Tag Archives: walnuts

Decadence in a Nut-Shell

23 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by in Chocolate Pie, Icebox Pie

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Pippa and Jack’s fall vacay, part 2. From the mountains to the beaches, these two know how to enjoy their surroundings. In October, our families shared a beach house in San Diego for four days and nights characterized by sticky sand, idyllic views, toddler shenanigans, and decadent treats.

I’m choosing to harp on the word decadence to talk about the pie we enjoyed on this vacation. This dessert is nearly laughable in terms of richness, over-the-topness, and, well…yeah. Decadence. Even Ken Haedrich includes a note in his description of this pie that reads: Warning: I doubt there’s a richer recipe in this book.

The pie in question is the…Patchwork Quilt Country Inn Frozen Coffee Toffee Pie. Even the name is a mouthful. Let’s talk about the crust first. This pie gets its own particular crust: Choco-Nut Press-In Pie Crust, which Ken comments is an “unorthodox crust” that would likely work well with many of the other icebox and ice cream pies in the Pie cookbook, “especially those featuring chocolate”.

The first step in the making of this crust involves pulsing chocolate and walnuts and sugar in a food processor. I had overlooked this small detail while packing but guess what it TOTALLY worked out because my food processor has been functional but essentially broken all year. Levi did a Target run on Day 2 of our vacation that included: a new food processor.

I purchased one item for the making of this crust that I will almost certainly never have occasion to buy again: boxed pie crust mix. (!!)

Having made that snide remark: the crust really came together nicely, was easy to work with, and tasted like something special. Here it is, pressed into the largest pie plate I own. Following this, the crust was refrigerated, then baked, then refrigerated again.

In between steps of pie-making, I assisted Pippa in creating a chocolatey treat of her own. (Thanks Trader Joe’s.)

Okay, are you guys really ready to hear about the filling? The answer is no, there’s no way to prepare for the shocking stats to follow.

7 eggs.

4 sticks of butter.

2 1/2 CUPS of sugar. (I just couldn’t do it. I reduced it to 2.)

Chocolate, espresso, Kahlua, vanilla. And none of this includes the topping.

My entire Kitchen-Aid stand mixer traveled to San Diego with me for the making of this monstrosity.

The filling is refrigerated in the already cold pie shell before a topping gets added. Here I am with an expression that says, “lol now I’ve seen it all”.

The cold pie is topped with sweetened espresso whipped cream. The recipe calls for “Rich’s Whip Topping” but that’s not available in California stores from what I could deduce (and the recipe allows that it’s only available in certain parts of the country. The Patchwork Quilt Country Inn is in Indiana, so I’m thinking this is a Midwest product. But if any of you have heard of it or used it, I’d be quite curious to know.)

The fully assembled pie freezes for 2-4 hours before being ready for consumption. After your kids go to bed is the suggested correct time to dig into this pie. I for one don’t like to caffeinate my two-year-old prior to bedtime. (But I’d be dishonest to say she didn’t taste this at all…she did get a few morsels on the morning we were packing up and checking out. We were all trying to do our best by the remainder of the pie; it was a feat.) In summary: this is as delicious as you would imagine. A pie not for the everyday, but perfect for a very special treat. Thanks to Alisa for deciding that our trip to San Diego was the right occasion. šŸ˜‰

I shared a large wedge with our downstairs neighbors (a small group of friends who were renting out the bottom floor of the same AirBnB house). This is exactly how that conversation went.

Me in my mask knocking on the door. Door opens.

“Hi neighbors! Uhhhh…..I made this frozen coffee toffee pie and there’s no way we’re going to eat it all, do you guys want to try some? None of you are allergic to nuts, right?”

Despite my awkwardness, they were quite pleased and happily accepted my offering.

In keeping with the Choco-Nut theme, here’s one more vacay picture. Me with my ice cream buddy for life.

What pies are you making for Thanksgiving this week? I’d love to hear. ā¤

Pieyonara!

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in Dried Fruit Pie, Nut Pie

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While I have a few favorite scapegoats for the fact that for the past several years I’ve been hovering right around 150/300 pies completed from my PieĀ cookbook, my favorite favorite goes something like this.

