Posts Tagged ‘pie’
tuscaloosa tollhouse pie
I’ve lost 2 of my favorite Gingers in the past week. First Conan’s tear-jerking last hurrah on NBC, and then I found out one of my favorite people at work, Chris the resident snarky redhead, was leaving. So of course, I put pastries on the pain. And since Chris probably has the biggest sweet tooth in the building (next to mine), I knew I wanted to bake something pretty over-the-top while hopefully continuing my pie crusade for his goodbye dessert.
And wow, does this cover over-the-top. It’s basically cookie dough pie. With walnuts. And Irish whiskey.
Are you still with me? Good.
This pie is one of those great things you could most likely throw together since the ingredients are all pretty standard baking (and drinking) fare. I keep everything except the walnuts in my baking pantry, and the whiskey I used was actually from a teeny bottle of 12-year-old Jameson my friend Robbie got me while she was interning for Irish parliament (thanks, Robbie!). It comes together incredibly fast which is good because once you taste the filling it will take the hand of God to stop you from eating the rest of it.
So rich and chocolatey and indulgent… it’s got one of those pecan pie-esque ooey gooey sticky fillings, except it’s chocolate and walnuts and… you really, really need to serve this with milk. Or ice cream. Or both. And maybe a gym pass.
Check that pie crust out!
Need I say more?
sour cream apple pie
My only notable New Years resolution this year involves perhaps the holy grail of baking.
Perfect pie crust.
Now, those close to me will scratch their heads and say “But, I thought you didn’t even like pie?” (cue the dramatic music) Yes, it’s true, pie is probably my least favorite dessert. I love filling and very little crust. I’m not a fan of a double-layered pie with thick edges and a barrage of flaky shell, so I mostly avoid it. However, I’m also oddly stubborn in the fact that I hate disliking ingredients, dishes, etc. I love being an incredibly unpicky eater, so I constantly try foods I dislike to see if my taste or opinion has changed. I love tarts and quiches, so this year, my hope is to reconcile with pie and not only practice it constantly, but try to perfect what is the perfect pie crust to me.
So when I recently picked up “The Modern Baker” by Nick Malgieri (amazing book, by the way), I was immediately drawn to this recipe. It has a simple sweet pie crust for the bottom, a yummy tart filling of sauteed apples and sour cream custard, and then a crumbly, almost streusel topping. Half pie-half crumble, I thought it would be the perfect transition into pie zone.
And it truly is a wonderful mix of baked goods. Pie meets crumble meets coffee cake even. The pie dough cut easily (even if I overbaked it slightly – but baby steps, folks!), the filling was incredibly tender, moist, and just sweet enough, and the topping was a cinnamon-sugar crumble delight. The whole pie is actually quite subtle (aka not too sweet) when you first taste it, but if you let it sit overnight and allow the flavors to meld and marinate a bit, it’s 100 times better the next day. And yet, for my first pie, I think it’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
The butter is gone.
Disc o’ dough.
