Chocolate Meringue Pie

Let me preface this post with the fact that I am much more of a chocolate mousse pie kind of girl than a chocolate pudding pie kind of girl which is what this pie turned out to be. So, although it wasn't my favorite, it was still pretty damn delicious.

Chocolate Meringue Pie
from Martha Stewart

Yield Serves 8 to 12

Ingredients

• 1/2 recipe Flaky Pie Dough (recipe below)
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 large egg whites, room temperature
• Pinch of cream of tartar

Directions

1.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 disk of dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into a 12-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edges so that there is a 1-inch overhang. Fold under, and crimp with your fingers. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
2.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prick bottom of crust all over with a fork. Freeze 15 minutes. Line with parchment, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges are just golden, about 15 minutes. Remove weights and parchment. Return to oven, and bake until center is golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

3.  Whisk 1 cup sugar, the flour, and cocoa. Gradually whisk in 1/2 cup milk until smooth and thick. Whisk in egg yolks.

4.  Heat butter, salt, and remaining 1 1/2 cups milk in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until butter has melted. Add about 1/4 cup butter mixture to the cocoa mixture, and whisk until smooth. Add cocoa-butter mixture to pan, and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and beginning to bubble, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, and whisk in vanilla. Pour through a fine sieve into cooled pie crust. Let cool completely. Refrigerate for 1 hour. *I would recommend refrigerating for much longer, up to overnight*

5. Preheat broiler. Put egg whites, remaining 2/3 cup sugar, and the cream of tartar into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until sugar has dissolved and mixture reaches 160 degrees. Remove from heat. Beat on medium-low speed for 5 minutes. Raise speed, and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 4 minutes. Spoon onto pie, making sure meringue touches crust. Broil until browned, 30 seconds to 1 minute. *Meringue tastes better if its refrigerated after being browned, at least 30 minutes*

Flaky Pie Dough

from Martha Stewart

Yield Makes enough for two 9-inch pies

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/4 sticks (18 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup plus 1 to 2 tablespoons ice water

Directions

1. Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter, and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream until dough just holds together (no longer than 30 seconds).
2. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to 2 days). Dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

*This crust is super simple to make, the longest part is the refrigeration.

Delicious, delicious napoleons

These were so surprisingly easy to make that my waistline may never forgive me. Its basically just puff pastry, some vanilla custard thinned with whipped cream, and berries. The perfect dessert any time. I might also add that my mom even liked them. You might be thinking to yourself, of course she did, moms like everything their children do. Well, you clearly do not know my mom. Her usual response to things goes something like this..."So mom, what do you think?" "Hmmmmm," said in a disapproving tone. So, to have her compliment both how they looked and how they tasted (even though she got hers 2 days after they were completely assembled) was really fantastically awesome.

Napoleons
adapted from Martha Stewart

Yield Makes 6

Ingredients

• For Assembling
• 1 pound  puff pastry, about 1/3 recipe
• 1/2 cup sugar, for work surface
• Strawberries, cored and sliced into bite size pieces
• For the Pastry Cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup heavy cream, softly whipped

Directions

1.     Prepare the Puff Pastry.

2.     Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle work surface with sugar. Roll dough into a rectangle 1/8 inch thick and, using a sharp knife or a pastry cutter, cut in half. Cut each half into thirds, keeping rectangles equal sized, each approximately 6 inches by 8 inches. Water-spray two baking sheets and place pastry rectangles on them. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes. (If you only have 1 wire rack like I do and don't mind having big dents in 2 of the napoleons, you can do this on 1 baking sheet)

3.     Prick rectangles all over with fork tines (I forgot to do this and it didn't seem to make a difference). Place a wire rack over each set of pastry rectangles and bake until pastry reaches the top of the rack, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove rack and continue to bake until golden and evenly browned, about 5 to 10 minutes more. Cool completely on racks.

4.     Make pastry cream: Scald the milk, vanilla bean, and 1/4 cup sugar. Beat egg yolks with remaining sugar until thick. Sprinkle in flour and cornstarch, and continue beating until well mixed.

5.     Remove vanilla bean from milk. Beat half of the hot milk into yolk mixture. Return this to remaining hot milk and bring to a boil quickly, whisking very fast to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to cool. Rub top of pastry cream with  teaspoon of butter to prevent a skin from forming. Cover with plastic wrap and cool completely. Immediately before using, fold in softly whipped cream with a wooden spoon.

6.     To assemble, slice each rectangle horizontally. Place each bottom half on a serving plate. Top with a 1/2-inch layer of pastry cream and berries. Place the top half on top of berries and repeat process with remaining rectangles. I added a small dollop of cream on top of the berries so that the top piece of pastry would stick. Garnish with berries and serve immediately. (Can be wrapped and refrigerated for a couple of days)

Even though these are best served immediately after assembly, these were still truly fantastic after being wrapped with clear wrap and put in the refrigerator for a couple of days. They didn't get the slightest bit soggy, which was my big fear.

Also, I had quite a bit of left over pastry cream that I covered with clear wrap and we used to dip berries in later in the week.

Homemade Puff Pastry and Cheese Straws

Let me start off by saying that puff pastry is not that big of deal to make yourself. I say this because when my husband and I went to a brunch the other day with friends, R mentioned to someone that I was going to be making puff pastry and her response was, "You know, they sell really great puff pastry at the store." Well, challenge accepted. If I had been wavering ever so slightly about whether or not to make it myself, that comment pushed me over to the "I'll show you" side of things. It did take me about 5 hours to complete but so much of that is down time that really anyone can do it. You just need a few minutes every hour or so for a few hours. If at all possible, I like to know every single ingredient in what I'm eating, so to me its worth the time to make it myself, especially something I don't eat all that often.

