Posted in fruit desserts, pies, tarts, tagged fruit desserts, fruit tarts, raspberry rhubarb tart, rhubarb desserts, summer desserts, summer fruit tarts on July 3, 2020| Leave a Comment »
It’s a strange time. Isolation, fear, uneasiness and anger. We are in the midst of a change, a much-needed change. Oftentimes, I’m not too sure what to do or say, fearful of doing or saying the wrong thing but I am so over that right now. I’m listening. I’m reading, learning as much as I can to better understand my privilege and implicit biases. I’m asking questions. I’m thinking. And I do what I do when I have a lot of thoughts rattling around in my head that need sorting: I’m baking.
Posted in pastry, pies, tagged calabaza empanadas, Calabaza en Tacha, calabaza hand pies, calabaza turnovers, candied pumpkin empanadas, pumpkin desserts, pumpkin empanadas, pumpkin handpies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin turnovers on November 22, 2019| Leave a Comment »
I live near an empanada haven of sorts. Within a few blocks are three different empanada shops – and an Argentine gelato place. I’m not entirely sure why we’ve become the hot bed of these delicious pastries but I’m happy about it. Not long ago a friend and I decided to do an empanada crawl and hit them all, tasting and comparing. The first, a little grocery store that’s been in the neighborhood forever, sells hot empanadas from a case by the register. On our crawl night, they had a seasonal pumpkin version that was so good I went back and got two more. The pumpkin was caramelized in deep, dark, sweet chunks, almost candied, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
Posted in fruit desserts, pastry, pies, seasonal, tagged almond fruit galette, blueberry peach tart, french fruit galette, french fruit tart, fruit galette, seasonal galette, seasonal tart, summer dessert recipes, summer fruit almond galette, summer fruit tart, summer galette, summer recipes, summer tart on August 9, 2019| 1 Comment »
When it comes to bringing a dessert to a party or summer bbq, a fruit galette is the way to go. Absolutely, no question. First off, they are way easier to make than a traditional pie especially in an unairconditioned summer kitchen (hello, welcome to my world.) The pastry is a lot friendlier and forgiving than a pie dough due to the addition of a bit of sugar and is much easier to handle. Since galettes are free-form, they scale up or down easily and take any extra fruit additions like a champ. The filling is simple: some kind of fruit, sugar, a bit of thickener and if you’re feeling super duper fancy, some citrus zest and/or juice. But the number one reason you should be bringing galettes to parties is that there is no need to bring a pan home. Nope. No driving back the next day to get your pie tin, no wondering where the hell the bottom to your tart pan went. Slide that thing off the sheet pan onto a piece of cardboard or a cheap thrift store plate and you’re off. How many pie plates and tart pan bottoms have you lost over the years, left at long forgotten parties? Exactly my point.
Posted in fruit desserts, pies, tagged cracker crumb crust, cracker crust, lemon cream pie, lemon pie with cracker crumb crust, lemon sour cream pie, saltine pie crust on June 13, 2018| 1 Comment »
It’s been a rough, dark week. We were reminded, once again, that we can’t possibly know what’s going on in someone’s head. That we all have to pay more attention to those we love, be kinder, be more understanding. We need to talk less, listen more. To not be afraid to reach out, to say something, say anything. That we shared an uncommon connection to public figures we don’t know and the level of emotion it dredged up surprised us all. It’s sad. So very sad. So we do the best we can, cope in the ways we know and the new ways we learn. For me, I often bake.
Posted in pies, tagged coconut chess pie, coconut custard pie, coconut desserts, coconut pie, pi day, pi day pies, pie day, southern coconut pie on March 15, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday was Pi(e) Day and, like many, I felt the need to make a pie. There were, however, a few hitches in my plan. First, I got a late start on the process so any hope of a Pi(e) Day post on the actual Pi(e) Day was quickly off the table. Whatever. Second, I spent the weekend working the International Housewares Show with a friend and my refrigerator was packed to the gills with the leftovers from our demos, a helluva lot of meat in this case. Beef, pork, chicken; it was all there in ridiculous quantities. As much as I like a good meat pie, this was not the time to figure that one out. Pushing the meat aside, I took stock of the rest of my fridge contents. Slim pickings. Eggs, of course. Two sticks of butter but not much else in terms of dairy unless I counted some rather questionable looking cheese. Some random vegetables, a few better looking than others. Condiments galore. I really didn’t want to go to the store. This was going to be interesting.