“Well, I love using fruit that’s in season, and I’ve pretty much already made every fruit pie in the book…it’s all those chiffon and ice cream pies and so on that I never seem to get to…and it always seems like a waste to NOT make pie out of fruit I have around (DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND LOGANBERRIES?!) so I end up just making up my own fruit pies. So, please believe me, I AM making pie, just not making progress towards my 300 pie goal.”

It is pretty accurate.

But, for this story, I am proud to say, that I found a never-before-made double crust fruit pie recipe in Pie for which I did not need to find loganberries or marionberries or any other such nonsense. Georgia Orcutt’s Thanksgiving Dried Fruit Pie. Yes, it contains only readily available dried fruits (Bing cherries, apples, prunes, and apricots), which get stewed and simmered back to life in a pot of apple cider before melding with walnuts, lemon juice, sugar, and butter to become a unique and quite delicious final showpiece.

Why, you may ask, did I need this particular pie to be a double crust fruit pie? Well, I had come into possession of some very high-quality lard, hand-rendered by friends, and Ken Haedrich, in his lard pie crust recipe, notes that lard is a particularly good choice for a double crusted fruit pie. With an ingredient on hand that produces an impossibly flaky and perfect crust, it would be a mistake to fiddle around with distractions like crumb or streusel toppings. Let the crust shine. The more of it, the better.

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A word on lard. I have never bought it in a grocery store. I probably never will. I was a vegetarian for six years. I will probably never be a vegetarian again. All this is to say, I care deeply about my food, and I like to know where it comes from. And if you knew the pig, (or the bear, for that matter) and it’s been killed for meat, and the fat is available as another useful product, I’m all about using it to create something delicious that can be enjoyed and that will give nutrients to the eater. (The pig that provided this particular jar of lard was one was raised at nearby Apricot Lane Farms. Thanks and respect.) And speaking of apricots…

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You guys, now that I have a baby, it takes DAYS to make a pie. One to make crusts, one to prep ingredients, and one to hastily assemble it and get it in the oven before naptime’s over.

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Here comes that apple cider action. About ten minutes of simmering on the stovetop and lots of stirring, and the dried fruit is nicely re-hydrated.

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And here’s the regularly scheduled Trader Joe’s product plug you have come to love and expect from peace-of-pie.com.

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Walnuts coming in for the win.

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As I was rolling out this crust I was immensely pleased with the texture and knew it was going to turn out great. And that’s saying something. As Levi will attest to, even though I’ve made hundreds of pies at this point, I usually utter a few deprecating comments during the baking process (“This isn’t sticking together the way I want it to.” “It’s a little overdone.” “I should have left that in the oven for another five minutes.”) Silly, but true. Usually when I taste the pie I sheepishly agree that it’s totally fine (no, usually more than fine). Anyway…total confidence this time.

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I texted the picture of the finished pie to our friends Johnny and Andy (the gifters of the lard) and told them I had made them a pie-o-nara pie and that they needed to come over and have some. They did, although it was later discovered that pie-o-nara was lost in translation/texting. Say it out loud. What do you think it means?

I updated the spelling of this made up word in the name of the post. Pieyonara. Sayonara. I think it’s more accurate. For a made up word. Johnny and Andy are heading out to some beautiful parts of the West and Southwest in their amazing renovated van for the first half of the year, so this pie was a little farewell for now.

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More about Dried Fruit Pie. This pie is hearty and filling, truly a meal in and of itself. Ken Haedrich’s description speaks of the pie being present in Georgia Orcutt’s family’s Thanksgiving weekend pie buffet (in other words, they have a table of pies laid out that are available all weekend, and that can be eaten at any time, even for breakfast. Doesn’t that sound like a great tradition?)

This pie goes well with wine. Or, slightly warmed, with tea or coffee, in the morning.

Andy is a stellar hand model.

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Happy New Year to all, and have a beautiful day.

The Sweeny Family Gives Thanks

28 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by in Nut Pie, travel

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Here is the original Norm and Marie Sweeny family, some years ago, bundled up for the snow and clearly in their element.

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In 2017, the Sweeny family celebrated many milestones including Grandmother’s 90th birthday, Aunt Susan’s 60th birthday, Mom and Dad’s 30th anniversary, Alex and Levi’s 30th birthdays, and Matt’s 21st birthday. We were happy to be able to gather in Illinois to share a Thanksgiving weekend of celebrations together!

The family has grown over the years, as you can see…the photo below is even missing 4.5 grandchildren/great-grandchildren who couldn’t make the trip out from California.

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Although many delicious desserts and savory items were made and consumed as part of the festivities, for the purposes of the blog I will naturally focus on the pie I baked for Thanksgiving:Ā Maria’s Double Crust Walnut Pie. This pie is unique on several accounts, but, like many good things, begins with a bunch of butter.

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Maria must be a special lady, because she has a special pie crust recipe inĀ Pie to be used with this very special and delicious recipe: Maria’s Shortbread Pie Pastry. It contains much more sugar than a typical crust, as well as an egg and lemon zest. In fact, the crust has about the same number of ingredients that the pie filling does. Due to the egg, the crust has a heartier, sturdier texture than average.

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Part of the uniqueness of this pie is that is meant to be baked in a springform pan. However, my aunt did not have a springform pan at her home (nor do I have one at mine–we’re more of a pie than a cake family clearly) so I slightly adapted the plan and used a deep dish pie pan. The recipe gives direction to add “ropes” of dough to the inside of the pan as pictured before pressing the dough flatly up against the sides of the pan. As far as I could tell, this just served to form a thicker pastry around the edges and hold the pie together more concretely. And the crust is such a delicious and important part of this dessert. I think it’s a good move.

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The pie filling is made from walnuts that get boiled with sugar and water and added to honey and cream. Nothing to object to there. The top crust is brushed with an egg glaze, and the final result is drool-inducing.

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If there was such a thing as Baklava Pie, this would be it. (Confusing picture below, that’s pumpkin pie on the plate there, also delicious, just not matching.)

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In this shot here you can see the true decadence of the filling.

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This pie is one of several to date that fall into the category of, “I don’t care if I still have roughly 150 pie recipes left in my cookbook and I probably won’t finish this project until I’m 53, this is a pie I would make again and again because it’s just that good.”

I’m sharing a few more pictures from the Sweeny family Thanksgiving weekend below. Enjoy and have a beautiful week!

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Cousin Alex’s Bacon-Wrapped DuckIMG_5748.jpg

When you turn 90 you get two cakes.IMG_2137.JPG

A little help with the candles!IMG_2134

Unwrapping a birthday birthstone gift.Ā IMG_2153.JPG

Matt, the Jenga Master.IMG_2122

On Dates and Freedom

09 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by in Freeform Pie

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Gone, but not forgotten. Well, nearly forgotten. This pie eluded publicity for nearly seven months because the pictures of got removed from my phone in an untimely fashion, but here it is, another from the ranks of Pie. May I present to you…the Date-Walnut Freeform Pie.

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Freeform pies are never the most picturesque, the most noble-looking or impressive types. But I think there’s a beauty to them all the same, and part of that beauty is the sheer ease of folding crust up and up and up and being done, no fussing with a pie dish. Just a plain cookie sheet is all you need. It’s very freeing (pun intentional) to know how to make a pie without a pie dish. To be honest, this pie was made in the comfort of my home, where I had a half-dozen pie plates around that I COULD have used, but it’s the principle of the thing. I’ve got pie making down to the point now where I think I could make a good pie with the only tools being as follows:

Any type of baking surface

Any cylindrical object

A sharp paring knife

A spoon

A bowl

….yep, that’s it.

(Don’t hold me to that, okay? Levi can vouch for the actual number of dishes I dirty when I make a pie. It’s more than five.)

Here are some of the other freeform pies I’ve made (1, 2). They’ve all been pretty yummy. But now let’s turn our attention to the pie at hand.

