Recipe found here

I’ve been wanting to make this pie for years, or at least try some sugar pie somewhere. In my opinion, sugar pie is one of the most underrated pies. No one talks about sugar pies outside of Quebec. I’ve also never seen it on any desert menu in Vancouver, in cookbooks or at grocery stores. 

This is such a nostalgic pie for me. I’ve never made it before, but I remember going to a Couche Tard (a chain of convenience stores in Quebec) by the bus stop on my way home from high school in Montreal and buying a small packaged pie and loving it so much. I devoured it before the bus came.  The pie from the Couche Tard was full of artificial junk but I remember how amazing the taste is.

Tarte au Sucre is a traditional pie from Quebec, France and Belgium. There’s also an American version called Hoosier Pie which comes from the Amish in the early 19th century. Here’s the Wikipedia sugar pie page for more info. I also found another page on the history of sugar pie.

I was always afraid to make the pie because it’s so sweet and fattening but I found a recipe online that I liked and it didn’t look too bad and unhealthy. I liked the option of using pure maple syrup and I had some available so I used it. I also used a cup of brown sugar. The flavour is similar to caramel and I love caramel. One thing you have to make sure is to constantly keep stirring or the sugar will stick to the bottom of your pan. The maple syrup allows the pie to not become too sweet. One thing that I’m confused by is that on all the recipes that I’ve seen online, it states to use an unbaked pie shell and bake it with the filling for 30 minutes. The bottom of the pie shell isn’t flaky and doesn’t taste like it’s been fully baked. Then I looked at the pic on the Wikipedia page and the pie crust on the bottom looks exactly like mine so maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The filling is delicious anyway.

There’s also another popular treat from Quebec that I’ve been wanting to make that’s even sweeter and a lot more fattening.  It’s called Sucre a la Creme which means sugar cream and guess what the ingredients are: Sugar and cream!

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/sucre-a-la-creme/Detail.aspx

And they sell this fudge at my grocery store which I’ve resisted purchasing since it contains trans fat.

Recipe adapted from Green & Black’s Chocolate recipes.

My coffee cake obsession has now been replaced by a pie obsession. I needed to find something to make with my huge bag of walnuts that my parents bought me from Costco so I checked the index of one of my favourite chocolate books for walnuts and chose this pie. I’m going to keep making pies because I made a huge mistake with this pie crust and I won’t stop until I get it right! I only used half of the butter that I needed to for the pie crust. It was a mistake. Also, I didn’t have pie weights or beans and I used rice but not enough it so I part of the bottom crust starting puffing. My crust also shrank but that might have to do with other factors which I’ve researched online about. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061115081850AAZHMdr

I knew this pie would be delicious from the start. You can’t go wrong with Kahlua and dark chocolate! All my friends loved it. Even the ones who don’t usually like the taste of Kahlua. I ran out of vanilla extract so I replaced it with lemon zest. I had it warm and it was delicious. Tomorrow night, I’m going to have it cold with vanilla ice cream.

one 9 inch pie shell

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into cubes

2-3 tbsp cold water as needed.

Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture forms large crumbs. Sprinkle the water, 1 tbsp at a time, over the mixture and toss gently with a fork until the dough just comes together without crumbling apart. Form the dough into a disc, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

On a floured surface, roll the dough into an 11 inch circle. Transfer it to a 9 inch pie plate and crimp the edges. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes, the remove the paper and weights from the crust. Continue baking a further 5 minutes more. Transfer crust to a rack to cool slightly while preparing the filling.

Filling

3/4 cup walnut halves

5 ounces dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa content, coarsely chopped)

3 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 dark corn syrup

2 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp Kahlua

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the pan.

Reduce the oven to 350 F after pre-baking the crusts.

Evenly scatter the nuts into the pie crust. Add the butter, granulated sugar, corn syrup, eggs, salt, vanilla, and Kahlua to the bowl of chocolate and stir until well mixed. Pour the mixture over the nuts.

