Lemon Pie with Grandma

Baked on Saturday, 4/17/10.

Grandma M. gave us some of her lemons, and she mentioned missing making lemon pie, so my dad suggested we bake together. Needless to say, we did, and it was so much fun. She didn't have her recipe (it ended up being a recipe from a cornstarch box anyway), so I looked to The Daring Bakers since I knew I could see LOTS of bloggers' results from the same recipe and they seemed pretty successful (one failure here). You can find the recipe on a lot of their sites...like this one. We used a little whipped cream (the real heavy whipping cream whipped with sugar) instead of meringue, and since my dad doesn't like really tart lemon pies, we only put a tint bit of lemon zest. I was dumb and used a pie tin that was too small, so the crust ended up too thick, and we had a whole lotta extra filling, but it was still really good and not too tart at all! We used Joy the Baker's "easy no-roll pie crust" recipe. It is really easy. And good.


Raw:
Baked:I always get nervous when yolks can curdle.

Chocolate Cream Pie With Meringue

Baked Sunday, 6/14/09 for Jackie T's high school grad party

This was my first time making a meringue topping by myself. I didn't get to try a piece because we took it to a potluck-style graduation party, but I tried the chocolate filling and the meringue separately, and they were good. People at the party said it was good too. Thank you, Young Living in Texas/AllRecipes.com


Meringue after being stirred...but before being whipped (i.e., the foamy stage):

Meringue after being whipped:



Not the prettiest crust...haha:



CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE RECIPE (original here):
* Pretty much didn't make any changes

• 1 2/3 cups water
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 5 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 egg yolks, beate
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 (9-inch) baked pastry shells

1. Mix water and cornstarch and cocoa until smooth.
2. Stir in milk & egg yolks.
   
3. Cook until thick in saucepan or microwave.
4. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter.
5. Add vanilla.
6. Cool slightly, stirring occasionally.
7. Pour into baked pie shell (I used a pre-made Safeway dough from Vons)
   
8. Top with meringue and brown (OR you can top with whipped cream after chilling the pie).

MERINGUE RECIPE (Didn't come with the chocolate cream recipe; can't remember where I got this. Sorry!):

1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons white sugar

1. In a small saucepan, combine water, 2 tablespoons white sugar, & cornstarch. Heat until clear, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
2. In a large glass or metal bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt until foamy.
3. Mix in vanilla.
4. Gradually add the 6 tablespoons of sugar, beating constantly until meringue forms stiff peaks.
5. Gradually pour in cornstarch mixture, beating until stiff.
6. Spread over top of pie and seal to crust.
7. Brown in the oven at 375 degrees for 9-15 minutes, depending on the meringue's amount and size.

Hershey's Holiday Fudge Torte

This is sooo good and rich. My mom always says that we have to make this every year for our family New Year's party. This year I made two of them, but, for some reason, one's batter came out creamier and lighter than the other, but I don't understand how that happened because I was so careful making them. Oh well...I make mistakes all of the time. They seemed to taste the same.

The glaze is to die for.

See? One came out lighter than the other:



RECIPE for ONE TORTE (original recipe from the 2001 Hershey's Holiday Collection):

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Hershey's cocoa (you don't have to use Hershey's of course; I didn't)
1 1/2 tsp powdered instant coffee
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (softened)
3/4 cup dairy sour cream (or 8 oz.)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Fudge nut glaze (recipe below)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Grease 9-inch round baking pan; line bottom with wax paper
3. Grease paper
4. Flour paper and pan
5. Stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, instant coffee, baking soda, & salt in large bowl
6. Add butter, sour cream, egg, & vanilla
7. Beat on low speed of mixer until blended (I did this one by hand 'cause we can't find our mixer)
8. Increase speed to medium & beat 3 minutes
9. Pour batter into prepared pan
10. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
11. Cool 10 minutes & then remove from pan to wire rack
12. Gently peel off wax paper & cool COMPLETELY
13. Prepare fudge nut glaze (recipe below).
14. Place cake on serving plate
15. Pour glaze evenly over cake, allowing some to run down sides (I let it all drizzle down)
16. Refrigerate until glaze is firm (~1 hour)

FUDGE NUT GLAZE RECIPE:

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tsp light corn syrup
1/3 cup Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips (I didn't use Hershey's)
3/4 cup hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, or pecans (I excluded the nuts this time)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine all ingredients except nuts and vanilla in small saucepan
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils
3. Cook, stirring constantly, for five minutes
4. Remove from heat
5. Cool 10 minutes
6. Stir in nuts & vanilla

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

This was really easy to make, and you can actually taste the pumpkin AND the chocolate (like Baking Bites said). Made this last night for a family New Year's party.


