails (don't go there), but my blog posts that never got posted.

Sometimes I can't remember what I made. Sometimes I didn't know what to say. Sometimes I don't remember how it tasted.

In this one, I had no trouble remembering the taste. It was Fall in a glass round pie dish. It was Libby's Pumpkin Pie.

Sure, there are a zillion pumpkin pie recipes, but sometimes you just gotta go home. Home to Libby's. You'll never lose the recipe (something I always do) because it is Printed. On. The. Can.

This is the first time I made my own crust for the Libby Pumpkin Pie. Oh yeah, those frozen shells and I have broken up. Since I took my New School of Cooking baking class, I can make pie crust. Whoo hoo.

Pumpkin Pie. Perfect for any season.

Recipe:
Pie Crust (for one 9" pie crust)
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 t salt
1 t sugar
4 ounces/1 stick butter
3 to 4 T ice water

Using your fingers, quickly cut in butter until the mixture has the consistency of wet sand. Add water until dough just holds together. How much water you use can depend on the humidity in the air. Form into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Then roll out as needed for your pie.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie.
Click here for the Libby's site or Get. The. Can (Pumpkin Puree, not the Pumpkin Pie Mix)

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S 100% Pure Pumpkin (NOT the pumpkin pie mix)
1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell

Prep: Preheat oven to 425° F oven.
1. Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl.
2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs together.
3. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture into large bowl with eggs.
4. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
5. Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell. Put pie on a cookie sheet for easy transport into oven.
6. Bake in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
7. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
8. Top with whipped cream before serving.

Meyer Lemon Sponge Pie or Lemon Cake Pie

Meyer Lemon Sponge Pie

I've never heard of the Lemon Sponge Pie (sometimes referred to as a Lemon Cake Pie). It is attributed to the Pennsylvania Dutch. Where have you been all my life?

Fellow Trader Joe enthusiast, Leah of Wine Imbiber is having a Lemon LoveFest! And of course I'm going to join in! I've been a Meyer Lemon Fairy, leaving my dad's Meyer Lemons around town. Please check out her Lemon LoveFest and submit your favorite lemon recipe(s)!

And be sure to check out the Lemon LoveFest Library that is filled with many absolutely yummy lemon dishes!!! My to-do list just got a lot longer!

The pie is magic! :) A layer of lemon appears on the bottom and a nice light topping floats to the top.

Since my pie class at the New School of Cooking, I've been making pie crusts from scratch. Whoo hoo.

It's Lemon Season. Pick up a few and make a Lemon Sponge Pie!

Lemon Sponge Pie / Lemon Cake Pie
Click here for a printable recipe

Recipe: Adapted from Bunny's Warm Oven (5/21/2008) who adapted it from Betty Crocker Baking Classics (appears to be out of print)

One 9" unbaked pie crust

3 large eggs, separated
2 T grated lemon peel (I used a microplane to zest the lemons)
2/3 cup Meyer lemon juice (Recipe calls for regular lemon juice, but I used Meyer Lemons)
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1 1/2 cups sugar (According to Bunny's Warm Oven, the original recipe calls for 1 1/4 cup sugar...so you should decide based on how tart you want your pie. I used 1 1/2 cups in mine)
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare pastry and line pie pan with crust. Leave unbaked.

Beat egg whites in a large mixer bowl until stiff peaks form, reserve.

Beat egg yolks; beat in lemon peel, lemon juice and milk. Add sugar, flour and salt; beat until smooth. Fold lemon mixture into egg whites. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate. Bake until golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. (A layer of lemon will settle to the bottom and a soft meringue-like topping to float to the top.) Serve with sweetened whipped cream if desired. (I served it plain and that was fine).

My notes: I found the lemon mixture was very very liquid, and that made folding the egg whites into the mixture difficult. I mixed the lemon mixture by hand with a whisk...perhaps I should have whisked it on the KitchenAid to get the yolks into ribbons.

You may also be interested in this vintage recipe that adds butter to the batter.

New School of Cooking - Pro Baking 1 - Class 4: Tarts, Pies, Cobblers and Crisps

I'm taking the Pro Baking 1 series at the New School of Cooking in Culver City (Los Angeles) this fall/winter. For Class 4, it was all about the Tarts, Pies, Cobblers and Crisps. I'm okay with three out of four of these...but pie crusts make me shake in fear.

However, I did it! I made a pie! From scratch! With my own hands! Oh yes, Pies Rock and I'm not afraid of you anymore!!!

We made an all butter pie crust by getting carpal pie syndrome...blending the butter and flour mixture with our fingers until the butter bits were small and the consistency of wet sand. Then we quickly added ice water and mixed it together for a bit. All done by hand with just one bowl. After a rest, I rolled out a crust with a French rolling pin (the only one to use for pie per the instructor). We used 6 very tart Granny Smith apples for the filling.

