Banana Cream Pie

We’ve been doing enormously well on our path to better health so when we had friends over for dinner recently I asked JT what dessert he wanted and he said banana cream pie! Banana cream pie is definitely NOT diet food, but you need a treat every once in a while.

There are many recipes out there and JT was specific that he didn’t want chunks of banana so I had to improvise by adding puréed bananas and increasing the thickening agent to make up for the added liquid ratio. I used Martha’s recipe as a starting point. This pie is not overly sweet and it packs a lot of banana flavour. It’s best to make this dessert the day before to allow it to set.

Makes one rectangular pie about 12 cm x 36 cm (14 inch x 4.5 inch)

Ingredients for the crust:

• 3/4 cup cookie crumbs (I save mine from broken cookies in a freezer bag)
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup oats (not instant)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tbsp Skor® bits

Directions for the crust:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F.
2. Combine everything but the butter and Skor bits in the small bowl of a food processor. Slowly drizzle in the butter. Fold in the Skor bits.
3. Press into a 12 cm x 36 cm (14 inch x 4.5 inch) rectangular tart pan (preferably one that has a removable bottom to make it easier to release).
4. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely before filling.

Filling Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas (about 1 cup puréed)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups half & half
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• Whipping cream

Filling Directions:

1. In a heavy-bottom saucepan or double boiler, combine cornstarch, sugar, egg yolks, half & half, and salt and mix well. Set over simmering water or medium to low heat and whisk until thoroughly thickened.
2. Cool over an ice bath and when cooled, whisk in the vanilla and puréed bananas. Set plastic film over the top of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until set.
3. Whip the butter until light and slowly add the cooled filling to incorporate butter evenly.
4. Combine bananas and lemon juice and purée until smooth. Whip into the prepared pudding.
5. Spoon into the prepared pastry crust and set another plastic film over the top. Refrigerate.
6. Serve slices of the pie garnished with stabilized whipped cream and sprinkled with Skor® bits.

Notes:

• Cookie crumbs are usually trimmings I save from bars, broken cookies and such. I save them in a zip-lock baggy in the freezer and blitz them in the food processor for pie crusts. I got the idea from Momofuko’s Momofuko’s Crack Pie Recipe, plus it gives us a good reason not to eat the trimmings! (Method in my madness!)
• The Skor® bits add a lovely crunch and flavour to the crust, omit without repercussions if you wish.
• The bananas do oxidized a bit, so I modified the instructions to include the puréed bananas just prior to adding to the crust.

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Bourbon Street Mud Pie: Progressive Dinner #9

We had another Progressive Dinner a short time ago and because it was in such close proximity to Mardi Gras, we decided it would be a perfect theme! JT and I had dessert so I experimented with King’s Cake, a brioche style pastry roll with pecans and sugar, decorated with yellow, green and purple sanding sugars, but honestly it tasted like breakfast to me and not dessert (sorry Southerners), so back to the drawing board I went. JT suggested Mississippi Mud Pie and after a little research I agreed. Definitely decadent enough for a Mardi Gras dessert and it can be classed up, restaurant style. I found a delightful warm chocolate tart recipe on Anna Olson’s website and altered it a bit to include some of the warm spices reminiscent of King’s Cake. OK, I am fully aware that mud pie is usually made from ice cream and whipped cream, but hey, I’m taking artistic licence!

This was our 9th progressive dinner, we’ve been having them since 2012! It’s the BEST group of neighbours and everyone gives it their all to make the evening fantastic, which often lasts until the wee hours of the morning…

Here is the menu from this time around, everything was incredibly DELICIOUS!

House #1 Appetizers:

• Spicy Cajun Shrimp
• Fried Andouille Sausage
• Crab Cakes

House #2 Main Course:

• Blackened Chicken Thighs
• Corn Maque Choux
• Rice and Beans

House #3 Dessert:

• Bourbon Street Mud Pie with Bourbon Whipped Cream
• Limoncello
• Late night snack: homemade potato chips with sour cream (Greek yogurt) and onion dip

It’s a tasty, chocolate tart.

Bourbon Street Mud Pie

Makes 8 servings of 10 cm or 4 inch mini tarts. Original recipe can be found here.

Ingredients for the pastry:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  
• 80 g icing sugar, sifted
  
• 3 large egg yolks
  
• 160 g cake & pastry flour
  
• 24 g Dutch Process cocoa powder
  
• 20 g cornstarch
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp bourbon

Directions for the pastry:

1. Cream the icing sugar and butter until smooth, then add the yolks and bourbon all at once and beat until fully encorporated.
2. Sift the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt) into the butter mixture and stir by hand until evenly combined. The dough is much looser than most pastries. Shape the dough into a disc, wrap and freeze for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment until just less than 2mm (¼” thick). Cut circles of the pastry to line eight 10 cm (4-inch) fluted tart shells with a  removable bottom, pressing the dough into the shells and trimming away any excess. If the dough softens, just pop it back into the freezer to harden up for a few minutes. Prick the pastry with a fork. Chill the tart shells for at least 20 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the chilled tart shells onto a baking sheet and bake them for about 15-18minutes, until you see that the pastry has an even, dull finish. Allow to cool while preparing the filling.

