Mini Apple-Ginger Hand Pies

I'm returning from an extended hiatus after moving to Seattle, where I've been getting to know my new home (and favorite city), falling for and marrying an Amazon.com nerd (how predictable),  and hanging out with my kick-ass sister, whom I convinced to move here too. All the while, this post has been sitting unfinished in my queue. It's about time I posted it. 

A million years ago, before the move, I went to the last of the very fun themed dinner parties I frequently attended in St. Louis. The party's theme was a bit puzzling to a baker: ginger. Determined to make a pie that fit this theme, I settled on apple-ginger hand pies.

For small pies like this, I like to make a nice flavorful butter crust.

After some trial and error, documented in previous posts, I've determined that pulsing cold butter in the food processor is the easiest and fastest way to make the crust.

Once you've assembled the crust, set it aside to chill. Gather two granny smith apples, a lemon, an egg, cinnamon, sugar, and crystallized ginger.

Peel, core, and dice the apples.

Mix the apples with half a teaspoon of cinnamon, a quarter cup of sugar, two teaspoons of fresh lemon juice, and two tablespoons of crystallized ginger.

Set aside.

Roll the crust into a thin sheet (no more than 1/8 of an inch thick) and cut it into 24 rounds. Ample flour is required.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a heaping spoonful of the apple mixture onto each disc of dough, leaving about 1/4 inch of dough untouched around the edge (about 2 teaspoons of filling should do it). Separate an egg, and set the white aside. Brush the inside edges of the dough with egg yolk, put another piece of dough on top, and pinch the edges together with a fork.

Before baking, brush each lil pie with egg whites, sprinkle with sugar, and score the top of each pie. Bake on a parchment-lined cookie sheet at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. 

These turned out really cute and were pretty popular. They didn't have the intense ginger flavor I had hoped, so I suggest using 3 tablespoons of crystallized ginger if you're looking for a strong ginger flavor.

Prepare butter crust according to this recipe.

For filling:

2 large granny smith apples
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons crystalized ginger
1 egg, separated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

Combine apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar, and ginger in a bowl.

On a floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick and cut out two dozen 3 or 4 inch rounds with a cup or cookie cutter. Place 12 of the rounds on the cookie sheet and fill with 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons of apple filling. Separate the egg. For each pie, brush the inside edge with egg yolk, place another disc on top and seal the edges with a fork. Brush the tops of the pies with egg whites, sprinkle with sugar, and score the top or pierce with a fork.

Bake until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on these, as they tend to burn around the edges quickly.

Happy Pi Day, Nerds!

It's a special Pi Day this year, it being 3/14/15, and to round out the nerdiness, this was posted at 9:26. Not exactly "pie" day, but close enough.

Mac and Cheese Pie with Bacon Lattice Crust

There's only one way to start this post, and that's by reiterating that I don't care if you get fat. And if you make this, you probably don't care either. So here is mac and cheese pie with bacon lattice crust! I made this for a bacon-themed party. Not surprisingly, it was a big hit, especially among the kids. 

Gather 1 package (16 oz.) of pasta shells or elbows, butter, extra sharp cheddar and muenster cheese, bread crumbs, bacon, flour, and (not pictured) 2% milk.

First, use a food processor to shred 3 cups of cheese (roughly 16 ounces of cheddar and 8 ounces of muenster). You can use almost any type of cheese, but I prefer a sharp flavor, which is why I use extra sharp cheddar, and the muenster adds a nice creamy texture to the dish.  

Set aside. Now it's time to have some fun! Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and place a metal rack on top. Weave the bacon into a lattice pattern on the baking rack. Place it in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. The bacon will shrink and the individual pieces will adhere together so that you can flip it over after about 15 minutes, which will allow both sides to get crispy. It will come out looking like this:

As I suspected would happen, the bacon shrank too much to cover the pie, so my solution was to make a large circle of bacon that was slightly larger than the circumference of the pie dish. I baked this at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Next, fill a large pot with water, season with salt, and bring to a boil. While that gets going, make a roux in a small saucepan by melting two tablespoons of salted butter and whisking in 2 tablespoons of flour. Measure 1/2 a cup of milk and add a dash to the roux and whisk, then set aside the remaining milk. Whisk in 1/3 of the cheese and stir until it is melted. Add another dash of milk then 1/3 of the cheese and continue whisking until it melts. Finally, add the remainder of the milk followed by the remainder of the cheese and whisk until it's a nice, thick, cheesy sauce. Add a dash of salt, a dash of pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (if you like it spicy). If the cheese sauce is too thick or sticky, add more milk and continue stirring until it reaches your desired texture. 

