Marshmellow Madness

First of all, I'm so glad I made a Moon Pie Pie, because now I know how to make marshmellow. How fun. My family better watch out. I just might put marshmellow into everything I make. Or, I can make my very own Stay Puft Marshmellow Man. The options are limitless.

So, my neighbor sent over a few suggestions for a pie, and one of them was Moon Pie. Because I'm not into making just any dessert, a.k.a. I'm a pie snob, I had to figure out how to make said Moon Pie into a Moon Pie Pie. This is what I did...

I used this recipe to make the dough and the marshmellow innards. Yeah, I said innards. For the dough, instead of putting it in plastic wrap and placing it in the refrigerator, I molded the dough into a pie pan and then stuck it in the fridge to chill. Also, I never baked the dough. Then I moved on to making the marshmellow, which was a slight comedy of errors. My husband/sous chef went to the store twice due to my, um, mistakes. Sorry, babe. Love you. After the marshmellow was ready, I dumped it into the chilled pie crust and then made a chocolate ganache for the topping. 

The recipe for chocolate ganache:
6 oz semi-sweetened chocolate (coarsely chopped)
1 tbsp butter (unsalted)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tspn vanilla

Place chopped chocolate and butter in a double boiler, or in a glass or metal bowl over simmering water, and stir occasionally as it begins to melt. Once chocolate is almost melted, slowly add the cream and vanilla. Stir over heat until smooth and completely melted.

Then I poured the ganache on top of the marshmellow, decorated (ever so crappily) the top of the pie, and then let it set over night.

I needed a taster for this, so I thought my three-year-old would be perfect. This seems like the type of pie a kid would go goo-goo over. He LOVED it. Now, I need to hide the pie. For me, I like all the elements -- great chocolate dough/crust, yummy marshmellow creme, and a thick, sweet layer of chocolate -- but maybe a pie version is overkill. I don't know...who wants to try it? Critics needed/wanted.

Just Desserts or Just a Heart Attack

I've been watching Top Chef Just Desserts. This show is going to give me a coronary. These people...where did they come from? It's stressful to watch, truly. I definitely need a glass of wine to enjoy. It made me think about the personalities of those chefs who compete on Top Chef versus those on Top Chef Just Desserts. Do you have to be a completely anal control freak to want to do desserts and then all the laid back folks go to the savory side? Just wondering. I would love to do a Myers-Briggs test on these people.

So, today, besides thinking about silly reality cooking shows, I'm going to try and tackle a Moon Pie Pie. Yeah, confusing. But, I'm going to try. I think this might be one of those spectacular fail moments that will make for a great blog tomorrow. We'll see what tonight brings.

An Oldie But Goodie

So, I had a request for a pie, and I HAD to make it, because it's not-so-secretly my favorite. If people want to request this pie over and over again, I guess I'll have to make it. Twist my arm, folks, really...twist it. The pie I made on Wednesday was...Chocolate Meringue Pie. Nom, nom, nom, nom. Snarf.

Sorry to be blogging about it so late. My fantastic neighbor made this glorious request, and we all gathered in our neighbor's backyard yesterday to eat said pie and drink wine until 11 at night. And, well, I need my beauty rest.

I made my usual crust and then my usual pudding recipe, but did the following to make it chocolatey:


1 cup sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 oz unsweetened chocolate (chopped)
4 cups milk
4 slightly beaten eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla


Mix sugar, flour, salt in sauce pan. Chop chocolate and add to milk; slowly stir in milk to sugar/flour/salt mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat till mixture boils and thickens; cook 2 minutes longer. Stir a little of hot mixture into eggs; stir into remaining hot mixture. Stirring constantly, bring just to boiling. Add vanilla. Makes a full filling for a 9" pie. 

This pudding calls for more sugar, but I backed it out, and it tastes MUCH, MUCH better.  

