November 27, 2009
Posted by cakespy, November 25, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Note: We love pie. And so does Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy). She will drop by with a delicious pie recipe every Wednesday in November. Check out more Cakespy recipes here.
[Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
Pumpkin pie and chocolate chip cookies are pretty much baked good soulmates. They're both considered all-American desserts, both are the result of bakers making do with ingredients available at the time, and both seem to inspire a primal instinct in bakers who are constantly seeking out the best recipe.
"Pumpkin pie getting punched in the face by a chocolate chip cookie."
But what happens when you bring these star-crossed sweets together? Set on finding out, I tried baking a batch pumpkin pie filling in a cookie dough crust, and found myself with an instant Thanksgiving masterpiece. The rich, buttery cookie taste infused the pumpkin filling while baking. One taster described is as "pumpkin pie getting punched in the face by a chocolate chip cookie—but you know, in a good way."
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Posted by cakespy, November 23, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Note: Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy) drops by every Monday to share a delicious dessert recipe.
The Buche de Thanksgiving has some attitude. [Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
Nobody ever makes Thanksgiving cakes (or if they do, they've never invited me to dinner). So in an effort to right this grievous wrong, I have adapted a traditional Christmas cake—the Bûche de Noël, or the Yule Log—for Thanksgiving.
Do pumpkin pies have marzipan drumsticks? Yeah, didn't think so.
The November version starts with pumpkin cake rolled with rich cream cheese filling, and gets even better when liberally slathered with chocolate cream cheese frosting and finished off with sweet marzipan detailing. Perhaps this all sounds like a bit much, but I assure you, one bite of the Bûche de Thanksgiving will allay such fears. Consider it a sweet alternative to pumpkin pie, and a rich and tantalizing amuse-bouche before the more predictable Bûche de Noël in December.
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Posted by cakespy, November 18, 2009 at 2:15 PM
The holy trinity of Thanksgiving pies.
[Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
It happens every year: that delicious dilemma at the dessert table when you have to decide between the three titans of Thanksgiving treats: pumpkin, apple, or pecan pie? But what if they could be combined into one triple threat, a veritable Turducken of a Thanksgiving pie?
I was set on finding out so I recently prepared three pie shells and three respective batches of pumpkin, apple, and pecan pie filling, and experimented in various ways.
That would be Pie #3, or the Peace Sign Pie.
Pie #1: The filling contained three distinct layers (pecan, apple, and pumpkin) all on top of each other, so that when sliced, you could see a strip of each.
Pie #2: The filling contained a slurry of all three flavors in equal parts. They were mixed together, then poured into the shell.
Pie #3: A pie shell divided into sections, TV dinner tray-style, and filled with individual portions of the pie fillings in their pure, unmixed form.
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Posted by Lee Zalben, November 18, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Read more about this recipe here.
Ingredients
1 16-ounce jar of Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams*
1 8-ounce tub of Cool Whip
1 Keebler Chocolate Pie Crust
1/2 cup chopped salted peanuts
*Note: if you don't have this, just gently melt a few tablespoons of semisweet chocolate chips into peanut butter.
Procedure
1. Empty the contents of the jar of dark chocolate peanut butter (or your homemade version) into a large mixing bowl and stir soften.
2. Fold in the Cool Whip until the mixture is well combined.
3. Spoon the mixture into the pie shell and cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer to set for at least two hours.
Posted by cakespy, November 16, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Note: Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy) drops by every Monday to share a delicious dessert recipe.
[Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
Pies are certainly plentiful during the Thanksgiving season. But it can be a slightly less boutiful time of year for smaller, more immediate gratification-type treats: it's too late for Halloween candy, but (arguably) too early for Christmas cookies. So what to do if you find yourself craving a sweet little something before (or after) the pie?
The answer is clear: cookie turkeys. I discovered these cookie-and-candy confections via Taste of Home. Not only are they adorable to display, but they're incredibly quick and easy to make (even in a state of turkey-induced torpor).
The recipe is open-ended too. Though this version uses store-bought cookies, the confections could just as easily be made with your favorite homemade cookies instead of the Keebler Fudge Stripes, and a variety of chocolate truffle flavors could be used for the turkey body.
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Posted by cakespy, November 11, 2009 at 3:15 PM
Note: We love pie. And so does Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy). She will drop by with a delicious pie recipe every Wednesday in November.
[Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
The problem with sweet potato pie? While it's delicious, after consuming all of the mashed potatoes and stuffing at dinner, it often equals starch overload. Luckily, the Sweet Potato Tarte Tatin from the newly published cookbook DamGoodSweet: Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth, New Orleans Style by David Guas and Raquel Pelzel provides the perfect solution.
It starts with delicately slivered sweet potatoes—just enough to provide flavor without becoming a starchy bulk—then pairs them with a thick, rich caramel sauce and buttery puff pastry, all of which is combined, baked upside down, then flipped post-baking for a sophisticated and (especially when topped with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream) supremely satisfying dessert.
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Posted by Melody Kramer, November 11, 2009 at 11:15 AM
[Flickr: jessicafm]
I'm one of those people who always bought pie crusts at the store. Why spend all that time on the crust, I thought, when pies were all about the filling? The pie is called a peach pie, after all—not a graham cracker crust pie, with peach.
That was until I tasted (and tested) a few chocolate pie crusts. The crust alone becomes reason enough to eat the pie and blends seamlessly with the innards, making a cohesive treat you can serve at Thanksgiving (or you know, tonight.) Without further ado, the easiest chocolate crust recipe you will ever encounter.
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Posted by Carolyn Cope, November 10, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Note: You may know Carolyn Cope as Umami Girl. She stops by on Tuesdays with ideas on preparing fruits and vegetables.
[Photograph: Carolyn Cope]
Although Asian pears (also called Chinese pears, apple pears or sand pears) are now fairly widely available, they were new to me a few years ago when they showed up in our CSA haul. People, this is one delightful fruit. (Well, okay, it's more like many, many varieties of delightful fruit that all share a name and a few key qualities.) I hardly know how I lived so long without them.
Asian pears have a lemony, floral flavor and a light, juicy crispness that puts them somewhere between pears and apples, but on a higher plane. They work so well on their own that they hardly require any adornment to make a special dessert. Still, a quick bath in a light brown sugar syrup perfumed with lemon, ginger and vanilla never hurt anyone, and very few foods are made worse by a dollop of freshly whipped cream. Are you with me here?
This elegant dessert takes mere minutes to prepare. It does most of the work itself while you eat dinner. If you can get your hands on a few Asian pears, I hope you'll give it a try.
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Posted by cakespy, November 9, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Note: Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy) drops by every Monday to share a delicious dessert recipe.
[Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
Cliché as it may sound coming from a Seattleite, I must confess to feeling a small thrill around this time of year when Starbucks rolls out their holiday spread. Those cute red holiday cups are a harbinger of festive sugar bombs, including gingerbread and eggnog lattes, decorated cookies—but for me, the fondest memories are associated with the cranberry bliss bar.
In general I'm not a huge fan of mass-produced baked goods, but there is just something about this bar. And I'm not the only one: some online sleuthing revealed several odes of undying affection for the treat—as well as a bevy of copycat recipes.
I adapted this from one found on Mr. Breakfast. While they don't taste exactly like the ones at Starbucks, they are pretty excellent in their own right, with an extremely dense, moist cake studded with tart cranberries, spicy ginger and sweet white chocolate, all crowned with a winter wonderland of rich cream cheese frosting and white chocolate drizzle.
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Posted by Kerry Saretsky, November 5, 2009 at 5:15 PM
[Photographs: Kerry Saretsky]
Pâte à choux, or choux pastry, is the Madonna of doughs. It is always reinventing itself. It can be fried into beignets; boiled into Parisian gnocchi; piped into éclairs; piped with cheese and roasted in gougères; sliced and sandwiched into profiteroles. But the most simple and perfect of them all is when they're crusted in sugar and baked into the little-known (Stateside) chouquettes.
Chouquettes loosely translates to "little bits of choux." They are usually sold in baskets perched atop the glass pastry cases of bakeries and pastry shops in France. A sort of afterthought, they are just profiteroles shells—crisp, airy, and hollow, crusted in lumps of pearl sugar. They are just a bit sweet, and slightly rich and eggy from the pastry. They make the perfect snack: unassuming, unextravagant, unfilling. But yet they add that touch of afternoon sweetness to the day, and take the edge off a rumbling belly.
