Falling for Chocolate

More than one month since the last post, and all I have to show is this one pie. Good thing it's my current favorite. It packs a chocolate wallop that will keep you pied-up for a while. I originally made this for the neighborhood book club meet-up, but then had to cancel because my husband had the puke bug. What a shame. We couldn't share with anyone and had to eat this entire pie by ourselves. My two-year-old has since been converted to a pie-lover. Chocolate pie? Yes, please! There are two slices left. It will be gone by tomorrow. Recipe is the same as the last versions. Now the question is, "How many pies to make for Thanksgiving?"

Current Pie Tally: 102

Chocolate Pecan Pie

It's been cold, I needed a break from apples, and I wanted to do something different to celebrate my first 100 pies - hence this Chocolate Pecan Pie. I found a Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie recipe from a Washington Post pie contest online, and it was just what I was looking for to give my pecan pie a nice chocolate zip. I didn't use the Post recipe, however. I merely added 1 cup of chocolate chips to my tried-and-true Pecan Pie recipe. I can see some bourbon-soaked pecans and dark chocolate popping up in future versions. I also think I'll omit the orange zest the next time around. It betrays the decadent nature of the pie. We don't need any fruity fresh, just as much chocolately nutty sweet as we can stomach.

Current Pie Tally: 101

Pie Contest Blurb in the Local Paper

There's a Pie Contest write-up in the Takoma Park Newsletter. The blurb and a couple photos are on Page 9. The proof is in the pie, so to speak.

Gimme Some Apple Crumb

This pie rectified a severe dessert shortage in my household. My sweet tooth was aching and this one hit the spot. I even had the gall to serve it to dinner guests two days after it was baked. And with this and the second savory pie, I was apple to use up the subpar pie contest crusts that I threw in the freezer for safekeeping. I thought the crusts were great in the savory and crumb pies, so maybe they just needed to chill out for a while. Ha ha. Happy Hundreth Pie to me! For the Apple Crumb Pie recipe, click here (don't forget to read my substitutions). To celebrate, I think I shall try something new and different - perhaps a pecan pie with chocolate chips that I recently read about.

Current Pie Tally: 100

Savory Austrian Apple Pie, Take 2

I made another Savory Austrian Apple Pie while basking in the glory of my win during the week following the pie contest. While developing the recipe, I relied heavily on a tart recipe in a German cookbook that I received as a gift. After Americanizing many of the metric measurements of the ingredients, I realized the purchasable American quantities would yield enough of the good stuff for two pies. Since most of the first one went to charity, it seemed like a good idea to have plans for another one intended for personal consumption. I took this one on a picnic to Frying Pan Park in Herndon, VA, where it was enjoyed with a good friend. The leftovers were eaten for breakfast at Matthews Arm Campground in the Blue Ridge Mountains. For the recipe, view my recent pie contest post. Oh boy, I'm on the cusp of my 100th pie!

Current Pie Tally: 99

Victory is Savory

My Savory Austrian Apple Pie won second place! The New England Apple Pie, sadly, was white noise among the other exotic offerings. There were more than 20 contest entries. I am convinced, though, that the New England Apple came out great. I went through two tries with the crust, and the second attempt was spot on. It was a flaky masterpiece. I do regret my overzealous heaping of the apple filling though, and my attempts at creative aesthetics for that one. I tried to do a little ring of apple cutouts around the center of the top crust. After baking, they looked like sloppy holes. Add that to the fact that the apples really cooked down during baking, leaving a vacuous cavern of crust to stare into. Suffice to say, it was a bit lacking in the aesthetics department but still on par with most of the other entries on the table.

The savory pie, on the other hand, was the only savory pie in the contest, and it had it all. The apple slices cooperated with being arranged in an artful spiral and the beautifully caramelized shallots and browned Gruyere cheese really tied it all together. And yes, I was "that guy" (or gal) who bought a slice of her own winning pie to know definitively how it came out. It was exquisite. It was so rich that one of the judges was even convinced there was bacon in it. Another hinted that I was robbed of first place because of a slight gender divide among the judges. Apparently, men have more of a sweet tooth. So what did I win, you ask. Second prize was a nice reusable farmer's market bag and $15 in farmer's market tokens. And you can look for my photo in the local paper! More info about the contest can be found on the farmers market Facebook page. I feel very validated in my pie efforts. There is one downside though - my deep Chantal pie dish that the New England Apple was in was broken by one of the staff during the clean-up process. I am being reimbursed, but it is still a bummer. Well, enough about all that. Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Savory Austrian Apple Pie
ingredients:
pastry dough for one pie crust
about 6 tart apples, peeled, cored, & sliced (I used Ginger Gold)
4oz. creme fraiche
1/3c. whole milk
3 eggs
1t. salt
1/2t. pepper
a pinch of chili powder
1/4lb. shallots, sliced into thin rings
2T. butter
1/4c. apple cider
1/4lb. Gruyere cheese, shredded

Roll out bottom crust and place in pie dish. Piece with a fork. Freeze 10 min while oven preheats to 375F. Remove crust from freezer, fill with pie weights, and bake for 12 min. Remove pie weights and bake an additional 12-15 min at the same temperature, until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool at least 20 min. Mix the creme fraiche, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, and chili powder in a large bowl. Heat 2T of butter in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add shallots and cook until caramelized. Remove from heat and add cider to shallots in skillet. Pour a small amount of filling mixture into cooked pie crust. Sprinkle with 1/4 of the cheese. Layer apple slices over to fill crust. Top with remaining filling, shallots, and cheese. Bake at 400F for 25 min, then reduce heat to 350F and bake for another 20 min, until top is nicely browned. Guten Appetit!

Current Pie Tally: 98

Dinner Party Pumpkin

Time to play catch-up again. We had some lovely neighbors over for dinner last week, so I made this Pumpkin Pie using the recipe I honed last year. It came out great as usual and got all of our thoughts turning toward Fall. As I write this, my apple pie contest entries are cooling on the counter. Based on appearance and creativity (and maybe aroma), my husband says the Austrian Apple is going to win. We'll see in about an hour!

Current Pie Tally: 96