Deep Dish Peach Pie with Streusel Topping
Sep 2, 2011 Crusts, Desserts, Food Things, Peaches, Pies and Tarts
This year has been a slow year for the blog, and I’m really sorry about that. I hope that in the months to come I can remember to take pictures of the food I make and tell everyone about it, but it’s been hard. My job got busier (but I love it), and my dog is so dang cute and playful. It’s hard to stay in my chair when I sit down to write and he comes and looks up at me with a ball in his mouth. I’ve been really happy, but I do miss sharing things on here so hopefully I can get back into it.
I knew I couldn’t let summer pass without telling you about this peach pie though. This pie was amazing. I’ve said before that I’m a big fan of streusel, and pretty much any pie with streusel on top makes me extremely happy. This was really easy to make, and if you are in the market for a peach pie during the last days of summer I highly recommend this one.
Tags: best peach pie, bon appetit peach pie, Peach Pie, peach pie recipe, peach pie recipes, streusel topping, summer pie
Turtle Ice Cream Pie
May 10, 2010 Cakes, Chocolate, Crusts, Desserts, Food Things
Somehow this past weekend got really busy. It was the kind of busy that made Brian and I find ourselves at Wal Mart after midnight one night, and back again the next night at 10:30 for cooking and plumbing emergencies. I don’t even like Wal-Mart, but for some reason our grocery shopping for Mother’s Day ended up happening at midnight on Saturday night, and on Sunday night water started coming out of a hole in our garage every time we turned water on, so another late night trip to Wal-Mart happened last night. It is convenient that Wal-Mart is open 24 hours for emergencies, but I’m not going to give up my Sunday afternoon Reasor’s ritual.
One of the fruits of our Saturday night trip was this Turtle Ice Cream Pie that I made for my mom for Mother’s Day. My mom and my sister are both moms, and they both love ice cream, so this seemed like a good thing to try out. I got the recipe from Bon Appetit and made it easier by buying caramel topping instead of making my own caramel, but the rest of the recipe was the same. I have to say, this graham cracker pecan crust is one of the best graham cracker crusts I’ve ever had. I love pecans, and I think using them with the graham crackers added a really great flavor. Even if I don’t make the whole pie again, I will definitely use this crust. It made my house smell like sweet pecans when I baked it in the middle of the night. I loved it.
Turtle Ice Cream Pie
Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit. If you want to make your own caramel sauce the recipe is here. Serves at least 10
Ingredients:
Crust
- 1 cup toasted pecans
- 5 graham crackers
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 stick butter, melted
Filling:
- 2 pints vanilla ice cream like Edy’s Vanilla Bean or something else awesome like that, divided
- 1/2 cup caramel topping, divided
Topping:
- 5.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. For the crust, blend graham crackers and pecans in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the sugar and pulse a few times until combined. Add the butter and blend until coated. Press crust into a 9 inch pie dish, covering the sides and bottom of the dish. Bake crust for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and pop all air bubbles that have formed (if any) by pressing the crust down into the dish. Freeze for at least 1 hour.
Soften 1 pint of ice cream and spread onto the frozen pie crust. Top with 1/4 cup of caramel topping and spread evenly. Freeze for at least 1 hour. Repeat with the second pint of ice cream and the remaining caramel sauce. Freeze pie overnight.
To make the chocolate topping, combine cream and chocolate in a metal bowl and set over a pot of boiling water. Stir frequently until chocolate is melted completely. Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt. Cool completely. Pour chocolate on pie and spread evenly. If you want, you can add pecans to the top of your pie at this point. Freeze for about an hour and up to overnight. Before serving, add a little extra caramel sauce to the topping if you wish.
Beware, this pie is really good and really gooey, so don’t be alarmed if the caramel spills out a little. The longer you freeze the pie the less the caramel will spill out. I only froze mine for a few hours because I was impatient, and you can see how mine turned out. It was delicious though.
Tags: Bon appetit, Dessert, ice cream dessert, ice cream pie, turtle ice cream pie
Amazing Grilled Pizza
Mar 11, 2010 Breads, Crusts, Food Things
Pizza has been a huge thing in my life. I think if I had to pick one thing I’ve eaten more than anything else in my life, it would probably be pizza. But not just any pizza… amazing, healthy, perfect pizza. My parents have been extremely into pizza making for as long as I can remember, and the evolution of their pizza dough and toppings have changed a lot, but their passion for pizza has never changed. They love making it, and everyone who knows them loves eating it. It’s such a fun thing to make for a group. My dad will stand in his kitchen at the center island while everyone sits at the table talking, and he will go around the room and make sure everyone gets a turn to pick toppings for a pizza. He will stand there and make pizza after pizza until everyone is full, and then he’ll make one more to save and eat as leftovers the next day. I think my dad, more than anyone else in the world, loves pizza. Because of him I’ve grown up loving it too.
They make these pizza doughs called Skillet Pizza Crusts that are amazing. The recipe that I’ve included for the dough is the same recipe they use, but instead of putting on the grill like I talk about here, they eat one side of each dough in a skillet until it’s browned, and then they take it off and top it with their favorite toppings then cook it in the oven. It’s great because you can make the dough hours or days beforehand, and when it’s time to make pizza you can have a stack of pre-made 12-inch doughs sitting on a plate waiting to be topped. You don’t have to worry about rolling out the dough in front of your guests. Simply pick up a round flat crust and start topping! It’s perfect for a group.
