Mini Strawberry Pie and a Chocolate Cherry Turnover

Happy 4th of July! Hope you are enjoying the day off with friends and/or family. So far, I've spent the day baking/cooking/grocery shopping...and celebrating the fact that Jose sold our car! Woohoo! This evening we'll hopefully be attending a free orchestra concert with fireworks in the park :D, read about it here. That doesn't start until a few hours from now. In the meantime, I think I'll just relax at home with the hubby, enjoy the day off, and watch the cool/nerdy 4th of July specials on the History Channel. But before I do that, I'll leave you with a few yummy recipes.

The mini strawberry pie is a fun dessert for two, we plan on taking it to tonight's fireworks show :)! As for the turnover -- well, I had a bit of pie dough left over that I didn't want to waste, and I also bought some cherries yesterday. So I made a dark chocolate cherry turnover for Jose.


(I was originally hoping to make a cherry cake, using fresh homemade cherry jam and other good stuff...but then the dough turned into cement-colored gooeyness and, in the end, the 'cake' couldn't be rescued. I tried, really, I even went so far as the bake it, but the outside burned and the inside didn't cook. Such is the life of a Sophie-baked Frankenstein cake.) Thankfully, the dough for the pie/turnover came out really yummy...not healthy, though. I still haven't figured out how to make butter-less pastry dough -- any ideas?


Hope the rest of your day is delicious and fun...and free of kitchen adventures gone wrong ;).

Chocolate Bliss

Congratulations! You've made it through the middle of the week! Celebrate! Bake yourself a chocolatey treat, you deserve it!

Funny, but Wednesday is my favorite day of the week. Why? Because I can look back at Monday and Tuesday and say to myself, "Hey, I've made it this far. I can do two more days. No problem! Just hand over the goods, the sweet treats, and I'm ready to go!". I'm not as grateful for Thursday, though; it doesn't give me the same sense of accomplishment. It's right smack dab in the middle of Wednesday and Friday.

Thursday is like the day before Thanksgiving, the kitchen smells like heaven but I'm stuck in foodie purgatory - where tasting is done with the nose and eyes, but never with the mouth. Know what I mean?! TORTURE!

So let's celebrate Wednesday with these chocolatey desserts! Guess what? I've even included a 'light' recipe in this tiny collection of rich desserts! The Mondo Chocolate Muffins are quite huge; they're packed with chocolatey goodness...and applesauce, not butter! But, if you're having one of those days where Wednesday feels more like Thursday, then you'll definitely need some powerful ammo to get you through the rest of the week. The Chocolate Fudge or a French Silk Pie should do the trick!



(Ok...so the French Silk Pie isn't that traditional; I converted the chocolate filling into a curd-like substance because I wanted to expose the eggs to some heat. I feel so uncomfortable serving folks raw eggs! EEK. I used the fudge recipe for a work-project; I basically followed it to the T - just divided it in half and threw in a few extra spices. As for the muffins, they're a Flour Arrangements original recipe .)

Warm Summer Cake and Peach Blackberry Pie

I promised that I'd post recipes for a yummy cake and pie...so here they are :). The first recipe is for a Lowfat Warm Summer Cake. I was in the mood for a fresh and summery cake last weekend, so I opened up the refrigerator to see if anything in there would cry out to me, in fear of going to waste and getting thrown in the trash. I noticed that we still had quite a bit of orange juice left over, and it was already a week old, so I thought I should definitely include it in the cake. I've learned that a great way to make a cake moist and rich without using butter is by adding some kind of flavorful juice. We also had a huge lemon that was lonely sitting next to a bunch of bananas and a handful of kiwis, so I had to add him to the recipe as well. The only fatty ingredient in this light cake is the one egg I used. There isn't even a teaspoon of oil in this cake! Now, if only I could have that kind of success with every baked good! It seems it's easier to make some desserts healthier than others. (You'll notice, after eating one piece of the cake, my husband and I decided it wasn't enough, so we just picked up a fork and helped ourselves to a little more :)

I'd like to note that the pecans on the cake are Texan grown, we picked them ourselves!



The pie recipe I've posted is also packed with fruit, it contains blackberries and peaches. This is a recipe I found on Key Ingredient. The recipe calls for fresh ginger, but I didn't have any, so I added ginger powder instead :). Thankfully, it still tasted yummy, but I think the juicy peaches and ripe blackberries had something to do with that :). I was really pleased with this pie recipe. This is another dessert that's perfect for summer; the ginger really adds flavor, making this a pie that's far from plain. Plus, peaches are on sale right now! It's hard to say no to a dessert that's tasty, affordable to bake, and easy to make. (Just throw the peaches in there with the blackberries. They're such pretty fruits, they don't need to be organized in a fancy way!)

