"50 Shades Of Peach" or "Should I Be Reading This?"

I have been absolutely ridiculously covered in pie crust for days. I am struggling, wrestling, in a full body gladiator throwing down with this idea of the perfect dairy free pie crust, and it started with the very simple act of bringing home what turned out to be one of the greatest peaches I've ever eaten in my life.

 Now I am a HUGE peach lover. In fact, I defy you to find me anything quite as satisfying as biting in to a perfect midsummer peach at its peak of sweetness and having your arm bathed in its heady nectar from fingers to elbow. But this peach was amazing in a way that uniquely stands out in my mind. I remember exactly the very last time I experienced a peach that was this level of perfection. I was 17, walking back from a farmer's market at Fisherman's Wharf, and was wearing a *cough*veryquestionable*cough* light pink jacket ( since it is always just a little bit chilly in San Francisco) with a peach in my hand that was bigger than my fist. When I bit into it, the texture... the juice.... it absolutely transported me to a new plane of bliss, and as the amber nectar rolled off my palms, down my sleeve and soaked through the cotton fabric by my elbow I remember thinking little other than "My god". That pink jacket? I still have it. It's hanging ( long retired) in a special spot in my closet, its right sleeve still lightly stained with peach juice.

The peach I had last week however, blew this one away! It was smaller than the one in San Francisco, unassuming, and just like before I had no idea what I was in for before my teeth broke the delicate skin. It was breathtaking. I felt positively drunk on the lush, ambrosia-like sweetness.The blush of color, the depth of flavor, it was instant euphoria. Positively, poop of angels. And as soon as it was gone I knew I had to get my hands on some more. The next day I went back to the store, wild eyed with longing, and bought 12 more pounds of these peaches. Yes. 12 pounds. Once I realized how deranged that was I set about to making these lovelies into some pies. That way at least I would look like I bought 12 pounds of peaches with a purpose in mind and that I hadn't in fact just taken a one way trip to crazytown.



The problem of course was a pie crust recipe. I didn't exactly have a dairy free one lying around, so I set to work experimenting. I'd make a pie crust, fill it with these ridiculous peaches, bake it, taste it, and eat if up if it didn't work out. Maybe share a slice or two, if I was feeling generous. Even if the pie crust was super lame these peaches, from the land of the unicorns, were more than enough to make a plate or three worth your time. Four pies and a squash quiche later ( hey you need some salt in there somewhere to balance out the sweet!) I wish I could tell you I've reached a conclusion. That I've found a pie crust that's as explosively overwhelming as the peaches under which it rests. But I can't. I'm really close. I can feel it. Inches away from the finish line. But I'm thinking  that maybe it could use some more study. Juuuust six or more test batches, to get it so it's perfect.

Peach season after all, only comes around once a year.

"Go Right Ahead"

There are times in this life when things get embarrassing.  When you're out for a run and a stranger in a slow moving car hears you scream to yourself "COME ON WOMAN! YOU CAN DO IT!"... and they give you a look... like you must be a hobo. These are the times when wearing a ski mask in public, seems like a good idea. But there are also times to be proud. Like when you figure out the answer to a problem that's been plaguing  you, and you want to do a happy dance.

I've experienced both of these feelings this week. 

My shame; yes I talk to myself in public, and no, this is not the first time I've been caught.

My pride; I have found the holy grail of dairy free baking. Home made sweetened condensed coconut milk. 

It will change your life. It'll give you pride and if you're like me, it'll make you scream "EUREKA!" while doing a happy dance (and you won't even care who's giving you the eye!).

I will however confess, that while it did provoke a happy dance, it took me three tries to get this right. It isn't hard to do if you know what to expect, but in the throws of whisking I kept doubting myself. Is it thick enough yet?*whisk whisk whisk* Am I burning it up?* sniff sniff whisk* If it gets thicker when it cools is this thick enough? * whisk whisk whisk*  My first try I kept the heat way too low, and after an hour it hadn't really changed consistency at all. I figured I was just stupid, tried to use it anyway and ended up with a sort of soupy mousse situation. Fail!

My second try was in the middle of the night, which should have been my first clue that this wouldn't work out. I used raw sugar because that's all I had in the house, and since I  was headed to bed once I got done with the cook stage I just stuck the whole thing in the fridge to use in the morning.

 Don't be like me and make either of these choices.

