Vinegar Meringue Pie

Yep, Vinegar pie. I found this old recipe and just had to try it out. I could not imagine any pie made with vinegar being any good. I was completely wrong. I would wager that if this was served and no one told of the vinegar everyone would be pleasantly surprised. It’s filling is a spiced custard topped with meringue. I’m not sure that I would ever make it again; at least I can say I gave it a try.

Vinegar Meringue Pie

Filling:

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon mace

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 cups warm water

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

9 inch pre-baked pie crust

 

Meringue:

6 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

8 teaspoons extra fine granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

In the top of a double boiler, beat the egg yolks, flour, sugar and spices. Whisk in the vinegar and warm water. Cook until mixture thickens. Remove from heat , stir in butter. Set aside to cool slightly.

While filling is cooling slightly , make the meringue.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat together egg whites , salt and vinegar. Beat until soft peaks form. Combine the extra fine sugar and cornstarch and begin adding while beating a tablespoon at a time to the egg whites . Beat until stiff peaks are formed.

Place filling into baked crust. Place the meringue on top of filling , making sure to have the meringue completely to the edges.

Bake in oven until meringue is golden brown. Completely cool pie and place in  refrigerator until well chilled.

 

 

 

Old Fashion Custard Pie

Custard Pie
Filling:
4 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Freshly grated nutmeg, about a pinch.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Beat eggs slightly . Mix in the remaining ingredients. Pour into a unbaked pie shell. Sprinkle additional grated nutmeg on top.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the center. Remove to wire rack to cool and then refrigerate until well chilled.

Mixed Berry Almond Cobbler

Mixed Berry Almond Cobbler

Berry filling:

6 cups mixed berries fresh or frozen

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons pure almond extract

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Topping:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 egg

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

4 tablespoons  crumbled almond paste

1/4 cup sliced almonds

2 tablespoons diced butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss berries with the filling ingredients and place into a 7×11 / 2quart baking dish.

In a bowl combine the dry ingredients for the topping except the sliced almonds. Mix until combined. Stir in the egg, cream , almond extract and almond paste. Stir to combine. Place topping in dollops over the berry filling. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the top. Evenly distribute the diced butter over the topping. Bake for about 30 minutes or until filling is bubbling and topping is golden brown.

Chocolate Coconut Tarts

Chocolate Coconut Tarts

Coconut Crust:

1 cup cream of coconut

2 tablespoon light corn syrup

4 egg whites

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1 cup toasted chopped almonds

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar

6 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups half-and-half

6 egg yolks

14 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Almond Topping:

1/8 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa

1/2 cup almonds

Crust:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut out squares of parchment paper to fit about (16-18) 4-inch pie tins. Center the parchment paper on each tin and place each lined tin on top of each other and weight down while completing recipe.

In a large bowl whisk together the cream of coconut, corn syrup, egg whites, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Stir coconut and chopped almonds. Lightly spray the lined tins with nonstick spray. Press the coconut mixture into each tin , forming a crust. Place tins on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven; using the back of the spoon gently press down the center of the crusts, if they have puffed up. Turn off oven and return the sheet pans back to the oven with oven door held ajar.

Filling:

In a large saucepan, whisk the cornstarch, espresso powder, sugar and sat until combined. Whisk in the heavy cream and half-and-half until incorporated. Place over medium high heat, whisk constantly until the mixture begins to thicken and bubble. Reduce heat; continue to cook and stir for 2 minutes longer.

Remove from heat. Whisk in a small amount of the hot mixture into the egg yolks. Whisk in the tempered egg yolks back into the remaining hot mixture; whisking constantly.

Return to medium heat and bring back to a gentle boil; cook 2 more minutes longer.

Remove from heat and whisk in the cooled melted chocolate and vanilla extract until combined. Place the filling in a glass bowl and cover the top with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside to cool completely.

Almond Topping:

Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water and cocoa. Over medium heat bring to a boil; add the almonds . Continue to cook while stirring until the liquid has evaporated and formed a thick syrup. Pour the almond mixture over the prepared pan and allow to cool completely. Once cool, chop in coarse pieces.

Assembly:

Remove the crusts form the oven and allow to cool completely before filling. Fill the cooled crusts with the cooled filling and top with the almond topping. Gently lift the tarts from the tins with the parchment paper liner; serve.

Raspberry Tartlets

ingredients

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups , plus 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 7 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
• 2 eggs, beaten

Pastry Cream:

• 2 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean , split
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon butter

directions

• 1

  Crust:

• 2

  Combine the flour and sugar into a food processor bowl fitted with a metal blade, pulse a couple of times to combine. Add butter chunks and pulse until a coarse meal is formed. Add eggs and process just until dough begins to form. Remove and form into a disk , wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

• 3

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

• 4

  Butter 8-10(3 1/2 -4 inch ) tartlet pans. Remove dough and roll to a thickness of about 1/8 inch thick and lined each tartlet pan. Place lined pans into freezer for at least 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and prick bottoms with fork. Line each pan with buttered foil and place pie weights in each pan. Bake for about 15 minutes , remove foil and continue until golden.