TGIF! Now that I've posted this recipe, it's time to relax, at least for the night. Since we only have a few more months left here in Austin, Jose and I plan on visiting a few cool foodie spots around town before we leave. Of course I'll take pictures and feature them on the blog :). This weekend we're going to a very Austiny spot that resembles an old candy store/soda shop, I can't wait! Hopefully the next time I post, I won't come back with cavity #2; I can barely handle the one sweet tooth I already have :)!

P.S. I'd like to say thanks to all of your for leaving so many kind comments on my first Daring Bakers cake :). There were tons of beautiful entries this month! Can't wait to see what they have in store for us next!

Traveling the World, One Plate at A Time: Kotopita (Greek Chicken Pie)

Before I write about my next fun plan for this blog, I'd like to begin this entry by giving a special thanks to Heather of Sweet Sins 2 Share. As a result of her kindness, my Berry Vanilla Cake is now featured on TasteSpotting :). She sent me a comment a few days ago letting me know that she submitted the cake. I thought it was such a nice surprise, but I had to laugh a little at the discovery, knowing full well that I initially held-off posting that cake on the blog because I thought the picture was somewhat unyummy! To be honest, before posting the cake recipe, both Jose (my husband) and I agreed that it looked like it had some kinda growth on its surface, as in fungus-amongus! Despite the fact that it is a very tasty cake, I didn't think it was a very photogenic one, which is why I was happily surprised when it received so many positive comments :). I'm glad you all like it, and thank you, again, Heather for being so thoughtful. I only hope my little confession didn't disgust anyone...but don't judge a cake by it's frosting, or lack thereof :)!

As for my fun plan for this blog: I hope to start posting at least one new 'world dish' recipe per week, I'll title these entries Traveling the World, One Plate at A Time. Lately, I've been getting bored with eating the same old, same old, and both Jose and I are really interested in trying new flavors and foods. As a result, I've made it a point to try a new dish at least once a week. In the same way that reading a variety of fiction and poetry can play a role improving your writing skills, tasting new foods with rich ingredients can contribute to making you a better cook. So in trying these new foods from around the world, I hope to gain a better understanding of how different spices work together and how I can incorporate these new flavors into my everyday dinners. I guess you can say that I'll be giving a heavy nod to fusion cooking, but in a very informal and laid back way.

Part of what inspired me to start this new foodie adventure was last week's Caribbean stew. Until that meal, I'd never had sweet potato in a dish that wasn't sweet. I loved how the sweetness brought out the flavor of the other familiar vegetables in a way that made them taste new to me. So this week Jose and I decided to go Greek. If you're interpreting that in the literal sense, he could totally pull it off much better than I ever could - with his head of curls and greco-roman profile, he looks just like a little philosopher :). Funny thing is, he studied philosophy as an undergrad...and you know what philosophia means? Lover of Wisdom...and he is just that...he loves me, I am Sophia (my name means wisdom in Greek). It's oh so cheesy but true :)!

This is a picture I had fun with, and if you check out his blog profile you can see an unedited one...see what I mean :D!


Ok...Ok...so I'll get back to the dish. Kotopita is like a Greek chicken pot pie that kind of reminds me of a quiche, but not; it's really in a category all its own, a very tasty category. Here's the recipe...many details, I know, but I'm trying to get a little more specific when it comes to cooking instructions, because they can really make or break the recipe :). I'd also like to mention that I was inspired by a few recipes, including this one. I found a few others that included vegetables like leeks, but I didn't have any at home and I didn't want to add any veggies that would take away from the theme of the dish. I'll definitely use leeks next time, though, they're one of my favorite veggies.

Kotopita
1 1/2 pounds chicken thigh
1 tsp fresh chopped mint
1 tsp fresh chopped marjoram
¼-1/2 cup flour
2 1/2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP dehydrated bell peppers (red and green)
Pepper
Garlic salt
1 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
¼-1/2 cup kefalotyri cheese
3 eggs lightly scrambled
1 ½ cups chicken broth
¼ cup warm water
8 sheets of filo dough
3 large handfuls of spinach
1 small can black olives (2.25 oz)
½ large sweet onion, sliced

Sprinkle chicken thigh with pepper and garlic salt, cook covered with glass lid over low-medium flame in about 2 TBSP olive oil. Once the chicken is cooked, add 3 large handfuls of cleaned spinach and olives (with olive juice) to the chicken drippings/olive oil. Cook for about 2 minutes. Set chicken/vegetables aside in a separate bowl but keep drippings in the pan. After the chicken cools, cut it into bite-size pieces.