I also tried something new with the meringue, but it was a stellar fail (did I tell y'all I failed chemistry in college?). I wanted to make chocolate meringue to put on top of the chocolate pudding. Doesn't that sound good? I think it would look good, too. All I had was Nesquik in the pantry, so I put a couple of tablespoons in the egg whites while I was beating them and phhhhhhbbbbbbtttttt, the meringue melted. Oh well. I'm going to keep working on a recipe for that. Just sounds yummy.

Have a good weekend everyone and throw a cupcake in trash for me...it's pie's time to shine!

AAACK!!!!

I'll post about my pie tomorrow!  Crazy day, crazy day.  I know everyone is waiting with baited breath...yeah, that's it.

Banana Cream Pie

This pie is ridicky-donkulous! If I could marry a pie, this one would be it, but it would also have to take out the trash and mow the lawn. Just sayin.

So, I messed with the crust this time. I felt like going all Domino's on this pie and stuffed the crust with peanut butter. Oh yeah. It's sinful and what's better than a banana/peanut butter combo? It was easy to do. When I tucked under the extra dough that hangs over the pie pan's edge, I just added dabs of peanut butter and then wrapped under. After I finished that, I fluted the edges as usual. Maybe I should do a video on this. Hmmmm...it's better to show than tell. In the meantime, this site shows how to flute a pie crust. Good place to start.

For the filling, I used the same recipe as the coconut cream pie, but sans the coconut, and I lined the pie crust with three bananas (sliced) and then poured the vanilla pudding on top. And the meringue!!! Oh the fluffy goodness. Here's my recipe (passed down to me from my Momma J):

1 tbspn cornstarch
2 tbspns cold water
1/2 cup boiling water
4 egg whites
6 tbspns sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Blend cornstarch and cold water in a saucepan. Add boiling water and cook, stirring until clear and thickened. Let stand until COMPLETELY cold. With mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until foamy (do NOT get any yolk, water or egg shell in the whites or the meringue will fail. trust me, I know). Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff but not dry. Turn mixer to low speed; add salt and vanilla. Gradually beat in cold cornstarch mixture. Turn mixer again to high and beat well. Spread meringue over cooled pie filling. Bake at 350 for 10 mins or until top is lightly browned.

This recipe took me a long time to perfect (and my mom used to make slight fun of me for my numerous fails), but I've got it now!! 

(Happy birthday, baby.)

P.S. Sorry about the silly pie pan. My nice glass ones keep disappearing like socks in a dryer or sippy cup lids in...well, hell...I have no idea where those lids go.

P.S.S. Oh, and I lied about doing a vanilla wafer crust (per my earlier post). I forgot the wafers at the store, and there was no way I was dragging my ass, and the asses of my two sons, to the store just for that.

For My Hubby's B-day...

He requested a banana cream pie. So, there's no vote this week. I'll whip up this recipe based on the cream pies I know how to make. No problem, right? Riiiiiight. To go with it, I'll make a vanilla wafer pie crust. Yuh to the mmmmmm.

Banana pudding reminds me of elementary school and the day we were learning about the five food groups. I picked out banana pudding for my fruit and Cheetos for cheese. Trying my best to work the system.

Pie

3.141593...

Sorry, just a little dork humor.

Alrighty, I can dig it

At first, I thought I was going to have a major meltdown about this pie. I was getting downright bitchy and that's never good. I've had a problem in the past with getting pies to set, but this time I wasn't going to let it happen...no matter what. I essentially made this pie twice last night (soab). But, the second time around was a charm. Good, or else there was going to be peanut brittle pie guts on the walls.

I started with one recipe and then had to ditch it for another because the measurements were off. Hmmm...that's why my darn pie wouldn't settle. Case solved.

Here's the recipe I followed and a link to it:

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

Dash salt

1/3 cup water

2 slightly beaten egg yolks

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 egg whites

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 cup crushed peanut brittle

1/2 cup whipping cream

Combine brown sugar, gelatin, and salt. Stir in water and egg yolks. Cook and stir over medium heat till mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat. Add butter, stirring till melted. Stir in milk and vanilla. Chill to the consistency of corn syrup, stirring occasionally. Immediately beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating till stiff peaks form. When gelatin is the consistency of unbeaten egg whites (partially set), fold in stiff-beaten egg whites and crushed peanut brittle. Whip cream till soft peaks form. Fold into gelatin mixture. Chill till mixture mounds when spooned. Turn mixture into baked pastry shell.* Chill several hours or overnight till set.