• 5

  Place on cooling rack , let cool and remove pans from shell.

• 6

  Pastry Cream:

• 7

  Combine milk, vanilla bean and half the sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil. Meanwhile in a bowl , whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar until they turn pale yellow and form a ribbon when dropped from a whisk, about 5 minutes. Sift flour and cornstarch into egg mixture and mix until blended.

• 8

  Remove vanilla bean from hot milk mixture and gradually whisk into the egg mixture. Whisk until blended and return to saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil , whisking for 2 minutes. Stream cream into mixing bowl. Dot surface with tablespoon butter and stir until melted. Cover top of cream with plastic wrap and allow to cool on rack, then refrigerate until needed.

• 9

  3 cup fresh raspberries

• 10

  Powdered sugar for dusting

• 11

  Fill when ready to eat. Fill shell with pastry cream and top with berries then dust with powdered sugar.

Pine Nut Tart

Dough

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature

Filling

1 cup toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg , room temperature

4 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Assembly

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon heavy cream

sanding sugar (coarse sugar)

Dough:

In the bowl of a food processor, place the dough ingredients and pulse until dough begins to form. Form into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Filling:

In the bowl of a food processor , process the nuts and sugar into a fine crumb. Add the egg and butter and process until smooth.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Press some of the dough into a 9-inch tart ring with removable bottom. Spread the filling evenly over the bottom of the tart dough. With remaining dough, roll out on floured surface into the diameter of the inside of the tart pan. Brush off any extra flour and carefully place the rolled out circle onto the top of the filled tart.

Beat the egg yolk and heavy cream until combined. Lightly brush the top crust with the egg yolk and heavy cream mixture . Sprinkle the top crust with sanding sugar.

Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool 15 minutes before removing outer ring.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Raspberry Dream

This recipe will make at least one 9 inch, one 6 inch and two 4 inch cakes. It all depends on the size and shape of the cake rings(molds) used.

Almond Cake:

200 grams almond paste

230 grams butter,room temperature

60 ml honey

200 grams granulated sugar

6 eggs , room temperature

125 grams all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

zest from 3 large lemons or 2-3 tablespoons

Lemon Syrup:

1 cup sugar

juice from 3 lemons and enough water to equal 1 cup liquid

Lemon Filling:

9 grams unflavored granulated gelatin

4 eggs, room temperature

zest from 4 large lemons

240 ml fresh lemon juice

220 grams butter, room temperature

Lemon Cream Filling:

2 envelopes unflavored granulated gelatin

2 cups water

6 tablespoons sugar

2 cups marshmallow cream , fluff or homemade

2 cups of lemon filling

4 cups heavy cream

Seedless raspberry jam

Fresh raspberries

Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom of a half sheet pan or jellyroll pan with parchment paper and butter or spray with non stick spray the entire pan; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the almond paste, honey, butter and granulated sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time , blending well after each addition. Stir in the lemon zest.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients. Fold into wet mixture until combined.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and spread out evenly with off set spatula.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the pan. Once cooled, turn cake out and carefully pull off parchment paper.

Lemon Syrup

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring mixture to a boil. Remove from heat when sugar has been dissolved. Allow to cool completely.

Lemon Filling

Place gelatin in a small bowl. Add a little bit of water to dissolve gelatin. Add as much water as needed but not to runny consistency.

In a glass heat proof bowl, whisk together the sugar,eggs,zest and lemon juice until well combined. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water (double boiler, bain marie). Do not allow the water to touch the bottom of the bowl. Stirring constantly over the simmering water add the butter when mixture is warm. Continue to stir and cook until butter is melted and mixture has thickened to the consistency of ketchup or hollandaise sauce. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin . Continue to stir the mixture until the gelatin has incorporated into the lemon mixture.

Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Cover the top of the strained mixture with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside and let cool completely in the refrigerator.

Lemon Cream Filling

In a medium saucepan , combine the gelatin and 1 cup of water and allow to set 1 minute. Cook over low heat , stirring constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the granulated sugar and remaining 1 cup of water and stir again until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

In a bowl whisk together the marshmallow fluff and the 2 cups of the cooled lemon filling until combined. Whisk in the gelatin mixture. Place in the refrigerator until the mixture forms mounds when spooned.

In a mixing bowl beat the heavy cream until stiff. Fold into the thickened lemon mixture and combine thoroughly.

Assembly

Using a cake ring (rings ) or spring form pan, cut out cake circles from cooled cake.