As you're stirring this melty deliciousness, prepare the pasta shells according to the instructions. Once the pasta is done, mix the cheese and pasta and set aside. Next (or earlier, or really at any point during this process), make a breadcrumb crust. I thought this breadcrumb crust was pure genius (so much more clever than using a regular old shortening crust). It fell apart pretty quickly when I tried to cut the pie, but I stand by my decision because keeping slices of this pie intact is impossible anyway. To make the crust, mix 1 1/2 cups of plain breadcrumbs and 6 tablespoons of melted, salted butter. Press the mixture into your pie dish and bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes or until it is light brown. 

Finally, pour the mac and cheese into the pie crust.

Place the bacon lattice on top and use the bacon edge to cover the remainder of the mac and cheese so that it doesn't look totally makeshift and a little sad. Whatever. At this point, everything is cooked. Before you serve it, throw it in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes or until it is hot in the middle. 

Mac and Cheese Pie with Bacon Lattice Crust

Filling:

16 ounces (2 cups) extra sharp cheddar cheese
8 ounces (1 cup) muenster cheese
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 package (16 ounce) pasta shells or elbows

Breadcrumb Crust:

1 1/2 cups plain breadcrumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Topping:

1 package of bacon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and place a metal rack on top. Weave the bacon into a lattice pattern on the baking rack. Place it in the 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, flipping it over after about 15 minutes so that both sides get crispy. If the resulting lattice crust does not cover your pie, form the remaining bacon into a large circle that will cover the edge of the pie, and bake this at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, flipping it over after 15 minutes. Reduce the oven's temperature to 375. 

Fill a large pot with water, season with salt, and bring to a boil. While that gets going, make a roux in a small saucepan by melting two tablespoons of salted butter and whisking in 2 tablespoons of flour. Measure 1/2 a cup of milk; add a dash of milk to the roux and whisk. Next, whisk in 1/3 of the cheese and stir until it is melted. Add another dash of milk, then 1/3 of the cheese and continue whisking until it melts. Finally, add the remainder of the milk followed by the remainder of the cheese and whisk until it's a nice, thick, cheesy sauce. Add a dash of salt, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (if you like it spicy). If the cheese sauce is too thick or sticky, add more milk and continue stirring until it reaches your desired texture. 

Once the water is boiling, cook the pasta shells or elbows according to the instructions.

To prepare the breadcrumb crust, mix 1 1/2 cups of plain breadcrumbs with 6 tablespoons of melted butter. Press the mixture into a pie dish and bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes or until golden brown.  

Pour the mac and cheese into the pie crust and top with the bacon crust. At this point, everything is cooked. Reheat this in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes or until it is hot in the center. 

Enjoy!

Classic Apple

Classic Apple

Tried-and-true pie crust

Filling:

7 or 8 Granny Smith apples
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Topping:

1 egg white
2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel the apples and slice them into 1/2-inch thick slices. Mix in sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile roll out pie dough. Line the bottom of the pie dish with the dough and pour in the apple filling. It will seem like a lot of filling, but the apples shrink a bit as they bake. Dot with 2 tablespoons of butter. Roll out the remaining dough and cover the pie with either a pricked or lattice crust. Mix cinnamon and sugar for the crust topping and set aside. Separate one egg, and discard the yolk. Brush the crust with the egg white, and sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top. Finally, cover the edges of the crust.  

Bake at 425 for 30 minutes (this will bake the crust; it should be lightly brown after 30 minutes). Reduce temperature to 350 (to finish cooking the filling) and continue baking 30-45 minutes or until filling is bubbly.

Set aside for at least three hours or overnight before serving. If you prefer to serve the pie warm, place it in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.  

Share and enjoy!

My thoughts exactly...

Bite-size Pecan Pies with Candied Bacon

I got invited to a hipster-themed party recently, so I decided to embrace the theme and rework my pecan pie recipe. It was an opportunity to experiment with bacon (which is somehow a hipster thing) and at long last an excuse to wear cutoff shorts with tights. I made three varieties of candied bacon - brown sugar, maple, and Newcastle glazed. Not surprisingly, the Newcastle glazed bacon was the best, so that's the only recipe I'll include here. I also reduced the amount of sugar and corn syrup and added brandy to my original pecan pie recipe, so perhaps I should call these "Boozy Bite-Size Pecan Pies."

Start with pecans, sugar, light corn syrup, butter, 3 eggs, salt, and (not pictured) brandy.

