Christmas is Coming!!!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Pie

The best pumpkin pie ever! About 2 inches thick of creamy spice filled goodness. You can use any pie crust even store-bought. Just make sure you cook it before you add the pumpkin filling. 

In this pie, I made a long braid with extra pie dough and then glued it to the pie crust using eggwash (1 beaten egg and 1 tbsp of water). This is one of the best pie crust trims that I've used because it helps prevent the crust from shrinking too much.

Ingredients:

Flaky pie crust dough
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch 
2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp salt

1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin (is about 1-3/4 cups)

3/4 cup 35% cream

3 large eggs, beaten to blend

1/2 cup sour cream

Pie crust:

1. Roll out pie dough and transfer to 9-inch pie dish. Freeze crust 15min (helps prevent the crust from shrinking). Preheat oven 375 F. Line crust with foil and pie weights or beans. Bake until sides are set and dry (about 15min). Remove foil and beans and cook another 15min. Pierce  crust if begins to bubble. Cool the crust for 30min

Pie filling:

1. Reduce oven to 325F
2. whisk both sugars + cornstarch + cinnamon + ginger + and salt in a bowl until no lumps remain.
3. Whisk in pumpkin + 35% cream + eggs + sour cream
4. Poor filling in pie crust
5. Bake pie until the filling puffs at edges and center is almost set. (1h to 1h05)
6. Cool on rack and cover + chill until cold

Serve chilled with soft whipping cream. 

Irish Soda Bread

Soda bread is a bread that doesn't need yeast or time to rise so it's great if you're in a hurry. What makes it rise is the baking soda and the buttermilk. When you mix them together, they start to react and bubble a bit. 
Irish Soda bread is perfect for dunking in soups or stews. Great warm with butter or jam. 

This is a recipe I found on allrecipes.com  and it is very good and simple.

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 325 F (165 C) and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan
2. Combine flour, baking powder, granulated sugar, salt, and baking soda. 
3. In a separate bowl, mix the egg and buttermilk and add it to the dry ingredients. Mix until just moistened
4. Add in melted butter and stir
5. Pour into pan
6. Bake for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

A Break from these Carbs (Part 4)

Picture and Recipe from Kitchen Musings

Why I hate Rice Pudding

           The Year I turned four I was sent to daycare. It was in a pretty little house in a small town. The house was sky blue with white gables. It reflected well its name: Papillon Bleu, the blue butterfly. I loved going there and I was always disappointed when my dad pulled up in the driveway to bring me home. I had many friends there and we used to play on the hill in the backyard. My favorite part of the day was mealtime. The daycare had a wonderful cook who used to make us home made lunch everyday. Every mealtime included a sweet and tasty dessert. As a child, I had a big appetite and I used to always ask for seconds. I loved every kind of food. I was not a picky eater.

          I remember one day, after lunch, we had our scheduled dessert but this time it was something that I could not eat. I looked at it over the rim of the bowl with disgust plainly on written on my face. The gooey white mush that was in front of me was not only full of chunks but also piping hot. What others might call a creamy smooth rice pudding; I called a goopy, gunky, stomach churning mash. For the first time that I can remember, I refused to finish my meal. Now this did not please the daycare worker. It seems that she felt the need to force feed me this dessert whether I liked it or not.

           I do not understand her reasoning to this day. I can understand an adult coaxing and pleading a child to eat his or her veggies or to finish a glass of milk, but a dessert? As she was forcing the spoon in my mouth, I was begging and crying for her to stop. She did not. The result? I vomited all over her and the floor as soon as that disgusting substance invaded my mouth. It was not the taste that repulsed me, It was the consistency. As expected, she was not pleased but could not reprimand me since I warned her beforehand and did not do it on purpose. 

           This ordeal may seem like a trivial anecdote in a person's life but this greatly affected my future eating habits. To this day, I cannot stand rice pudding. I can't stand any pudding as a matter of fact. I can't even smell the odour of creamy vanilla flavoured foods. I especially can't put anything in my mouth that resembles the texture of pudding. Now, you may think that this does not limit very much my choices but you are mistaken. Apart from the obvious pudding, I still can't stomach oatmeal. The texture and temperature makes it a perfect twin to the feared rice pudding. Even cereal is out of bounds once it absorbs too much milk. Another food item that makes me gag is yogurt. To clarify, I used to love all these aliments before the incident but now they are taboo. My life may have been much different if it were not for the evilness of a daycare worker and the silminess of sweetened rice.