Ingredients for the filling:

1. 3 large egg separated
2. 112 g sugar, divided
3. 1 tsp finely grated orange zest
4. 1 tsp cinnamon
5. 1 tsp vanilla extract
6. 12 g Dutch Process cocoa powder, sifted
7. 86 g bittersweet chocolate, melted (but still warm)
8. 30 bourbon

Directions for the filling:

1. Whip the remaining 3 egg whites until foamy then slowly add ¼ cup of the sugar and continue whipping on high speed until the whites hold a soft peak. Set aside.
2. Whip the 3 egg yolks with the remaining ¼ cup (112 g) of sugar, the vanilla and orange zest until pale and thick. Fold in the egg whites and gently whisk in the cocoa powder, melted chocolate and bourbon. You may refrigerate this overnight (I did for 1 night and 1 full day and it was fine).
3. Pour the filling into the cooled tart shells and bake for about 8-12 minutes at 350°F until the tarts just begin to lose their shine around the edges, but the centre is still dark and glossy. Allow the tarts to cool 2 minutes, before carefully removing them from their shells to serve warm or allow to come to room temperature. Serve with whipped cream.

You may have noticed that this one has ganache on top…we determined was a bit excessive as it’s a very chocolatey tarte.

This was my first try for a friend’s dinner but it turned out way too rich.

 

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Dope Pie (a slightly less addictive Crack Pie and marginally healthier!)

Dope Pie is my version of Crack Pie that I made and posted at the end of September. It was unhealthy to say the least so I had an idea to make it slightly healthier and I was successful. I’ve been making these blondies since the beginning of time and the crack pie made me think of them as soon as I tasted the first bite, so with a few alterations I came up with this.

It’s really just a blondie pie.

Ingredients for Crust:

• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup ground almonds
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp water

Directions for Crust:

1. Pre-heat oven to 177° C (350°F).
2. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, almonds and lemon zest and pulse until mixed well.
3. Drop in the butter bit by bit and pulse until small crumbs form.
4. Drop in the egg yolk and vanilla and pulse until combined. Add the water in a steady stream while pulsing and mix until the dough forms a ball.
5. Roll out dough to fit a 25 cm or 10 inch spring form tart pan. Blind bake for about 15 minutes, flattening any bubbles as they come up.

Ingredients for the Filling:

• ¾ cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions for the Filling:

1. Lower oven temperature to 150ºC (300ºF).
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside
3. Melt butter and brown sugar over low heat. Remove from heat.
4. Add slightly beaten egg, be careful not to cook the egg, make sure the mixture is not too hot.
5. Blend in dry ingredients.
6. Pour into the partially baked crust and continue to bake for 15-20 minutes or until it has set and the top cracks a bit.

This is slightly healthier than the original recipe.

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Momofuku’s Crack Pie

I forgot to take powdered sugar to the cottage to decorate the top.

It’s not what you think. At the very least, it’s not the crack that Toronto has become famous for (didn’t you know?). It’s the other crack that Chef David Chang and Christina Tosi’s Milkbar in NYC that has this crack elevated to the highest of honors, it’s Crack Pie. If you have never heard of Crack Pie, it’s a decadent combination of butter, sugars (brown and white), eggs and oats. It’s incredibly rich and moreish. But I warn you, a slice of this pie will cost you dearly (and I’m not even going to talk about the $44 price tag for whole pie sold at Milkbar in NYC). Is it worth it? The calories and the time to make it? I’ll let you be the judge. If you ask me if I’ll make it again, I’m going to say probably not. It’s not that it wasn’t good, that it was, but there are a lot of other desserts that are equally as good without being as caloric (Bon Appetite’s recipe details the nutritional facts as: 1 slice (a pie serves 12 people) 350.8 Calories,  53.8 g Fat (21.0 g Saturated Fat)). Some of my dear readers will swoon over this recipe and some will be appalled because it’s not something that generally fits into this blog. To those who are appalled I apologize, it’s not often I make something so outlandishly bad for you. To those who swoon, tread lightly, it is as dangerous as the illegal kind (crack, that is!)

I cannot take credit for this pie on my radar because it was my dear fellow blogger Lorraine, over at Not Quite Nigella who introduced me to it in June last year. It was part of the Daring Bakers Challenge (I do not participate) but I saw it pop up all over the place in the blogs I follow. I filed this recipe in a spot I file many recipes that are not as healthy, most likely never to be made, but we were at a fund raiser for one of the Photographer’s wives who was doing a hike to Machu Picchu to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness and one of the food stylists made Crack Pie (she made it in a slab and cut it into tiny squares). I knew I had to try it. JT loved it, so when we had my nephew over for dinner in late August, I took the plunge and made it.

If I had to describe this pie, it’s like a decadent blondie.