Posted in cakes, cookies, fruit desserts, pies, tagged apple bars, apple crumble bars, apple sour cream bars, creamy apple bars, crumble bars, dairyland sour cream apple bars, fruit bars on November 27, 2017| Leave a Comment »
I’m still trying to work my way through a boatload of apples I picked a few weeks ago. Applesauce, cakes, fritters. A pie once or twice. These things are making a dent but I have to keep going. I’m not sure how many times I can google “recipes that use a lot of apples” and expect different results but recently, I had a new idea based on a mediocre slice of pie: apple bars. Something buttery, crumbly and full of apple flavor. Something creamy would be wonderful too. I was thinking cream cheese, much like my German Apple Cheese Torte but in a bar form. That used hard to find quark cheese but honestly, anything in that creamy, dairy family would be good – crème fraiche, sour cream, mascarpone, ricotta. Hmmmmmm.
Posted in fruit desserts, holidays, pastry, pies, seasonal, tagged cranberry crumble tart, cranberry desserts, cranberry tart, holiday desserts, polenta tart crust, thanksgiving desserts on November 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »
When it comes to cranberry sauce on my Thanksgiving table, I’m a traditionalist. I make this triple cranberry sauce every year. Made with fresh cranberries, dried cranberries and cranberry juice it is bright, full of flavor and I love it. I might make a second one, spiced with ginger or zapped with horseradish or whatnot to mix it up, but the triple-cranberry version is non-negotiable. I might even make an allowance for a canned jelly, which is as much a tradition in some families as the turkey, but a whole berry, chunky sauce is a must have. Regardless of which direction you go, canned or homemade, we can all agree that cranberry sauce in some manner is required, especially on a leftover turkey sandwich. But what about cranberries in other parts of the meal? Like dessert? This year I decided to try something different and came up with a cranberry tart to cap the meal. I have to say, I’m quite happy with the results.
Posted in pastry, pies, tagged apple calvados pie, apple pie, apple pie that travels well, french apple pie, iced apple pie, iced french apple pie, iced french apple tart, pies that travel well, sturdy pies, thanksgiving desserts, thanksgiving pies on November 18, 2016| 2 Comments »
I’m always on the lookout for new apple pie recipes. Lattice, crumble or dutch; salted caramel, cider or cranberry … I’ve made them all. I’ve experimented with all types of pastry too … butter, shortening, lard and various combinations of each. Every year when I find myself with a pile of apples, I’ll try something new or go back to an old favorite. Just depends upon my mood. My middle godson, the lover of apple pies, is often a recipient as an enthusiastic and receptive audience is always welcome in my book. A few months ago it was his birthday and it just so happened that his parents were out of town so I hung out with him for a few days. I think I was there pretty much to make sure the house was still intact when the folks came home but I didn’t mind a bit as hanging out with this kid is fun. He took me out to dinner (so sweet!) and I took him to the movies (Deadpool. He had to explain a lot of backstory for me.) To celebrate his birthday, I made him an apple pie.
Posted in breakfast items, cakes, fruit desserts, pastry, pies, tagged german apple cheesecake torte, german apple pie, german apple torte, german pastry recipes, german quark torte, quark apple cheesecake, quark recipes, teahouse recipes on September 30, 2016| 2 Comments »
I’ve been doing quite a bit of recipe development work lately which is great but there is always the same end result: piles of random, leftover ingredients. The bags and boxes are open so I can’t donate them to the food pantry and it’s often too much for me to work through, knowing the next assignment is coming down the pike with even more stuff. In fact today, the FedEx guy delivered a 15 pound box of even more stuff from a client. Of the 9 things in the box, I really only need 2 of them and I’m not really sure why their light brown sugar is better or different than the brown sugar I have. But it is not for me to decide these things; I’ll use it at some point. The 5 pounds of lecithin, I’m not so sure. I’ve joked with my friends that when this round is over I’m going to have a pop-up grocery store in my dining room. Half filled bags of stuff for cheap! Kathy’s Store of Cheap Random Crap. C’mon down!
Posted in pies, tarts, tagged raspberry biscoff tart, raspberry speculoos frangipane tart, speculoos tart, spiced frangipane tart, spring tarts on April 20, 2016| 3 Comments »
One of the things that bugs me the most about food blogs is every recipe has to have a long narrative, a story about how the thing was made, what it means to the author, what emotions it invokes in random eaters, praise from spouses and coworkers. Hey, I get it. I do it too but only when the story is actually there. The fact is there’s not always a great story worth telling so why force it? Most of the time I make things for no particular reason. It might be because I have extra ingredients laying around that need to be used and – surprise! – that thing is pretty good and worth sharing. The story isn’t very interesting when it’s just something I threw together or something I’ve been making for so long I don’t remember it’s origin. I try to write funny, entertaining posts but sometimes it just is what it is.
STRESSCAKE 