In class, the instructor emphasized that the artistry of baking is adjusting the flavoring to highlight the ingredient, or do the best with what you have. If you have a fresh-picked apple from the Farmer's Market, you need to leave it alone. If it tastes great, don't be adding flavorings to cover it up. However, if you have cold storage apples and cheaper ingredients, then you might need to bump up the cinnamon and vanilla. Knowing how to highlight something naturally delicious, and flavoring something that isn't at its peak...that's the art of baking.

The edge is simple - just pressing the edges together with a finger. I like the motto...pay more attention to the center and not the edges!

I made an Apple Pie! Whoo Hoo!

Citrus Tart (Lemon and Lime)

We made a sweet tart dough by hand as well. Obviously, the sweet tart dough is a bit more forgiving. It can get ripped up and you can press it into the pan. I learned that it is better to press in pieces than re-roll. Don't re-roll. We blind baked the tart shell.

I love this photo of our tarts out of the oven! There are 12 people in the class.

The instructor also demonstrated making a crisp and cobbler...that we all ate with homemade ice cream! I've made both in the past so I'm glad we concentrated on the crusts in class.

Next class...we move onto Chocolate and Cakes. Sweet. After a two-week holiday break, I'm looking forward to going back to class on Sunday. :)

Recaps of the New School of Cooking, Pro Baking 1 course:
Baking Therapy
Class 1: Quick Breads
Class 2: Custards
Class 3: Soufflés & Pate a Choux

Flaky Apple Turnovers - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Julie or Jules of Someone’s in the Kitchen picked Flaky Apple Turnovers on page 316 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Ah, my life filled with procrastination knows no bounds. I started way late on Monday night, baked them this morning, and came home from work to post it! Each time the schedule of recipes comes out on the Tuesdays with Dorie website, I plan to make everything early. Yeah. Maybe next time! :)

I read the directions. A couple times. Really.

But I was also super duper tired, and completely misread the part about the size of the circle. It is about 4 inches and I used a small biscuit cutter instead! Oops. Therefore, I couldn't fold over my turnover to save my life. Unless I wanted to have one piece of apple in each one...which would turn these into just half moons of pie dough. So, at 4:30 this morning, I made the executive decision to put a circle of dough on top!

I used Gala apples and skipped adding butter to the apples...I figure there was enough in the dough.

I didn't eat them, but the dough was quite flaky. I put sanding sugar on top of an egg wash.

Thanks for this cute selection, Julie!
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, page 316
Jule's blog post here

Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Linda of Tender Crumb decided on Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie on page 337 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Have you checked out my friend Linda's blog, Tender Crumb? She's well on her way to being a superstar pastry chef! Everything she makes is yummy and pretty. And, as I learned after a trip with JustJenn, two food bloggers should not shop at Surfas together...it is simply an exercise in enabling. Linda is a UCLA Bruin too (Sproul Hall rocks!) Awesomeness!

I had some issues with the cream. You need to get it to 180 degrees....but I was using "new math" or something and only got it to 150 degrees.

First, my digital thermometer didn't work (hum, digital thermometers need batteries...duly noted). Then, I tried to use a candy thermometer and "manual/non-digital" thermometer. But I couldn't get it up to 180. Sure, I got thickness. Dorie says the filling "will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks." Dude, I had more tracks than Sid & Nancy. But I only had 145-150 degrees.

As I was trying to hold the metal pan over a double boiler with a potholder as well as the thermometer with the left hand, and whisk with my right hand, the pan kept moving around...letting out some of the steam. I was getting such a facial. Who knew the spa qualities of this dessert?!

Finally, after 12 minutes, I had a thick cream that tasted good and gave up on the temperature. It was cooked and wouldn't kill anyone, I decided! :)

I found that I wanted to make just a small dessert so I deconstructed it and laid some graham crackers on the bottom, the cream and a little meringue that I piped out and broiled a bit.

Thanks Linda for a fun pick! I'm going to try it again and make the full size dessert!

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Dorie's book, page 337, Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Linda's blog, Tender Crumb: Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie

Mad Men Premiere...Broiled Nectarine Halves from 1963 Sunset Magazine

Do you watch Mad Men on AMC?
No?

[Just a second. Let me regroup. I'm kinda off-balance right now because today my doctor took me off dairy for a few weeks. No butter. No brain.]

What?!!! You don't watch Mad Men?

Honey, clear your schedule. Grab a cocktail and the remote. Heat up a TV dinner and pop yourself in front of the TV this Sunday night for the season premiere of Mad Men's 3rd Season.

Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet and I will be. Along with a love of food, baking, and Dorie Greenspan, I discovered that we share a freaking awesome name and a love of Mad Men (and Jon Hamm)!

Jon Hamm. Swoon.
He's so Tiger Beat terrific.
Well, sans the excessive drinking, cigarettes, and countless affairs. But damn, he's so hot.

So Mary and I decided to make something in honor of one of our favorite shows! Mary made a cocktail...and I, being a LIBRARIAN and all...went researching!

I went straight to the library's collection of 1963 issues of Sunset Magazine (Mad Men is heading into 1963 this season). After laughing at some of the advertisements, my eyes fell onto this headline:

The Peach with No Fuzz

The nectarine is a fuzzless form of the peach...