Makes 1 pie about 25 cm diameter

Ingredients for Oat Cookie Crust:

• 9 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature, divided (6 & 3 tbsp)
• 5 1/2 tbsp packed light brown sugar, divided (4 & 1½ tbsp)
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions for oatmeal cookie crust:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F (180° C). Line a 13″ x 9″ sheet with parchment and spray lightly with cooking spray.
2. Using a mixer, beat  6 tbsp butter with 4 tbsp brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
3. Add the egg and beat again until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute.
4. Fold in the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir until well blended.
5. Turn out the oat mixture into prepared baking pan and press out evenly to edges of pan or close enough.
6. Bake until lightly golden about 18 minutes.
7. Lift parchment with cookie onto a wire rack and cool completely, about an hour.
8. Once cool, crumble the cookie into a large bowl and add the remaining 3 tbsp (45 gm) butter and 1-1/2 tbsp brown sugar and mix well until the mixture is moist and will stick together when pressed between your fingers (think graham cracker crust).
9. Pour the cookie crust mixture to a 25 cm spring-form pan and press into the bottom and sides using your fingers and/or anything that will press it firmly. Set aside.

Ingredients for filling:

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp dry milk powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 6 1/2 tbsp table cream (recipe called for whipping cream but I had table cream on hand so I used it instead)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

• (Powdered sugar for dusting) – I forgot

Directions for filling:

1. Preheat to  350° F (180° C). Spray a 25 cm spring-form pan with baking spray.
2. Whisk sugars, milk powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and add melted butter and whisk until blended.
3. Add the cream, egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well blended.
4. Pour the filling into the crust.
5. Bake for 30 minutes (filling might bubble up) then reduce oven temperature to 325° F (160°C) and continue to bake until filling is golden on top and set around edges (20 minutes longer).
6. Cool pie completely on a wire rack. Chill uncovered overnight. Carefully glide a knife around the edges to loosen and remove the sides of the spring-form pan and slide the sides off. Position on a serving plate.
7. Sift powdered sugar lightly over top of pie. Cut pie into thin wedges. Serve cold with a drizzle of caramel and a dollop of whipped cream.

Would you like some crack with that?

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Traditional Deep Dish Apple Pie

Greetings fellow bloggers and readers. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for following my blog, it has been an enormous enjoyment. As you may recall, my life has taken a bit of a turn and I’ve been working hard to get into the food styling arena but it’s a long process so I’ve been considering other opportunities along the way. You may not know but I have been sewing for many years and have even sewed a girlfriends wedding dress once! I have opened an Etsy store called Cozy Casuals and hope that you will be able to drop by and take a look. I’m sewing hand made, comfortable tunics for women and I will be expanding my line to include girl’s tunics as well as bathing suit cover ups! I will continue to to follow my dream of becoming a food stylist, but I’ll be sewing in my down times!

Fruit pies have always been JT’s family’s favourite so, I usually make a fruit pie for them. When we had this group over in January for our Re-Do Christmas dinner I had made a lovely apple pie and JTs 90-year old father loved it so much he asked for seconds, so I decided to make the same pie again. The original recipe is from my trusty Five Roses Cookbook.

A delicious, flaky crust.

Makes 1 double crust, deep dish pie.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups AP Flour 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1/4 baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, very cold
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening, very cold
• 8-9 tbsp ice cold water
• 8 apples, washed, peeled and cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 6 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/3 cup AP flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp all spice (omit if you prefer)
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves (omit if you prefer)
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a large food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse a few seconds to mix well.
2. Cut the butter and shortening into small cubes and add to the flour mixture, pulse until you achieve a coarse texture. Add the ice cold water little by little until the pastry forms a ball.
3. If your home is warm you may wish to refrigerate the pastry for 30 minutes, if not then divide it into two portions and roll out the top and bottom of the pie.  If desired, cut shapes out of the top crust with a decorative cookie cutter, I used flowers for spring!
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C or 350°F.
5. In a large bowl add the apple cubes and toss with the lemon juice.
6. In another bowl, add the brown sugar, flour and spices and mix well (I do this in my mini food processor). Sprinkle over the apples and toss to coat evenly.
7. Add the apples to the bottom of the pie crust and spread out. Top with the top pastry and trim off excess edges. Use these trimmings to make your decorative edging on the pie, or not.
8. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until apples are skewer soft. You may need to cover the crust edges with foil if it’s getting too brown as it bakes.
9. Serve warm.

Notes:

• Cut a small triangle of parchment paper that you will slide under the bottom crust (between the pan and the crust), making sure a little is sticking out at the edge. This parchment will be your first piece of pie. When you cut your first piece of pie, make sure you cut where you put the parchment triangle is and use the parchment triangle to help lift the first piece out. Works like a charm!
• Always bake your pie on a parchment lined cookie sheet so when it bubbles over, it won’t make a mess of your oven or your cookie sheet.
• You may need to cover the pie edges with foil to prevent burning.
• You can add raisins or currants to make this even more festive.
• This pastry is very rich so I have intentionally omitted putting little pats of butter under the top crust, but be my guest and add it if you prefer.
• We love to serve this pie with some extra old Balderson Cheddar Cheese.

 

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