Christmas: Almond-Amaretto Pumpkin Chiffon

I cannot really say what my pie baking inspiration was this week. But, I was inspired. And, while there were some bumps in the road, the final product was, for me at least, worth it. I made two pies for our family's Christmas meal. Egg Nog, due to its popularity a couple of Christmas's ago, and a pumpkin variation, based on a couple of recipes that I found particularly inviting. There were some tense moments (one might assume that I would know what I am doing by now, but no... apparently not), and the pumpkin turned out somewhat less than perfect, but despite the difficulties and minor snafus, I really liked both constructing and eating the pie.

I don't remember making many pies where the solidifying agent was gelatin. There must have been at least one because otherwise I do not know why we would have plain gelatin packets around -- and we do.

You may already be able to tell where this is going.

There are steps in the recipe(s) -- and therefore in my bastardization of those recipes as well -- where you have to heat and stir (heat and stir!) until slightly thickened. What does slightly thickened mean? A little bit thicker than I went with is my new and improved answer.

There I was on Christmas, slightly thickening, cooling, adding other ingredients, allowing to set up... and it just did not appear to be happening. Perhaps the fact that several hours of set up time were in a styrofoam cooler in the back of an SUV did not help matters?

Once the pie was mercifully allowed to rest in an honest-to-goodness refrigerator things improved, but were still a bit on the shaky side (both figuratively and literally in this case). Nearly 24 hours later, it at least resembled an edible dish, and actually looked kind of nice. Topped with some toasted almonds and amaretto whipped cream it was not too bad.

If I had to do it all over again (I believe we have firmly established that I do not), I would make a couple of adjustments.

1. Slightly more thickened
2. Reduce the sugar in the pie (the Amaretto is soooo sweet, with the sugar it is a bit much)
3. I would not sweeten the whipped cream at all, but would just infuse it with a little Amaretto (same reason)

Even with some adjustments to be made, I still liked it a lot, particularly the toasted almonds as a nice texture change.

I am not making a pie this week due to the holidays and corresponding lack of people around to eat whatever I concoct. I expect that I will compile something over the weekend for the work crowd next week.

The chocolate pie to end all (of my) chocolate pies

If you're looking for a dessert to spike your blood sugar, do I have the pie for you!

I have made so many chocolate pie variations over the past couple of years that I can not even recall them all. Let's see... there are eight (at least) on the list where chocolate could be considered the main ingredient/flavor component. Number nine, if not the piece de resistance, was my latest, greatest, and final attempt. Far from original, I realize, but I am calling it Death by Chocolate pie.

This venture was at least partially inspired by a co-worker's request. Since I have some experience now with chocolate pie of all sorts, I went out on my own and made up the "recipe" on the fly. As I have mentioned before here, I am not a great lover of chocolate. So, for once, my intention was not to make the pie that I was most interested in eating, but to make a pie for the chocolate lovers. The result was no light snack, but an incredibly sweet, gooey amalgamation of cacao flavors fit only for the truly committed choco-phile.

Some Nitty-Gritty Details

My intention with this pie was to infuse every aspect, from top to bottom, with chocolate of one variety or another. Therefore:

The Crust

I had hoped to make a graham cracker crust using chocolate graham crackers. Unfortunately, our local grocery store did not have any in stock. They did, however, have these. A quick, even replacement and off I went. Other than that substitution, the only addition to a standard graham cracker crust was to add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the mix before baking. The end result was thick, quite hard, and frankly not the greatest, but in the final analysis, it served its purpose as a receptacle for layer upon layer of chocolate.

The main flavors/textures in each of the layers, from the crust up, were as follows:

Layer 1

• Unsweetened Chocolate, Walnuts

Layer 2

• Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache

Layer 3

• Semisweet Chocolate Ganache

Layer 4

• Milk Chocolate Ganache

Layer 5

• White & Milk Chocolate Ganache - this layer ended up being more of a gooey, sticky layer than a ganache. Perhaps because of the makeup of white chocolate (yes, I know, it is not even really chocolate)?

