Archive | November, 2011

Pie it Forward: Miss Lena

27 Nov

What better time to spread the pie love than the week of Thanksgiving?  In addition to choosing someone deliberately, I also kept some pie in my car and handed it out when nice people crossed my path.

Thanksgiving pies

For some reason, I get really nervous before giving people pie. I have stage fright and feel like I need to rehearse.  “Excuse me, you are really nice and deserve some pie.”  No, too random.  “Hello, I have a strange obsession making pie and give it to people who are nice.  Want some?”  Nope, too I-laced-your-pie-with-poison.  “Hi, I love pie so much that I bake it all the time.  Therefore, I have a pie surplus and need to give it away.  You deserve some pie today.”  Close, but screams I don’t have a life after the kids go to bed, so I make pie.

Despite my nervousness, somehow I find the right thing to say and am always glad I did it.  People are genuinely happy to have some unexpected pie enter their life.  And their reactions remind me how little we thank those around us who make our days a little easier, a little happier and a little brighter.

Pie it Forward: Miss Lena

When I sent my son Elliot off for his first day of school, I didn’t realize what an important part of the day his bus driver, Miss Lena would be.

Miss Lena has been driving a bus for 14 years and has come to know our neighborhood like a second family.  She’s quick to point out that she likes the challenge of our neighborhood – the hills, sharp curves and narrow roads keep her on her toes.  But she’s even quicker to point out how much she loves the children.  And the children love her because she is just so nurturing and kind. Apparently, Elliot went for a spell where he left his lunch box on the bus every morning.  And every morning, Miss Lena would drive it back to the school for him.  She gave him a clip so that he could attach his lunch box to his book bag.  Being new to all of this, I didn’t even know they sold clips for that.

He never looked back...

On the day that I had Elliot pinned on the concrete shoving shoes on his feet while he howled in protest, Miss Lena’s smile and understanding wave calmed what had been an absolute rock bottom morning.  Elliot was crying, I was crying – it was a scene I’m sure she has seen played out hundreds of times by overtired parents and kindergartners.  But she greeted him with that same warmth that made us both feel that everything would be ok.

I have come to love the ritual that Elliot and I share each morning.  I grab my coffee as he grabs his lunchbox and we wait outside until the bus rounds the corner.  A quick kiss and a “have a good day” and he’s off, bounding to the end of the driveway, eager for Miss Lena to wave him safely onto the bus.  I stand sipping my coffee, watching him make his way to his seat.  The stop sign retreats to the side of the bus and Miss Lena gives me a friendly hello. As the bus pulls away, Elliot’s tiny face stares back at me from his window and we get one last wave.  I turn away and smile knowing that he’s safe thanks to Miss Lena.

And for that, you deserve pie everyday, Miss Lena.

xoxo, The Pie Eyed Piper

 

 

 

Oh My, Sweet Potato Pie

20 Nov

According to me, you get total pie street credit if you’re from the South.  If you have an accent and hail from any of the states below Ohio, I automatically assume that you are harboring your Great Grandma’s family pie recipe and that you know some worldly secrets about great pie making.  After all, don’t you Southerners learn to make pie just after you learn to pour yourself a bowl of cereal?  But alas, this is just a dream as I have never been to the Deep South and therefore never had the chance to taste what real southern pie is all about.

Like the saying goes, if you can’t go South, go to Whole Foods!  I have never tasted sweet potato pie and have always been drawn to the sheer comfort of the idea.  With Greater Cleveland being slim on the pickings for pie, I figured Whole Foods was my best bet for one that would at least be close to the real thing.  And there they were!  Displayed with a photograph of a lovely employee whose recipe was so good that Whole Foods adopted it for their stores in the Midwest.  Jackpot!  I enjoyed this sweet potato pie, but the crust was very soft and mushy making the dish taste more like pudding – no texture combination of the snap of a crisp crust followed by the smooth, creamy filling.  So once again, I set out to do better.  And I did.  This pie puts the OH! in sweet potato.

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

1 recipe pie dough of choice for a 9 inch crust (I use Best of Both Worlds)

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (about 2-3)

4T butter, softened

2 eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup milk

1T flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla powder (optional if you don’t have any)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Ahead of time:  make dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to two days

Roll dough into a 13 inch circle and place into a 9 inch pie plate.  You will want to leave a one-inch over hang by cutting the dough to even it out.  Tuck edges under and sculpt an upstanding ridge if desired.