That said, while I was going to photograph the whole puff pastry making process, my OCD kicked in and I couldn't handle the mess and the camera. Oh well. All you need are 4 ingredients; flour, butter, salt, and cream.

Puff Pastry
from Martha Stewart

Yield Makes 2 pounds, 11 ounces

Ingredients

• 1 pound (about 3 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 cups (4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions

1. Weigh the flour accurately. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth. Add 1/2 cup flour. Mix until smooth. Scrape this dough into a flat square about 1 inch thick. The square should measure about 5 inches by 5 inches. Wrap well in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine remaining flour with the salt. Gradually add the cream and mix until a rough dough is formed; it should not be sticky. Do not overmix. Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 12 inches by 7 inches, wrap in plastic, and chill, at least 30 minutes.
3. Remove the flour dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured work surface. Place the butter square at the bottom edge of the rectangle, and fold the flour dough over to completely encase the butter, sealing the edges by pinching them together and forming tight hospital corners at the edges. Wrap well in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes. **I would recommend longer (unless you have a super cold kitchen), it got soft far too quickly for me.
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured board, gently pound the dough all over in regular intervals with a rolling pin. Working in only one direction (lengthwise), gently roll the dough into a 20-by-9-inch rectangle, squaring corners with a bench scraper and your hands as you go. Using a dry pastry brush, sweep off excess flour. With a short side facing you, fold the rectangle in thirds like a business letter, aligning the edges carefully and keeping each edge square. Turn the dough a quarter-turn clockwise, so the flap opening faces right, like a book. This completes the first turn. Pound across the dough, again in regular intervals, and roll out again to a 20-by-9-inch rectangle, rolling in the same lengthwise direction. Fold dough again into thirds. This completes the second turn. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour.
5. Repeat the rolling, turning, and chilling process for a total of six turns; always start each turn with the opening of the dough to the right, and always make your tri-fold in the same manner, that is, by starting from either the top of the dough or the bottom each time. By the sixth and final turn, the dough should be very smooth, with no lumps of butter visible. Use as little flour as possible for the rolling, and brush off any excess before folding the dough. If the dough becomes too elastic or too warm to work with, return it to the refrigerator until firm.
6. Wrap the finished dough in plastic and refrigerate until ready to use, at least 2 hours after your final turn, or freeze for future use.

**Make small indentations in the dough at the end of each turn so you won't lose track of how many rotations you've finished

Cheese straws; what can you say but yum. I mean can you really beat cheese and puff pastry. Then serve it with a nice, light, spring pasta like we did and you've got yourself a hit. The light and buttery pastry against the bite of an al dente pasta...perfection.

Spread the grated parmesan and press puff pastry onto it.

Twist sections and place on parchment paper on cookie sheet to chill for at least 45 minutes.

 The finished product. After cooling, enjoy.

Cheese Straws

adapted from Martha Stewart

Yield Makes 18

Ingredients

• 1 pound Puff Pastry about 1/3 recipe
• 3/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• or 3/4 cup cinnamon-sugar mixture (makes a great dessert by itself or with ice cream)

Directions

1.     Prepare the Puff Pastry.

2.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Sprinkle either cheese or cinnamon-sugar mixture on a work surface. Roll puff pastry to a rectangle approximately 10 inches by 13 inches, pressing dough into cheese or cinnamon-sugar mixture to adhere. Press gently with rolling pin to adhere.

3.     Trim sides with a pastry roller. (You will have a rectangle that is roughly 9 by 12 inches.)

4.     Cut the puff pastry into 3/4-inch strips, and twist from one end to the other. Arrange strips, 1 1/2 inches apart, on a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Chill twists on baking sheets until very firm, about 45 minutes.

5.     Bake the cheese straws in middle of oven until golden brown and puffed, about 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer cheese straws to a rack to cool.

And so it begins

Ok, so a little bit about me and my plan for this blog, in a nutshell.  I'm 27 years old; for some of you this will seem very young, to others quite old, but for me I'm glad I'm at where I'm at.  Lately (ok for approximately 21 years) I've been trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I used to tell my mom that when I grew up I wanted to be independently wealthy...who knew that was going to be so difficult to accomplish? While that is still the ultimate goal, I'm at the very least trying to find my passion.

I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian for a while, like all children who grow up with pets, but who wants to go to school for that long?! Then I wanted to be a marine biologist until I figured out that science had quite the nack for putting me to sleep.  Then there was my lawyer phase, my novelist phase, my poetry phase, my crafting phase (perhaps the shortest of all the career aspiration phases), and here we are at what I am calling my 'figure out how to make money at what makes me happy' phase.

What makes me divinely happy, you ask. Eating of course. Its quite the trendy, hipster thing to do these days...eat. I mean, not anyone can just eat. The world around us would have you believe that you have to be a pretentious douche bags in order to enjoy food and try something new.  Well world, I have news...I'm not pretentious or a douche and I love to eat, particularly sweet things.

My plan for this blog is to make something delicious each and every week. Most things will be brand new to me as I'm most interested in expanding my horizons and trying something new, but some things will simply be made because I already know that I love them. I'll be working on my food photography skills, or lack there of at this present moment and I hope you enjoy what you see and taste some great homemade treats along the way. Oh, and if I can throw in a humorous anecdote about me or my family or my hilariously strange neighbors, all the better.