Archive for August, 2009
TWD #82: Pie me to the moon.
I have no idea how I came up with the title. I think I just heard my husband sing a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon while writing this post and since “pie” and “fly” rhyme… well… there you go. Just a little insight into my brain. Scary isn’t it? HA HA!
This week the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers are baking up some lime meringue pie courtesy of Linda of Tender Crumb. You can find the complete recipe on her blog. Not only is this one cool chick, she has a fabulous blog and she’s a UCLA fan-atic like me! (Linda, I’m doing the 8-clap for this pie! hehe)
What I learned this week:
This pie took about 8 hours (I’m not exaggerating!) to make (1 hour to make lime cream, graham crust and meringue, 4 hours to chill lime cream and 3 hours to chill assembled pie) but it was TOTALLY worth it. I never would have made this pie without my fellow TWD bakers. I’ve learned so much since joining this group. I feel like this pie was a testament to how much I’ve grown. Let me just tell ya… learning is tasty!
Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie
Recipe adapted from Baking: From My Home To Yours, Dorie Greenspan
Look at all that beautiful green lime zest!
Cornstarch is magical (R)
Dorie mentioned that it takes about 10 minutes to get the lime cream to 180F but I did the supercharge method and it took about 4 minutes. I think the metal bowl helps to speed up the process too. The cream is so luscious. Don’t skip the straining part. It’s worth it.
Just ignore all the glorious butter you see in the blender. It doesn’t count. Promise.
Dorie gave us the option of a pie crust or a graham cracker crust. I chose the graham cracker crust for the easy factor but honestly I think the graham cracker was the PERFECT compliment to the sweet meringue and the sour lime cream.
Isn’t my egg white separator the cutest?
Lovely delicious stiff meringue.
I gotta admit that my favorite part of the whole pie was busting out my blowtorch and setting the meringue on fire. Ok that might be a tad overdramatic. HA HA!
Husband rating: A+
He wasn’t sure about lime in a pie but after one bite he was hooked!
Wifey rating: A+
Before this pie I thought I was a lemon girl but WOWOW this lime meringue pie is so FRIGGIN good. I’m a lime convert.
Other rating: A+
I made the pie for our Sunday family dinner and everyone raved. My MIL said that I have to bring this pie to Thanksgiving this year. Looks like the pumpkin cheesecake got replaced!
Next week: Espresso Cheesecake Brownies pages 104-105
Bunday Monday
Snickerdoodle, you were my joy for almost 6 years. I love you and miss you so much already. Rest in peace.
I have some post-publish entries on my cupcake blog set up but other than that please forgive me if I don’t respond to emails, blog comments, twitter replies etc for next few days.
No matter how many times you go through it, it never gets easier.
Thanks for understanding.
-CB
TWD #81: Cute as a button.
Thanks Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen (You can find the complete recipe on her blog) for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie chocolate-y double orange (I accidentally-on-purpose used 2x the zest!) brownie goodness topped with melted white chocolate in a bite size button!
One sentence.
I know. I’ve been slacking.
I’ll take full responsibility for my lack of posts. Actually I blame summer. (Did I mention that already?) But leave it to my fellow TWD baker, Nancy, to listen to my whining to give me a way to ease back in. She calls it breviloquent. (Don’t worry I had to google it too.)
It’s called “One-sentence-per-post” week and it’s exactly what it sounds like. One sentence. Not one word. Not a haiku. Not a novel. Just 1 sentence. (I’m gonna be relying on my Twitter experience for this one. HA!)
OMG I just thought of something! This should be interesting come Tuesday and TWD post tomorrow. *smacks head*
Prepare yourself for run on sentence, semi-colons, parentheticals and methodically placed “ands”.
Mrs. Price (my high school english composition teacher), please avert your eyes. This aint gonna be pretty.
Bunday Monday
If you haven’t heard of the ThreadCakes contest, let me give you the lowdown. Of course you aren’t surprised that my entry had to do with bunnies right? hehe
Today the judges are picking the winners. Eek! Wish me luck!
Check out the winners page later to see which ThreadCakes design reigns supreme.
TWD # 80: Kiss my bundt… err… muffin.
I can’t believe it’s been a month since I’ve posted a Tuesdays With Dorie recipe. July was a crazy month for me so I took a little TWD hiatus but now I’m back and with my habitual professional procrastination form by posting with 2 hours til deadline. Kids, I’m a professional. Don’t try this at home.
Truth be told I wasn’t that excited to make the Classic Banana Bundt Cake (Sorry Mary!) b/c I’m not a banana fan girl. Far from it. I gag just thinking about eating a banana. It’s a texture thing for me. It probably doesn’t help that my earliest memory of eating a banana was vomiting it back up. My mom thought a banana would be good to eat when I was sick. Just trust me when I tell you that banana flavored vomit isn’t a good thing.
I’m so losing my readers with the vomit talk right?
Anyways… moving right along.
Seeing as our host this week is the fabulous Mary of The Food Librarian, I couldn’t skip this one. (You can find the original bundt recipe on her blog. I posted my muffin version below.)
She’s what I like to call “one of the cool peeps”. Am I surprised that Mary picked a bundt cake? I can emphatically tell you “no”. In fact I would have been surprised if she hadn’t picked a bundt cake! Just peruse her blog for a little while and you’ll know why. The woman likes loves bundts. Not to be confused with butts. Then again I don’t know Mary *that* well. She could be a butt woman. Maybe if we ask nicely, she’ll confess in comments. *giggle*
What I learned this week:
Twitter rocks. But I knew that before this week. I got some great banana and sour cream substitute suggestions in like 5 secs. Aaawww the power of Twitter. Ultimately I went with pumpkin and chocolate chips after doing a pantry raid. I don’t know why it always surprises me when I find things at the back of my pantry. I should clean it out more often.
Banana Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake, The Muffin Version
Recipe adapted from Baking: From My Home To Yours, Dorie Greenspan
Makes about 12-14 muffins
INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup) (I substituted with 3/4 cup canned pumpkin)
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I substituted 1/2 cup buttermilk+2-1/2 tbsp butter)
3 ounces chopped chocolate, optional (I used milk chocolate chips)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line cupcake/muffin pan with liners.
Combine the flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
Working with a stand mixer, fitted with a flat beater (or with a hand mixer in a large bowl), beat the butter (1 stick+2-1/2 tbsp) until creamy. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, then the egg, beating for about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas canned pumpkin. Then mix in half the dry ingredients (don’t worry if the batter curdles), all the sour cream buttermilk and then the rest of the flour mixture. Turn off the mixer and hand mix the chocolate chips.
Fill liners about 2/3-3/4 full. Bake the muffins for about 28 to 32 minutes (I baked mine for 30 minutes), or until a knife inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Transfer the muffin tin to a rack and cool to room temperature.
ENJOY!
Husband rating: A
I think he was a little disappointed that I didn’t use bananas (Poor boy is so banana deprived!) b/c he loves bananas but he still raved about the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins nonetheless.
Wifey rating: A
I confess I’m a batter licker. Let me just tell you that this batter is FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. The muffins were yummy esp with the chocolate chips! Definitely will make them again.
Next week: Brownie Buttons pages 106-107