*One thing I did change was throw it in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 to make sure the egg whites were cooked. I did this after the mixture was chilled and poured into the pastry shell. I just couldn't stop thinking about the raw eggs. Sorry, I just can't eat raw eggs nor ask other people to do so, especially since my husband plans to take this pie to work. Never a good idea to poison the coworkers. I put it in the fridge overnight to set. Because of the heat, the pie's layers separated. Looks beautiful when cut. Agree?

This pie is silky good on top, a little rubbery in the middle and sweet at the bottom with a crunch here or there from the melted peanut brittle in the pie and the extra sprinkle of brittle I added to the top. I'm assuming the semi-rubbery layer is a result of cooking the gelatin. Just my guess, but it's still delicious. I'll work to tweak this pie. I think it can be edited.

Tonight's Pie Will Be...

Avocado! Psych. It's Peanut Brittle! There were some last-minute votes. I think those votes might be my husband stacking the deck. Yeah, it is. He buys my ingredients on the way home from work, and I sent him the list for avocado pie. Shortly thereafter, peanut brittle took the lead. I'm on to you, babe. Doesn't take a rocket scientist.

So, I'll make peanut brittle pie (how the hell am I going to do that?) and I'll post pics on Thursday. Do know that I'm baking it on Wednesday night...hence the name of the blog, "Wednesday Night Pies." A girl can only do so much in one night, and baking will be it, plus cleaning up after dinner, getting the kids ready for bed and in bed, laundry, showering, scrubbing the bathroom floors with a toothbrush, spackling and painting over the cracks in our walls, moving furniture, waxing my legs...you name it.

In the meantime, here's a picture of the cake I made for my son's third birthday. I probably shouldn't put a cake photo up on a pie blog. That's so wrong. The world may come out of alignment. It's like buying bananas and tampons at the grocery store. But pie, don't worry...you are my first love.

She's My Cherry Pie!

Back in high school, I did go to a Warrant concert. I can't believe I just typed that. Anyway, I was forced to go...yeah, that's it...because it was a friend's birthday. She knows who she is. So, this week I tackled the cherry pie, because one person voted and said I should. I'm easily persuaded.  Matt C. -- if you read this, the rest of the pie is YOURS! (I had to taste it for quality purposes.) I love cherry pies and making them. Here's the recipe I used:

1 20 oz can pitted SOUR* cherries
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tspn salt
2 tbsp butter
1/4 tspn almond extract
1/4 red food coloring (so the color will pop)
1 egg yolk

Preheat the oven to 425. Drain cherries, reserving 1 cup of liquid. In saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Stir in cherry liquid and bring to boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Mixture will thicken. When thickened, add butter, almond extract, food coloring and cherries. Cover and refrigerate. Make pastry strips for top of pie. Brush strips w/ egg yolk and add sugar, if desired. Pour cooled cherry filling into prebaked crust. Make lattice w/ pastry strips. Be sure to cover prebaked crust edge w/ aluminum foil. Bake 30 to 35 minutes.

*My husband did not pick up sour cherries, but the sweet ones. To offset, I added some key lime juice (from the numerous key limes I had left over from the key lime debacle) to restore the sour in the cherries. It worked swimmingly. The pie filling was so scrumdillyumptious and slightly tart, as I like it. I made sure to add sugar to the top of the crust for that extra sweet punch.

Things I'd change/do better: 1) the crust. Next time I'm going to forgo prebaking the crust. I want the edge and the topping to look cohesive. (And, I will also try not to almost burn the crust...oops.) 2) the crust, again...I need to make more pastry strips so I can have a prettier lattice on top.

And, I leave you with this...it's hard to find time to blog when your three-year-old decides to drop his nap. Damn. Mourning the loss of a nap.