White Chocolate Cranberry Pie #49

I’m so sorry to even put this recipe on the Internet. It’s AWFUL. If you want to put this on some type of fail blog, that’s fine, but if you want to make it, I’m not okay with that. This late in the game I’m embarrassed to have such a bad pie enter this experience—I should have learned something, right? This was NOT a winning pie. Warning: don’t make it.

In my defense, some of my favorite holiday cookies are cranberry and white chocolate cookies, so I had really high hopes for this recipe. However, the white chocolate pudding had so much cornstarch (at least I think that's the reason) in it that the consistency was like biting into a ball of mozzarella with a sweet and chalky taste. And unfortunately the cranberry sauce nor the gingersnap crust could save this disaster. We ate one or two bites of two slices and threw the rest away—that’s right, we threw the whole pie away. I think that’s the first time that’s ever happened.

I’m not saying that I don't hope for another white chocolate and cranberry pie, but this certainly wasn’t good enough to make again. Honestly, I don’t even think that it can be salvaged and turned into something better.

Okay, so here’s the recipe so you can make your own judgment, but again, please remember not to make this.

White Chocolate Cranberry Pie
(adapted from epicurious.com)

1/2 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 ounces good-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Baker's), chopped


Cranberry Sauce:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup fresh cranberries


Gingersnap Crust:
3/4 cups gingersnap crumbs, from about 1/2 batch 
1/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:
White Chocolate Filling: Whisk 1/4 cup milk, yolks, sugar, flour and cornstarch in bowl to blend. Pour remaining 2 1/4 cups milk into heavy medium saucepan; bring to simmer. Gradually whisk hot milk into yolk mixture. Return mixture to saucepan. Whisk constantly over medium heat until custard boils and thickens, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add white chocolate and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla; whisk until chocolate melts. Cool completely.

Cranberry Sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the orange juice. Stir in the cranberries, and cook until they start to pop (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat, and transfer to a bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

Gingersnap Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together gingersnap crumbs, brown sugar, flour, and salt. Add butter and stir until mixture is well combined. Press some of the mixture against the side of the bowl with your fingers. If the crumbs do not hold together, add cold water, a little at a time, up to 1 tablespoon, and stir to combine.

Press crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie plate, evenly covering the bottom and sides. Transfer to freezer and chill for 10 minutes. Place pie plate on a baking sheet and bake until crust is fragrant and set, about 10 minutes. Transfer pie to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie #48

I must say up front, I’m not a nut lover. A peanut lover, yes. But real nuts—like the kind that real people eat, I don’t love them. I only eat them when I’m starving and don’t have anything else to eat. So, I haven’t been completely excited about making a pecan pie. However I think that pecan pies are my dad’s favorite or at least at his request I’ve had my fair share of slices and usually I just want to eat the sugary part between the pecan layer and crust.  In fact, I think that’s why I liked the crack pie that made a few months ago because it reminded me of that non-nutty layer. So there…nuts are just okay in my book.

Also while searching for recipes I found that almost every recipe calls for corn syrup—a lot of it—and I didn’t want to use corn syrup and ultimately I decided to use a substitute and hoped that would be successful. Corn syrup is usually used because the sugars don’t crystallize or turn grainy when it’s cold, but as a general cooking rule, I prefer to choose natural ingredients over processed whenever I can.

Any way, from what I’ve read, there are a few things that you can use as a substitute for corn syrup: honey, sugar dissolved in water (the internet provides several suggestions about the ratios), maple sugar, and something called golden syrup to list a few. They all change the taste just a little bit and are sweeter than corn syrup, but can be used measure for measure.

Since they are sweeter, I used a little bit less than what was called for in the recipe. I substituted ½ cup maple syrup for the ¾ cup corn syrup that it originally called for (maple is one of my favorite flavors and I thought it would got well with pecans, which is why I choose it).