Add ¼ cup water to the drippings in the pan, along with the 1 ½ cups chicken broth (I buy the already prepared organic one in a box, it's a great thing to have on-hand!); also add the 2 ½ TBSP butter. Slowly add the flour while stirring broth mixture as it cooks over a low flame. Once the mixture thickens and there aren’t any flour lumps, turn off the flame and add the dehydrated bell peppers, onion slivers, nutmeg, and allspice. Allow the now-sauce to cool (it can still be warm, just not hot).

When the sauce is cool, add the cheese and 3 eggs (mix the eggs in the pan with the sauce). Line pie pan with 6 sheets of filo dough; add the chicken/veggies, then pour the sauce on top – mix the pie contents.

To avoid wasting filo dough, fold the excess filo dough that’s hanging off the pie pan edges over the pie contents (chicken/veggies/sauce). Use the last two sheets of filo dough to create a dome over the pie; tuck the excess filo dough under the pie. You can now either add some of the sauce that might still be in the pan to the filo pie cover, or brush on an egg white. Create 3 medium-sized slits over the pie.

Bake in the oven for about 40-45 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Allow to cool for five minutes, then cut and serve! After making this, you'll definitely be hungry, and it smells heavenly!

JJ's Gluten-Free Blueberry Pie

Now, I know in the last entry I mentioned that my next post would include a lentil soup recipe...and last time you checked, blueberries don't go in lentil soup ;), but I also promised my friend JJ that I'd bake her a gluten-free pie! It just so happens that I was able to gather all the ingredients yesterday, so I was finally able to bake that pie earlier this evening. I was a little worried that I'd end up with a disaster instead of a pie because, not only have I never used gluten-free flour before, but I've also only baked one other pie, period...yep, just one. Well, thanks to the Gluten-Free Pantry's Perfect Pie Crust Mix, this second pie was a success!

It might seem a little strange that I used a mix, instead of preparing my own gluten-free flour blend, but it wasn't because I didn't want to...believe me, I did my homework, even the research, and compared a few gluten-free pie crust recipes with a smile on my face; it was nice to actually come across a somewhat decent selection after scouring the web top to bottom for them. Here's the catch, the recipes called for things like sorghum flour, AND potato starch, AND tapioca flour, among other really neat sounding ingredients that I've never seen on the shelves in the baking aisle of my puny, everyday grocery store. So I went to Whole Foods, and even Central Market (a really cool gourmet-type market you should check out if you're ever in TX) and was happy to discover that they carried these fun ingredients...but if I wanted to make a yummy tasting gluten-free flour blend, I'd need to purchase a wide variety of flours and interesting thickening agents. So to save some money, and we all need to do that these days, I opted for the Gluten-Free Pantry's mix! I liked that it didn't have any nasty fillers or gross, fake ingredients!

All in all, I was happy with the results. I was a bit weirded out by the fact that Ms. Hillson (the professional chef who came up with this mix) expected this pie mix to make 2 double-crust 8" pies, considering how difficult it was to get the dough to roll out in one piece. This might seem a bit strange, and keep in mind I've never used gluten free flour, but I chose to use the whole mix for my 1 double-crust blueberry pie. I did use a 9" pie pan, and I later realized that I probably could've gotten away with using less dough for the top layer, since it was a bit thick. The pie was mighty delicious, I really didn't miss the all-purpose flour I normally use, at least when I took the first bite. But I did have some minor issues when I was trying to cut the perfect slice of pie for my picture...my poor little pie now looks like it's been attacked by some very hungry mice; I had to cut 4 slices before I could get one that actually kept its shape. But part of what makes this gluten-free flour so different is that it doesn't have the very ingredient that makes dough elastic. Gluten provides elasticity and "togetherness" in dough, so that's why this dough is crumblier/more powdery in texture than you might expect if you're new to gluten-free baking. Crumbliness aside, this pie mix worked great, and it yields a very flavorful pie that anyone could love!

Here's what I used to flavor the blueberries:
1 16 oz bag of frozen blueberries
1/2 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
4 TBSP butter
3 TBSP rice flour

I defrosted the blueberries by soaking them in some warm water, I did end up having a bit of water leftover in the bowl after straining them (about 1/4 cup) but I just used that to make a kind of sauce for the blueberries - adding the cinnamon, sugar, and rice flour for flavor and texture. My husband said the pie wasn't too sweet, it didn't have an artificial blueberry taste. If you have a pretty big sweet tooth, I suggest adding 1 cup of sugar instead of 1/2. (Oh and here's another tip: instead of using flour to roll-out the dough, just use plastic wrap. In this case, it actually worked better because it helped the crumbly dough stay together when I placed it in the pie pan. I picked this tip up from the show I mention below - Throwdown :)