Layer 6

• White Chocolate Cream

It took forever. I'm not the fastest of bakers (or anything else for that matter) and am easily distracted. But, it was totally worth it. It was the most fun I have had making a pie in quite some time. The work crowd seemed to like it, and the family crowd did not complain either. It turned out to look like this:

That, by the way, is a colossal piece. Anyone but the most diligent sweet-tooth would be hard pressed to finish a slice that large. Like I said, it was anything but light.

Christmas pies next... It is looking like an old favorite and perhaps something a little bit new.

Accounting error(s)

Up until a few short minutes ago, both the "Pies Thus Far" and the "Rankings" sections to your right over there enumerated forty-two pies. The problem was: the rankings included two pies for which there are no pictures (Pumpkin and French Silk), and the pictures included two pies for which there was no ranking (Lemonade Pie and Chocolate Chip Pie). The upshot of all of this being that... I have actually made forty-four pies as a part of this years-long effort to acquire a useful skill.

So, even fewer than I thought remain. A mere eight to go. What will I do with my copious free time then? Suggestions are always welcome -- although they do tend to be acknowledged and then ignored.

Nauvoo Rhubarb Cream Pie

The last of this summer's rhubarb crop has been burning a hole in my pocket (okay, the freezer) for quite a while now. I was happy to stumble upon a recipe during my weekly search that would finish it off, hopefully in high style.

I have had the Pie of the Month Club site bookmarked for a long time, but hadn't made it around to actually making one from their archives. There are a bounty of strange pies to be found there: beet, vinegar, prune, sauerkraut? But, the Nauvoo Rhubarb Cream was about as exotic as I thought I was up for this week.

If you are interested -- I guess that I was, at least enough to gather some minimal information -- Nauvoo, Illinois has a fascinating history, including elements of Mormon history (which I was aware of) and the Icarians (of whom I knew nothing). For the purposes of this blog, the most important contribution of the Icarians is introducing rhubarb to the Midwest. For all other purposes, there are many elements of far greater import.

Of course, this is supposed to be about pie, not mediocre historical research on Google and Wikipedia. So here it is...

Rhubarb Cream Pie.

I made it. I served it. I ate it. And, I am still not exactly sure what to say about it. I'll start by openly wondering what about it caused someone to call it a cream pie. Relative to what that designation connotes, at least in the pie world, it pales. I will simply say that it was interesting. And strange. And, I will not be making it again. Reviews were mixed, including an emphatic thumbs down on the home front (not the high style I was hoping for). With a now long list of pies, including some actual successes -- even success with rhubarb -- I don't see why this one would leave my own archives any time soon.

Black Bottom Butterscotch Pecan

I failed to have a selection ready for Pie Club Monday at work last week. And, I am happy to report that I received a bit of a guilt trip, and I think I know why... No names, no names. The guilty will remain semi-, ok, not really all-that-anonymous. I am choosing to delude myself and believe that the pies are so good that people spend their weekends pining for Monday and an opportunity to taste a slice. In reality, it's free dessert. What more is required?

Come Thursday night, I decided I had better whip something up as a special Friday edition of the Pie Club, and eventually came up with a Black Bottom Butterscotch Pecan. Black bottom implies a stiff layer of chocolate between the crust and filling. I ended up with too much chocolate layer, but it was fun, and edible, nonetheless. I combined the recipe that I started with with this one, and I think the end result was actually quite good. No one complained, at least not loudly. Again, free dessert, etc., etc.

Here's a picture of pie #41.

Only eleven more to go. Any suggestions of pie that I just have to make before my mission is complete?

Peanut Butter Pie

Running up against my Sunday night pie deadline a couple of weeks ago, I once again found myself scrounging around the kitchen for pie ingredients. I have previously made several peanut butter-based pies, but wanted this one to be simple with the filling focused entirely on the peanut butter.

Somehow, despite my simplistic intentions, I nonetheless ended up with plenty of chocolate elements in this pie. I am not the chocoholic that many are. Perhaps my mind simply can not get past the indoctrination that chocolate and peanut butter belong together?