This pie was very sweet and in the end I thought the maple/orange/pecan mixture was just okay. However, while I don’t know if the corn syrup would have created a different effect (since it keeps sugar from crystallizing), my favorite part about this pie were the pecans on the top of the pie that had crystallized during the baking. They were delicious and for the first time, all I wanted to do with this pecan pie was eat the nuts on the top, which is exactly what I did. 

Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie
(adapted from epicurious.com)


Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water


Filling:
3/4 stick unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 cups pecan halves (1/2 pound)

DIRECTIONS:
Crust: Blend together flour, butter, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps.


Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in processor) until incorporated.


Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn’t hold together, add more ice water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated, then test again. Do not overwork dough or pastry will be tough.


Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together, with a pastry scraper if you have one, and press into a 5-inch disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Filling: Preheat oven to 350°F with a baking sheet on middle rack.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round and fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fold overhang under and lightly press against rim of pie plate, then crimp decoratively. Lightly prick bottom all over with a fork. Freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes.


Meanwhile, melt butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, whisking until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in syrup, vanilla, zest, and salt. Lightly beat eggs in a medium bowl, then whisk in syrup mixture.


Put pecans in pie shell and pour corn syrup mixture evenly over them. Bake on hot baking sheet until filling is set, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Cool completely.

Pear-Pomegranate Pie #47

When you die, if you get the choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if not, mmmmmmm, boy!

--Jack Handy

This all started with a New York Times article titled: Heaven in a pie pan. And since that’s the basic goal I had to try it.

The crust called for European butter, which resulted in a heavenly crust. I could absolutely tell the difference; the smell, the taste, the flakiness—it was wonderful. Maybe I’m just cheap, but I don’t know if every piecrust MUST be made with epensive butter, but when it counts, I would definitely recommend choosing the better butter.

The pomegranate molasses and the sautéed pears were easier to make than I thought they would be. I was really worried that my molasses would turn into to candy rather than a syrup, but it wasn’t hard. Also, I was worried about the extra liquid in the pie, but the tapioca flakes soaked up that potential threat and there were no problems.

One note of caution, with the delicateness of this piecrust, mixed with the warmth of the sautéed pears, you should consider freezing this pie for 20 or 30 minutes before putting it in the oven. My crust didn’t hold up on exactly on every section of the pie, but I think that freezing it for a few minutes would remedy that in the future.

This isn’t one of those sugary, candy-like pies, but the heaven that it sends you to is a little more sophisticated. Like the difference between regular heaven and pie heaven. Similar, but both wonderful for different reasons.

Pear-Pomegranate Pie

(from The New York Times)

Filling:
4 Bosc pears (about 2 pounds), peeled and cored

4 Anjou pears (about 2 pounds), peeled and cored

6 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (see recipe at the end)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

3 tablespoons tapioca

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, preferably a high-fat, European-style butter like Plugra, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 to 5 tablespoons ice water

DIRECTIONS:

In a food processor, briefly pulse together the flour and salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms chickpea-size pieces (3 to 5 one-second pulses). Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until mixture is just moist enough to hold together.

Form dough into a ball, wrap with plastic and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before rolling out and baking.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Quarter 6 pears. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, bring 3 tablespoons molasses to a boil. Let simmer about 2 minutes, until molasses thickens. Arrange half the quartered pears in a single layer in skillet. Sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons butter over pears. Cook, turning occasionally, until pears are well caramelized on all sides (but not cooked through), about 5 minutes.

Scrape pears and molasses into a bowl. Add tapioca and toss to combine. Repeat cooking process with remaining molasses, butter and quartered pears. Add second batch of pears to bowl; combine.

Thinly slice remaining pears and add to bowl. Stir in sugar, ginger and salt. On a lightly floured surface, roll out both crusts to 12-inch circles. Place one crust in 9-inch pie plate. Scrape pear filling into crust.

