Pies and Tarts
The Pies and Tarts:
For Thanksgiving this year my baking mojo was a little off, but I was inspired by a friend of mine who told me their favorite American dessert, being from the UK, was pecan pie. I have never been a fan of pecan pie, but I thought what the hell!? Why not try it? The Big Man, aka my dad, is also a HUGE apple pie fan and I felt like I couldn't disappoint on that front so I made him an apple pie with a cheddar crust. The pie was AMAZING. The crust was ridic, but I didn't have a pie plate so I had to make it in a tart pan. So it looks a little whacko, but man, oh man was that pie delicious.
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| Alright. I was sold on this. It was super easy to make. The crust was flaky and light, and the pecans were roasted to perfection. And the shocker of all shocks was it wasn't too sweet! Good on ya Gregory for your mention of pecan pie! |
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| This is the gargantuan apple pie with cheddar crust. Don't you just want to reach into the screen and grab it? This crust was OFF THE CHAIN! No, seriously. So, so good. I will definitely make this again for a thanksgiving party next year. Amaze. |
One of my best girlfriend's got married in September - YAY! I flew out to Chicago for the first wedding and then for the New York celebration I hitch hiked to Rockland County. No, really it was a tricky location so I asked my friend to be my date and he picked me up, after my singing gig, and we went out to the wedding. I know that pumpkin pie is his favorite so as I thank you for schlepping me and accompanying me to the party I made him this:
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| As a result of baking him my famous pumpkin pie I got this: |
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| A PROPOSAL! That is how good my baking is! (No one was actually proposed to or engaged in the making of this photograph) |
I decided when I met the exbf's uncle, who was like his father, for the first time I wanted to really impress him with something summery, refreshing, tasty, and spectacular. So I thought, why not make a fruit tart? I looked up a bunch of recipes and thought, "how hard can it be?" I made my own pate sucre no prob and then moved onto the pastry cream. Ah, pastry cream. Why do you taunt me so? I thought it was thick enough what with the MASSIVE amounts of corn starch I added ever so carefully, but it still managed to thwart me. Firm, but as I would learn, not firm enough for a 30 minute train ride to Penn Station ,followed by an hour long NJ Transit ride, and a leisurely dinner in AUGUST. Like in the pictures, the tart was GORGEOUS, it tasted amazing, the crust was buttery and crispy, but the damned pastry cream did not stand up and it was like pasty cream ooze EVERYWHERE! But it did look amazing. I haven't made another one since then. I am scared. Oh so, scared.
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