All posts tagged heavy cream

French Silk Chocolate Pie

I’m sorry to have been absent this month. I am very excited to have a great, new FT job!! Then I also have my PT teaching job, three children, a husband, a dog….so, as you can imagine, November has been a bit busy. But, in a great way!

I am happy to be the November hostess for What’s Baking. I chose pie for the theme, figuring with Thanksgiving and all, it would be very fitting. This year, we went to my mother-in-law’s for Thanksgiving and of course, I was in charge of dessert. I decided to make a French silk pie because it has been my favorite ever since I was a little girl and my grandpa would bring one from Baker’s Square every time he visited. I hadn’t made it since college, then using a Pillsbury pie crust and a recipe with raw eggs. But, with three kids, I figured this would just not do. So, I thought the cooked version from ATK would be the perfect solution. And, I would scrap the store-bought crust and make my own pastry crust. Oh, I always have grand plans…

So, I set off to make Martha’s pastry crust that I made last Thanksgiving. But, I either forgot or didn’t read the directions carefully that the prepared crust had to be refrigerated for 1 hour before baking. At this point, it was already noon and there was no time for that. So, I just put the crust in the oven as is and hoped for the best. When time was up, to my dismay, the crust totally shrunk down to about 1/2 inch tall. Yeah, no way was this crust going to hold the French silk filling. Oh, geez. Now what? Thank goodness we had some Oreos and so I made a quick cookie crust. Problem solved.

For the filling, you will need a hand mixer to beat the eggs and sugar over a double boiler for ~8 minutes until they reach 160 degrees. Midway through this process, my husband yelled for me to come upstairs. He didn’t sound too happy, so I turned off the stove, put the mixer down, and went upstairs. There I see Justin, holding Alex with blue, purple and green marker all over his face, hands, and the walls of his bedroom. Apparently Alex crawled out of his bed after his nap, found his sister’s markers, and decided that he and his room were in need of a makeover. So, Justin had to put out that fire, while I went back to my pie. Luckily, the rest of it went off without a hitch.

The pie was ready just in time to leave for my mother-in-law’s house. I hadn’t made the whipped cream and chocolate curls yet, but the kitchen was all a bustle in apps, turkey and sides preparation. So, I figured I should have an apple bourbon drink and just wait until after dinner to finish my pie. But, the problem is, I cannot take pictures inside. No matter how I adjust the white balance on my camera or how I edit it, I cannot get the color right on indoor pictures. Of course, after dinner it was dark, so I didn’t get a photo But, this pie was crazy delicious and went fast. So, what the heck, I would just have to make another one. I mean, after all, I was hosting What’s Baking, I chose the theme of pie and then I had no pie? This could not be. I can think of many worse things than having to eat two French silk pies in one week.

French Silk Chocolate Pie

Yield: one 9 inch pie

For the crust:

18 Oreo cookies

3 Tbsp melted butter

Place cookies in the food processor and process until they are fine crumbs. Pour in the butter and process until well combined.

Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up the sides of 9-inch pie plate. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees until the crust is fragrant, ~ 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Source: I combined the recipes from Martha Stewart New Pies and Tarts and Kraft.

For the filling:

1 cup heavy cream, chilled
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened

With an electric mixer on med-high, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks, ~2 to 3 minutes. Put the whipped cream in a small bowl and refrigerate until needed.

Prepare a double boiler with a medium-sized saucepan filled with ½ inch of barely simmering water and place a large heat proof bowl on top. Put the eggs, sugar, and water into the bowl. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat until the egg mixture is thick and registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer, ~ 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat. Continue to beat the egg mixture until fluffy and cooled to room temperature, ~ 8 minutes.

Add the cool chocolate and vanilla to the cool egg mixture. Beat until incorporated. Beat in the softened butter pieces, a few at a time, until well combined. Using a spatula, fold in the whipped cream until no streaks of white remain. Scrape the filling into the pie shell. Refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours.

Garnish with sweetened whipped cream and chocolate curls if desired.