Here's the recipe (got original recipe from here, which includes a graham cracker crust recipe):
*Note: I only used the filling recipe because I had an extra premade crust that I used

Filling:
3 large eggs (room temperature)
1 - 15-oz. can pumpkin puree (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
~1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (orig recipe calls for ginger and other spices)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk (I used non fat milk with a tiny bit of heavy whipping cream)

1. Set oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs with a whisk until slightly foamy (about 1 minute).
3. Whisk in remaining ingredients (except milk) and beat until smooth.
4. Whisk in milk.
5. Pour mixture into prepared cooled pie crust (can also use a pastry crust or a store-bought pie crust) and bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F.
6. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 more minutes until the pie filling jiggles only slightly and a knife comes out clean.
7. Cool completely on wire rack before cutting and refrigerate if storing leftovers.

Auntie Joanne's Best Custard Pie

* Baked 7.25.08 *

It's more like a big cream puff.


Melissa, Minh-Chao and I made a custard pie (based off of my aunt's "Best Custard Pie" recipe) last night. SO GOOD--and so easy to make!

Whoops...somehow we ended up with too much filling (we didn't even add all of what we made).




Wait--there's a story, as there almost always is whenever I bake (I tend to screw up a lot). We weren't sure what kind of pie or cupcakes we were making until they got here, but we decided to go with this custard one, which is more like a giant cream puff than a custard pie. I got this recipe from my aunt because she made this several years ago for New Year's or Christmas or something. Unfortunately, I didn't read the recipe until we started baking in my apartment...so we had to make a few substitutions and adjustments. First, I didn't go down to get milk and eggs before Melissa and Minh-Chao came over (stupid!) so we all went downstairs to the little convenience store right on the corner for eggs cuz we didn't think we'd need milk. Then we realized the pudding requires milk and that you gotta make the pudding several hours before you bake the crust (so that the pudding is cold and hard). So we decided to cheat and use ready-made Handi-Snacks Vanilla Pudding (lol in the little individual cups), which I now think is kinda gross. Anyway, we mixed that with the one other filling ingredient (real whipped cream) and sped up to the crust-cooling process too by taking it out of the pan and onto a plate and into the freezer. That all worked out pretty well; it still tasted really good! You just can't think about the pudding part too much (unless you like the taste of Handi-Snacks pudding). I'm still pretty happy!

Oh! And I have to mention that we didn't have a mixer so Melissa whipped the cream by hand!! That was way cool.

Whipping cream in liquid form:

Getting closer...

THERE! *Let me remind you that Melissa did this by hand!*

Next time, I'll prep appropriately (i.e., make and refrigerate the pudding earlier). Can't wait to try it again!

Recipe for Cream Puff Crust:


1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup Crisco shortening
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup flour
2 large or 3 small eggs

1. Mix boiling water, shortening, salt & flour over flame/heat.
2. Keep stirring until it rolls off sides & forms a ball
3. Remove from fire/heat.
4. Cool 5 minutes
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and beat by hand (fold) until smooth and velvety.
6. Place in 9-inch well-greased pie pan and spread out so it is 1/4 inch up on sides.
7. Bake 15-20 minutes in 400-degree oven.
8. Cool on shelf in pan it was baked in. It won't get soggy so you can bake it the night before.

Recipe for Filling:


1 Family size instant vanilla pudding
1 cup whipping cream

1. In the morning to be served, make pudding following instructions on package for pie (will not set if overbeaten).
2. Whip cream and divide in half.
3. Fold half the whipped cream into the filling and save the other half for topping.
4. Put pudding filling in cooked, cooled shell.
5. Cover the top with the remaining whipped cream.
6. Chill.
7. Serve.

Slightly Burnt Boston Cream Pie

* Baked 1.13.07 *

I guess it did get a little brown (it shouldn't have been though because I took it out a couple of minutes before the minimum amount of time)...but at least it's not black!! I didn't like the ugly parts, so I smoothed down the chocolate over them. I'm not sure how this one turned out because I only licked the spoons of the chocolate and the custard. I hope my friend liked it! If it turned out like the one we made for our other friend a couple of years ago, it was good...I think (we used the same recipe). Can't remember. Anyways, HERE is the recipe for that from The Prepared Pantry.

Pumpkin Mascarpone Pie

Mom made this pie on 3.28.08 after her co-worker gave us the recipe because she knows that I love pumpkin things. She got this recipe from Epicurious.com. It was really good, but I really couldn't tell that there was mascarpone cheese in it (it just tasted like a regular pumpkin pie).

Here's a slice of the final product (with the cream topping):


Here's a closer shot:


Piece w/o the topping:

The full pie: