dirt

35. mississippi mud pie

I've made this pie crust quite a number of times but this time, my digital scales battery dying messed it all up. Baking is a very exact science and i know this now for a fact. After dusting up my old scale and measuring everything out, the dough was a bit too oily so i added some more flour. It seemed to be okay till i rolled it out and was unable to lift it without it breaking up. After about three or four tries i gave up and had to redo the whole thing. I wasn't going to take any chances, i was pretty sure it would not come out right.

Second time around, it came out right so i moved on to making the filling. Dark chocolate, butter and golden syrup melted over boiling water and then poured into an egg and brown sugar mixture.

This rich chocolate filling was poured into the pie crust and baked till it had a crusty top and a wobbly centre. I then put it in the fridge overnight to set.

Topped with whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings. A chocolate lovers dream.

rustic

A couple of days ago, i had my lovely little cousin over. She enjoys baking and licking and tasting everything while baking. According to her, the pumpkin puree tasted like tomato puree. 

34. pumpkin pie


Did i have to buy an entire pumpkin and crush it? Nope. Thats the good thing about the time we live in, everything can be found in a can.

Most of the ingredients in this pie filling like a few spices and sugar were there to improve and boost the flavour of the pumpkin. 

It turned out looking as simple as the process. I cut a slice and served with a dollop of whipped cream. It was quite nice but not my favourite pie.

lime time

33. key lime pie

The filling was a lot like the lemon meringue pie but everything else was different. Instead of the pie crust dough for the base, i crushed up digestive biscuits and mixed it with butter then pressed it down in the pie dish. That went in the oven for a couple of minutes then was left to cool while i made the filling.

I grated limes as big as lemons for the filling. The limes I'm used to are as small as table tennis balls. 

The lime zest went in a bowl with egg yolks, condensed milk and lime juice to make the filling. I then poured it into the cold pie crust and baked for about 30 minutes.

Once it was out and cool, i put it in the fridge and went out for a few hours. After dinner, i whipped some cream to top the pie for dessert. Whisking was going well until it wasn't. It thickened normally, and in one second it went all lumpy. I threw that down the drain and tried again with the little i had left. Same thing happened but not as bad as the first. What causes cream to curdle?

Well, i had to use the cream as it turned out and it wasn't so bad, just not as creamy as it should have been. Instead of topping the entire pie, i decided i'll whip cream to top each slice when i needed it. I enjoyed this pie. The base was crunchy, tangy filling and the cream toned that tanginess down. Perfect. 

finally back

After four months of not baking to blogging, its great to be back! Yes, i remember promising in my first post to do at least one recipe a week but i got way busier with school than i anticipated. I hardly had time to eat or take a shower while i was working on this project. I turned that in about a month and a half ago then took a well deserved break. Went home and spent time with my wonderful family and friends and i'm recharged and ready to get back to the heat of the kitchen. The second pie in the book asked for dark corn syrup. Once again, an ingredient i had to search all over the place for. Its typically an american thing and so it was hard to find here in london. I finally found it on amazon. 

32. pecan pie

I made the same pie crust dough i made for the lemon meringue pie and lined the pie dish with it. For the filling, the dark corn syrup, sugar and a bit of salt were brought to the boil and then left to cool down a bit. While it cooled, i whisked eggs into which i was to stir the warm sugar mixture briskly to avoid scrambling the eggs. I think my sugar mix was left to cool a few minutes too long because it became a bit too thick to mix in easily. It didn't mess it up though, it was just harder to get them mixed together well. Mixed in some butter and vanilla extract next.

I put chopped pecan nuts on the pie crust dough in the dish then poured the filling in and topped carefully with pecan nuts. Funny thing, before i topped the filling with the pecan nuts, the chopped ones floated to the top.

It baked for about an hour and came out perfect. Crusty on top, soft on the inside. It rose a little but settled down as it cooled.