Choux pastry, which is composed of one French word and "pastry," another intimidating word, sounds like it might not be worth the trouble. But in reality, it is one of the easiest doughs to make, and unusual in process too, so that you feel accomplished and chef-y. And once you've mastered choux, you can make any of the things I enumerated above.
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Posted by cakespy, November 4, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Note: We love pie. And so does Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy). She will drop by with a delicious pie recipe every Wednesday in November.
[Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
First things first: what is Osgood Pie, anyway? Said to have taken its name from the phrase "Oh So Good Pie," it's an old-time recipe in the tradition of chess and vinegar pies, comprised of a thick, custardy filling made of eggs, vinegar, sugar, raisins and spices.
Though it enjoyed some popularity in the earlier half of the 1900s, it's virtually unseen today. I'd never even heard of it until it was on Not Martha, and quite frankly I'm not surprised. How delicious does raisin and vinegar pie sound, after all? So I set myself to modernizing the pie a bit, swapping the raisins for dried cherries and adding almonds.
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Posted by cakespy, November 2, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Note: Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy) drops by every Monday to share a delicious dessert recipe.
[Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
Poor Halloween candy. Just a few days ago it was the star of the supermarket aisle, the festive treat on everyone's mind. But now, just two days later, these sweet treats are Halloween has-beens, relegated to sale bins, withering away in candy dishes.
If you have an oven with a window, it's fascinating to watch while it bakes.
But is there a way to breathe new life—to re-animate, if you will—this past its prime candy? I propose yes: by dumping it in a pie shell and melting it into one monstrous mash of a candy pie. It's not for the faint of heart, what with the alarming spread of candy viscera melted all over the top. I wouldn't even try to call it a sophisticated or refined dessert. But in an admittedly guilty pleasure sort of way, this pie is actually pretty tasty, and if you have an oven with a window, it's fascinating to watch while it bakes.
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Posted by Melody Kramer, October 28, 2009 at 12:00 PM
[Flickr: hfb]
I'm a big fan of Halloween, in part because it's the one holiday where decorating chocolate treats with fake bugs is socially acceptable. (Just try making gummy worm brownies for Thanksgiving and you'll see what I mean.)
This Halloween, all of my treats are based on one of my favorite bugs: the spider. I've liked spiders ever since reading Charlotte's Web, and even more so after making these Rice Krispies spider treats for my cousin Carly's first grade class.
The Rice Krispies give the spider treats a nice crunch (a must for Halloween) and the black licorice legs can be savored eight times over—but the best part is that anyone in elementary school can help make and decorate these easy chocolate arthropods. If you're still looking for a recipe to bake for a classroom or party this week, check these out.
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Posted by cakespy, October 26, 2009 at 2:45 PM
Note: Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy) drops by every Monday to share a delicious dessert recipe.
[Original artwork and photographs: Jessie Oleson]
The Nanaimo Bar is possibly Canada's crowning culinary achievement: a decadent no-bake bar composed of a dense chocolate and coconut base topped with a rich, custardy buttercream and then crowned with a firm chocolate topping.
But in this version, the classic puts on a Halloween costume, swapping the top chocolate layer for a layer of sweet and festive melted candy corn. The result is an unrelentingly sweet and unabashedly rich treat, certain to satisfy even the sweetest of teeth. Will they make you fat? Probably, but you can always blame Canada.
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Posted by cakespy, October 26, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Note: Jessie Oleson (aka Cakespy) drops by every Monday to share a delicious dessert recipe.
[Photographs and original art: Jessie Oleson]
The origins of the Nanaimo Bar are shrouded in mystery. Popular legend has it that these no-bake bars hit the mainstream when a housewife entered a batch named after her hometown into a magazine contest; however, some say it actually has its origins stateside as the "New York Slice."
Hazy origins aside, few will argue that Canada is where the bar came into its own, and even fewer will argue its deliciousness. A three-layered delight consisting of a coconut-chocolate base topped with a rich custardy buttercream and then finished off with a layer of bonus chocolate on top? Yes please.
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Posted by Lee Zalben, October 21, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Ingredients
For the crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) ice cold butter cut into small pieces
Up to 1/4 cup ice water
Procedure
1. Place the flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor and pulse for 10 to 20 seconds until the dough is the consistency of coarse crumbs. Continue pulsing and add the water 1 tablespoon at a time just until the dough comes together.