Dates. Dates are good. What I’ve learned about date desserts in my short life as a baker is that dates and dairy go well together. Dates + Dairy. That’s an equation to remember. If you’ve never had a date shake before, that’s a great reason to visit the California desert. Go to Palm Springs and get yo’self a date shake. Dates + Ice Cream. Also, I know something about Sticky Date Pudding, which I learned to make from some Australian friends of mine and have made from scratch at least a half-dozen times. That was like my go-to dessert that I would make for youth group hangouts or to bring to dinner at a friends’ house when I was an older teen. I just thought it was so delicious…gooey and rich and just a little sweet, covered with toffee sauce…oh hey, there’s that equation again. Dates + Butter + Cream = Yes.

Guess why this pie works?

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It’s all about that cream, that cream, that dairy. Without it, the date and walnut filling folded up inside a walnut pastry would just be too dry. But with it, success. Ken Haedrich describes this pie by saying, “Unabashedly rich and sweet, [it] has a single thick layer of dates and walnuts baked in a delectable walnut crust. The moisture comes from heavy cream, most of which is warmed and poured over the dates to soften them; the rest gets mixed in when the nuts are added to the filling.” Doesn’t that sound so fun? Don’t you want to try making this recipe now?! I thought so.

I made this pie for a women’s Bible class that was held at my home back in February. Oh, and that curried yellow carrot dip I made was yummy too…but you don’t get to hear about that here, since it’s not something circular that I can pass off as a pie. (I do sometimes wonder if anyone believes that Levi and I subsist off pies and maybe quiches, that I only bake and don’t cook, that I like sweet foods more than savory foods, etc. It’s fun and funny to think about. The answer to all of those musings is a decided no…but if you want to believe any of them, dear readers, I can’t deny you that right.)

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Last Harvest Pie

24 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by in Summer Fruit Pie

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February has been a good month for pies. Several new pies from the book have been tested for various occasions. I also baked up a couple Apple-Berry Pies of my own imagination to bring to the tech/warehouse department of my company, because I believe in bribery, I mean because I’m such a nice person. (No but for real. I needed to work out of the warehouse for several days and there is no better way to ensure a bunch of guys will run around finding you printer ink when you use it all up than feeding them pie first.)

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Okay, wow, I just now noticed the double smiley face. That is some serious sucking up.

IMG_0470I’m also gearing up this week for my annual bake sale mini pie frenzy. (Just had horrible thought…am possibly out of half pint jars? Ran to garage to check on jar situation. Crisis averted.)

So yes…I will have PLENTY of 2015, February, current, hot-off-the-press pie stories for you. They’re coming!

But first. IMG_5196

Green tomatoes. Ahhh yes. This Green Tomato Selfie harks back to December and to the Green Tomato-Mincemeat Pie I made with the last of the stragglers on our vines. This is the second green tomato pie I’ve made, the second that’s featured in Ken’s Pie cookbook, if you’ll recall. (If not, check out this post from a year ago, In which I Pride Myself On My Resourcefulness and Also Obi Nearly Poisons Himself.)

I felt that it was very fitting to christen this Christmas gift from another pi(e)-loving friend with a pie of a hue to match. (Thanks, Ren!)

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I suspect we North Americans don’t eat enough mincemeat. It truly has become my favorite Christmasy pie. This is a delicious variety; in addition to the finely chopped green tomatoes*, we have here raisins, walnuts, dates, white sugar, brown sugar, cider vinegar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, lemon zest, and butter.

*Boy, is that ever a time-consuming activity. Be prepared for wrinkled fingers and passing waves of anger.

IMG_5204The crust used for this recipe is a cornmeal crust. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, cornmeal is paired with green tomatoes in Ken’s other recipe as well. It makes sense. When I think of green tomatoes, the first thing I think of is (no, not pie) delicious battered-in-cornmeal-and-fried green tomatoes with remoulade, such as some that I ate in New Orleans not a month ago. Yummmm. Clearly green tomatoes and cornmeal are just meant to be.

Cornmeal crusts mean that I get out these handy gadgets (thanks, Grandma Bonnie!) and place them on the outer rim of the crust before baking to protect from overbrowning. The rest of the pie does just fine without a shield, although you’ll probably still notice a littleĀ deeper of a color than you’ll get with a standard pastry.Ā IMG_5206

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I really enjoy pictures of pie from this angle, looking right inside, as if you were about to reach in with a fork and just wedge off a little bite, making sure it contained both crust and filling.Ā IMG_5208

We were able to share this pie with many friends, including some Canadians who were not surprised at all by the contents of the filling and remarked that this was the way their family had always made mincemeat–with green tomatoes! IMG_5209

A Christmas Milestone

15 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by in Dried Fruit Pie, Nut Pie

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Pie 100! I put off baking this pie because I thought, “Pie 100 has to be the best yet.” “Pie 100 deserves a really special occasion.” “Pie 100 has to be over-the-top and awe-inspiring to all who encounter it.”