Cut remaining dough into strips about 1 inch thick. Top pie with strips, weaving them into a lattice. Crimp edges to seal. Place pie on a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking until crust is dark golden and pears are tender when pricked with a fork, about 45 minutes more. Let cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

Pomegranate Molasses

4 cups pomegranate juice

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

Place the pomegranate juice, sugar and lemon juice in a 4-quart saucepan set over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has completely dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the mixture has reduced to 1 1/2 cups, approximately 50 minutes. It should be the consistency of syrup. Remove from the heat and allow to cool in the saucepan for 30 minutes. Transfer to a glass jar and allow to cool completely before covering and storing in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

Honey Poached Quince Pie #46

Dear Readers,

Sorry I've been absent for a few weeks. Thanksgiving brought family visitors, sightseeing, tons of fun, and left me a little sleep-deprived, busy at work, and perhaps with a little turkey tryptophan still in my system. I am blaming all in good and bad ways for slowing my return.

But I'm back, and while I haven't been updating, I've been baking. Hopefully, my lapse will only help us all gear up for the holidays because there just so happens to be another perfect pie occasion coming our way in just a week and a half!

So...let's pretend this lapse never happened...huh?

Well then. Ahem.

Let's talk about quince:

Actually, as of a few months ago, I didn't even know that quince existed. I got one in my farm share and thought it was an apple.

It's not.

So don't get confused and bite in because I'm sorry to say that you'll be disappointed.

Quinces are a cross between a pear and an apple and I've heard rumors that they turn dark red when baked.

With this particular pie, I'd say that there was a pinkish hue, but not the red that I was expecting. I'm assuming that must be another variety of quince than the one I used. But yes, pinkish hue; no, deep red.

With all quince pie recipes I read you are to poach the quince before baking. For this recipe I poached them in honey and the results were a lovely aromatic flavor. In a way, it was kind of like eating potpourri--but much more moist.

I know that kind of sounds like a negative way of describing this, but I just mean that I often feel the same way about lavender cookies or rose flavored candy--the smell is so much a part of taste that it's hard for me to separate them.

Everyone liked the pie and was pleasantly surprised by the taste...for a few bites...and then it became a little too sweet too quickly.

That being said, I think that it would be a really delightful mini pie or just served in smaller slices, or an even better solution would be to just have more people over for pie. In that case, everyone wins.

Honey Poached Quince Pie
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

Poaching:

3 pounds quince, peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 cups water

1 pinch salt

Filling:

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter

Reserved quince cooking liquid

Cornmeal Crust:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup cornmeal (preferably stone-ground, medium grind)

3 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks total) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

4 tablespoons (or more) ice water

DIRECTIONS

For crust: Blend flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt in processor. Cut butter and shortening into mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add 4 tablespoons ice water; blend just until moist clumps begin to form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and chill at least 1 hour.

To Poach Quince: Combine the sliced quince, honey, water, and a pinch of salt in a pan (you should have about nine cups of sliced fruit). Cover the pan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low. Simmer, covered, until the fruit is tender, about 8 minutes, stirring carefully once or twice to avoid breaking the fruit.

Put a strainer over a saucepan and pour the cooked quince into a strainer, reserving the cooking liquid. Set the quince aside to cool.

Combine the white sugar, cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and flour in a small bowl and mix well. Add the sugar mixture and the butter to the reserved quince cooking liquid and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the sauce to cool.

Place a sheet pan on the lowest rack of the oven. Preheat an oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Pour the cooled quince into the pastry-lined pan and cover with the sauce. Add the top crust, crimping the edge to seal. Cut vents or prick the crust with a fork to allow steam to escape.

Put the pie on the preheated sheet pan and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Bake until the edges of the crust are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake until the juices are bubbling and the crust is brown, about 45 minutes more. Cool on a rack at least two hours before serving. 

Maple Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust #45

Oh boy, are we sick of pumpkin pie yet? I sure hope not because tomorrow is the big day!

Are you ready? Do you have pie questions? If you don't know who to ask or have a question I might be able to help you with, you can email me at kacalder (at) gmail (dot) com. I will be standing by to answer any of your pie questions (hopefully I can).

