Happy Pi Day!

In honor of "pi" day--my favorite pie!

In my "grown-up" years, I've developed an abnormal propensity for coconut. So in a rare moment of genius, I decided to give my banana cream pie a twist by adding coconut to it and voila!--deliciousness.

I started by making a Nilla wafer crust. I just combined crushed Nilla wafers and 2 tbsp. of butter and used a little bit of milk just to help bind the ingredients. Then I baked the crust for about 10-15 mins in a 350 degree oven.


The sugar, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolks make a custard that needs to be cooked with milk.


In order to prevent the eggs from cooking too quickly in the mix (and becoming scrambled), you temper the mixture by heating up the milk and adding it little by little to the egg/sugar/salt/cornstarch mixture. Then you put the combined mixture back onto the stovetop and cook until you get a nice custardy cream texture.

Add and fold in the sliced bananas and coconut to the custardy cream. Fill the pie crust.


Top with whipped cream. Homemade of course (it's just so easy and so much better than any market bought kinds). Top again with toasted coconut shavings (optional).

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Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

4 large egg yolks

2 cups whole milk

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

3 ripe bananas, halved lengthwise, then thinly sliced crosswise

2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut (plus more for toasting)

me and my sweet potato pie

This year for Thanksgiving, I decided to go rogue and make a sweet potato pie instead of a pumpkin pie. I figure if its good enough for James Taylor, it's good enough for me! I don't know why sweet potato pies don't get more love. It seems to be all about pumpkin, doesn't it? The great thing about sweet potato pie is that it has so much more natural sweetness to it, that I actually barely added any sugar at all. Just a sprinkle of cinnamon here, nutmeg there, some evaporated milk (which i guess is pretty sweet in itself), filled it into a pate brisee pie crust, and topped it with a pecan streusel topping. Of course I then topped that off with some mini-marshmallows, since after all, Thanksgiving is no Thanksgiving without some mini-marshmallows!!

them apples.

Let's start with a classic. The quintessentially All-American apple pie.
(with a twist, of course!)

I got these apples from the local farmer's market. Organically grown, quality fruits make the best fruit pies. Generally, granny smith apples are favored in making apple pies because their tart flavor balances well with the sugars and the texture holds up well through the baking. However, adding in a couple other apples for a well-rounded flavor can provide a nice change. (Pippins, Newtowns, or even Pink Lady apples would be wonderful!)

I like to slice my apples quite thin because they provide layers of apple flavor in the pie rather than chunks of apple texture.

Prepare the crust first. I like to use a Pate Brisee recipe. It's buttery, not too sweet, and holds up through the rolling and kneading. Refrigerate it overnight.



















Macerate your apple filling!!! It makes such a difference! In her "Pie and Pastry Bible", Rose Levy Beranbaum suggests macerating your apples before baking in order to 1) keep the juices intact, and 2) keep the apple filling from becoming soggy in the oven. Mix the apples with all the spices, lemon juice, flour, etc. Then drain the mixture for about 15 minutes and catch the juices. Boil the liquid with 2tbsp of butter until it becomes syrupy and caramelized.


Like this!
















Set apples and sauce aside.




















The crust dough should be set out to room temperature. For a two crust pie, you should double the Pate Brisee recipe. (I suggest that the bottom crust have a bit more dough than the top crust so that the top crust is thinner than the bottom crust when the pie is baked.)




















Set the rolled-out dough on the pie pan.



















Pour the apple filling mixture on the bottom dough. Then top the apple mixture with the caramelized sauce. For this particular recipe, I added a streusel topping (flour, sugar, butter, toffee candy bar bits), which is what you see here.



















Use water on the edges of the bottom crust to create a glue. Then, place the second crust on top. Don't forget the vents. Don't forget to protect the pie edges to prevent burning.


Brush the entire top of the pie with egg-white wash. Sprinkle sugar over the pie.

Make sure the oven is preheated at 450. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Then, lower the oven to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes. Take the pie edge protector off about 10 minutes before you take out the pie.


















Ta-da!


















Here, the pie is served with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. (1 cup of quality heavy cream, 1/2 tsp of vanilla, 2 tbsp of sugar; Beat until soft peaks form)

Enjoy!!

Pate Brisee

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar (increase to 1 1/2 teaspoons if for a sweet recipe)
• 4 to 6 Tbsp ice water, very cold

Apple Filling

• 6 cups apples
  
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purposeflour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 tablespoons heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons butter

easy as pie.

i love everything about pie. i love how versatile it is. you can make savory pies or fruit pies. you can have pie for breakfast, lunch, or dessert. you can throw it in someone's face and get guaranteed laughs. pie is the ultimate comfort food. there is something so simple yet beautiful about pies. they feel like......home.

but pies are not EASY. the best thing about baking pies is how much love and care goes into it. any baker will tell you that a pie is only as good as its crust. oh that crust. to get a nice, flaky, buttery crust...you gotta love that pie to death. you gotta love it with each roll, knead, roll, knead, roll. it's a labor of love.

and then...you fill it. with whatever your heart desires. then like magic, it's done. it's a pie. and it's beautiful.

i'm going to watch "waitress" and then bake some pies. anyone care to join me? we can have a pie-eating contest!