Bake the pie for about 50-55 minutes or until cooked through and crusty on top. Let cool for about 3 hours. Serve each slice with a dollop of real whipped cream flavored with Kahlua. Alternatively, let cool only an hour and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Recipe adapted from the Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham

This is really called the “Great Coffee Cake”. Every review of The Breakfast Book mentioned the greatness of the “Great Coffee Cake”. My dad really enjoyed it, but I’m a lot more critical and wasn’t in love with it, but I did like it.

This makes a moist, rich cake adaptable to many changes. One of the variations to this recipe is to add walnuts coarsely chopped which I did. Unfortunately, the walnuts made the cake crumble and fall apart very easily once you slice it. It has a very delicate texture. I would either not include coarsely chopped nuts next time or chop them very finely. Another added ingredient that wasn’t part of the recipe is the vanilla. 5 teaspoons of vanilla seemed like too much but I added it anyway to see what it would taste like. The vanilla isn’t too overwhelming, but now I have to buy more vanilla extract.

This was a very good cake but I can’t compare it with my caramel coffee cake.

2 sticks butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan or Bundt pan.

Put the butter in a large mixing bowl and beat for several seconds. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Add the eggs and beat for 2 minutes, or until light and creamy. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and stir with a fork to blend well. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture an beat until smooth. Add the sour cream and mix well. 

Spoon the batter into the pan. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a straw comes out clean when inserted into the center. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes in the pan. Invert onto a rack and cool a little bit before slicing.

Variations

Raisin and spice coffee cake: add 1 tsp mace and 1 tsp nutmeg when combining the dry ingredients. Stir 3/4 cup raisins and 1/2 cup currants into the batter after adding the sour cream, and proceed with the basic recipe.

Dried fig and almond coffee cake:  you will need 1 1/2 cups calimyrna figs; if the figs are very dry, put them in a bowl, pour boiling water over them, and let stand for 15 minutes; then drain. Cut the figs into quarters. After adding the sour cream, add these along with 1 1/2 cups unblanched, coarsely chopped almonds. Stir well, and proceed with the basic recipe.

Apple and walnut coffee cake: add 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped apple and 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts to the batter after adding the sour cream, and stir to distribute well. Proceed with the basic recipe.

Simple vanilla coffee cake: follow the basic recipe, but add 5 teaspoons vanilla extract when adding the sour cream

Spiced is a culinary memoir in the same vein as Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential but It’s about the journey of a woman in NYC trying to make it as a pastry chef.  I connected with her trajectory from working in a boring office environment to working in a restaurant then going to culinary school. I was really excited and curious to read about the experiences of a female pastry chef but I didn’t feel like buying it so I placed it on hold at the library. It was finally my turn last week to pick it up after waiting 8 months for it. I finished it in 3 days. The subtitle of the book says it all “A pastry chef’s true stories of trials by fire, after-hours exploits, and what really goes on in the kitchen.”

It’s hard not to compare this book with Kitchen Confidential. Kitchen Confidential’s writing was so brilliant. You feel like hanging out with Bourdain after reading his books. He’s exciting, straight forward, and fun. When you hear him giving talks or being interviewed, he speaks exactly the way he writes. They both deal with similar issues but it’s coming from a different perspective and Dalia’s writing needs work. Dalia’s exploits weren’t as extreme and she seems really passive in her life. Everything is being offered to her and she didn’t really have to pursue or struggle for anything. If I had to summarize this book I would say that it’s a cross between a less exciting Kitchen Confidential and Sex and the City. I’m not that interested in the latter so it was hard to go through some parts of the book. For instance, she meets a waitress at one of the restaurants who becomes interested in her and they have a lesbian fling. Here’s part of it:
“After the kiss, we had a few more drinks, and then she asked if I wanted to “see her apartment.” Of course I did. Once there, she offered me a massage, which I gladly accepted - I had been on my feet all night, after all. Before long and with the alcohol diluting any anxiety regarding the repercussions of doing that with a coworker, our clothes were off.”