This is kind of like butterball's talk turkey line, but less about turkey's and more about pies.


And, get excited all of you Cjane readers out there, because for today's pumpkin pie post, this is the recipe that she lauded as "the very best Thanksgiving Pie [her] tastebuds had ever sampled."

(maple pumpkin pie top right, with the crack)

Please, tell me which among you is not excited about this pie now?

As you can see, last year it got great reviews (thanks Cjane), which is why I made it for the Pumpkin Pie Panel this year where it also came out as one of the winners (though it was a fight between the citrus pumpkin pie, the homemade traditional pumpkin pie, and this pie).

I think that the maple and pumpkin filling would be nothing without the gingersnap crust. I tried to up the ante a bit this time by using using homemade gingersnaps instead of store bought ones. The gingersnap cookie recipe I used (see below) was fine, but I was hoping that since it used fresh ginger that it would really bite back at you, unlike store bought gingersnaps.

Unfortunately, it turned out more mild than I hoped for and, as much as I hate to admit it, I think the crust was no better than the crust made with the store bought (which, if we're going to get really honest with each other, was a big disappointment since I've been thinking about that change for a year or so).

Even though the gingersnap cookies were not hard to make, I'm questioning whether or not it was worth the effort. In my opinion, the cookies need a bit of candied ginger just for that extra punch, but for now (i.e. for tomorrow) I recommend getting some high-quality, gingersnaps from the store, at least until this gingersnap cookie recipe merits the extra work.

Nonetheless, the maple, pumpkin, and gingersnap combo are the perfect Thanksgiving trifecta, in my humble pie opinion, and you should know that the gingersnap crust makes the difference. It's awesome and I highly recommend this pie (as well as the other two winners).

One other thing, speaking of the crust, it's a little hard to get it all out of the pan. I believe this would be solved by greasing the pie pan before you put the cookie crust in (I've made a note below). But really, the only reason I suggest you fuss with the crust is because it's always about the presentation but just as well, your guests are not going to want to miss out on any  of those extra gingersnap crumbs!

Maple Pumpkin Pie with a Gingersnap Crust
(adapted from Epicurious)
Gingersnap Crust:

fourteen 2-inch gingersnaps (about 4 ounces)*

1 cup pecans (about 4 ounces)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter melted and cooled

Maple Pumpkin Filling;

1 cup Grade pure maple syrup

2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup milk

2 large eggs

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375° F.

In a food processor grind gingersnaps, pecans, and sugar until fine and add butter, blending until combined well. [Grease pie pan and] press mixture onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (1-quart) glass pie plate. Bake crust in middle of oven 15 minutes, or until crisp and golden around edge, and cool on rack.

In a 3- to 3 1/2-quart heavy saucepan gently boil maple syrup until a small amount dropped into a bowl of cold water forms a soft ball, about 210° F on a candy thermometer, and cool slightly. In a bowl whisk together pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, salt, cream, milk, and eggs and whisk in maple syrup.

Strain filling through a fine mesh sieve. Use a spatula to stir and press mixture through sieve. Once you get almost everything through the sieve (no need to force the small amounts of stringy or flavorless pumpkin, which are the only things remaining in the end, through the sieve), pour filling into cooled shell.

Bake pie in middle of oven 1 hour, or until filling is set but center still shakes slightly. (Filling will continue to set as pie cools.) Transfer pie to a rack to cool completely.

*Gingersnap Cookies:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger

Preheat the oven to 350F

In a bowl, whisk together the four, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachments beat together the granulated sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, to to 3 minutes. Beat in  the eggs, molasses, and ginger to combine. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated.

Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Shape the dough into twenty-four 1/2-inch balls. Space the balls evenly on two baking sheets. Bake, rotating the sheets once halfway through, until dark golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks to cool.

The gingersnaps can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

This should make enough cookies for 2 or 3 pies.