The Wrong Pie

So I set out to make the pie I used to ask for on my birthday every year. I never loved cake, and to this day I greatly prefer the icing to actual cake.  In my head, the pie I asked for was French Silk Pie. I set out to make one for the very first time and I was very excited to learn that I had all the ingridients in house! 

It wasn't until I was nearly finished when I realized: Mom always made me a German chocolate pie. Not a French silk pie. A fatal error. 

My French silk pie is really very good. Its just not quite what I wanted. I have no pictures of the finished pie because I was mad at myself, and I'm too lazy to go get it out of the fridge to take a picture. He're's the recipe of the pie and the pastry shell I made. 

The Wrong Pie: French Silk

Ingredients:

Shell - 

1 1/4 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c shortening (I used butter)

3 tbsp cold water

Filling - 

1/2 c butter

3/4 c sugar

2 oz unsweeteneed chocolate

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs (you don't bake this pie... so use egg substitute)

Directions:

You're going to make your pastry shell first because it needs to cool completely before you fill it. First, combine the flour and salt in a bowl, cutting in the shortening until the mixture is clumpy. I did this in my mixer using the basic mixer thingy. Sprinkle in the cold water 1 tbsp at a time until the mixture is moist. Add more water if necessary to make sure the mixture stays together when you squeeze it. 

Put the dough on the counter and spread into a disc shape. Chill for 2 hours or freeze for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Remove the dough from the fridge/freezer and let stand at RT for 5 minutes. Then, spread the dough into a pie plate, cutting off any excess.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, then let it cool completely

For the filling, first melt the chocolate in a double boiler and then set aside to cool.

Cream the butter and sugar in your mixture until it becomes lightly colored and fluffy.

Stir in the cooled chocolate and the vanilla. Mix well, then turn the mixer up to medium. Add the eggs 1 at a time (1/4 c egg substitute at a time) and mix for 5 minutes on medium speed after each egg. 

Spoon the mixture into the shell. Refridgerate for 2 hours, then serve!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Mmm. Homemade ice cream. This was our first chocolate-based attempt and it turned out very well, but due to the peanut butter it is very very soft and creamy. I like my ice cream to be a bit harder, but this is still really good, especially in a sugar cone. The recipe is based on Jerry's (of Ben and Jerry's) chocolate ice cream recipe. 

I wanted to take more pictures of the in-process ice cream, but this stuff froze so fast I didn't have the time.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Ingredients (makes 1 quart)

• 2 oz unsweetened chocolate
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitue)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp vainlla
• 1/2 cup peanut butter

Directions:

In your double boiler, melt the unsweetened chocolate bars. You don't want the water to be boiling, just hot. 

Once the chocolate is melted, add the cocoa powder. This will make the chocolate clump up like crazy and you're going to think "oh god, I really screwed this up, didn't I!"  You didn't. Turst me.

So add the cocoa powder, then slowly add the milk. As the milk heats, it will slowly dissolve and further melt the clumpy looking chocolate. This will take about 20 minutes or so. Stir the mixture regularly.

Eventually, the chocolate will all be melted and it will look like this:

Set this aside and let it cool.  In your mixer, whisk the eggs rapidly until they are fluffy, then add the sugar slowly. Add the whipping cream and vanilla to this mixture. Once the chocolate is cool, mix the 2 together and put it in the fridge for 1-3 hours. Now, here's where I made a mistake. I let this mixture cool almost too much because I did all of this the night before I made the ice cream. Because you're about to add peanut butter, this is going to get super thick, and mine froze too fast, and didn't churn anywhere near enough. Oh well, live and learn.

So, take the mixture out of the fridge and remove 1 cup of the cream mixture. Add the 1/2 cup of peanut butter and mix thoroughly, then add the entire thing back to the ice cream and mix. 

Freeze accourding to your ice cream makers instructions. 

Pecan Chocolate Swirl Loaf

I have a bread baking book I bought when I got my breadmaker for Christmas this past year. I love my breadmaker, but the book isn't great. 90% of the time, the dough is too dry. I almost have to double the liquid in the recipe. Additionally, it usually takes 2x the rise time.