The waitress wasn’t mentioned after that passage and I felt that the whole sexual element was out of place. I also couldn’t care less about it. It didn’t seem to add to the story. She also talks about a relationship with her boss and the countless times she hears vulgar language in the kitchen. That was really the most boring of all. She just went on and on about how childish men are in the kitchen and the silly things they do. If you’ve read Kitchen Confidential, you won’t read anything new here. Unless you’re interested in working in a kitchen, I wouldn’t recommend this book. Here’s a brilliant review about this book that I completely agree with. 

Recipe adapted from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham

I had no idea who Marion Cunningham was or that The Breakfast Book was such a classic when I found it at the thrift store last week. I looked through the recipes and they looked a bit unusual and interesting. The book doesn’t contain any photos but there’s a few black and white illustrations and lots of text. I LOVE breakfast so I took the book home and did some research on Marion online to find out who she was. She’s now 88 years old and doesn’t do any cooking or writing. She’s one of the last remaining food writers back from the days when food writing wasn’t such a prestige occupation, before the dominance of celebrity chefs and food writers.  Marion wrote for Gourmet magazine and last year Gourmet wrote a nice review on The Breakfast Book. David Lebovitz considered Marion a friend when he worked at Chez Panisse. He wrote a beautiful tribute to her in 2006.

The weather’s finally cooled down and I can stay home and bake and my apartment won’t feel like a sauna. I decided to try the fluffy caramel coffee cake from the Breakfast Book. You can tell how old a cookbook is when you see vegetable shortening in the recipe. I never use it. I replaced it with butter. This is one of the most delicious coffee cakes I’ve ever made! I’ve never used yeast before in a coffee cake. It feels more like a panettone or Challah bread with caramel on top. I had it for breakfast today and put some honey on it. Next time, I’m going to add lemon zest. The texture of this cake is fluffy and light; and the topping is sticky. The topping is the sweetest part that really makes the cake amazing. You look forward to eating the part of the cake with the topping. This was the first time that I used a new pan that my friend gave me for my birthday. It’s the first good quality 9” springform pan that I’ve owned and it really makes a difference. When I added the topping, it didn’t leak. It’s by Cuisinart. Marion wants you to use a 10” pan or baking dish for this but 9” will work fine. The cake will sink a bit the next day. the picture below is what it looked like right out of the oven. As you can see from the picture on top, it doesn’t look as high.

1 package dry yeast (I used 2 tbsp)

1/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup milk

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

2 cups all purpose flour

Caramel Topping

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and allow to rest 5 minutes until it dissolves.

Put the milk and butter in a small pan and heat, stirring together until the butter melts. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar and salt until blended. Let the mixture cook, then add the dissolved yeast. Add the egg and mix well. Stir in the flour and mix until the dough is smooth. The dough should be lightly sticky; if it isn’t, add 2 or 3 more tablespoons milk.

Grease the baking dish or pan. Spread the dough out in the pan by dipping your fingers in cold water (so the dough doesn’t stick to your hands), then pat the dough evenly in the pan.

For the topping, stir together the brown sugar, sour cream, and vanilla in a small bowl until well blended. Cover the dough and let rise for about 1 1/2 hours.

Bake in the preheated 350 F for 15 minutes, then spread the topping over the cake. Bake an additional 20 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu Home Collection Desserts

Finally, a chocolate mousse recipe that worked for me. In the past, I’ve whipped the egg whites and cream to stiff peaks and they’ve ended up over beaten. This time around they only needed to be soft peaks. I love the combination of orange and chocolate so when I saw this recipe, I was excited to try it. I also had some cream left in the fridge that I had to use. This is really delicious and the chocolate flavour is very rich. The orange flavour doesn’t overpower the chocolate. You can hardly taste that there’s orange juice in it. The original recipe uses Cointreau instead of Grand Marnier but I didn’t have any so I thought GM is close enough. They’re both orange liqueurs but GM is a cognac and Cointreau is a brandy. There’s a difference in taste but I’m not very familiar with those liqueurs to know what they are. I’m not using a large amount so I thought it would be fine. I went online to see if there was a huge difference and I found this response on a discussion board “I find Grand Marnier has a richer sweeter flavor, while Cointreau is dryer, somewhat astringent, with a stronger orange nose to it. It’s like biting into a sweet juicy orange segment versus biting into the skin of the same orange.” I also found this interesting NY Times article about a similar issue involving cooking with wine.