So, the final version of the pie was the standard crust, infused with cocoa powder (and some additional sugar). By infused, I mean that I dumped a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder in with the dry ingredients. I just thought that "infused" sounded very foodie of me. To finish the crust, I melted a quarter cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and spread that concoction on the blind baked crust and allowed it to cool before pouring in the filling.

I made a basic cream filling, adding 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter near the end of the process. Here's a picture.

The most noteworthy aspects...

• You can see a partial discoloration of the filling in the above picture, near the edge of the pie. That was caused by my failure to make sure that the entire filling was covered with plastic wrap while it set up. That edge was exposed to some air, which caused a skin of sorts to form, and the color change
• The addition of cocoa powder caused the crust to become much more dense, hard, and less appetizing
• The two chocolate elements tended to overpower the peanut butter flavor. Several eaters noted this. If I had it to do over again (and I suppose that I do), I would focus entirely on the peanut butter and make a simple pastry or graham cracker crust.

Thanksgiving Pies (Family Edition)

During my sabbatical from organized pie making I managed to forget how easy it is to fall behind. It is easy to fall behind in the making of pies and even easier to fall behind in blogging about the pies that were made.

So, here I am briefly posting about pies that I made several weeks ago for our family Thanksgiving and hoping to get caught up soon.

I made two pies for our family Thanksgiving celebration, neither of which turned out to be very good. If I did not know any better, I would have thought that they were both made by someone who had never baked before. I hated them both and in retrospect am embarrassed to have served them. But, they were what they were, and I can not do anything about it now.

First, a decidedly mediocre "Fudgy" Chocolate Cream Pie. I skipped the meringue and went with whipped cream instead. I really doubt that it would have mattered.

And, a truly dreadful Banana Rum Cream. I really thought that I was going to like this one. Unfortunately, it sucked.

I am really hoping for a big weekend where I get caught up on this blog (I have two pies that have been made and consumed but not blogged about). Wish me well (or not, if you had the misfortune of having eaten either of these two pies)...

Thanksgiving Pie (Pie Club Edition)

I admit to having struggled to select a pie this week. I went through scores of online recipes in the hope of finding just the right one. It seemed that every one that appeared promising ended up being rejected for one reason or another. In the end, I did not select a pie at all. The pie selected me.

With the difficulties that I was having picking a pie and the treacherous layer of ice on the roads on Sunday, I decided to walk around the kitchen in search of inspiration -- and a pie that could be made from ingredients already in-house. I did hope to keep to a holiday theme since I knew that this pie would be going to work for consumption and it is, of course, Thanksgiving week. Lo and behold... inspiration in gourd form. A butternut squash sitting on the counter was begging to be utilized. There has to be a recipe out there for butternut squash pie, I thought. There was. Inspired by several, I made up my own. The result was a pastry crust filled and baked as follows:

Ingredients

4 cups butternut squash - peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ginger (I used fresh grated)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 large eggs

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup milk

There are several "combo" ingredients that could easily be replaced by a single ingredient. I used what was on hand. For example, the cream and milk could instead be 1/2 cup whole milk, or half-and-half.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Steam squash in a steamer basket and sauce pan until tender (approx. 12 minutes).
3. While the squash is steaming, combine the dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl
4. Move the steamed squash to a food processor and process for about 1 minute, until smooth.
5. Whisk the eggs together, slowly incorporating about 1/2 cup of the warm squash puree.
6. Add the egg mixture back to the food processor, along with the dry ingredients, again processing for about 1 minute until completely combined
7. Pour the filling into an unbaked pastry crust
8. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the center is just set.
9. Cool on wire rack for 2 hour, then refrigerate to cool completely.
10. Garnish with cinnamon-spiked whipped cream

.

The end result was a tastier, richer and smoother version of a standard pumpkin pie. I can not think of a reason that I would make a pumpkin pie again. This was much, much better.

The Saturday is our family get together for Thanksgiving. The plan is two pies for the holiday and now that pie club at work is back in full swing, I am probably required to show up on Monday with one too. A big week and big opportunity to add to the list here. I have a pie in mind for Saturday that I am particularly excited about. I hope it lives up to my internal hype.