Also, as far as the mix goes, I didn't add the 10 oz of butter and shortening. Instead, I added 8 oz of butter, 8 oz of vegan shortening (it's not hydrogenated, so, in my opinion, it's easier on the gut for those who have issues with hydrogenated oils, like me!) and 1 TBSP canola oil (Jose asked me to try to give the recipe a minor healthy make-over). I even added a bit more sugar and a few sprinkles of cinnamon in the dough for flavor, I think next time I might add some grated lemon peel...this mix is nice because you can be creative with it!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'll post again before it's over. I'm going to a really cool edible book festival tomorrow - it should be fun! Jose and I will also be taking our first trip to Flip Happy Crepes, where we'll get to try the delicious crepes that went up against and defeated Bobby Flay's at his Throwdown not too long ago!

Classic Apple Pie

I had a pretty productive weekend in the kitchen, baking and cooking up a storm :). Some of the things I made were based on recipes, like the French muffins, fudge, hashbrowns, and apple pie...I've never made any of these from scratch before, so it was fun getting my hands dirty with batter, potatoes, and chocolatey goodness. One of the reasons why I've been baking a lot more on the weekends is because it's part of my job now! During the weekdays, I'm the blogger at Key Ingredient, and on the weekends, I try out the recipes that our members post on their KI profiles; it's a lot of fun. I'm learning quite a bit about food. I was always intimidated at the thought of baking an apple pie, but now that I'm getting in the habit of taking a baked good to work about once a week, I'm willing to face my baking/cooking fears a little more. I asked my co-workers what dessert they were craving and the response was apple pie...so I faced my apple-pie baking fear head-on today. I used a few recipes from How to Bake by Nick Malgieri, and was mostly happy with the results. The pie itself tasted great, but I think I should've taken the pie out of the oven before the suggested 40 minutes of bake time were over...it came out a little more toasted around the edges than I would've liked, but it definitely had that homemade apple pie taste that made all the work worthwhile!

I used two different recipes for the shell and crust, I also added a few more spices to the crust:

Bottom Crust: Flaky Pie Dough
1 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp baking powder
8 TBSP butter (1 stick) <---lots of butter in this recipe :)
2 TBSP cold water

Top Shell: Sweet dough for pies
1 1/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour
3 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
4 TBSP butter
1 egg

Pie Filling:
2 lbs apples (I used a mix of fuji and golden delicious; I'm not a fan of really tart apples)
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest


I actually made a crumb topping, even though I made a shell crust for the pie, I thought it'd make the filling thicker, and it really did...I didn't think it made that big of a difference last night, but I just tasted the pie again, and right out of the fridge it has the perfect gooey filling, more thick and rich than just a plain apple filling, here it is:

Crumble Topping that goes on top of the filling
(this is an extra thing I added to the pie, but it makes a big difference)
3 TBSP apple sauce (not part of the recipe, but it added good flavor)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 cup flour
3-4 TBSP butter
2-3 TBSP apple juice (I love Simply Apple)

For the pie filling, everything gets mixed together in one bowl, minus the crumb topping (that gets sprinkled on top of the pie before it gets covered with the shell). For the pie crusts, after I mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl with a fork, I put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes (the recipe said to refrigerate them for at least an hour before use, but I didn't want to wait :D!).

I rolled each of the pie doughs out separately between two sheets of parchment paper, making sure to add flour to the bottom paper and the top of the dough before rolling the dough out into a circle shape large enough to fit/cover the pie pan.

After I arranged the crust in the pie pan, added the filling, then sprinkled the crumbly topping on top of the filling, I topped the pie with the shell. I then pinched the crust and shell together with my thumb, making sure to keep an even distance as my thumb went around the pie.

Before placing the pie in the oven to bake, make sure there are some small slits on the top shell of the pie so that air can escape while the inside of the pie bakes. I wish I could've created a great design (maybe after a few more pies), but I just used a knife to make a tulip shaped design/slit on top of the pie.

The recipe I followed said to bake the pie for 40 minutes at 375, I feel that is too long, since my pie came out a little charred around the edges. I think 25-30 minutes would've been perfect, next time I'll make sure to monitor it a little more (I was making hamburgers while the pie was baking...I know, it was a very all-American day in my kitchen :). Oh! I talked to a friend at work today and she actually said that it's best to cover the edges of the pie with foil so that they don't burn, since burning is a common occurrence.

I think this is a great recipe to try if you're a first-time pie maker, it's a lot of fun and not intimidating at all. My pie-baking fears are behind me now :)!