So I take the recipes and 'fix them'. This is their Pecan Chocolate Swirl Loaf. It can be made in a breadmaker or by hand.

Pecan Chocolate Swirl Loaf

Ingredients:
Bread
3tbsp butter
1c milk (add additional milk to bring dough together)
2eggs, beaten
4.5c white bread flour
1/4c sugar
1tsp salt
1.5tsp fast-action dried yeast

Filling
4oz plain dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/2c pecan, roughly chopped
2tbst sugar
1 egg yolk, to glaze


Breadmaker directions: Follow the directions for your breadmaker, usually this means placing the wet ingrdients in the bottom of the pan, dry ingredients on top, and the yeast at the very top. Run on "dough" or "sweet dough" setting. Bread should rise to 2x the original size.

By hand:

1. Put flour into large bowl, add butter and mix with fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add salt, sugar, and yeast.
3. Add beaten eggs and gradually mix in milk until a soft dough forms.
4. Kneed on floured surface for 5 minutes. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover in plastic wrap. Place bowl in warm place for 1 hour or until dough reaches 2x original size.

After first rise from breadmaker or by hand:

1. Tip dough out onto lightly floured surface. Kneed well, then roll out to 11" square.
2. Sprinkle with 3/4 of the chocolate and pecans, plus all of the sugar for the filling:
3. Roll up dough and place into bread tin. Cover losely with oiled plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place for 30 min or until the bread reaches the top of the tin. (NOTE: I had to rise mine overnight in the fridge, so it got a little big)
4. Preheat oven to 400.
   
5. Remove the plastic wrap and brush the egg yolk plus 1 teaspoon of water (beaten) onto the top of the bread.
6. You have 2 options here, top now and bake with toppings, or use a chocolate icing afterwards. I chose the chocolate icing, but you can also add the last 1/4 of the chocolate and pecans to the top of the bread.
7. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the bread is well risen, deep brown, and sounds hollow when tapped with the finger tips. (NOTE: If you do bake with the pecans/chocolate on top, after 10 minutes, cover the bread loosely with foil to prevent overbrowning).
8. Remove the bread from the oven, losen with a knife and remove to a wire rack to cool.
9. Option: If you didn't bake with the chocolate, melt the remaining chocolate/pecans in the microwave or double boiler, spread onto top of the bread. (NOTE: I didn't have enough pecans, so there's just chocolate on top of mine!)
   

Enjoy!

Shortbread dipped in Chocolate and Pecans

I needed to bake today, but I wanted to make a small amount of something. This recipe (the shortbread part) is adapted from Cooking Light Magazine (may 2008) which is where I get a lot of my inspiration. This makes only 16 cookies, which is nice for a small gathering or treats for a few days around the house. Plus, I love shortbread!


Shortbread dipped in Chocolate and Pecans

1 c flour
1/4 c sugar
Dash of salt
5 tbsp butter, softened
2 tbsp milk (fat free)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate wafters
Chopped pecans
Cooking spray

1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
2. Using a beater, whip the butter until it is soft (or if you're me, still waiting for someone to get your beater off your registry, stir it a little and it will still work, just not be so fluffy).
3. Add butter to flour mixture. Add milk and vanilla extract. Form into a soft dough.
4. Place dough onto plastic wrap, form into 4" circle.
5. Wrap dough and place in fridge for 30 minutes to chill.
6. Preheat oven to 350
7. Remove dough from fridge, unwrap and place a second piece of plastic wrap on the top.
8. Roll dough to 8" circle.
9. Spray cooking sheet with a good layer of spray, move dough onto cooking sheet.
10. Cut dough in 16 wedges. NOTE: Do not cut all the way though, but rather score the dough into 16 wedges. Use a fork to poke holes in each of the 16 pieces.
    
11. Bake 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
12. Once cooled, melt the chocolate wafers in a bowl in the microwave or using a double boiler.
    
13. Dip each wedge into the chocolate, the sprinkle with chopped pecans. Place cookies onto wax paper, allow to cool for 30 minutes or until the chocolate is shiny.

Enjoy!