 The raw sugar tinted everything a brownish golden hue, and the fat separated from the milk in the refrigerator over night, making an floating iceberg of coconut oil. When creaming my batter together I thought to myself, eh it'll all come out in the wash but alas this was not the case and the finished product was speckled with islands of coconut oil. Ew. 

By my third try I was a seasoned pro. I got a nice comfortable bench to sit on, and set myself up with some wifi action. I nursed the creamy dreamy coconut milk while it simmered a full forty five minutes, until it left streaks in the pan when I ran my whisk through it, was the consistency of yogurt, and just the slightest bit nutty smelling.

I let it sit until it was room temperature, and from there ignored my lazy urge to deal with it later and made the pie filling right away. This time everything was perfect. All the aspects of a key lime pie that I love and remember, no sacrifices, no excuses. Perfect texture, perfect taste, total elation. 

Strangers of the world, warm up your stink eye, because you better believe that I'm causing a scene!

Dairy Free Key Lime Pie

This is admittedly a little labor intensive to produce, you have to stand over a hot sauce pan whisking every moment or two for forty five minutes, but the results are beyond worth it. It's an equal swap for  sweetened condensed cows milk, wonderfully undetectable, and look, it makes cream pies!


Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk

2 (13.5 ounce) cans of  unsweetened coconut milk ( I used Thai Kitchen brand)
1/2 cup caster sugar

Add two cans of coconut milk and a 1/2 cup of sugar to a heavy bottomed sauce pan, and simmer on medium low heat (whisking frequently to avoid any lumps) for about 45 minutes until the mixture thickens and has reduced in volume by about half. Trust yourself on this, there is a visible difference between what you started out with and and the finished very thick yogurt like end product. If after 45 minutes it still seems too runny, just keep on simmering until it reduces.


Let cool to room temperature before using.

Crust

12 whole graham crackers
5 tbsp shortening
4 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In the bowl of a food processor add 12 whole graham crackers and pulse until you have medium-small crumbs.

In a mixing bowl combine 5 tbsp shortening, 4 tbsp coconut oil, 3tbsp of light brown sugar and the graham cracker crumbs. Fold mixture together with a rubber spatula until the crumbs are evenly coated with the oil mixture. Press crust into the bottom and sides of a 9 1/2 inch pie plate, bake for 10 minutes until golden brown. Let cool to room temperature before filling. Leave oven on.

Pie


4 large egg yolks
the zest of one lime
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp key lime juice
Sweetened condensed coconut milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream together all ingredients, whisking well to smooth out any lumps.
Bake at 325 for 15 minutes, center will still be jiggly. Set on a cooling rack until the pie is cool to the touch ( about room temp).Chill in the fridge until set, at least four hours or overnight. Slice and enjoy!

"Operation Pie Attack!"

Am I the only one having trouble starting forward motion on my new years resolutions?  I don't really know where to begin. I've got some ideas but it just seems like January flopped down at such an inconvenient time to get it all together. I know  the holidays have all passed by, and that now is the time to start your diet and organization plans but school hasn't started yet and I'm totally not finished stress eating. How am I supposed to get it together when I'm still sneaking booze into my hot chocolate and having fantasies about sleeping in a bed of warm spaghetti?

I do have a plan though, to combat my sloth (because I actually love new years resolutions) I am making my lists and setting up my plans with an intended start date of January 23rd. Lunar New Year!

What? Don't roll your eyes!

Okay okay so maybe not. I may be lazy but I have been working on a few goals, I promise. #1 is to stop using plastic shopping bags ( I know, I'm soo late to that party), #2 is to upgrade to a nicer camera (come on tax refund!) #3 is to dive head first into the world of gluten free baking ( I have a sister, a niece, and an aunt who all eat gluten free, it's time to get on this), and #4 is something I'm calling Operation Pie Attack!


Operation Pie Attack is this, whenever there is a party, or a birthday, or they have a charity blah-de-blah at work I will show up and bring a pie (or cake if the situation calls for it). It doesn't have to be a fancy involved dessert or even be a big deal holiday. I'm going to bring a baked good to everything until 2013.

Why wasn't I doing it already? Well, here's this;
I am one awkward person at parties ( and honestly just generally in life). I'm nervous, and I say weird things and I spend most of my time out in public worrying about my breath situation and if there is something stuck in my teeth. Bringing a baked good opens you up to conversation/scrutiny which is exactly what I try my hardest to avoid, PLUS there's always the slim chance that someone will disillusion me by announcing that my pie sucks and punching me in the face ( yes I worry about this. What? DON'T LOOK AT ME!).

I'm determined to get over this, in fact it leads right in to my fifth and final resolution for 2012;

#5 Stop being afraid of being wrong/ making an ass of myself. Life is too short to waste time being timid or worrying about how you come off. If my pie sucks, it's okay. I'll just make a better one next time.

So as my very first step towards achieving this goal I brought an apple pie to new year's dinner at my grandmother's house. All my relatives were there and it was... terrifying.  I was still awkward of course, and a couple things went wrong, the apples were too tart and the top crust browned funny, but I lived. And I'm still living.


The awkward feeling is merely growing pains I told myself, and while I busied  my hands looking at the vast collection of knickknacks around the room trying to remain cool, look at what I found smiling back at me...

Fate, right?

2012 I've got plans for you, and they include pie.

Apple Pie

Crust: 

2 1/2 cups flour

1tsp salt

1tbsp sugar

1/2 lb (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch peices

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp cider vingear

Filling:

5 medium apples (whatever kind or combination you like) peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp butter (cut into small bits)

1/4 dark brown sugar 

1/4 cup  granulated sugar ( you can adjust the sugar to taste as sweetening fruit isn't an exact science)

3tbsp flour

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 egg +1tbsp milk whisked together for an egg wash

Demerara Sugar

1.For the crust:

Combine flour, salt, sugar,  vinegar and butter in a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Then slowly add the water to the mixture a little at a time until it starts to come together. You may not need all the water or you might need up to a cup just watch your dough and see how it does.

Remove the dough from the processor and separate into two equal peices. Form each peice into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

1.In a large mixing bowl combine apples, nutmeg, cinnamon, butter, the sugars and flour. Pour lemon juice, over apple mixture and toss gently to combine.

3.  roll out the bottom crust to fit a 9 inch pie pan leaving about an inch of rolled out crust hanging over the edge. Then put that bad boy (pan and all) back in the fridge to chill. 10- 15 minutes.

4. Remove bottom pie crust from the fridge and spoon in apple mixture. Set aside (  I personally like to work with a slightly softer pie dough, but if you don't you can set it back in the fridge at this point.)

5. Roll out the remaining ball of pie dough so it's big enough to cover all those lovely fillings in the pie, and roll it over the top. Trim any extra dough hanging off the sides so both crusts make about a 1/2 inch lip.  Join the crust edges together and crimp them in your favorite way. Poke some large vent holes in the top (no exploding pies please) and paint that baby with an egg wash. Top with sugar and wrap the edges with tin foil to prevent burning.

6. Bake at 425°F for 15 to 20 minutes on a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom rack until crust just starts to brown. 

7. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Move the pie to the center rack and bake for 45-55 minutes more. Pie is finished when the apples are fork tender and juices are bubbling. Let cool 30 minutes before serving.

"Some Sweet Day We'll Be Together"

Dear Thanksgiving,

I wish we could be better friends. I know that you're all about friendship, family and bounty, but I work retail. Right now all you are to me are those fleeting hours of sleep I get before Black Friday.

I tried to make you a pie,( you know, to turn things around) but it didn't really turn out. And it wasn't a very pleasant process either, I sort of lost my kitchen timer and screamed at the pie crust. Yeah.

But it's okay, I have high hopes for our relationship after I graduate school and become a night baker. We will turkey it up hardcore, harass everyone into eating only our food, and eat until our pants pop. I promise.

For now though, I have big plans for your buddy Christmas (I'm off that day, high five!). He's right around the corner and just as full of recipes to try out, mess up and, savor.

So...thanks anyway,
Mags.

     












Bacon Sweet Potato Pie
Originally From Food Network Magazine, but I'm guessing they disowned it because I can't find it anywhere

If you like the idea of this recipe, just use your favorite sweet potato pie recipe, swap out the vanilla extract for bourbon and add a few sprinkles of diced cooked bacon on the top.

