pie – Melodrama

Homemade Peach Pie Custard Ice Cream

Published on August 28, 2015August 28, 2015 by Krys1 Comment

I love pie. I love pie with ice cream more. Sometimes I even like putting pie and ice cream in a blender and turning it into a milkshake. Well, this time I dumped pie into my ice cream maker and made PEACH PIE ICE CREAM. This is the perfect way to use left over pie, and you can experiment with different pie flavors, which I will be doing immediately. For the purpose of this demonstration, I will use peach pie.
I should note that this isn’t one of those “no churn” recipes, so you’ll need an ice cream maker. I use a small $60 Cuisinart machine and it works great.

What You’ll Need:
1/2 of a peach pie, refrigerated
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar, divided in half
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
Beat the egg yolks and half of the sugar together until the mixture is pale and thick.

Meanwhile, over medium-low heat, whisk together milk, cream, the remaining half of the sugar, and salt in a saucepan until mixture to a slight boil.

Once the cream mixture reaches a slight boil, slowly pour and whisk in 1/3 of it into the egg mixture. Add the combined egg/cream mixture back into the saucepan and stir constantly over low heat until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not boil or the eggs will over cook and scramble. This should take about 3-4 minutes.

Once the mixture is thickened, pour through a fine mesh strainer and bring to room temperature. You can let it sit on the countertop, or you can use an ice bath to cool it down faster. Then cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Meanwhile, rough chop your pie into pieces and refrigerate until the ice cream base is ready.

Once the mixture is cold, pour it into your ice cream maker and let it churn to a soft serve consistency, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a cold bowl and evenly fold in pie pieces. Transfer to an airtight ice cream container and freeze for about 2 hours.

YAY PEACH PIE ICE CREAM!

The chunks of peaches are my favorite.

No, just kidding, the chunks of pie crust are my favorite.

Now grab yourself a pie, and all of the above mentioned dairy, and make yourself this ice cream immediately.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie with Maria Cookie Crust

Published on April 29, 2015April 30, 2015 by Krys5 Comments

One of my favorite treats when I was a kid was Abuelita Mexican hot chocolate and Maria cookies. I would always dip the cookies in my hot chocolate, just like my grandma did with her coffee, and experience the pure joy that only food gives me. I was having a late night craving and had the wild I had the idea of putting the flavors together in pie form. Sometimes I don’t want to drink hot chocolate, but I pretty much always want to eat pie. So I made my dream a reality.

This pie has a crispy buttery cookie crust, much like a graham cracker crust. The filling is fudgey and gooey with a crackled top, and has all the flavor of Mexican hot chocolate.

Quick Note about Pie Pan Size:

For this recipe I used a 9 inch pie pan. You can use whatever you have, but if you use smaller pans you may not end up using all of your crust mixture or filling. But that’s ok, it’s better to make more and have some left over than not have enough.

Maria Cookie Crust

2 cups Maria cookie crumbs (1-2 packages of Maria cookies)

1 stick butter, melted

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Use a blender or food processor to finely crush your cookies into crumbs. (If you don’t have either of those appliances, put the cookies in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin.) Melt butter on stove stop or microwave. Mix melted butter and crumbs together until it has a wet sand consistency. It should hold together when you pinch it. If your crust is still a little dry and won’t hold together, you can add a bit more melted butter until it does. Put in pie pan and use your hands or a measuring cup to press and flatten the crumbs to the bottom and up against the sides.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 7-10 minutes until it has just set to the touch. You don’t want to over-bake or over brown it, since it’ll bake more with the filling. Set it aside to cool.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Filling

4 ounces Mexican Hot Chocolate, such as Abuelita

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1.5 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cinnamon stick

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat eggs in a small bowl and set aside. Chop chocolate to make it easier to melt. Melt butter and chocolate together in a sauce pan with cinnamon stick over medium-low heat. Add the sugar and remove from heat. Remove cinnamon stick. While stirring constantly, add eggs and beat well until smooth.

Pour filling mixture into prepared pie crust until it almost hits the top edge of the crust. Do not over fill the pan.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes on center rack. The pie should be just barely set but remain gooey in the middle, and have a crackled top. It will set more as it cools.

Serve warm or room temp with ice cream or whipped cream. YUM!

