Pie Club Week 9: Chocolate Cream

Week 9 was chocolate cream!!!
This was one that everyone was waiting for, and by far the most popular choice for the month of April. Almost everyone loves chocolate, especially in a creamy custard, set into a flaky crust and topped with lots of cream and more chocolate!

Custard is one of my favorite things to make, so I was also looking forward to this pie. I made a crust that was slightly sweetened and very slightly chocolate by adding a little sugar and cocoa powder. The crust ended up being more tender due to the sugar, which nicely supported the weight of the custard, and the flavor was mild and perfect. I did not want to have a strong chocolate crust with the chocolate filling, because it could easily be too much of a good thing.

The custard was cool, smooth, chocolate perfection which I topped with freshly whipped cream. Standardly, this pie is topped with chocolate curls. However, I do not like eating the curls and am of the opinion that it is too much, so I decided to smooth the cream and then make a design on top of the pie using chocolate sauce. I was really pleased with the result.

This pie was delicious, satisfying and wonderful! I will definitely make it again, and again.

Pie Club Week 8: Oatmeal

Week 8 already, and it was oatmeal pie! Yep, oatmeal. This week I heard a lot of: "What? Oatmeal pie? What is that?" However, some brave souls ordered it, and it is just how it sounds, oatmeal in a pie version. It was delicious and super, super sweet.

The oatmeal pie I made was basically like the filling of a pecan pie, but with rolled oats instead of nuts. I used a basic pate brisee crust, poured in the filled and baked. It also puffs up in the oven just like a pecan pie, and then deflates once it has cooled. When baking, this pie fills the house with the smell of oatmeal cookies.

While this pie was delicious, it was very sweet and we liked it a little better in the morning than as a dessert. I also liked it with just lightly sweetened, whipped cream. If I made this again, I think I would either add some nuts to it, or use more oats to help balance the sweetness of the filling. This was not one of my personal favorite pies so far, but it was yummy and a success! If someone wanted this pie, I would make it again, and may make the version with nuts added this fall/winter.

Pie Club Week 7: Challenge

Week 7 was a challenge week! I let a loyal customer (who asked) give me his 4 favorite ingredients, and challenge me to make a pie with them. It was super fun! And, turned out to be the favorite pie so far...

The 4 ingredients were pineapple, vanilla, coconut and cashews. I love all the ingredients also and right away I had some ideas, so I thought out a few different options before I settled on what I wanted to bake. I decided to incorporate the cashews into the crust in the form of a nut flour substitution. Basically, I made cashew flour and substituted some of it into the flour for my pate brisee. Then, I decided to use the pineapple filling from my pineapple pie (week 1) as the base and first layer. For the second layer, I decided to use some of the coconut filling from my coconut cream pie (week 2). I topped all of that with vanilla flavored, freshly whipped cream, and finished it with a healthy sprinkle of toasted coconut and toasted, chopped cashews!

The result was a light and delicious, creamy dream! There were some slight crunches from the coconut, cashews and flaky crust, and some gooey, nicely sour note from the pineapple. It was great, the customer was thrilled with the result and so was I! The only thing I would change about this pie, would be to make the pineapple layer thicker. The pineapple was slightly lost in all the creaminess, but I will definitely be making this again! I loved challenge week!

Pie Club Week 6: Zucchini

Week 6 was zucchini pies!
For this week and the ingredient, I made two pies, 1 savory zucchini and 1 sweet zucchini. They were both really good, and the sweet version was really surprising! I love zucchini and look forward to it every season because it has a delicate flavor that is sweet, creamy and versatile. It goes so well with other ingredients and can be used with breakfast, lunch, dinner and now even dessert!

Many people have had savory zucchini pie, and are familiar with the flavors. They are typically similar to a quiche, in texture and ingredients. This one that I made had the standard zucchini (I used green and yellow), eggs and Monterey Jack cheese. For spices, I used oregano, parsley, salt and fresh pepper and a surprise-I spread a thin layer of dijon mustard on the crust before baking. I used my lard crust for this pie, which I always do with a savory pie.

This pie turned out so delicious! The oregano balanced the flavors and the parsley brought a freshness. The dijon was very subtle, but added a delicious tang that was more noticeable the day after I baked the pie. As always, the lard crust was perfection! I liked this best warmed up for breakfast, however, it can also be eaten cold any time of the day. One comment I received about this pie really made my day. A couple hours after it was delivered, the pie club member sent me a note that said "I'm on my third piece of zucchini pie. I'm digging it, clearly!" I think this one is a keeper!

6.2 Week Sweet Zucchini:
I had never tried a sweet zucchini pie before this week, but was looking forward to it. I treated this like a fruit pie since zucchini is basically a fruit, but is treated as a vegetable; and also because it has such a mild flavor that I wanted to spice it like an apple pie. I used a double crust, diced the zucchini, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, all spice, ginger, lemon juice and an egg to thicken the filling. For this pie, I sprinkled the top with cinnamon sugar just before baking.

The pie turned out delicious! It tastes like apple pie, but without the tartness of the apples. The zucchini did not get mushy, and had the texture of apples. The filling thickened perfectly into a carmely consistency, and the crust got perfectly sweet and crunchy with the cinnamon sugar on top! My family said they actually like this better than apple pie! I couldn't believe it. I disagree, I still love apple pie more, but this is a really nice alternative in the spring when apples are not in season yet. I will make this pie again.