Source: Cook’s Country Feb/March 2009

For the sweetened whipped cream topping:

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

Chocolate curls, if desired

With an electric mixer on med-high, whisk cream just until soft peaks form. Add confectioner’s sugar and whisk until stiff peaks. Spread whipped cream over the chocolate filling.

Garnish with chocolate curls just before serving if desired. To do this, heat a thick bar of milk chocolate in the microwave for 15 second increments until it softens a bit, but doesn’t melt. Use a peeler along the long side of the chocolate bar to make the curls. Don’t worry, it’s easier than it looks.

Source: Martha Stewart New Pies and Tarts

9 Comments

by Just Baked on December 2, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Chocolate, Pie

Tagged ATK, chocolate, CI, Cook's Country, cooked, cream. pie, crust, french, heavy cream, Oreo, silk

Posted by Just Baked on December 2, 2012

http://justbakedbyme.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/french-silk-chocolate-pie/

Root Beer Float Ice Cream

In the last month or so, I have seen this root beer float ice cream make an appearance on a few of my friend’s blogs. I finally decided that I had to make it, like now, but I didn’t have the root beer extract. I figured that would be easy enough to pick up at the grocery store, you know, by all the other extracts. SO WRONG! I went to Target, Dominick’s and Jewel. They didn’t have it. I asked my friends where they got it and they said Wal-Mart…so I went to Wal-Mart and you know what? No stinkin’ root beer extract. More determined now than ever, I thought maybe it was Super Wal-Mart. So, I went to one in the next town over, approached the baking section and scanned through the first shelf of extracts. None yet. I was getting anxious as I scanned the next shelf and stopped at ROOT BEER EXTRACT!! I was so excited. Funny how something so silly can make me so happy. Okay, I know last week I made pumpkin bread to celebrate fall and now, here I am making ice cream. WTH right? Well see, ice cream isn’t seasonal to me. I eat ice cream just about everyday, no matter how cold it is outside. And, here in Chicago, it gets pretty darn cold.

So, now that I finally had the extract, I pulled out the recipe and saw that it had 2 raw eggs. Boo. That’s why I should read recipes first. Now I was a bit nervous for the kids to eat it. Although, I’m not sure why. I have eaten tons of raw cookie dough, brownie and cake batters, you name it, I’ve eaten it….and I’m still here. Anyways, I decided it would be a good idea to make a cooked custard base. So, I went to the ice cream bible, The Perfect Scoop, and saw that his cooked recipe was almost the same as the original recipe, except for 6 yolks instead of 2 whole eggs and it added a vanilla bean. Well, vanilla bean is never a bad addition. The only problem with a cooked base is that you have to use a water bath and wait for it to cool. Nuts. Waiting to taste a new dessert is not my strong suit Once the base was chilled, I poured it into the ice cream maker and about 20 minutes later I had to taste it. I was promptly busted by the kids, so they each had to have a taste. They loved it! Alex kept circling me with his mouth open like a little baby bird. But really, what’s not to love here? A creamy frozen custard base with vanilla bean and root beer extract, creating the perfect all-in-one root beer float. Sometimes I have such high hopes for a recipe, and then I am let down by the results. Not this time….

Root Beer Float Ice Cream

1 cup (250mL) whole milk

¾ cup (150g) sugar

2 cups (500mL) heavy cream, divided

Pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

6 large egg yolks

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon root beer extract I used Watkins

Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of cream, and salt in a medium saucepan. Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the warmed milk and add in the used vanilla bean. Cover the pan and remove from heat. Let the mixture sit to steep at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a large bowl and set a fine mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks until smooth. Slowly pour the warmed milk mixture into the bowl of egg yolks, whisking constantly. Scrape the entire mixture back into the saucepan. On medium heat, stir constantly with a spatula, scraping the bottom of the pan as you stir, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer, into the bowl with the cream and stir. Pull the vanilla bean out of the strainer and put it back into the custard. Add the vanilla extract and root beer extract. Stir until cool over an ice bath. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is completely chilled. Make sure to take out the vanilla bean before churning. Freeze the chilled base in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Source: inspiration from What’s Cookin Chicago (also seen on Eva Bakes, Jenna’s Cooking Journey and The Jey of Cooking) and the ice cream base from The Perfect Scoop (David Lebovitz)