Then all of a sudden it was Christmas and I had to make a pie for Christmas. So I just made something I thought sounded yummy, and Christmasy. You can’t force this kind of thing.

My commonwealth friends will know what I’m talking about when I say that I think the most Christmasy taste in all the world is mince pie. I guess to be specific, that taste is cloves. But yes. Very Christmasy.

Ken Haedrich calls this pie Dried Cranberry and Walnut Funeral Pie, which doesn’t sound very Christmasy, or even slightly cheerful. But it definitely tasted like the holidays. It was eaten without fanfare, on a cozy Christmas Eve. 200 pies to go. I wonder how many will be baked in 2013?

IMG_1195Some of the key players.

IMG_1196Stirring the filling/crying in anticipation for Les Mis. Typical.

IMG_1197Sneakin’. Also typical.

IMG_1219This pie was such a good poser, I couldn’t help myself.

IMG_1221Pie in a sleigh.

IMG_1222Pie with a Levi.

IMG_1225Pie waiting to become a ghost of Christmas past.

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Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. I hope you all had fantastic Valentine’s Days, by the way. One of these days I’ll start being seasonally accurate. But really, would that be as fun?

Strep Throat Pie

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in Chocolate Pie

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Most pie stories have happy endings. And then some of them end with you getting strep throat and missing out on the last three days of your Spring Break vacation and not getting to taste (or actually even finish making) the pie you made the day before you got sick.

*Sigh.* But we won’t focus on these sad things.

A few days after the events shown here, my relations decided that they hadn’t had enough pie. So the same crew mentioned in the above post, plus my cousin Alyssa (who is also an accomplished baker, though she is more of a cupcake girl) made a couple more pies. One of them was the Angus Barn Chocolate Chess PieĀ that I first made back in February. Let it be noted that this is the first repeat pie I have made since beginning this project. The combination of extreme deliciousness, easily accessible ingredients, and relatively short time until consumption made this an easy choice for a pie we all wanted to eat RIGHT away.

Phone conversation with my uncle at about 5:30 pm: “Oh hi, Uncle Alan. Yes, I’ve got all your kids over here at Nana’s. Have they eaten dinner? Well…er….I actually just fed them all pie and ice cream….yeah…Is there any left over for you? Of course! Come on over.”

The other pie we made was called theĀ Ultimate Rocky Road Pie and needed to be refrigerated for quite some time before it could be eaten. It basically ended up being a massive mess of marshmallows, melted chocolate, and walnuts. We spent some time dipping the nuts and marshmallows into the remaining chocolate scrapings, like fondue. And that’s as close as I came to tasting this pie.

If you’ve never gotten strep throat before, don’t. It’s not a good time. You basically feel like you’re choking on your own uvula and swallowing nearly brings on tears. So I spent the last couple days of vacation lying in my friend Maggie’s bed instead of helping her set up her new apartment, writing her messages on my phone and trying to eat the soft fried tofu she lovingly prepared for me.

My cousin Daniel just got an iPod touch, and so, as you would expect when your 12-year-old cousin gets an iPod touch, you start to get lots of text messages (mainly consisting of rows and rows of emoticons). But he also sent me this picture to show me that the pie had not been forgotten in the freezer. (Although the layer of broiled marshmallow fluff had never been added…ah well. Naked Rocky Road.)

“Hey Jess sorry your not feeling good:( it really stinks you guys can’t come over for lunch…I will take your advice and stay away from strep throat a ya and it turns out that only nana can come to lunch cause everyone else is sick to, so we will have a fun time eating 16peoples worth of food and I’ll tell you how the pie is to.”

šŸ™‚ šŸ™‚ šŸ™‚ šŸ™‚ (That’s for you, Daniel.)