Butternut Squash Pie with Speculoos Cookie Crust and Pecan Streusel

Published on November 3, 2014November 3, 2014 by Krys1 Comment

I love baking pies, you guys. For me there’s no better way to spend a cold autumn morning than baking a pie and listening to my favorite holiday mix. We’ve finally had some cooler weather and rain in California, so it was time to wake and bake. Pumpkin? Nah, been there. Sweet potato? Nah, done that. Butternut squash? Yes. Butternut squash is probably my most favorite of the squashes, but I’d never had it in pie form, so I was unreasonably excited.

I didn’t feel like using regular pie crust, either. I’m such a rebel \m/. I thought maybe it would be nice with a cookie crust. *Light bulb* Have you ever had speculoos cookies? Jesus C. they’re good. They’re spiced and very crunchy. Perfect for crust making.

The result was exactly what I’d hoped for. The filling has a similar consistency to pumpkin and sweet potato pie, but it has more of a fruity aroma and taste. The spiced cookie crust paired well with it and gave a nice texture. I added a pecan streusel on top because I like the roasted nut flavor along side all the sweetness. Ok, I’m starting to sound like a foodie d-bag. I won’t go on and on with the Top Chef style food chatter, but basically the pie is yummy and you should make it. Here’s the recipe.

Speculoos Cookie Crust:
1 pack of Speculoos cookies, 1 1/2 cups of crumbs
5 tbs melted butter

Use a blender or food processor to finely crush your cookies into crumbs. (If you don’t have either of those appliances, put the cookies in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin.) Melt butter on stove stop or microwave. Mix melted butter and crumbs together until it has a wet sand consistency. It should hold together when you pinch it. If your crust is still a little dry and won’t hold together, you can add a bit more melted butter until it does. Put in pie pan and use your hands or a measuring cup to press and flatten the crumbs to the bottom and up against the sides.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until it has set and slightly browned. Set aside to cool.

This part of the pie is optional but highly recommended.

Pecan Streusel Topping (Optional):
1/2 cup pecan pieces
2 tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Toss ingredients together and reserve for sprinkling on top of pie halfway through baking.

Now for the filling.

Pie Filling:
1 large butternut squash (approx. 2- 2/12 cups of puree)
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cloves
1 1/4 cups heavy cream

There are a few different methods to cooking the squash. First is the method I used because it gives a nice roasted flavor and cooks faster:
1.Peel, cut into large chunks, and roast at 400 degrees for 40-ish minutes.
Or, alternatively you can:
2. Cut it in half and bake it cut side down, for about 1-1/2 hours.
3. Peel, cut into large chunks, and boil until tender.

Let it cool and then puree it.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar and eggs. Add the salt, cinnamon, ginger and allspice and mix really well. Stir in the butternut squash puree and cream and mix until smooth. Pour into the prepared pie shell.

Bake for about 45 minutes until filling has set and slightly risen in the middle. Let cool completely and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. [Note: If using optional streusel mixture, sprinkle onto pie after 20 minutes and then continue baking for 25 more minutes]

Mini Pie Cupcakes – They’re Cupcakes with Pie Inside!

Published on August 4, 2014August 4, 2014 by Krys14 Comments

Mini Pie Cupcakes? Mini PieCakes? CupPieCakes?

Call them whatever you want but these are my new favorite things. Remember the pie-cake I made? It’s almost like that, but in cupcake form. Sure, the cake was good, but most of the time I’ll pick cupcakes over cake. This version is more simple and mild, but still very delicious and interesting. These cupcakes were a lot easier to manage and took a lot less time than the monster pie-cake. So if you’re feeling intimidated by pie-cakes because of flavor and effort, try this instead.

This time I made the cake and frosting from scratch, which I very much prefer and will do next time I attempt a pie-cake. What I didn’t make from scratch were the mini pies. It would be simple enough to do that using a mini cupcake tin, but it wasn’t necessary because Trader Joe’s has the best mini pies ever. Are you familiar with this medley of fruit pies? Well, you should be.

All you need to do is whip up some cake batter and frosting (your own recipe or boxed is fine) and buy (or make) some mini pies. If you’re using frozen pies, let them thaw out for a bit.

I made my favorite yellow cake recipe. It has a classic flavor and is the perfect density to hold the pie.

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Cream room temperature butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and continue to beat. Gradually add the vanilla and eggs (one at a time) and mix well. Sift together the dry ingredients. Add them to the butter mixture alternating with the milk.

