Bad Baker

I have been a bad baker as of late. I have completely neglected my Cake Slice, Cookie Carnival, and You Want Pies With That? duties. I promise to catch up! Cake Slice post will be going up on Wednesday and I am trying to think of a how to turn a family favorite dessert into a pie for this month's You Want Pies With That? theme. That one is really going to require me to get creative. Maybe the beautiful spring season will inspire me :)

YWPWT: Martini Pie

This month Mary of The Food Librarian chose Literary Pie as the theme for You Want Pies With That? I had little trouble deciding what books I wanted my inspiration to come from, but I did have trouble coming up with a pie that would reflect that inspiration. After thinking about it for a few hours, it came to me. Martini! Duh. That's a no brainer when you consider who my favorite author is and the countless movies his books have inspired. Who is this author? Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, 007. I have read and own all the Bond books and I have seen and own all the Bond movies. It is quite the obsession. I figured making a martini pie would be such a perfect way to create a pie that represents such an iconic character. This pie is a basic lemon cream (recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan) with a vodka whipped cream. Alex said the whipped cream was the best he'd ever had and I would have to agree. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it totally did. Everything together tasted amazing, but I will admit that this dessert would have been better as a trifle since you can't get a nice slice of pie cut.


Martini Pie
Yields two 4-inch tarts

Lemon Cream:
1/4 sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 Tbsp butter, at room temperature

Whisk together the sugar and egg in a bowl that can be set over a pan of simmering water. Add the lemon juice and continue stirring until the lemon cream reaches 180 degrees F. The cream will thicken the closer it gets to 180 degrees F. As soon as it reaches 180 degrees F, remove the cream from the heat and let the cream stand until it cools to 140 degrees F.

Pour the cream into a blender and slowly add the butter a Tbsp at a time. Pulse until the butter is completely incorporated. Pulse for another 3 minutes until the texture is light and airy.

Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Graham Cracker Crust:
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two tart pans with cooking spray and place on a cookie sheet.

Combine all ingredients until moist and crumbly. Divide the mixture into the pans and, using your fingers, press onto the bottom and along the sides of the pan.

Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Vodka Whipped Cream:
1/2 heavy cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vodka

Beat the cream until it holds soft peaks. Add the sugar and vodka and beat until cream holds firm peaks. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Putting it all together:
Spread some of the whipped cream over the crust. Then spoon on the lemon cream and top with more whipped cream.

Serve and enjoy!

So tempting.

The pie just couldn't hold up. And a picture of Boston's beautiful library.

Guess Who's Coming??

Santa! One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Here Comes Santa Claus." Back in the day my mom, sister, and I would sit by the Christmas tree and get lost in the lights because not only where they colorful but they also played the tune of "Here Comes Santa Clause." We were naughty kids though. Every time my mom would leave us alone with the tree we would pick up the gifts, shake them around, and then very slowly remove the tape and try to take a peak inside to figure out what the gift was. Over the years, my mom learned about our little antics and the wrapping got more complicated and she would delay putting the gifts out until the very last moment. I remember one Christmas, about 15 years ago, we were at home sitting by the tree and there was a knock on the door. My mom said we could open the door so, of course, we rushed to the door and when we opened it, Santa Claus was there! We were so excited to see Santa; he was round and jolly and came with gifts! To this day I don't know who the Santa was, but I was so impressed with my mom's sneakiness in making such a grand gesture. Maybe she wanted to make Christmas extra special since it was the first after my parent's divorce. Either way and whatever her reasons were, that Christmas is forever burned in my memory and every time I hear "Here Comes Santa Clause" I think of that Christmas.

So, in honor of my favorite song, I made a Santa Pie for this month's You Want Pies With That? Anne of Anne Strawberry made the best decision when she chose holiday songs as this month's theme. I absolutely loved the theme because it allowed for so much creativity. The pie was supposed to be inspired by your favorite holiday song and it took me about 28.7 seconds to decide on a pie that in some way incorporated Santa's favorite cookie. The filling was easy because I figured if Santa loved chocolate chip cookies he'd had to love all things chocolate too. The pie was a lot of fun and so easy to make. This pie would be perfect for Santa because it would give him a sugar rush that would get him through his millions and billions of stops.

Santa Pie
Source: Me!

1/2 Recipe for chocolate chip cookies (I used this recipe)
Chocolate Mousse
Whipped Cream
Crushed candy cane for decoration

Crust
Butter the bottom of a 7-inch springform pan. Use about half of the cookie dough to cover the bottom of the springform pan. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. (Bottom)

Make small, round cookies with the other half of the dough and bake for about 10 minutes. (Sides)

While the cookies are warm, stick the round cookies into the bottom. Let it cool completely.

Chocolate Mousse
6 oz of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Set aside and let it cool slightly.

Place the heavy cream in a medium bowl and beat with an electic mixer on medium high until it holds soft peaks.

Slowly fold the melted chocolate into the heavy cream until well blended.

Place in the fridge until ready to use.

Whipped Cream
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Combine the cream and sugar in a small bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium high until it holds soft peaks. Place in fridge until ready to use.

Assembly
Once the crust has cooled completely spoon the mousse onto the cookie and spread evenly.

Then, spoon the whipped cream and spready evenly.

Top with crushed candy canes refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

All together.

A slice.

The layers


I love chocolate chip cookies!