Refrigerate the crust for at least 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400.

Partially bake the crust and cool completely.  For details on blind baking a crust, see this caramel pumpkin pie post.

While crust is cooling, reduce oven temperature to 350.

Using a fork, poke holes into uncooked sweet potatoes.  Wrap potatoes in a dish cloth and microwave for 10-12 minutes until soft.  The skin will peel right off!

In a large bowl, whip together sweet potatoes and butter using a hand held or stand mixer.  Once smooth, add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.  Add sugars, flour, salt, baking soda, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  With mixer on low, add milk and mix until blended.

Pour contents into pie shell and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until the middle is set and a fork comes out clean.  Enjoy with some fresh whipped cream!

Pie it Forward: Ms. Tabor

13 Nov

We all have one.  That favorite teacher who you still think about even though you’re decades removed from their classroom.  The one whose example you call upon when giving your husband (who is a teacher) a pep talk that someday one of his students will be talking about him.  Good teachers get under your skin and their influence travels with you for a lifetime.  Since I was heading to my hometown this weekend, I decided to bring Pie it Forward to my roots and pass the pie love on to one of my favorite teachers, Ms. Tabor.

I wouldn’t have her until Sophomore English, but Ms. Tabor was one of those legends that the older kids pass along as soon as you enter high school.  “Don’t call her Mrs. or she’ll give you an F.”  I had never met anyone that went by Ms., and I really didn’t know what that meant.  I knew what a Miss was and what a Mrs. was, but Ms. conjured up visions of a woman who was too old to marry living with her 12 cats.   “You know, she’s married to Mr. Kachele but told him she didn’t want his name.”  Now I was even more intrigued.  That was an option?  You could get married and keep your own name?  “No one gets an A in her class – especially boys.”  I was darn right petrified to begin my Sophomore year English class with Ms. Tabor.

I entered Ms. Tabor’s classroom ready for the inevitable.  I just knew I would fail AP English and that I would accidentally call her Mrs.  But as the weeks passed, my fears began to fade and I was slowly captivated by a teacher unlike any I had ever had.  She stood tall – she may have even stood on her desk at some point.  Her flowing skirts, dramatic gestures and big words kept me on the edge of my seat.  She was passionate and she was smart – really smart.  And she expected us to be nothing less than brilliant.  In a year when I was caught up in my first real boyfriend, older girls that hated me and all the usual turmoil that descends upon a 16 year old, I found that for one hour of the day in Ms. Tabor’s class, my mind was quiet.  The clutter stayed in the hallway and when the door shut, I was free to learn.  It was one of the hardest classes I had ever taken, and I worked harder that year than I ever had.  I would venture to say that I knew more about English and literature at 16 than I do now in my 30′s.

But it wasn’t what Ms. Tabor taught me about English that changed my life so dramatically.  This staunchly independent woman who kept her own last name and demanded to go by Ms. planted a seed in my mind at a time when I was wrestling with my own ideals about what it meant to be a young woman.  Ms. Tabor did not set out to be the poster child for a progressive feminist, but her example steered me onto a path that I am certain led me to where I am today.

It is with a deep sense of gratitude for extending your influence to a teenage me that you deserve some pie, Ms. Tabor.

xoxo, The Pie Eyed Piper

Caramel Pecan Handpies

6 Nov

I don’t have a lot of enthusiasm in my heart for the other big “P” of the Thanksgiving table.  Pecan pie.  I’ve always put it into the category of Stuff My Dad Eats: Pickled beets, spinach with vinegar, chicken livers, cole slaw… food that I’m convinced takes a heavy dose of testosterone to palate.  I usually put it in the corner with the other marginal food, and leave it to be eaten by the grown men.

But this year I’m having a change of heart.  It’s not you dear pecan, it’s that Karo Syrup you insist on hanging out with.  Why are you so intent on burying your best qualities  in a sea of gelatinous, sugary mess?  Can’t you get some new friends like caramel, chocolate and espresso?  Yes he can. And oh yes, I did.