Number 17

If the name of this post is any evidence, I am acutely aware of the countdown as I slowly approach "done" on my pie-making venture. And yet, I am finding that there is something about it all that I really missed during my hiatus. I guess that for me there is some comfort in the repetitive acts of selecting and creating pies every week.

Mocha

I made a mocha pie at the request of a frequent pie eater at work.

This pie is difficult for me to rank as I am currently on a self-imposed, restricted diet that did not allow me to taste the pie -- therefore the difficulty. So, its rank will be based on feedback received, which was generally positive, visual appeal, and my own perception of the execution.

Overall, I was pleased with the end product, but there were, as always, a few miscues worth noting. Namely:

• I made too much graham cracker crust for the pie plate that I ended up using. That plate is eight and one-half inches in diameter rather than nine, and so the resulting crust was awfully thick.
• Based on the feedback, the coffee flavor was not very prominent (keep in mind that some of the eaters are coffee junkies). If I were to make this recipe again, I would incorporate additional espresso powder -- likely in both the main filling and the whipped cream topping

All in all, I think it was a good pie, and a smooth transition back to being in the game. One more ramp up weekend to come, and then the pressure of Thanksgiving week pie(s) begins. I am anticipating knocking several of the still remaining sixteen off over the next couple of weeks. I am looking forward to it.

Jeopardy

Answer: What is 413?

Question: How many days will it take before the weight of not making all fifty-two pies becomes too much for me to bear and I make the final eighteen?

Here we are, just over a year later, and I am claiming to be back on the wagon. I have made an occasional pie in that time, but infrequently, and nearly always a repeat of one of the original thirty-four. In those days, I have had occasion to think long and hard about whether or not to finish the game. Now, 413 days later, it seems as though I am ready to do just that.

This past weekend, we were lucky enough to be invited to a paella party thrown by Diego and Sharon. If you have never had real-deal paella, believe me, you should! It was fantastic. I volunteered -- truth be told I was voluteered -- to provide the dessert. And thus, the origins of this post...

Lemon Meringue

Two pies were on the docket for paella night. Given the opportunity, it seems that I will always make a double crust rhubarb-pineapple, so that was the first. Second, I made a lemon meringue, which is similar to a prior pie (clementine meringue), but a classic in its own right.

An interesting twist for both of these pies is that there were some dietary restrictions (essentially no cow dairy), which meant modifications to my standard crust recipe (of course I have my own twists on that recipe, too). I substituted a couple of other fats, replacing about half of the butter with butter-flavored Crisco and the other half with coconut butter. All in all, it did not turn out bad (I have made, and eaten, worse crust), but I am even more firmly of the opinion that there are times where there is simply no substitute for the flavor that butter provides. An alternate option would have been to use goat or sheep butter. Perhaps another time I will try one of those.

To make a long story marginally shorter, here's the only surviving picture of the lemon meringue pie. I think that it turned out quite well. Other attendees enjoyed it too, or they were just nice enough to lie to me and claim that they did.

The recipe that I used for the filling came mostly* from here. Keep in mind that the name of the blog there is gotnomilk.wordpress.com. It turns out that one of the ingredients in the dairy-free pie is margarine. It turns out that most margarine -- Land O'Lakes anyone? -- includes some dairy. It turns out that I am a complete idiot (I know what some of you are thinking... You finally realized that?). So, I was genius enough, after being told no dairy, to serve... dairy. Lucky for me, in this small amount, there was not an issue the other night. But, talk about feeling like a fool. I sure hope to not make that mistake again.

* As usual, I insisted on messing with someone else's recipe in a valiant attempt to ruin it. So, with a nod to the all-powerful Martha and this recipe, I included some freshly grated ginger. In this case, I think it was a good choice and really improved the overall flavor.

I hope and plan to be back in a week with the next installment. I do have a backlog of pies that have been suggested to me to make, so making selections should not be difficult, at least for the next few weeks. Until then, enjoy what is left of the beautiful fall weather.