TWD- Cherry Nectarine Pie

What is it about baking in someone else's kitchen that makes you feel out of sorts? We're visiting family and we're staying at my parent's. For some reason, I cannot bake very well in my mom's kitchen. Cooking is ok, just not baking. Things turn out like this and this. So sad.

I wasn't sure how this week's TWD for Blueberry Nectarine pie would turn out, but I thought pie doesn't have to rise. I should be ok. I opted for cherries because, well, I like cherries more.

The fruit is cooked in sugar, flour and lemon zest for a few minutes until it's syrup-y and the fruit is soft.

Pour it in the pie crust, top with the other crust and pretend you know how to crimp the edges.

The recipe says to bake 30-40 minutes. Mine took almost 40 minutes. Maybe not the prettiest pie. It was hard to make the edges look good because it's baked in a cake pan. That's my excuse.

This recipe was really fantastic. The cherries were juice and a little tart, and the nectarines added some more tartness. I probably should have used a little more sugar, but paired with ice cream, this was delicious.

Hilary and Liz have the recipe!

TWD- Pizza Rustica

I know one of the first rules of cooking and baking is to read the recipe all the way through. I read this recipe through a few times so I knew what ingredients, how to make the dough, and how long it would take to prepare. I decided to make this for dinner tonight. I made the crust this afternoon and left it in the fridge for a few hours. 

We eat at 5pm so I thought I'd just start this at 4:20 or so because it bakes for around 30 minutes.

How did I miss that you're supposed to cool it completely before serving? We ended up just eating it hot. And a little runny.

This is an interesting dish- a sweet crust filled with a ricotta cheese, eggs, cheese, and prosciutto (my fave). The crust isn't subtlety sweet, my daughter thought it tasted like cookies and left out eating the filling. :) Both my husband and I really liked this. My kids, not so much.

Margaret and Jessica will have the recipe!

Mini Pop-Tarts

For this baby shower, I made these mini pop-tarts. Inspired by these, I made lemon curd-filled pop tarts. These are easy and were a hit at the party. You just cut refrigerated pie crust into rectangles, fill with desired filling, crimp with a fork and bake!

Because the baby shower theme was yellow, I used white frosting and yellow sprinkles. These are delicious and I would love to try them with different fillings!

Lemon Curd

(adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
3 Tbs butter, cut into 3 pieces
juice of 3 lemons

Whisk together all ingredients in a medium heavy saucepan. Place over medium low heat and cook, stirring vigorously and constantly, until butter melts and mixture starts to thicken. The curd is done when you can make a track with your finger on a spoon or spatula and the curd doesn't run into the track. It will look thin, but thicken as it cools. If desired, for a smoother texture, strain curd while still warm through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Press plastic wrap over the top so a skin doesn't form, and cool in the refrigerator.

Toll House Pie

Have you ever been to the Dodo Restaurant in Salt Lake City? They have the BEST desserts. One of my favorites in their Tollhouse Pie. It's like chocolate chip cookie dough in a crust, topped with creamy whipped cream. It's rich and thick and yummy. I've tried to find a similar recipe, but to no avail. Any pie I've found is really just chocolate chip cookie dough baked in a crust. I had a craving for it, so I thought I'd give it a try,
I went to the source- Nestle Tollhouse for a recipe. I made my own pie shell and the filling is just butter, sugars, flour, egg and chocolate chips. It comes together easily.

Nestle Tollhouse Pie

1 unbaked 9" pie shell

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 325° F.

BEAT eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels. Spoon into pie shell.

BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired. 

Not as good as the Dodo, but fairly good. If you like chocolate chip cookies, this won't disappoint!

TWD- All-American, All-Delicious (Caramel) Apple Pie

Apple pie is a funny dessert for me. When I think of it, I always think "ew." But whenever I get the courage to eat it, I think it's fairly good. Apple pie reminds me of my grandmother- it was her absolute favorite. Maybe I think it's an elderly person's dessert. Dunno.

 This week's TWD is for regular apple pie. I added a caramel syrup to it. Dorie's pie crust is my absolute favorite. It comes together in a couple minutes in the food processor (note to self: a double crust does NOT fit in your food processor), and is so buttery and flaky.

I topped it with cinnamon and sugar, which added a nice little crunch to the pie. This recipe uses a lot of lemon zest- 1 full lemon. I used about half that and my husband (granted, he has ultra sensitive taste buds) said it tasted like a lemon bar with apples.

Even for not loving apple pie, this recipe is a keeper. Easy to make and delicious! A great holiday pie! Sandmuffin has the recipe!

Caramel syrup

• 1 cup sugar

1. Heat sugar and 1 cup water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and comes to a boil. Continue cooking, brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush but without stirring, until mixture becomes golden amber in color.
2. Immediately remove from heat and add 1 cup water. Return to heat and continue stirring until mixture becomes liquid. Transfer to a heatproof container and let cool completely before using.

TWD- Caramel Pumpkin Pie

Yes! Pumpkin pie! One of my favorite holiday treats. I'm a little picky about pumpkin pie, though. I don't like it spicy and I don't like it with a lot of crust. This TWD pick is a different take on pumpkin pie- white sugar is cooked until it's dark brown and caramely, and added to the pie batter.

The caramelized sugar definitely adds depth to the pumpkin pie. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to pumpkin pie so I didn't love this. Also, cooked sugar such as this tastes more burned to me than caramely. But yay for pumpkin pie!

Check out Janell's blog for the recipe!

TWD- Toasted Coconut-Custard Pie

I loved toasted coconut. Girl Scout Samoas are about the greatest thing ever. My mom makes truffles covered in toasted coconut and I could eat a million of them. So I was excited to make this recipe. I don't have a tart pan so I made a 9" pie.

A word of caution: don't leave coconut unattended under the broiler. Fire in my mom's oven. My brave brother took the on fire coconut an threw it in the snow. Take two was toasted in a pan on the stove.

This is a great, quick recipe that yields a creamy, smooth custard filling. You could omit the coconut and use bananas for a great banana cream.

You can check out Beryl's blog for the recipe!

TWD- Chocolate Cream Pie

This week's TWD recipe for Chocolate Cream Tart was chosen by Scrumptious Photography. I actually made this about a month ago, but didn't have any pictures so I made it again. I don't have a tart pan so I made it into a pie. The custard is simple- whisking egg yolks and sugar, and adding hot milk. Bring to a boil and cook for a couple minutes: Then add melted chocolate and butter to create a (REALLY) chocolatey, rich, smooth custard:
The first time I made this, I used the chocolate crust as in the recipe, but I remember thinking that 7 oz. of chocolate seemed like a lot, so I used 5 oz. instead. This time, I used a regular crust, but forgot that 7 oz of chocolate seemed like a lot so I used the entire 7 oz.Normally, I would say there's no such thing as too much chocolate, but the size of the slice in this picture was too big. This was RICH! I can't imagine how chocolatey this was with the chocolate crust, too. I also omitted the whipped cream since we didn't have any. Next time, I would cut back on the chocolate again and include the whipped cream since that would probably tone it down. Check out Kim's blog for the recipe!

TWD- Banana Cream Pie

I was with my family for the past couple weeks in Utah and we celebrated my dad's birthday. His favorite dessert ever is banana cream pie so I made it for dessert after our dinner here. Amy of Sing for Your Supper was this week's host. I am sad to say that all pictures taken that night were on my mom's and brother's camera so I don't have any pictures, but the pie was so yummy. The filling was rich and creamy and Dorie's pie crust is about the best I've ever had. Check out Amy's blog for the recipe!