"Whoopie Cushions, and Groucho Glasses. We're Breakin All The Rules"

So I basically took this recipe to court and made it pay me child support. I was feeling very froggy today and though I set out to the store with this perfectly fancy Food and Wine recipe in my back pocket, I somehow  found myself wandering the grocery aisles grabbing this and that  and things that were not  in the recipe and by the time I got home my cooking brain just decided to do whatever it wanted. This fruit tart is loosely, basically the Creamy Peach Tart in the most recent issue of Food and Wine. Somehow though it turned out to be a blackberry nectarine tart with a shortbread cookie and toasted walnut crust that was totally delicious but not at all what I had planned. Yeah, I can't really explain it. All this kitchen experimentation is really soaking into my brain and at this point I'm just waiting for my first huge disaster to rear it's ugly head. But until then, just enjoy the pretty pretty fruit tart.

Blackberry Nectarine Tart

tweaked from Creamy Peach Tart with Smoky Almond Crust

Contributed by Grace Parisi for Food and Wine

2 cups shortcake cookies, such as Lorna Doone (5 ounces, about a sleeve and a half)

1/2 cup toasted walnuts

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sour cream

1 egg

2 tsp Orange zest

2 firm, ripe nectarines, cut into thin wedges

1 pint blackberries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a food processor, combine the cookies with the walnuts and 2 tablespoons of the sugar and process until fine. Add the melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Press the crumbs into the bottom of a 9 inch tart pan or pie plate. Bake for 10 minutes, until the crust is set.

Meanwhile, wipe out the food processor bowl. Add the cream cheese, sour cream, egg, orange zest and 2 tablespoons of the sugar and process until smooth. Pour the custard into the crust and bake for 15 minutes, until set. Let the tart cool slightly and transfer to the freezer to chill, about 15 minutes (or the fridge for about 40, if your freezer is already full of stuff like mine is). In a bowl, toss the nectarines and blackberries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Arrange the fruit over the custard in whatever lovely pattern makes you happy. Slice and serve.

"Hey Baby Girl What You Doin Tonight?" or "If You're A Strong Female You Don't Need Permission"

My boyfriend's out of town ( we covered this) and as soon as he left I knew I was going to live it up. I was going to sing girl music way too loud, have Pride and Prejudice playing on an endless loop, sleep diagonally across the bed, and use up all the hot water. I had plans.  But you know what, I didn't really do that. I mean it's summer, you know what happens when the hot water runs out in the shower? It stays hot. It just does. It hasn't been less than 90 degrees outside for weeks now. Hot cold water. This is reality.

But you know what I did do? I found something better. I discovered what I really love to do when there's no one around watch me, hear me sing or accuse me of being a diet saboteur;

I like to bake pies, and booty pop while listening to dance music. Mostly Pitbull and Lady Gaga.

Yeah that face you're making. Don't even. You need to try this. It's a combination as solid as salty and sweet. I'm telling you.
But its secret alone stuff. Secret. So don't tell my boyfriend, okay?

 You know what happens when you're frantically dancing like something is wrong with you no one is watching? You start to loosen up. Seriously it's true. Go to a Zumba class (no really! it's the best place, there are so many different kinds of people) and right in the middle turn and look at the people around you, you will see an element to their face that isn't there any other time. A sort of mad joy and receptivity to strange ideas.

So back to the pies.  Here I am wrist deep in flour getting low when it occurs to me for the first time in almost ten months of consistent cooking to deviate from the recipe I'm using and just sort of do whatever I want. 


Gasp!

I started out wanting to make a rosemary apple pie because as you know my herb garden talks to me but I couldn't find a recipe I really liked (or that anyone else did for that matter) so I just sort of went along doing what seemed good at the time and out popped this truly unique deliciously nom-worthy apple pie from my mind vice. Cool right? I feel like the training wheels came off my cooking apron or something. That is if I ever wore an apron. Do you wear an apron?

And it turned out pretty much perfect, all bottom crisp and easy to cut.  With the exception of my try at heart shaped vent holes looking like tiny elf punch marks and forgetting to seal up my crust edges super tight this was a flawlessly executed pie. And totally goes perfect with ice cream. Cause you know, that's important.

And you know what else is cool? 

I did it again.

Busy pie plate?  Leftover delicious dough hanging around? You could be fancy and use it to spell out "Grumpy" on your pie or you could make a galette! It's like a lazy man's pie that you can totally make when your pie plate is busy.

Me, I made a Summer Squash and Ricotta Galette, and guess what? I totally just made it up as I went along. I totally recommend this, don't take it seriously. Don't think of it as a pie, think of it as a pizza baked up on a warm bed of angel kisses. 

Look at me, breakin all the rules. Blame it on Pitbull, we have the same birthday.

