Sunday, December 1, 2013

Honeycomb Chiffon Pie

One of my most glorious pies ever.
Almost looks like real bees working away in their hive:)



One of my friends instantly guessed how the “honeycomb” is made. 
Yup, it’s just bubble-wrap indentations. Quite ingenious of the Pie Bible! 
The bees are chocolate-honey ganache with almond wings.



The honey–apricot chiffon was a marvelous combo, which was complemented well by the vanilla–nut crumb crust. It had almost a healthy, earthy taste (well, comparatively speaking!). The occasional smoosh and crunch of the chocolate bees were a nice touch, too.



And it wasn’t even the star of the show. We had a little baking party featuring banana bread, peanut butter brownies, and butterscotch blondies! (Major sugar rush just looking at the picture!) Sweets, wine, and conversation… What a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I very well might miss Seoul when I leave!



Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Buttermilk Chess Pie

Now, this is the main buttermilk attraction.



I think most people would agree that the crust is the best part of any pie, never mind what the filling is. Just rolled-out or freshly baked – gorgeous, either way! I used a buttermilk crust, which requires buttermilk instead of ice water. It doesn’t really lend any flavor, but makes the crust extra tender and flaky. I could probably just finish off the crust like a huge cookie. Nomnomnom!



Is there anything so wonderful as pie cooling on the counter?
I want to call this picture, “Anticipation.”



It looked and tasted like a giant egg tart!
This is, after all, your most standard custard tart, with a slight citrus flavor from the lemon and just an afterthought-like hint of yogurt from the buttermilk. But otherwise, quite standard.



Just another morning at the office!



Wednesday, November 20, 2013

My Hundredth Pie: Baked Empanadas, Blackberry Pie, and Buttermilk Ice-Cream

I’ve just surpassed my 100th pie! This makes me about two-thirds done with the project.
For this momentous milestone, I made a blackberry pie and…



Empanadas in cheddar crust.
I got the stamp of approval from my friend and her hubby, who is from Colombia:) He said that empanadas are often fried, but they’re baked in places like Argentina. These “southern style” empanadas were gooood!



Blackberry pie with a scoop of buttermilk ice-cream.
This was my first time trying blackberry pie (perhaps trying blackberry, period). It was more tart than I expected, though less so than raspberry. And quite seed-ful, too. The buttermilk ice-cream was also definitely a first. Flavored with orange, it tasted like a citrus yogurt ice-cream. Quite a tart & tangy combo!



Buttermilk ice-cream and raspberry sauce is good too!
I think I may be developing a fondness for buttermilk…



Oh yes, with the extra buttermilk, I made biscuits again. 
This time I used a different recipe (Smitten Kitchen’s) and a scalloped biscuit cutter – to much better results.



And then I made a bacon-egg heart attack sandwich.
You bet it was good!


I sort of feel like I’m racing through the Pie Bible – and I don’t even bake everyday! A large part of the work is coordination (matching pies to people, scouting for and using up ingredients, etc.) and administration (organizing pictures, taking notes, blogging, etc.). And, of course, cleaning up. I think the actual baking accounts for less than a third of all the labor. But I guess that’s normal; it takes a huge amount of energy just too keep something afloat. So, here’s to chugging along at breakneck speed for the next 60 pies!



Sunday, November 17, 2013

Profiteroles!

The exclamation mark should be a permanent addendum the word profiterole! They are simply delightful. For last week’s Sunday snack, I made petits choux and five types of pastry cream: chocolate, praline, orange, white chocolate, and coffee. Whheeee!



I can’t believe ‘chou’ means cabbage; these are much too adorable.
Maybe cabbages have a different reputation in France…?



Making praline powder with caramel-hazelnut.



The “triple vanilla” ice-cream with two types of vanilla seeds (Tahitian and Malagasy) and vanilla extract.  
Vanilla is an actual flavor and this ice-cream proves it!



I made a Do-It-Yourself profiterole bar.
The orange (made with orange zest and Grand Marnier) disappeared the fastest, followed by the chocolate. 
Surprisingly, the white chocolate and praline were not so popular.



And my ultimate favorite: the triple vanilla ice-cream with hot fudge sauce.
O!M!G! These were truly heavenly. 
If I, as the cook, didn’t feel an obligation to taste-test everything I made, I would’ve eaten these exclusively.

Everybody I know always points out that I have a very limited eating capacity. This is not untrue; I probably eat only a small portion of what I make. Instead, I usually ruin other people’s diets and resolve (not intentionally). But when I happen upon something super scrumptious, I really really wish I could eat more! Or at least as much as a normal person. Here are the top ten that have gotten a five-outta-five stars and made me curse my tiny stomach:

1. Profiteroles!


Saturday, November 16, 2013

Chocolate Oblivion Tartlets

A mini Sunday afternoon treat.