serves 4-6

125 g (4 oz) dark chocolate

50 g (1 3/4 oz) unsalted butter

70 ml (2 1/4 fl oz) orange juice

2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 eggs seperated

25 ml (3/4 fl oz) Grand Marnier

100 ml (3 1/4 fl oz) cream, for whipping

1 egg white, extra

1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar

orange segments and whipped cream, to serve

1- Place the chocolate, butter and orange juice in a heatproof bowl over a pan of just simmering water. When the chocolate and butter have melted, stir in the cocoa powder. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks and Grand Marnier. Leave to cool.

2- In a chilled bowl, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

3- Beat all the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until soft peaks form. Add the sugar; beat until smooth and glossy.

4- Using a large metal spoon, gently fold the egg whites into the cooled chocolate mixture. Before they are completely incorporated, fold in the whipped cream. Transfer the mixture into individual serving dishes for a large serving bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Serve with orange segments and whipped cream.

Recipe adapted from Fine Cooking’s April/May 2010 Issue. When you go to that link, you can custom make your own cheesecake by dragging and dropping the ingredients into the bowl on the page. At the end, you get the recipe and instructions. It’s a pretty cool way of experimenting with different flavours.

I’ve been wanting to use Dulce De Leche for something for a while now and I thought my birthday cake would be a great way to incorporate it. Today’s my birthday but I made the cake last night. I’ve had the April issue of Fine Cooking since it came out and I’ve been looking at all the cheesecake pictures of the filling and topping combinations, and one of them was Dulce de Leche with a Caramel topping. I thought the caramel would add too much sweetness to it so I just used cocoa powder. Here’s what I used (besides the basic stuff like like eggs and sugar):

Graham crackers, dulce de leche, Grand Marnier, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, lime zest, strawberries, cocoa powder, semi sweet sprinkled chocolate.

First, I’d like to say that this cake turned out delicious but it tastes more like a mousse than a cheesecake. If I was going to make this again I would decrease the amount of dulce de leche and increase the cream cheese to give it a harder cheesecake texture.  Also, I wouldn’t add the sugar with the crackers. The crackers are already sweet. Instead of lime zest, I would use coffee. I love coffee flavour in everything. I didn’t use the whole 1 1/4 cup of sugar because I felt it was too much. I used  3/4 cup which I felt was enough sweetness. If I was going to make this again, I would try a Tiramisu cheesecake first with a chocolate wafer crust, mascarpone cheese, espresso coffee, kahlua and cocoa powder on top!

I’m reading all my old New Yorker issues before recycling them. I came across a Talk of the town column from 1999 about Julia Child before she passed away. I really agree what she and Jacques Pepin have to say about American’s obsession with a low fat diet. This is for the people who can’t believe I’m not overweight especially with some of the cakes that I eat.

here’s the article that I scanned.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawpower/4867301478/sizes/o/

I’d like to add a postscript to that: It’s also important to stay active. oh, and stay away from anything deep fried! (ok, maybe in moderation)

Recipe from Luscious Berry Desserts by Lori Longbotham

What a delicious summer treat. Not too sweet and rich. I’ve made biscuits before but never with whipped cream. The whipped cream which was added to the biscuits softens the texture and makes them lighter. They weren’t crumbly and hard like they’ve been in the past. We were 3 people eating them so I only made enough for 3. I didn’t want any leftovers. Don’t bake the shortcakes more than an hour ahead. They’re best served at the last minute. My guests loved them! You have to make the whipped cream topping at the last minute before serving. Next time, I’m making the biscuits a bit thinner and larger. I’m also changing the way I make the strawberries. Roasting them made them too dry and they were starting to caramelize. I would put them on top of the stove and add some water. I think they would turn out juicier and sweeter that way. I’m also going to try them with blueberries.

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp granulated sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, plus additional for brushing on biscuits
2 tsp vanilla
2 pints small red strawberries, hulled

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tsp confectioners’ sugar

serves 6

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 425 F. Butter a large baking sheet.

Step 2: Whisk together the flour, the 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, the baking powder, and the salt in a medium bowl.

Step 3: Beat 1 cup of the cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large deep bowl just until it holds soft peaks when the beaters are lifted. Beat in the vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add the whipped cream, and stir the mixture with a fork just until it begins to form a dough.

Step 4: On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough several times, just until it is well combined. Pat it out to 1/2 inch thick. With a 3-inch cutter, crinkle-edged if you have one, cut out 6 rounds; gather the scraps together and pat them out again if necessary. Brush the biscuits with cream and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Place on the baking sheet.

Step 5: Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool on the pan on a wire rack. Increase the oven temperature to 450.

Step 6: Meanwhile, toss the strawberries with the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Transfer to a baking sheet with sides. When the biscuits are out of the oven, roast the strawberries, stirring twice, for about 12 minutes, until soft and fragrant.

Step 7: Just before serving, beat together the remaining 1/2 cup cream, the sour cream, and confectioners’ sugar with an electric mixer on medium sped in a large bowl until the cream forms soft peaks when the beaters are lifted.

Step 8: Split each biscuit with a fork and place the bottom halves on 6 serving plates. Spoon a generous portion of warm berries over each one, add a dollop of the cream, add the tops, and drizzle with the juices on the baking sheet. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Luscious Berry Desserts by Lori Longbotham

I love berries, but raspberries have to be my least favourite berry. I thought that the raspberries combined with the chocolate would create an interesting flavour. The raspberry flavour from these truffles are very subtle. The quantity of the raspberry juice was too small to really produce a strong flavour. I also used Grand Marnier instead of a berry liqueur included in the recipe. I think I’ve made truffles once before in my life but it was years ago. It’s a very simple recipe but the tricky part is rolling the chocolate into a ball. Especially in the summer, when your chocolate can easily melt. You have to work really fast. The best way to do it is in 2 batches. After you finish the first half, refrigerate the rest for another hour to get it hard again. That way you save on the chocolate getting all over your hands. It can really get messy. I started soaking my hands in ice water before handling the chocolate. I put the cocoa powder in a bowl at first the way the recipe stated, but that meant that I would have to handle the chocolate with the warmth of my hands which will make it melt faster. I decided to put the cocoa on a paper towel and move it around the chocolate without touching it. It worked a lot better. I used half of the measurements of the recipe and I got 16 truffles. These are really delicious. Very rich and creamy with a strong chocolate taste. I used a whole package of baker’s chocolate!

These freeze beautifully, just roll, place them on a baking sheet, and freeze, then toss into a self sealing bag or pack in a tin. When you want to serve them, defrost, roll in the cocoa, and let come to room temperature.

makes about 4 dozen truffles

one 1/2 pint ripe raspberries

2 tbsp creme de cassis or other berry liqueur (optional)

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1- pulse the raspberries, creme the cassis, if using, and salt in a food processor just until the berries are broken up. Pour through a coarse strainer set over a bowl, pressing hard on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible.

2- Bring the cream just to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Pour the mixture into a bowl and let cool to room temperature.

3- whisk the raspberry mixture into the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate, covered, for 2-3 hours, until firm and thoroughly chilled.

4- Place the cocoa in a shallow bowl. Working quickly, roll a rounded measuring teaspoon of the chocolate mixture to a one inch ball in your hands, lightly coat with the cocoa, and set on a a plate. Store in an airtight container in the fridge between layers of wax paper for up to 1 week. Serve at room temperature.