Summer Squash Ricotta Galette

1 ball of unused extra pie dough, or some fresh if you're feeling froggy

1 small summer squash or zucchini (or half of both if you like the colors)

1/4 cup sliced red onion

4 strips cooked bacon, crumbled

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup  freshly grated parmesean cheese, divided

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tbsp fresh basil cut into a chiffonade, (or torn if you're feeling lazy)

1tbsp lemon juice

salt

1 egg +1tbsp milk whisked together  for egg wash

1. preheat your oven to 400° F and take your dough out if the fridge so it can soften up a bit.

Slice the squash into thin rounds (how thin? In the pepperoni range) and set aside. In a small bowl mix together ricotta cheese, half the Parmesan cheese, red  pepper flakes, lemon juice and salt to taste until combined. Then gently fold the basil strips into the cheese mixture.

2. Roll out your pie dough into whatever shape you like (the definition of galette is a free form tart anyway) just make sure it's large enough to fit all your toppings. Then move dough to a parchment lined baking sheet.

3. Spoon cheese mixture onto the center of the rolled out pie dough leaving about 1 1/2 inch border at the edge. Top the cheese mixture with squash rounds in whatever pattern makes you happy and top with bacon. Fold that blank border over the edge of your toppings (to sort of hug them in and make a crust) pleating the edge where necessary to keep it all together. Give the crust a nice coat of egg wash and top it, and everything else, with remaining cheese.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown.

Rosemary Apple Pie

Crust: 

2 1/2 cups flour

1tsp salt

1tbsp sugar

1/2 lb (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch peices

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp cider vingear

Filling:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

2 sprigs fresh rosemary + 1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced

4 medium apples (whatever kind or combination you like) peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3 tbsp butter (cut into small bits)

1/4 dark brown sugar

3tbsp flour

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 egg +1tbsp milk whisked together for an egg wash

Demerara Sugar

1.For the crust:

Combine flour, salt, sugar,  vinegar and butter in a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Then slowly add the water to the mixture a little at a time until it starts to come together. You may not need all the water or you might need up to a cup just watch your dough and see how it does.

Remove the dough from the processor and separate into two equal peices. Form each peice into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

2. For the filling:

Make a rosemary syrup. In small sauce pan combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup water, and 2 sprigs rosemary. Bring to a simmer for five minutes (watch it closely so it doesn't burn. Take it off the heat and let it stand until lukewarm (about 15 mintutes), remove rosemary sprigs and toss them.

3. While the syrup is cooling  roll out the bottom crust to fit a 9 inch pie pan leaving about an inch of rolled out crust hanging over the edge. Then put that bad boy (pan and all) back in the fridge to chill.

4. In a large mixing bowl combine apples, nutmeg, butter, brown sugar and flour. Pour lemon juice, rosemary syrup and minced rosemary over apple mixture and toss gently to combine.*

5. Remove bottom pie crust from the fridge and spoon in apple mixture. Set aside (  I personally like to work with a slightly softer pie dough, but if you don't you can set it back in the fridge at this point.)

6. Roll out the remaining ball of pie dough so it's big enough to cover all those lovely fillings in the pie, and roll it over the top. Trim any extra dough hanging off the sides so both crusts make about a 1/2 inch lip.  Join the crust edges together and crimp them in your favorite way. Poke some large vent holes in the top (no exploding pies please) and paint that baby with an egg wash. Top with Demerara sugar and wrap the edges with tin foil to prevent burning.

7. Bake at 425°F for 15 to 20 minutes on a rimmed baking sheet on the bottom rack until crust just starts to brown. 

8. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Move the pie to the center rack and bake for 45-55 minutes more. Pie is finished when the apples are fork tender and juices are bubbling. Let cool 30 minutes before serving.

* Now I'm going to be honest with you, right about now everything will smell almost exactly like Pine-Sol. DON'T WORRY! It will taste absolutely NOTHING like that or even close to a funky weird cleaning flavor. No, no no. It will be delicious. I promise. If it smells strange here you've done nothing wrong!