The tarts were made with just three ingredients – chocolate, butter, eggs – and were encased in tender walnut cookie tart crusts. They were like intensely chocolaty brownies on cookies:D
                                                                                                                               


This one is a chocolate “oblivion” tartlet with pistachio crème anglaise and raspberry sauce. Pistachio and raspberry are both natural flavor complements to chocolate, so of course I had to have both!




And this one is a chocolate “dependence” tartlet flavored with Grand Marnier and crème anglaise spiked with the same liqueur. Liqueur always seems to bring out flavors; I rather liked this one better. Yum!


I’m flying through these pies at a crazy rate. What normal people would have as a special treat, I have any day of the week. (I realize this book wasn’t meant to be read or made cover to cover, especially not with a time limit!) I sometimes think that perhaps pies are losing their value on me…? Not that I’m really complaining!



Thursday, November 7, 2013

Touch-of-Grace Biscuits: A Buttermilk Dinner

I made buttermilk awhile back. I know there’s the ole vinegar and milk method that’s quite popular as a quick substitute, but I got a hold of the real enzymes. *Grin* Time to make some Southern dishes! I made buttermilk “touch-of-grace” biscuits and buttermilk baked chicken.



Contrary to what it sounds like, buttermilk is not buttery, but a little yogurty. The acid in buttermilk is a wonderful tenderizer, so it’s often used on chicken to bring it to maximum succulence. Let’s put it this way, chicken breast tastes like drumstick after a buttermilk bath.

I set the chicken overnight in a buttermilk marinade of onion, garlic, thyme, and hot sauce, and then baked it with a parmesan, bread crumb coating.



Succulent, spicy, herb-ful, crunchy, cheesy…
I’ll let you imagine what it tasted like:)



Unfortunately, there was nothing “graceful” about the biscuits. That’s actually an understatement because they were probably my biggest flop to date! They came out very dense and doughy instead of fluffy and soft. I’d followed the recipe religiously, as I always do, but I must have done something very wrong. I just don’t know what… It’s at times like these, when I try my hand at a new sub-genre like puff pastry or biscuits, that I remember what it was like to be a newbie. And I’m reminded that I still have a long ways to go!

When something turns out poorly, I have the unignorable urge to improve. Immediately, if possible! This pursuit of perfect is going to do me in one day… And it would also prevent me from ever finishing the project. So I have a mental list of the dismal flops I want to give another chance once the project is over:

1. Shoofly Pie – The crust burst and all the spice-juices oozed out. The filling was bready when it should have been texturefully moist!
2. Fig Tart with Mascarpone Cream – I bought figs too early in the season and they were unripe and massively disappointing:(
3. Boulders Tart – This luxurious tart was ruined by burnt caramel made with something that’s not corn syrup. (Luckily, Gateau Engadine turned out better when I did a mini repeat:)
4. Éclairs – A real Christmas disappointment, if there ever was one.
5. Perfect Peach Pie – There was nothing perfect about this overbaked pie.

Hmmm… It seems I’ve figured out what I did wrong on each pie. Perhaps the mystery of the ruined biscuits will solve itself with time!



Saturday, November 2, 2013

Deep-Dish Chicken Potpies… And More!

Time for another savory!



I had my American contact (i.e. brother) send me some “midnight sun” dried Alaskan forest morel mushrooms. Oh, even the sound of it – how exquisite!



This is not your average chicken pot pie; it’s been properly gourmeted. I mean, it’s got morels in it! And the gravy is reduced vigorously for intense flavor, with Riesling for a bit of tang.



Capped with a thyme cream cheese crust.



Oh yes, it was soul-soothing:)



And dessert. Guess what these are…



And this.



Molten chocolate soufflé tartlet and pistachio ice-cream!



The ball of ganache in the center becomes molten chocolate… which is surrounded by fluffy chocolate soufflé… which is encased in a walnut chocolate cookie crust. Pistachio is a perfect flavor pairing.


It’s at times like this that I really really wish I could eat more. I was quite full after the pot-pie, and positively bursting after the soufflé. So full, I skipped dinner entirely. I’m such a wimp at eating!



Thursday, October 31, 2013

Apple Galette

Another French delicacy.