Line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Pour a small amount of batter into the liner and push it up the sides a little. Place the mini pie in and top with more cake batter. Bang the pan on the counter to make sure everything is settled in there. Then bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

The frosting I used is a simple buttercream.

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk

Cream together the butter and vanilla. Sift the powdered sugar and add it to the butter mixture. Scrape down the bowl often to make sure all everything is mixed in. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until it’s your desired consistency. Beat until smooth for about 2-4 minutes.

What you get is PIE INSIDE OF CAKE IN CUPCAKE FORM. You get the best of both worlds. The pie center is so good. And the piecrust goes super well with the fluffy cake. It’s basically a dream hybrid dessert.

Introducing the Banana Split PieCake

Published on July 30, 2014August 2, 2014 by Krys1 Comment

Let’s talk about pie-cake. It’s like the turducken of cakes. A piecaken? Who knows where this thing even got started but the first one I ever saw was when Charles Phoenix made his cherpumple (cherry/pumpkin/apple) cake. It’s 3 layers of cake with pies baked into each one. I always try explaining this to people and they look at me like I have three heads until I show them a picture. So here.

Naturally I was excited by two of my favorite things coming together to make a monster dessert and I wanted to make one.

I figured it could work with other flavor combos, and I just so happened to have been craving a banana split, so I devised a plan to make my very own banana split inspired piecake.

To me the perfect banana split consists of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice creams topped with pineapple, chocolate, and strawberry sauces. Lots of cherries and whipped cream. So, I would do:

Vanilla cake with Cherry Pie
Chocolate Cake with Pineapple Pie
Strawberry Banana Filling
Whipped Buttercream Frosting
And then a topping of cherries, chocolate sauce, and more bananas.

Sounds good right? I went out and bought all the ingredients and then I thought, “WHO THE F IS GOING TO EAT ALL OF THIS WITH ME?” I figured it would be better to bake it while we were in Florida visiting family and friends. I could serve it to them at our little shindig. So I put it off and waited until we got to my friend Alan’s house.

Alan has a great kitchen for cooking and baking, but Alan is also a bachelor who had nothing I needed to properly execute this cake. I used some serious ingenuity, my friends. I ended up mixing my boxed cake up in a giant stock pot, by hand, with a wooden spoon. Don’t even ask me how I did the rest. It’s all a blur. I will tell you that Winn-Dixie sold me rancid butter so I gave up and bought canned frosting. I will also tell you that Publix didn’t have a pineapple pie so I had to make one. Luckily that’s the easiest thing to make. For the filling, I melted 4tbs melted with 4 tbs flour and then mixed in a large can of crushed pineapple, a tbs of honey, and a tbs of sugar. I threw it into a frozen pie shell and topped it with more dough. It made a very suitable pineapple pie. Oh God, who am I? Sandra Lee?

Ingredients:

1 box chocolate cake mix
1 box vanilla cake mix
1 pineapple pie, homemade or store bought
1 cherry pie, homemade or store bought
2 cups macerated strawberries (mix 1 pound of strawberries with 2 tbs sugar, let stand for 30 minutes)
2 large bananas, sliced
Frosting
Chocolate sauce
Maraschino cherries
Anyway it was time to put this cake together so here’s what I did…

Pour half of your cake batter into a deep 9″ cake pan. De-tin the pie and plop it inside.

Then cover with more of your cake batter.

Something I learned for next time is that I won’t use all of the batter and I won’t follow the box instructions for baking the cake. Because of the pie in the middle, the cake takes forever to bake. Most cakes bake at around 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. I think baking at a lower temperature is better, like 325 or so, for a longer baking time, about 60 minutes. That will help the cake bake evenly so you don’t end up with dry edges.

After baking, let the cakes cool completely before taking them out of the pan. Then make your filling. I just macerated strawberries by mixing about one pound of strawberries with 2 tbs of sugar and letting them sit out for about 30 minutes.

Now put it all together. Lay the first layer on a platter, frost it, top with strawberries and sliced banana, then lay the next layer on top. Frost and top with bananas, chocolate sauce, and maraschino cherries.

Here’s what it looks like inside.

Not a bad first attempt! It was tasty and verrryyy filling. Now that I’ve picked up some tips and I’m back in my own kitchen, I think I’m ready for another go at it. Now I just need to decide what flavor combo to do next.

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