2. Transfer the ball of dough to a flat surface, press it into a disc and wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Remove from plastic and roll the dough into a 12-inch circle and transfer to a pie dish. Remove the excess dough and crimp the edges with your fingers.
Ingredients
For the filling:
6 medium granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup natural peanut butter (I used PB&Co. Old Fashioned Smooth)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Procedure
1. Preheat your oven to 450°F.
2. Place the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and salt in a small saucepan and heat on a very low flame and stir until well combined. Remove from heat and add the cream. Mix until smooth and set aside. Let cool.
3. Place the apples in a large bowl and sprinkle the flour on top of the apples and toss with your hands until the apples are well coated.
4. Place the peanut butter filling in the pie shell. Place the apples in the filling one at a time, pressing down so that they become immersed in the filling. Periodically press down on the apples to allow the filling to rise. Continue until all of the apples are incorporated into the filling. Sprinkle the granulated sugar on the top of the pie.
5. Place the pie in the oven and bake at 450°F for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 350°F and bake for an additional 50 to 60 minutes until the top is golden brown.
Note: Cover the edges of the crust with strips of aluminum foil to protect the crust from burning. Remove the strips during the last 20 minutes of baking.
Posted by Melody Kramer, October 21, 2009 at 9:00 AM
[Photographs: Melody Kramer]
Making bowls out of chocolate and balloons may not pave the way for your own reality show, but they will certainly grab your guests' attention. Water balloons, in particular, are the perfect size for dipping into tempered chocolate—and harden in just ten in the fridge. You can then fill the chocolate balloon-sized molds with candy, ice cream or whipped cream. (And don't worry, they're too small for any children to fit inside.)
These balloon bowls are easy, fun, and so delicious they may make you want to float away. Recipe and detailed instructions, after the jump.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, October 19, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Ingredients
12 ounces dark chocolate
1 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Procedure
1. Cover cookie sheet (13x9) with wax paper and spray lightly with cooking spray
2. Melt 12 ounces of dark chocolate either in double boiler or in microwave; stir until smooth. Let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Add 1 cup of dried cranberries (any flavor you like), 1 tsp orange zest; and the chopped nuts if you want them. Spread on cookie sheet (it may not cover the whole sheet).
4. Refrigerate until firm. Cut or break apart and enjoy!
Posted by Erin Zimmer, October 16, 2009 at 1:30 PM
[Photographs: Robyn Lee]
Usually when I think about whoopie pies, my thought process isn't too complicated. I want to eat that. Preferably now. But making pumpkin whoopie pies for the first time, I started analyzing the white, fluffy innards.
Amish markets typically whip up a combination of powdered sugar, Crisco, vanilla, and eggs. Martha Stewart skips the Crisco and uses butter, throwing in some Marshmallow Fluff too. Some people take the shortcut, using just Marshmallow Fluff. But my favorite whoopie pie fillings are the ones with cream cheese.
Cream cheese frosting is a beautiful thing. Carrot cake, where would you be without it? Somewhere with no friends, that's for sure. This recipe from Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito of the same-named bakery in Brooklyn, combines the cream cheese filling with super spiced pumpkin cakey-cookie nubs (those things need an official name). They get that great Autumny taste—packed with cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and three whole cups of pumpkin puree—and even a baking klutz like me had no problems making them.
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Posted by Gina DePalma, October 15, 2009 at 8:30 AM
[Photographs: Gina DePalma]
As wonderful as it is to bite into the tender, juicy fresh figs that are in season right this minute, I'm still devoted to the dried figs I always keep on hand, at home and in the Babbo kitchen. The chewy exterior gives way to the honey-sweet innards that make it oh so hard to eat just one. In cooking and baking, dried figs are endlessly versatile, retaining their texture and harmonizing nicely with salty, tangy, or fatty flavors. You can toss them into stews or risotto, roast them with meat or poultry, and bake them into any number of sweet treats.
I think most Italian-Americans like myself have a close relationship with dried figs, since figs were undoubtedly one of the things our parents and grandparents longed for when they found themselves so far from sunny Italy. Fig trees grow rampant in most southern regions of Italy and on the islands of Sicily, Pantelleria, and Sardinia, where it is not uncommon to pull your car along the side of a road to pluck a juicy fig from an offering branch. Figs that are not consumed fresh are dried naturally in the intense heat of the sun, concentrating the natural sugars and intensifying the flavor.
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