Pie Club Week 5: Almond

One month in already, only 47 pies left to make this year!
Well, pie 5 was almond, and it was super delicious! To make this almond pie, I used my famous pecan pie recipe, and just subbed in almonds. I used slivered almonds in the filling, and sliced, natural almonds on the top. A total of about 2.5 cups of almonds!

I prefer almonds to pecans, so I was really excited about this pie. Almonds are already harder than pecans, but I toasted both kinds of almonds before baking to make sure they kept a nice texture, and to bring out their flavor.

The flavor profile of this pie was less buttery than the pecan version, and as my sister said "had a cleaner taste". One person said they would have liked more filling and a little less nuts, but still loved it.  The other 8 people who ordered it thought the amount of almonds were perfect. My friend Mandy was sweet enough to share her almond pie with all our co-workers, and it was a huge hit! Many people asked me if they could place an order for one right then! :) A couple people said that it was perfect in the morning with coffee.

This pie was delicious at room temperature, cold or heated up a la mode! After a day or so, a honey like syrup leaks from the filling and when combined with the flaky crust, happily reminded people of baklava! I did not receive any bad feedback about this pie, and will definitely keep making it!

Pie Club Week 4: Nectarine Galette

Week 4 was supposed to be Apricot Galette, however, I could not find any apricots. I was a little disappointed because they are supposed to be in season right now. However, I settled for nectarines, which turned out to be a nice substitute.

I really love galettes, and they can be made with almost any fruit. If you are not familiar, a galette is defined as: a term used in French cuisine to designate various types of flat, round or free form crusty cakes. So, basically a simple pie (crust and sweetened fruit) which is not baked in a pie pan, but the crust is folded over the top of the filling and it is baked on a cookie sheet. Often, there are preserves spread between the crust and fruit (apricot is most traditional), and nuts may also be added to the filling.

Galettes are so easy to produce and really highlight the ingredients you use. My sister and I especially love to eat a slice of this pie for breakfast with some hot tea or coffee!

I was not very familiar with nectarines, but being a stone fruit, thought it would be a good substitute for apricots. They turned out to be very pleasantly mild, and reminded us all of an apple more than an apricot or peach. After cleaning, pitting and slicing, I combined the nectarines with some sugar, cornstarch and I love to add some lemon zest for brightness. Placed the fruit in the center of a large disk of pate brisee, folded the edges of the crust over the filling, brushed with mild and sprinkled some demura sugar on the pastry. Baked until golden, and served with some freshly whipped cream. It turned out delicious, and my brother said "anything made with your pie crust will always turn out amazing". That was the best compliment!

The nectarines reminded us of apples, and were very simple and sweet tasting. I expected them to be a littel sour, but they were not at all. I left the skins on, and they were very tender. Overall, the apple version I make is still my favorite, but I would use nectarines agian!

P.S. I forgot to take a picture of it before it cut into it! But, it was beautiful. Fail. 

Pie Club Week 3: Avocado

Week 3 was Avocado and Chocolate Avocado. I love avocados, so I was very interested to make pies out of them, however I also had a hard time imagining them in a sweet form. I made 3 pies so that I could get a range of flavors and become more familiar with this ingredient in a pie.  No one in the club, or my family, had heard of or eaten avocado pie. Thank goodness they were trusting because one of them turned out amazing!

Avocado is an interesting ingredient to use in desserts and pastries because of its creamy texture, silky mouth feel due to it high fat content and mild flavor which allows it to easily combine with other ingredients. Also, it does not require baking or a lot of manipulation. Avocados are basically ready to use, and all 3 varieties I produces were no bake pie.

I made two different chocolate avocado pies, and one was okay, but the other was perfection! The first one I tried had a chocolate cookie crust, creamed avocado sweetened with condensed milk and mini chocolate chips. It was pretty simple, and the color was nice. I was not fond of how the chocolate chips looked with bright green filling. It was not the most visually appealing pie.

I also did not love the flavors of this pie, or the texture. The filling was of course creamy, but since the pie is chilled, the chocolate chips were really hard and not pleasing to crunch into. I am also not a huge fan of sweetened condensed milk, so it was a little too sweet for me. There was also lemon juice in this filling, which helped to cut the sweetness a little, but this one was not our favorite.

Next, I made just an Avocado pie. This one had both lime and lemon juices and was also sweetened with sweetened condensed milk. This pie had a graham cracker crust and was also chilled. It ended up being very similar to a margarita pie. It was smooth, creamy and pleasantly citrus. I think it would be better in the summer months. This was my sister in law's favorite of the 3 avocado pies.



Finally, I made the second chocolate avocado which turned out amazing and very surprising! This pie ended up being gluten free and I didn't even plan it that way! The crust was very interesting, and I will use it again with other pies. It was a spiced crust and was made from nuts, dates, cocoa powder, cinnamon, a little honey and nutmeg. It is a very flavorful crust, but when combined with the chocolate avocado filling became more mild. I produced 6 of these pies, and only 1 person did not love the crust. When I make this in the future, I will may use smaller amounts of the spices, but overall I love it!
Now, for the filling, it was simply creamed avocado with a little lemon juice and a pinch of salt, blended with melted dark chocolate. It was so dense, and super satisfying, chocolaty delicious! If I had not told anyone, they would have never know that the filling was avocado. The fatty texture in from the avocados made the filling so rich and smooth, this pie reminds me of chocolate silk, but so much healthier! There is no flour, and the only added sugar is from 1 tablespoon of honey used in the crust. I finished this pie with little stars of freshly whipped cream, and was so pleasantly surprised with this pie!

I will defiantly produce this one over and over again! I learned so much from avocado pie week, and it was so fun and delicious!