Apple pie or pecan pie? Better yet, how about both?
Apple pies take too long for my liking and pecan pies are way too sweet in a corn syrupy way. This tart only uses one crust and maple syrup takes the place of corn syrup.
The end result is lighter than a pecan pie, easier than an apple pie, a great combination of two great fall desserts and solves the dilemma of which one to make. A must try. Here is the recipe…
Filed under Pies and Tarts, Sweet
I said I was not going to make pumpkin pie this year. And then I discovered this recipe. It’s pumpkin pie…with scotch in it!
The caramelized brown sugar combines with heavy cream and scotch to give this pie a depth of flavor unlike any other pumpkin pie. This recipe is not exactly a reinvention of the classic, just a slight improvement. Here is the recipe…
Filed under Pies and Tarts, Sweet
Sour Cherries
Tradition, tradition!
There’s nothing that says Fourth of July to me like a homemade cherry pie. Back in the day, when Gourmet was still around, or July 2007 to be exact, we saw the most beautiful cherry pie featured on the magazine’s cover and knew we had to give it a try. We made it with M’s mother and father who came to visit us for the holiday weekend.
The wonderfully flaky crust and the sour cherry, cinnamon-enhanced filling combine to create a delicious, fairly easy to make pie, as far as pies go. Throw in the fact that M is a true “dough whisperer” and that is how a tradition was born.
We made it again in the summer of 2009 and then again this year. I’m not sure what happened in the summer of 2008 or why we didn’t make the pie that year, but that is history and I have vowed not to repeat it.
Cherry Pie
Part of the fun, or frustration, depending on how things shake out, is finding the sour cherries. Like Meyer lemons, they too have a season. Lucky for us, we work steps away from the Union Square Green Market, one of the best in the country and certainly the best in New York. This year I learned, thanks to the friendly woman working the Samascott Orchards booth (I miss you Kinderhook) that the lighter colored sour cherries are not as sour as the deep red colored ones, the ones that I always mistook for sweet cherries.
The filling is really easy to make after the laborious pitting task is completed. The cherries are tossed with cinnamon, vanilla, cornstarch, tapioca and sugar and then allowed to rest for a while. The pie crust is somewhat more complicated but not overwhelmingly so.
That’s it. This pie is outrageously good and, once cool, keeps nicely on the counter until it slowly disappears slice by slice over a nice three-day weekend.
Here is the recipe…
Filed under Desserts, Pies and Tarts, Sweet
They had me at caramel!
I’m trying to get used to Bon Appétit as a replacement for Gourmet and, sadly, it has not quite happened. Every now and then, however, I am surprised by a recipe that I must try.
This month it was the Milk Chocolate-Caramel Tart with Hazelnuts and Espresso, a dessert that speaks to two of my weaknesses – caramel and coffee-flavored anything. Check out the description: This delicious tart has a buttery shortbread crust, a rich hazelnut-caramel filling, a creamy espresso-chocolate topping, and a sprinkling of crunchy cacao nibs (pieces of roasted cacao beans). Amazing, right?
Instead of one large tart, however, I busted out the tartlet pans from overstock and got to work. I halved the recipe which then yielded four mini tartlets - two for Valentine’s Day and the other two for, well, the day after Valentine’s Day. Oh, and because I’m also crazy for Maldon salt, I added a few flakes to the top of the tartlets.
Milk Chocolate-Caramel Tart with Hazelnuts and Espresso
Filed under Pies and Tarts, Sweet
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