I had it all planned out. I was going to make from scratch, pumpkin pie (from an actual pumpkin, no can) during Thanksgiving weekend. I walked into my mother in law's house for the weekend and there were two pies on her stove cooling (chocolate pecan and pear cranberry). Shoot! These pies weren't even for Thanksgiving dinner. They were for Friday. Someone else was making the pies for Thursday. The last thing we needed was more pie. I didn't bake a thing that weekend.
So I changed my plan for November. Instead of making pumpkin pie, I was going to make chess pie. First off, I did some research and no one really knows why they call this chess pie. What I can tell you is it is a southern style, custard pie. It has corn meal in it which is unique.
Why chess pie? I saw it in a cookbook and never heard of it before. Plus it has the word chess it in. I live in a fanatical chess area of the United States. The chess hall of fame is in this city. All kids play chess here it seems. You look at the trophy case in their elementary
school and its filled with chess trophies. Seriously. To give an analogy, I feel like I live in the Green Bay Packers Lambeau Field of chess. Thus it is no surprise that both my kids play
chess. I take them to a club nearly every Friday. I'm even learning how to play. My first grader beats me, but you have to start somewhere. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to try out the recipe and at some point make it for a tournament.
Why two? A name like chess pie...it just seemed natural to not just make one pie, but two! One dark (chocolate) and one light (lemon) colored to represent those black and white chess pieces.
On to how:
I used my typical Barefoot Contessa's Perfect Pie Crust.
Bill Clinton's Lemon Chess Pie was the first pie I made today. It took a lot of lemons to get 3 tbsp of zest, but otherwise the recipe was easy. I don't know if the recipe is really Bill Clinton's, but it looked yummy, so I gave it a go. It's important to bake it until it was golden brown on top and not go with the baking time on the recipe.
The Chocolate Chess Pie recipe was also easy to follow. I had one snafu though. I poured the filling in and then realized, I forgot to put the milk in it! To try to fix it, I poured out half the filling, mixed in the milk and poured it back in the shell.
I was worried. Custard pies are my enemy. I have had several runny pies. Both recipes called for 35-45 minutes. I baked both longer, but unfortunately, I still had issues. It was runny. It might have been my milk issue, but I wasn't sure.
Even though the chocolate pie was runny, it was delicious. It was like homemade dark chocolate pudding with a crunchy brownie-like top. An hour in the refrigerator helped tremendously. It still was a little runny, but a huge improvement.
The lemon chess pie turned out great and tasted like a giant lemon bar. It was good with either whipped cream or just plain.
Now Bake That! and that!
I have this giant book by James Peterson with the simple title: BAKING. I have done one recipe from it (sadly I can't remember which one) and wasn't happy with it. It deserved a second chance. It was a spontaneous baking choice, so I looked for a recipe that could accommodate whatever I had at home. What could be simpler than pound cake?
You can get his book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
It turned out wonderfully and it was easy.
Now bake that!
I love that vignette from the movie When Harry Met Sally, when they talk in funny voices about pecan pie. Which makes me think...how are you supposed to say pecan? Is it pee-can? or pah-cawn?
Most pecan pie recipes have corn syrup in it. I'm not opposed to corn syrup. I make marshmallows from scratch. Yet, some traditional pecan pies seem too sweet. (and this is coming from the person who loves things sweet.)
Therefore, I was very excited to find this no corn syrup version from the All Recipes website, titled Pecan Pie V. It just uses regular granulated sugar and brown sugar. I read the comments and one person said that the pie top wasn't pretty. So the only change I made to the recipe was decorate the top with pecan halves.
The only problems I had this month is that there was not quite enough filling, the crust shrunk a little and I forgot to take the pie shield off, so the crust was a little pale looking.
Aesthetic comments aside, the pie tasted AMAZING. My parents were in town when I made this pie and were thrilled to give it a try. They loved it!
Now Bake That!!
It's a bird, it's a plane, its a cookie beehive!
Okay, it's not a cookie beehive.
It's a Kransekaka.
Not a kreme-de-la-kaka. Not a krala-la-lala. Not a krans-a-what-do-you-call-it.
It actually has several spellings: Kransekaka/Kransekake/Kransekage
It has several translations: Scandinavian wreath cake, Danish/Norweigan wedding cake, ring cake, ring tree cake, or ring pyramid cake.
What is a Kransekaka really? It's a concentric ring of stacked, iced almond cookies.
It tastes like a French Macaroon. However, unlike a macaroon, you can hide a half bottle of wine or liquor under this little beauty. It's from Scandinavia, so it's beige. Like the other Scandinavian foods I remember: Sandbakkels, Rosettes, Krumkake, Lefse, and Swedish Meatballs. All beige. I'm not saying Scandinavian only eat beige foods. No no no. They just have a lot of them.
Traditionally it is made in Scandinavia for special occasions (mostly weddings, but it is not strictly a wedding cake). It's decorated with flags. You are supposed to take off the top tiers to reveal the wine bottle. Then serve the largest rings first, breaking into pieces. If there is no bottle, obviously you can serve it top down.
As I mentioned in blogs past, I'm a Minnesota native. Minnesota is full of hockey loving, beige colored food eating, blue eyed, blonde haired Scandinavians. So it was typical for me to go in a local bakery (even some grocery store bakeries) and see a pretty, beige kransekaka in the display window. My sisters and all had them at our weddings. Now I live in Missouri. I brought one of these suckers to a party and suddenly people are perplexed. What's that?!?