Carefully place a cake circle into the cake ring. Gently brush lemon syrup over the cake. Line the outside edge with fresh raspberries. Spread some raspberry jam over the exposed cake and place randomly over cake some more raspberries. Spoon some of the lemon cream filling over the cake and raspberries and even out with spatula until level. Repeat process again until cake ring is just to the top leaving the top with lemon cream filling. Place cake in refrigerator to firm up. Once cake is firm spread a layer of lemon filling over the top of the cake. Using a flat edge of a knife or long spatula level the top of the cake with the top of the pan. Place plastic wrap over the top of the cake to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate overnight. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Chocolate Hazelnut Chiffon Pie

This lovely pie tastes just like hazelnut bon bons. The crust is a mixture of chocolate and toasted hazelnuts with a layer of dark chocolate truffle and then the pillow soft chocolate hazelnut filling, garnished with chopped hazelnut bon bons for a little bit of crunch

Chocolate Hazelnut Chiffon Pie

Crust

74 grams butter,melted

1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer crumbs

1 1/2 cups toasted, finely ground hazelnuts

Pie Filling

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

2 cups water

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups marshmallow cream or fluff

2 cups hazelnut spread

4 cups heavy cream

Truffle Layer

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate , finely chopped

5 oz. heavy cream

Hazelnut bon bons, chopped-optional

Crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the ingredients; stir to combine. Press into a large deep dish pie plate. Place in oven and bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Truffle Layer

Place the chopped chocolate in a separate bowl. Heat heavy cream to just boiling. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth and shiny.

Pour all but about 1/2 cup of the truffle layer into the cooled crust. Smooth over bottom and sides of crust; set aside.

Reserve left over truffle filling for final assembly.

Filling

In a mixing bowl whisk the hazelnut spread and marshmallow cream until combined; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup of water and the gelatin. Allow this to rest 1 minute. Over low heat , stirring constantly, dissolve the gelatin. Once gelatin is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the sugar , vanilla and remaining 1 cup of water. Stir mixture until the sugar is dissolved .  Pour into hazelnut mixture and whisk until thoroughly combined. Place mixture in refrigerator and chill until mixture forms mounds when dropped from a spoon.

In a large bowl beat the heavy cream until stiff. Fold into the properly chilled hazelnut mixture. Spoon the filling into the truffle lined crust. Sprinkle the chopped bon bons over the top and drizzle the remaining truffle mixture over the top. If the truffle mixture has firmed up too much, gently reheat in microwave to soften to drizzle consistency. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.

Lemon Blueberry Tarts

• ingredients

  Recipe for double pie crust

• Recipe for lemon curd
• Fresh blueberries
• 5 oz. white chocolate, melted

 

directions

 

• 1

  Roll out pie crust and line tartlet pans; prick bottom with fork. Blind bake the tarts, lined with parchment paper and weighted with dried beans or pie weights. When baked until golden at 425 degrees, remove from oven and while tarts are still warm brush inside of tarts with a thin layer of white chocolate. Set aside to cool completely.

• 2

  Fill the cooled tart shell with lemon curd . Top with fresh blueberries.

Strawberry Tart

Strawberry Tart

Tart pan lined with crust and blind baked

1/4 cup white chocolate, melted

Fresh strawberries

Pastry Cream:

1 1/4 cups half-and-half

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean , split and scraped of seeds

2 eggs

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon butter

seedless strawberry or raspberry jam

Line the unbaked tart crust with foil or parchment and weight with dried beans or pie weights. The dried beans can be reused over and over again as pie weights. Allow to cool and store the beans in a lidded jar. Blind bake the tart crust. Allow crust to completely cool.

Brush the baked tart shell lightly with the melted white chocolate. This allows your crust to remain crisp when it’s filled.

In a saucepan , combine the half-and-half, vanilla seeds and vanilla bean and bring to a boil and remove from heat; cover allow to set 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs , sugar and flour until light and combined. Remove  the vanilla pod, rinse it and set aside to dry. Bring milk back up to a simmer. Temper the egg mixture with some of the hot milk milk mixture, whisking a small amount into the eggs mixture. Pour back into the saucepan with the remaining milk. Bring to a boil stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract and butter. Stir until combined. Place in a bowl and cover top of pastry cream with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Allow to cool completely.

Place cooled pastry cream in cooled tart shell and spread out evenly.

Cut the tops off the fresh strawberries and arrange decoratively over the top of the pastry cream.

Heat  some jam with a touch of water until the jam is melted. Lightly brush the tops of the berries.

Serve chilled.

*Reserved vanilla pod- once nice and dry add to a jar filled with granulated sugar, seal airtight and in a few weeks you’ll have vanilla sugar. Keep adding vanilla pods each time you have used one in a recipe.