I decided to make this dough last week and Brian suggested that we grill them. I wasn’t really sure how that would work since this dough is pretty thin, but it didn’t fall through the grill cracks or anything, it just worked magically! I loved it. I thought it tasted even better than the crust does pre-cooked in a skillet, but sometimes you can’t beat the convenience of pre-made dough.
So, I hope you try this pizza if you like pizza, because it’s really amazing.
Grilled Pizza
Pizza Dough
- 2 tablespoons Active Dry Yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions
Mix yeast, sugar, and water together in a small bowl and let stand for about 8 minutes.
Mix the flour and salt in a food processor. Add the yeast mixture and the additional water and olive oil to the flour mixture. Mix in food processor until ball forms. Place dough in a glass bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and roll out thinly.
Now you can either use them for grilling, or you can lightly brown one side of each dough in a large skillet over medium heat.
You can immediately top them with sauce and toppings and bake them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes, or you can save the dough wrapped air-tight in the refrigerator for about a week. OR… you can make grilled pizza:
Grilled Pizza
Makes 6 12-inch pizzas
- 6 Pizza dough rounds thinly rolled out (recipe above)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- One 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons dried basil leaves
- Shredded Mozzerella Cheese- as much as you want. I prefer only about 1/4 cup on each pizza. It goes a long way.
- 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano
- Assorted Toppings. I suggested sun-dried tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers, cooked Italian sausage, and pepperoni, but certainly any of your favorite pizza toppings will work.
Directions
Mix the can of crushed tomatoes with the basil leaves. This is a simple sauce that tastes great with these pizzas.
Heat up your grill. Once it’s ready to go, Lightly brush one side of a rolled-out pizza dough with olive oil. Place the dough olive oil side down on your grill. Immediately brush the exposed side with olive oil, then close the lid for about 2 minutes.
Check the underside of the dough, and when it just begins to brown, flip it over on the grill.
Immediately place sauce, toppings, mozzerella, and parmesan reggiano on the dough and close the lid.
Cook for about 4 minutes or until cheese is melted and the underside of the crust is lightly browned. Remove the pizza from the grill, cut, and enjoy!
Tags: grilled pizza, grilled pizza recipe, healthy pizza, pizza crust, pizza dough, pizza dough recipe, pizza recipe, pizza sauce, pizza sauce recipe, skillet pizza
Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake for Mom’s Birthday
Jan 30, 2010 Cakes, Chocolate, Coffee, Crusts, Desserts, Food Things
The scene begins with Kathy, mom of 3 and wife to husband Tim, sitting in the courtroom for the defense. Her accuser is her daughter Molly who is just about to respond and argue that her mom, Kathy, is the best mom in the world. The defense has put up a good modest argument that Kathy couldn’t possibly be the world’s greatest mom with so many other great moms around. Kathy’s lawyer, the dashing and suave Pierce Brosnan, smiled seductively has he mentioned mothers such as Donna Reed, Mary Bailey, and Lucy Ricardo, who publicly displayed time after time loving and heartfelt moments with their children that were certainly worthy of “best mother” awards. “Kathy,” Pierce said, “has never been on TV, so she must not be as good as them!”
The courtroom hushed as Molly stood for the prosecution. She gently pushed back her chair and adjusted her glasses as she stepped around her desk to face the jury. The only sound in the room was her high heels lightly tapping on the ground as she slowly approached the crowd of 10.
“It’s become clear to me in the last 26 years that my mom, Kathy, who is sitting right over there in the white sweater, is the best mom in the entire world. Some thick headed and devilishly handsome acto… I mean lawyers… may disagree, but they have not grown up witnessing the acts of kindness and compassion that my siblings and I have had the privilege of experiencing. Whether at the end of this argument you agree with me or not, I will forever be convinced that Kathy has a heart that is bigger than any mother you can meet, and that her devotion to her family is unparalleled.
Super Apple Pie and Perfect Apple Pie Crust
Nov 28, 2009 Crusts, Desserts, Food Things, Pies and Tarts, Uncategorized
I’m aware that this would have been a nice post to get out before Thanksgiving, but as this is the first Thanksgiving that has happened since I started this blog, I learned a few things this year. As Thanksgiving approached and I read other blogs I saw them posting wonderful looking Thanksgiving recipes weeks in advance, and I started to wonder how they were posting such beautiful pictures when the event had not even happened yet. Either they were practicing making the dishes, or they were using pictures from last year. In light of saving money and food I didn’t want to make anything a few weeks early, and I didn’t have any pictures from last year to go from. As Thanksgiving approached its seemed uncomfortable to post anything that wasn’t Thanksgiving related, so what turned out was 2 weeks of everyone opening my blog to stare at my late 20′s goals. For that I apologize.
Now you can open it and stare at a delicious apple pie.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I think when I was growing up I was a little ashamed to admit that, but now I can say it with confidence. Before when I would say it people would always look at me funny as if it should be something else, and then they would follow up the look with, “Well… mine is Christmas,” like there was something superior about people who like Christmas better. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas too, but there is something about Thanksgiving that says family in a way that Christmas sort of misses. Maybe it’s because Christmas is also drowned with a lot of “self” (What am I going to get? I hope they liked my present that I gave them! I want to watch my movie first!) Thanksgiving is merely family and friends coming together to eat, be together, and be thankful. I really love it.
about Super Apple Pie and Perfect Apple Pie Crust
Tags: apple pie, apple pie crust, fruit pie, perfect crust, pie, pie crust, Super Apple Pie, thanksgiving dessert, thanksgiving pie