Enter Caramel Pecan Hand Pies.  I was inspired to try these by an article in this month’s Food and Wine magazine.  They scoured the country for Fall’s best pies and one of the features was a Caramel Pecan Hand Pie from Seattle’s High 5 Pie shop.  Like the pumpkin pie recipe from last week, the addition of homemade caramel made me think twice, and the crust to filling ratio of a hand pie was much better than the overload of pecan filling in a pie.

But, the recipe sill seemed to rely too much on corn syrup, so I made some adjustments including infusing a little Dorie Greenspan and adding some bittersweet chocolate, espresso powder and subbing brown sugar for the corn syrup.  The results?  This is not your Father’s pecan pie!  You MUST try this – they are worth the time and will blow your mind!

Caramel Pecan Hand Pies (adapted from High 5 Pie)

All butter pastry crust

4 cups all purpose flour (cold!)

2 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons sugar

4 sticks unsalted butter cut into cubes (frozen)

3/4 cup ice water

If you have a 12-cup food processor, you can do this recipe all at once.  If you’re like me and have a smaller one, then you will need to half it and make two smaller recipes of dough.

Place dry ingredients into food processor and pulse a few times to distribute the salt and sugar.  Scatter frozen cubes of butter on top of the flour.

I slice the entire stick into fours and then cube it

Pulse in processor for about 1 second each time until the mixture looks like coarse meal.  You can take a knife and fluff it around to be sure no large chunks are under the blade.  This should be about 7-9 pulses.  I learned the hard way that you need to be sure the butter is small – you want flecks, but not large chunks or you’ll have a pool of butter on the baking sheet.  Once the butter is cut in, add the ice water through the chute about a tablespoon at a time while you continue short pulses.  The mixture will not look like cookie dough – it will probably look a little crumbly.  Periodically check to see if the dough pinches together.  When the dough begins to hold together, turn it out onto saran wrap, form into a ball, wrap and press it into a disc.  If you did one large batch, separate the dough into two discs.  Refrigerate for an hour or up to two days.

Filling

1 1/2 cups pecans (6 oz)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup half and half

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

Salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

4 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 375. Toast pecans on a baking sheet for 8 minutes until brown and fragrant.  Coarsely chop them (not too fine – chunks are good).

Make your caramel.  In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, place one cup of sugar and 1/2 cup water.  Cook on the stove until is begins to thicken and caramelize.  When the mixture begins to turn color, swirl it occasionally and stand guard until it is a light to medium amber color.

Just starting to thicken and color - needs a little longer

CAUTION – this step is easy to mess up.  I did and had to start over.

When the caramel has reached the right color, reduce the heat to low and add the butter while whisking.  As soon as the butter is incorporated, add the half and half a little bit at a time, then 1 teaspoon of the vanilla and a pinch of salt.  Whisk until smooth.  Remove from heat and pour 1 cup of the caramel and set the rest aside.

OOPS. Removed from heat and added it to the half and half and butter all at once.

Second try. Much better - a creamy caramel sauce.

Let the sauce cool for a few minutes and then add the chocolate, espresso powder, brown sugar, corn syrup and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Once incorporated, add the eggs and whisk until smooth.  Fold in pecans and a pinch of salt.

Coat a 9 x 13 baking pan with non-stick spray.  Spread the pecan mixture into the pan and bake at 375 for about 25 minutes or until puffed and set.  Gently stir to recombine and pour in additional caramel sauce. Cool completely in the refrigerator.

Looks like my Grandma's date pudding

While the filling is cooling, remove dough from fridge and let rest for about 5 minutes.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough as you would for a pie – about 1/8 inch thick.  Using a 5 inch round cutter (can, glass…), cut circles and place on parchment lined baking sheets.  Return to the refrigerator until filling is cool.

Assembly

Remove dough circles from fridge and lightly brush with a beaten egg.  Place about 2-3T of filling in the middle of each circle.  Experiment to see how much you can put in without a disaster.  Fold the circle in half and seal edges with the tines of a fork.  Place in the freezer while you do the other tray.  When both trays have been filled and chilled again, lightly brush each hand pie with beaten egg.  Cut a slit in each one to vent and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown in the middle and lower third of the oven.  Rotate baking sheets half way through.  Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy warm with a cup of coffee.  Will keep in the refrigerator for three days and you can warm before eating.

No one puts baby in a corner anymore!

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 45 other followers