This gorgeous picture belies the near-catastrophe that the pie was. This was the first pie in a long while where I felt like giving up. Throw in the towel, literally. I had the hardest time layering the apple slices, which kept springing out at odd places and ruining the shape. And the whole thing took so long, the dough stuck to the silicone mat and I couldn’t quite transfer it to the pan. And I had a dinner appointment to make! Looking down at the squished up dough and the jumble of oxidized, brown apples, I just wanted to scoop the whole thing up, transfer it into a trash bag, and pretend the French had never invented this stupid galette. And for a split second, I saw myself doing it. It was like momentarily imagining abandoning a beloved pet that is being particularly, willfully naughty. We’ve all had those moments…

I don’t really know what kept me going. I mean, what really keeps us from quitting in situations like this? Ah, these psycho-philosophic questions I no longer have time for because I’m busy baking. (Which is ironic because I’d originally imagined, all those months ago, that I’d use this blog to air out my thoughts, using baking as “kindling.” I realized very quickly that baking is much more fun.) So, the simple answer is this: because quitting is NOT an option. Let the result be what it may, I have never quit a pie mid-way.



But really, I hate bad results. So, somehow, I willed it to be good:)

And it was very very good! (Which was a huge relief because I shared it with someone with the highest of standards.) The softened dough crisped up, the apple slices sorted themselves out, and even the shape looked “rustic.” It must have been part miracle… If I could just figure out how to make this without all the fuss and panic, it would actually be preferable to the standard apple pie. There’s something about the delicate layering of the slices and the perfect apple-to-crust ratio that makes it taste more elegant. And it’s so “light,” you could probably eat half the pie before you realize what you’ve done.



So, here’s to not giving up!

Looking back, there were quite a few similar cases. I picked the top 5 pies where I was really ready to quit, but didn’t… to some spectacular results:

1. Apple Galette, the miracle that sorted itself out
2. Fresh Berry Tart, the one where I remade the entire filling
3. Apricot Strip and Tartlets, the puff pastry challenge
4. Danish Pastry, the one requiring toothpick-and-string engineering
5. Raspberry and Grand Marnier Cream Cake Tart, the one where I had to start over many times because of a stupid and obvious mistake



Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Cranberry Chiffon Pie

I made this one just because – a “general purpose” pie, if you will. One of my housemates bought frozen cranberries thinking they were like dried cranberries. But when she found out you can’t really eat them as is (I tried one too; it’s like eating a lemon), she gave the bunch to me. What is one to do with a sudden windfall of cranberries? What a rhetorical question!



This is the only “procedure” shot I managed to take – applying the glaze at the very end. Hahaha. I always mean to take more pictures of “the process,” but I keep forgetting in all the hustle and bustle. And chiffon pies are probably the most complicated to make. Three components make up the filling alone: the flavored custard (which is actually made of two components: the fruit puree and the egg-based custard), the whipped cream, and the meringue. The three are made separately (one needs cooking, one needs chilling, and one needs thorough cleansing) and gently mixed together for intensely flavored, airy perfection. What you don’t get to see is the sweat, butter, and flour stains, not to mention the hurricane of dirty dishes, left behind. Everything wonderful has an equal and opposite awfulness hidden within. Let this picture stand for all that!



But glamour shots are prettier.
I just can’t stop myself from clicking away…



And it was very good.
I think I’m finally getting the hang of chiffon.
It was both firm and airy, flavorful and light!



I realized after the fact that I really don’t have any “general purposes.” Meaning that I ended up eating most of the pie myself, a piece each morning and night. The first few slices were really good, but even the best of things get boring and bland with repetition. What they say is really true… I don’t think I’ll try something so “general” again!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Lemon Meringue Pie

Another classic (that I’ve put off)
 


Mostly because of the heart-stopping amount of egg yolks it requires. I used up a whole carton of eggs! 
(And now I have a whole bowl of egg whites in my fridge.)



I know, it reminds me of Mickey Mouse, too.

The lemon filling was quite mild; the bulk of it was actually corn starch and water (I have never made filling this way before, but that’s what the book ordered!). It yielded a firm filling that was not too sweet or too tart, but a mellow citrus. Quite good for a solid, staple dessert.



And it was topped with Italian meringue. Oh, I will conquer meringues one day, I swear! The meringue “wept” (oozed) into my filling and crust and I had to suction some of the liquid out with a dropper. I recently started taking a “cooking and science” class online. (Check out edX.org, an awesome site for free, quality online classes!) A lot of the math and equations are going straight over my head, but I’m hoping to solve some of the mysteries of cooking. Like why I keep failing to achieve the perfect meringue.

But it still looked quite glorious. Like I torched it! (In truth, I forgot and left it in the oven a leeettle longer than I’m normally comfortable with.) And it was quite good, not too sweet, and a great complement to the lemon filling.



I couldn’t wait until my evening appointment and dove right into one of the minis. Hehe! Gone in sixty seconds.



We ate off napkins:)


I find that when feeding a large group, it’s best to stick with sweet, rich, or custard-based pies. Because a small slice will usually suffice for most people. Fruit pies, on the other hand, can be finished off by like three people (maybe two, if male). I wasn’t expecting a lot of people, but the group kept getting bigger. In an interesting sort of way… I’m going to miss these (pie) gatherings when I move!