The one I made above was for a medal party. A friend of mine is a two time, bronze medal winner for paralympics in track. So I made her a kransekaka for her party because:
A. It's circular, like the medals she just won in London.
(I am an occupational therapist, and we just love themes.)
B. She was finally eating sugar again.
C. It's awesome.
Okay! On to making one.
First you need the tins. Technically you could make them without the tins, but I think it would be hard to judge the sizes. You get them online. One place is through Ingebretsen's Scandinavian Gifts, which is a shop in Minneapolis that I love going to.
I have two recipes: my Grandma's (well her friend Bertha's) and the one from the box of tins (which is gluten and dairy free by the way)
Bertha's Ring Tree Cake (Kransekake)
2 c butter, softened
1 8oz can almond paste, cut into chunks
2 c sifted powdered sugar
2 tsp almond extract
4 egg yolks, beaten
5c flour
Icing (recipe follows)
Preheat the oven 350 degrees. Grease the tins. Using an electric mixed, blend together butter, almond paste, sugar and almond extract until smooth. Beat 4 eggs in well. Measure flour and then sift. Add flour in gradually. With your hands roll 1/2 inch diameter strands of dough (width of index finger) or use a pastry bag with #6 tube. Place in well greased tins. Bake 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until delicately browned. Prepare frosting and place into pastry bag. Place rings on a plate. Assemble the cake by starting with the largest ring, frosting as you go, and stacking one on top of the other.
Frosting:
1 c powdered sugar
2 tbsp whipping cream
2 tbsp vanilla
*Tips: I use either a food processor a stick blender to make the initial dough (before the flour). Then I use a hand mixer to mix in the flour. Then I use a cookie press with a pastry holder (no tip) to get the dough in the tins. It's easier. Trust me.
Kransekage
3 c almond paste
1 1/2c granulated sugar
3 egg whites, slightly beaten
Break almond paste into small chunks, add sugar and egg whites. Mix thoroughly with an electric mixer (or food processor/stick blender). Fill a pastry bag with a number 6 tip. Grease the tins (really well). Bake 325 degrees for 20 minutes until surface is crusty and golden brown. Remove cookie from the rings as soon as they are cooled. Use the point of a knife to loosen the outer edge of the cake ring and then loosen the inner edge. It will come out if baked thoroughly.
Frosting
1 egg white
3-4 drops vinegar
confectioner's sugar to make a thin icing
Mix ingredients until smooth and well blended. Place icing in decorating bag with icing tip. Starting with the largest ring, make drizzels and scallops on the top/sides, stack the next size ring on the top and repeat.
Now Bake That!
Most years we host Rosh Hashana dinner. I decided this year to make an apple pie and a chocolate banana cream pie. For those who don't know the holiday, it's Jewish New Year and one of the things we do is apple and honey.
For the apple pie, I used Barefoot Contessa's Deep Dish Apple Pie and Perfect Pie Crust. Once again, I had the same issue as last month, not enough filling. I should've bought more Granny Smith apples! I decided to go back into my fridge and grab whatever apples I had on hand, honeycrisp apples. It seemed like a cute idea with the whole apple and honey theme. However, I overdid and then had TOO much filling. I grabbed my tiny pie pan. Unfortunately I didn't have enough extra crust to make a top crust so I grabbed my Better Home and Garden's New Cook Book and used the topping from the Apple crisp recipe. The apple pies were...okay. I won't ever use honeycrisp again. The pie filling was sorta like chunky applesauce. I still served it, but with lots of ice cream.
The banana cream pie recipe from Sugarcrafter's blog. I picked it because it had whole pieces of banana and not banana flavored pudding or something. I like bananas, just not artificially flavored banana. Though I baked it as directed, this pie never set up for me. The idea of runny chocolate pie was, to say it nicely, unappetizing. I tried to make it better by mixing the filling all up and then popping it in the refrigerator to set. But now it looked like brown liquid in a pie shell. Ew.
I was so disappointed since this has happened several times to me with cream pies. I didn't even bother serving it at dinner. Instead, I made some magic brownies and people adored them. Whew!
I also made round challah bread. However, I will feature that recipe another time.
Now Bake That! (but only with granny smith apples)
and that!
and that!
Remember that song? Peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America? The chorus goes: Millions of peaches. Peaches for me. Millions of peaches. Peaches for free. That was in my head as I made this pie for sunny August.
Last month I tried a different pie crust recipe from Cook's Illustrated (their foolproof pie crust recipe). After being fully annoyed with all the millions of steps for that recipe, I went back to Barefoot Contessa's Perfect Pie Crust. It works for me and tastes wonderful. For the peach pie filling, I used the recipe from another blog Joy of Baking.
What I was trying new this month was to make a star pattern with the top crust. I did it by cutting the shapes while it was still folded in half with a diamond shaped cookie cutter. It stretched all weird. My other issue? There wasn't enough filling and sunk and oozes on the top. However, the pie tasted wonderful. Plus ice cream covers up the messy crust and no one is the wiser. Just peachy!
Now Bake That!
My husband went to college with Sandy, a cousin of Steve Stricker. For non-sports fans, Steve is a pro golfer. The only reason I knew of him was because I spent my childhood watching the "lawn show" with my dad. Little white balls. Guys in baseball hats and polo shirts twisting with sticks. Miles and miles of grass.
The monster cookies are her family's recipe. She was cool enough to share when she found out I was a home baker. I'm picky about peanut butter cookies, but add oatmeal and m & m's and I was on board. Anyway, I had a hankering for them because she came to town with her family and we met up with them to go to the zoo. That next day, I had to make them. You know. HAD TO. Again, my apologies for no recipe. It's not mine to share.