Gluten Free!!!

Flourless Chocolate Torte

This chocolate torte is such a delight with its lightness and chocolately-but-not-too-sweet flavour. It is best served with soft whipped cream and berries. Great for people who don't like rich or dense deserts. Very simple recipe and a small amount to ingredients. 

It can be served with a chocolate ganache for the extra sweet-toothed eaters out there but I prefer without. 

Here's how:

Ingredients:

6 large eggs seperated

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

9 ounces of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (The best quality you can find)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 cream of tartar

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Place rack in middle of oven

Butter a 9x3 inch springform pan, which is this -->

Separate the egg yolks and egg whites in 2 bowls and cover and bring to room temperature.

Melt the Butter and chocolate together in a bowl over a pot of simmering water so you don't burn the chocolate and make it dry and cool to room temperature. (This step is important because later, when you add the eggs, you don't want them to cook in the hot chocolate)

Place the egg yolks in a bowl with 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture is until thick and lemon coloured. It will take up to 5 minutes and the mixture will have at least tripled in volume.

Add the vanilla and chocolate mixture and beat until smooth.

In a clean separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy and then add 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar. Continue beating until soft peaks form and then add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Continue beating until tiff peaks form.

With a spatula, incorporate the egg whites with the chocolate a bit at a time by folding it into the mixture using large strokes. (Don't overmix or the batter will deflate and lose all the lightness and volume)

Poor the batter into the pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then remove the sides of the pan and cool completely before serving.

When the cake comes out of the oven, it will have risen quite a bit. As it cools, it will sink a bit in the middle but that's normal. It will also have cracks on the top.

Lemon Meringue Pie

It's been almost a year since my last post but I had a baking bug this week and so I made a Lemon Meringue Pie because it felt like Summer.

I might have already posted a recipe on here but I baked a different one this time. I preferred this recipe by Anna Olson because the flavour of the lemon curd was much less aggressive and thicker. The meringue was also fluffier and the pie itself was much higher and lighter.

For the Pie crust, you can use any pie crust from any recipe including the pre-made frozen ones. Just be sure too cook the crust before you use it. Cook it according to the instructions in the recipe or on the box so until its a nice light golden brown.

Here's the recipe I used and I added 1 tbsp of lemon zest with the lemon juice before adding it to the mix.

Ingredients

Lemon Curd Filling

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Meringue

• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar, sifted

Directions

Lemon Curd Filling

1.   For the filling, whisk the sugar and cornstarch together in a medium saucepot, then whisk in the cold water. Have the other ingredients measured and nearby. Bring the sugar mixture up to a full simmer over medium-high heat, whisking as it cooks, until the mixture is thick and glossy.

2.   Pour about a cup of this thickened filling into the egg yolks while whisking, then return this to the pot and whisk just one minute more. Whisk in the lemon juice and cook until the filling just returns to a simmer. Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the butter then immediately pour the hot filling into the cooled pie shell (the filling will seem very fluid, but it will set up once chilled). Cover the surface of the filling with plastic wrap to keep it hot. Immediately prepare the meringue topping.

3.   Whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium speed until foamy, then increase the speed to high and gradually pour in the granulated sugar and icing sugar and continue whipping just until the whites hold a medium peak when the beaters are lifted.

Meringue

1.   Remove the plastic wrap from the hot lemon filling, then dollop half of the meringue directly onto the filling (the filling will still be very soft, so work gently). Be sure to spread the meringue so that it completely covers the lemon filling and connects with the outside crust, then use a bamboo skewer or paring knife to swirl the meringue just a touch (this will secure it to the lemon curd). Dollop the remaining meringue onto the pie and use the back of your spatula to lift up the meringue and creates spikes. Bake the pie for about 20 minutes at 325 F, until the meringue is nicely browned. Cool the meringue completely to room temperature before chilling for at least 4 hours.