"Alan's First Birthday" or "French, French, Chocolate"

This week the menu was basically "boyfriend's choice" and I'll confess here on Thursday afternoon, I'm a little worse for the sugar carb wear. Sunday was the Oscars which is apparently a HUGE deal around here, and there was much consumption of sour patch kids, M&M's and popcorn. Then on Tuesday when my dashing boyfriend turned 23, we ate (unremarkable/ not as good as Panera's) French Onion Soup,  (delicious) home made french bread, and (absolutely amazingly good) Chocolate cream pie that we busted out at midnight Tuesday morning and ravenously consumed long before the sun came up. Here's what it looked like.

"Black Key Lime Pie" or "Palm Trees, Flat Broke Disease"

Warning*: If you're at the gym bouncing around the elliptical trying to beat those winter blues and you notice through the giant window that it's started snowing again AND it just so happens the Black Keys are on your ipod playing slide guitar and crooning about palm trees, you might start to seriously cry your eyes out crave key lime pie. Be ready, have that pie whipped up and IN YOUR FRIDGE before you step foot in a gym. Do not be caught unprepared.

*= most likely only applies to me

Pear Anise Pie

 Whenever I bake a pie I always picture that scene in Disney's Snow White where she's humming to herself and effortlessly putting a pie together with what looks like the softest most delicious dough of all time. What's always been so sad about that (other than the fact that I'm comparing myself to a cartoon) is the fact that both times I've attempted to bake a pie from scratch my dough never turns out that way. It usually crumbles and sticks to the board and I end up having to press it into the pie pan with hardly enough to go up the sides. Seeing as I'm the only one in the kitchen when this happens I resigned myself to keep the whole thing a secret and silently move on to pastry I was good at.

In the last few days though some things have come together to make me realize that I really can have that Snow White pie, (minus the animation and the little bird helpers, because really how gross is that?).

This week I got a free trial issue of Ready Made magazine, (which I'd honestly never heard of before but hey it was in my mailbox) and oddly instead of just tossing it in the trash, I flipped through it a while and suddenly from the very back these magnificently juicy photos of latticed pie struck my eye (and my heart strings). There was an article about a little pie place in Brooklyn, NY called Four and Twenty Blackbirds , and (be still my heart) recipes! Unique ones too. There was a recipe for a Pear Anise Pie (pear!) that I instantly decided I was dying to make but it called for a top and bottom crust. Nooooooooo! So, aware of my personal limits I sadly filed it away in the back of my mind and wished I was a better baker...
Hm... "baker". That just brings me to part two of our Journey, my recent discovery of my current girl crush Joy The Baker! I honestly couldn't tell you how I stumbled upon her blog, (you know the interwebz) but once I did I couldn't stop reading it.

And the further I read the closer fate lead me to finding her video on how to make a double crusted pie. And it turned out to be so simple. And the stupid thing, my whole problem was flour, I wasn't sprinkling it on the top and bottom to keep it from sticking, ugh! It's funny how sometimes you just need to see somebody else do something for you to figure it out. As for the lattice part  YOUTUBE! Although it really isn't that hard to figure out, luckily I got to try it out on a pretty forgiving (colorless) pie filling  and I think it looks pretty good to be my first one. As for flavor? The crust is amazing, however, Anise I came to find out has a flavor like black licorice (it's what's in absinthe) so, if you absolutely can not stand that flavor (like my boyfriend) then don't make this pie. I personally only mostly dislike black licorice and I thought the pie was just perfect. I think it compliments the pear in a way you wouldn't expect and is really amazingly good if you give it a chance. It just sort of smells like the taste of licorice, it really comes off as more of an apple-y flavor if you can believe it. I think if I made it again I might try and switch out the anise extract for almond extract and see if that was a better at pleasing the crowd. Or maybe just leave it the way it is, so I can keep it all for myself.

P.S. Swiss Miss + Kahlua = Win

Thanksgiving For Two

Ever since I can remember, my brother, sister and I would all pile in a car with my mom and drive three + hours (usually stopping 6-10 times to pee and 4-5 times to get some toy from the trunk) to Grandma Ella Mae's house for thanksgiving. We'd visit with family, wander around her HUGE yard and of course, eat amazing food. Over the years my tastes grew and changed but the one thing I'll always remember is her cornbread dressing. It is truly a thing of wonder and like anything else wondrously made by a woman of the south it is maddeningly made straight from her mind (read: no recipe) and it relies heavily on the ability to make good cornbread (as Alton says "crap in, crap out"). My mother claims to suck at making cornbread from scratch but I don't know because she's never made any since I've been around. And I have spent many years appreciating cornbread and food in general but up until a few months ago was never heavy into cooking.