Ha ha ha ha. Those were the years...1963. Before the nectarine was on every corner.

I doubt Jon Hamm's character Don Draper would eat these...because there is no alcohol or cigarettes in them. But perhaps Betty and her friends might make these at the end of a special dinner...and at least the West Coast advertising agency of Food & Librarian enjoyed them! ;)

Cut unpeeled, medium-sized nectarines in halves. Remove pits. Dip in melted butter or margarine (I skipped this). Arrange cut-side-up on broiler tray. Sprinkle each half with about 1 teaspoon sugar and dash nutmeg. Broil 6 inches below heat until fruit is heated and butter bubbles - about 6 minutes. (Yeah, perhaps a sheet of parchment paper wasn't the best idea. Stick with foil instead).

With a dollop of the vanilla ice cream. It's like eating pie a la mode without the crust!

Be sure to check out Mary's Mad Men inspired Cocktail in her post. And she is coming up with another cocktail too!

Coming up later...a treat from the New York Times 1963 newspaper (yes, I went researching there too. Oh, stop. Please don't judge my librarian mind. Just set your DVR.)

Mad Men, Season Premiere, AMC, Sunday, August 16, 2009

Donut Peach Galette for You Want Pies with That?

For this month's You Want Pies with That? challenge, Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake and Mary of Alpineberry came up with this month's theme: Taste of Summer Pie!

Summer to me is all about stone fruit. I love stone fruit. I grew up eating peaches from my parent's backyard. The house always had apricots, plums and nectarines from the store. I remember when I discovered the goodness that is the white peach and nectarine. And I jump for joy when I first see the mango-flavored nectarine at the Farmer's Market at the beginning of summer. And don't get me started about my special relationship with the pluot...

Have you tried the Donut or Saturn peach? It's a sweet, squat white peach that, well, looks like a donut or the rings of Saturn. (Yes, I bet that one was hard to figure out! :)

By the way, I've used this green platter in a few posts. It is a piece of Mary Law Pottery. She has a great studio in Berkeley, CA. I bought it when I got my bread platter by Gary Holt (see this post), and I forgot to showcase this one! Check out Mary Law's website...and visit her studio if you ever visit Northern California.

For this one, I wanted to keep the donut shape so I just rinsed it off and plopped the lovely fruit (with pit) on my completely misshapen pie crust. I had some frozen ginger spice cookies I made last week so I crumbed some of them underneath. And I dropped some butter and sugar on top. Bake and eat. Yum.

Be sure to check out the other You Want Pies with That? pies and delights!

Recipe:
Pie Crust: 1 1/4 c flour, dash of salt, 1 stick butter, 2 1/2 T ice water (a variation of Martha Stewart's Pie Crust)
Saturn or Donut Peach
Ginger Spice Cookie crumbs

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie (or my mom's not-so-original recipe) - You Want Pie with That?

Libby's Famous (and good enough for my family) Pumpkin Pie

Okay, my brain synapses aren't snapping. For this month's You Want Pie with That? theme, Natalie of Oven Love decided on Family Favorite Pies. Here are the full directions:

Everyone's family has traditions, including favorite desserts. What's your family favorite? Is it your mom's brownies, your grandmother's banana pudding, your brother's famous chocolate chip cookies? Whatever that favorite dessert is, take it and turn it into a pie! If it already is a pie, make the recipe with your own special twist. If you're feeling extra energized and willing to divulge family secrets, include the original recipe!

Dude, I only saw the logo and thought I needed to bake a family recipe, not use one as a base for a creative pie! Okay, so...please play along with the voices in my head and pretend the theme is an actual family pie recipe.

This is where we have some problems. My family doesn't make pie! My mom came from Okinawa, Japan in 1964 and didn't grow up with pie. What she did do was plant rice (as she told me over and over again). She said, "I used to be so good at planting rice. One by one. One stalk at a time. You have to be very patient..." Then she looks at me with the thought, "My impatient daughter could never plant rice. Good thing I came to America."

So, I may not be able to squat for hours in a muddy field, but I still got the rice planting short legs with thunder thighs...Oh, generations of peasant ancestors give me my 5'2" frame! :)

I'm in the red dress and my mom is holding me. We're in the West Adams area of Los Angeles at my paternal grandparent's house (1972).

Back to my mom. I only remember her making one pie. It was pumpkin pie...and it was from the Libby Pumpkin Pie can.

Nothing like a pie made from the freezer (the crust), two cans (pumpkin and evaporated milk), sugar, spices and eggs! (Find the recipe on the back of the can or here.)

There is one memory I have though...one Thanksgiving or Christmas she made the filling and popped it into the frozen crust. I totally remember her saying, "Oh no! I forgot the eggs!" Not one to waste anything (that would be mottainai), she yanked open the oven, poured the filling back into her green Tupperware bowl (yes, that above bowl is an original) and mixed in the eggs.

Just like mom used to make..

Recipe: Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie
Be sure to check out the other You Want Pie with That? bakers!!