Prepare butter crust in advance. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Beat 3 eggs, 2 tablespoons of brandy, 1/2 a cup of sugar, 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup melted butter (not too warm because that will cook the eggs), and one cup of corn syrup.   

Set aside and crush one cup of pecans. This is how I did it:

Add the pecans to the sugary mixture and set aside. Next, generously flour a flat surface and roll out your dough until it's about 1/8 of an inch thick.

Using a cup that is about three inches in diameter, cut two dozen disks out of the dough and press them into your mini muffin tin. Fill them almost to the top with the pecan mixture.

Bake at 375 for thirty minutes. To check if they are done, remove one of the pies from the tin and make sure the crust is lightly brown on the bottom.

Let cool. Finally, make whipped cream. Using a mixer, whip 1 cup of heavy cream on a high speed until it is thick. As it mixes, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla. 

Pipe the whipped cream onto the cute lil pies. Finally, add the garnish (which you can make a the day before) of Newcastle candied bacon. To make it, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place several strips of bacon (or twelve because you will want to eat the rest) on a baking rack on a cookie sheet that is lined with aluminum foil. Brush with a mixture of half a cup of newcastle and half a cup of brown sugar. About every ten minutes, flip the bacon over and brush with more of the mixture. Bake until crispy, about thirty minutes. Let cool and cut into thin strips.

Pipe the whipped cream onto the pies and place a few strips of bacon into the cream.

Bite-size Pecan Pies

3 eggs 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup butter, melted 2/3 cup dark or light corn syrup

2 tablespoons brandy 1 cup pecans, crushed Prepare butter crust in advance. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix eggs, sugar, salt, butter, corn syrup, and brandy with electric mixer. Add pecans and set aside. Roll out dough until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick, and cut 24 discs out of the dough using a glass that is about 3 inches in diameter. Press the discs into mini muffin tins and fill to the top with the pecan mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the bottom of the crust is golden brown.

Whipped Cream

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the ingredients on medium-high speed until it resembles cool whip or the desired whipped-creamy texture.  If you find the whipped cream is too thick for you, add 2 tablespoons to a quarter cup of half and half as it mixes until it reaches the desired texture.  This will smooth out the whipped cream considerably.

Newcastle Candied Bacon

1/2 cup of Newcastle beer

1/2 cup brown sugar

12 strips of thick-cut bacon

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place several strips of bacon on a baking rack on a cookie sheet that is lined with aluminum foil. Brush with a mixture of half a cup of newcastle and half a cup of brown sugar. About every ten minutes, flip the bacon over and brush with more of the mixture. Bake until crispy, about thirty minutes. Let cool and cut into thin strips.

Pecan Pie

According to the chart of pies I posted earlier, January was pecan pie month. Not a fan of pecan pie, I have been reluctant to make it. But particularly unpleasant January weather and a fancy new camera motivated me to make it anyway. Although I can't say that I enjoyed eating this pie, making it turned out to be a fun way to spend another night cooped up inside. Plus I tricked a friend into doing most of the work, and I even got the bonus of being introduced to the Traveling Wilburys.  

There are only a few ingredients in this pie. Eggs, sugar, salt, butter, corn syrup and pecans (plus the flour, baking powder, salt, and shortening you'll need for the crust). Thank you, Kristin, for giving me your mom's recipe.  

Make the tried-and-true pie crust, or buy a ready-prepared crust. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Beat 3 eggs, 2/3 cup of sugar, 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup melted butter (not too warm because that will cook the eggs), and one cup of corn syrup in the totally-not-superfluous  KitchenAid mixer.   

You'll end up with this oh so appetizing yellow liquid that does not call to mind bile. Not at all.

Then mix in one cup of pecans. I crushed half and kept half intact.

Roll out your crust and line a pie dish with it. Then pour in the pecan-syrup mixture.

Bake 40-50 minutes, or until the center is set. It'll come out looking like this:

It turned out with a layered quality that didn't seem quite right, possibly because I overcooked it a bit (for about 55 minutes). There was a gelatinous layer on the bottom, a crisp sugar layer over that, and a layer of pecans on top. 

But it wasn't terrible with a touch of whipped cream. 

Pecan Pie

3 eggs 2/3 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup butter, melted 1 cup dark or light corn syrup 1 cup pecans, broken or whole is fine Prepare pastry in advance. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Beat eggs, sugar, salt, butter and syrup with rotary beater. Stir in nuts. Pour into pastry-lined pan. Cover the edge of the crust with foil to prevent it from burning. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until filling is set.