Note:

Most of the photos of this ice cream show it is brown in color. As you can see, mine was not. It was more of a creamy, light yellow. I’m guessing it was because of the extra egg yolks in my base or maybe a variance in the brand of root beer extract

5 Comments

by Just Baked on October 8, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in ice cream

Tagged cooked, custard, egg yolks, float, freezer, frozen, heavy cream, ice cream, kids, root beer, summer, vanilla bean

Posted by Just Baked on October 8, 2012

http://justbakedbyme.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/root-beer-float-ice-cream/

Brown Sugar Berry Shortcakes

Strawberries are my absolute favorite fruit. Unfortunately, you can’t get great fresh strawberries year round. Now that strawberries are in season, I made sure to pick some up at the grocery store so I could make a dessert highlighting them. I wasn’t sure what though, so I pulled a few books off the shelf, including Cook’s Country 2006 annual, and found these brown sugar berry shortcakes. I just loved the idea of using brown sugar to sweeten the berries, the shortcakes and the whipped cream. While these shortcakes may look difficult to make, the dough comes together rather quickly in the food processor. Some of the berries are crushed and sweetened to make a sauce for the berries and then you make sweetened whipped cream. A few steps maybe, but all of them actually quick and easy.

I honestly don’t think I have ever had real strawberry shortcake. Before today, strawberry shortcake to me was one of those little sponge cake cups that come in plastic wrap sold by produce, topped with strawberries and Cool Whip. When I asked my daughter, Sammie, if she liked strawberry shortcake, she told me, “Yes, I love HER!” So, I guess we were both a little confused. But, at least, I have been corrected. I will not make that mistake again. These are strawberry shortcakes. Period.

Brown Sugar Berry Shortcakes

Yield: 6 servings

Fruit:

6 cups of mixed berries (strawberries- hulled, halved and sliced, Raspberries- whole, Blackberries- halved, Blueberries- whole, currants- whole) I used just strawberries

4-6 Tbsp packed light brown sugar

Shortcakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp packed light brown sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder Due to the large amount, I recommend using aluminum free for better taste.

1/2 tsp salt

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled

1 large egg

1/2 cup sour cream

2 Tbsp unsalted butter melted (to brush shortcakes)

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

Brown-Sugar Cream Topping

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

For the fruit:

Crush 6 cups berries and brown sugar in a large bowl with a potato masher. Fold in the remaining 4 cups of berries and let sit at room temperature until sugar has dissolved and berries are juicy, about 30 minutes.

For the shortcakes:

Adjust oven rack to upper middle position and preheat oven to 375F. Line rimmed sheet with parchment paper. Pulse flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor until no lumps of sugar remain. Scatter chilled butter pieces over the top and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 7 pulses. Transfer to a large bowl.

Whisk egg and sour cream together in a small bowl. Stir into flour mixture with a rubber spatula until large clumps form. Using your hands, knead lightly until dough comes together and no dry flecks of flour remain. Be careful to not overwork to keep your shortcakes tender.

Using a large (#10) ice cream scoop, scoop 6 dough rounds onto the prepared sheet. If you don’t have a ice cream scoop, do your best to divide into 6 even pieces and use your hands to gently form into semispherical shapes. Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through the baking time. I would start checking at about 20 minutes. Cool the shortcakes on baking sheet x 10 minutes. (Cooled shortcakes can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and kept on the counter for up to 24 hours.

For the topping:

With an electric mixer, beat heavy cream, sour cream, and brown sugar to stiff peaks. Split each shortcake in half, using a serrated knife, and place the bottoms onto individual plates. Spoon some fruit onto the bottoms of each shortcake, top with the whipped cream, and cap with the shortcake tops. Serve.

Source: Cook’s Country June/July 2006