Elizabeth's September Pies - Chocolate Cream Cheese Pie and Sour Cream and Honey Mousse Pie

Hello!
It's one of my New Year's resolutions to post my submissions quicker. Plus it's going to be part of the new rules. Blech. Did you know we are doing cakes next year?? Our Year of Cakes! Hurray, I broke the news first!!

In September I made 2 pies, because I was sick of not making pies for so many months. I mean, Cutie Pie was tough to make and all, and pretty rewarding (I guess), but dang it, it was time for some regular ol' pie! Both of these recipes come from Icebox Pies, by Lauren Chattman (my mom got it for me for my birthday! Yippee!)

Chocolate Cream Cheese Pie
I made this pie for my friend's birthday party. Fabulous!! It tastes like a mousse. This pie is not to be missed, so don't go missing it.
(I'd like to point out that while Ann repeatedly accuses me of making chocolate pies over and over again, this was my FIRST one of the year. In SEPTEMBER. Eat THAT, Ann! ...No, seriously. Eat that. Dem's tasty pie!)

12 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled (divided)
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1 chocolate cookie crust - 9 inch

1. Put 2 inches or water in a medium-size saucepan and bring the pot to a bare simmer. Combine the chocolate, 1/2 cup of the heavy cream, and the corn syrup in a stainless-steel bowl big enough to rest on top of the saucepan. Place the bowl over the simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Heat, whisking occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove the bowl from the heat and set the mixture aside to cool until it is just warm, 5 to 10 minutes. Using an electric mixer, beat in the softened cream cheese until the mixture is smooth.

2. In a medium-size mixing bowl using an electric mixer, whip the remaining 1 cup heavy cream until it just holds stiff peaks. Gently fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.

3. Scrape the filling into the prepared pie crust, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until the filling is completely set, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.

I also smoothed whipped cream over the top and sprinkled cocoa powder over that. Apparently I took no photos. Surprised?


Sour Cream and Honey Mousse Pie

A picture!

I served this at my September church book club meeting (that's the September meeting of my church book club, not the book club for the church I attend in September). I thought the honey taste was too intense in this pie, but my guests seemed to enjoy it -- sort of. One of them commented that after the first bite, you don't taste it quite so much, but I'm not exactly going for the "Pie That Tastes Nasty on the First Bite But Improves Thereafter" award.

The addition of sliced toasted almonds on top is genius, and really makes the pie. The only problem is that the almonds don't stay crunchy on the leftover pie. If I ever make a pie with toasted almonds on top again, I am going to just add the nuts to each piece as I serve it. That way the leftovers don't taste yucky.

3 T cold water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 cup full-fat sour cream
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1 graham cracker crust - 9 inch
1/2 cup slice almonds

1. While you're baking the crust, place the sliced almonds on a baking sheet and toast them until they are golden, 4-5 minutes. Let them cool completely.

2. Place the cold water in a small sauce pan and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Let the gelatin stand to dissolve. Whisk together the sour cream and honey in a medium-size mixing bowl.

3. Put the sauce pan on the stove and heat the gelatin, whisking constantly, just until it melts, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Whisk the gelatin mixture into the sour cream mixture until the consistency is smooth.

4. In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds soft peaks. Gently fold the sour cream mixture into the whipped cream.

5. Scrape the filling into the prepared pie shell. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until the filling is completely set, at least 6 hours and up to 1 day.

6. Just before serving, scatter the toasted nuts over the pie.

Elizabeth's January Pie: Coconut Cream

Another great ATK pie!

The funny thing about using Cook’s Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen is the changes (improvements?) that happen to the recipes over time. I initially chose my recipe from The Dessert Bible, by Christopher Kimball / Cook’s Illustrated. I went out and bought all of the ingredients for that preparation. Then I came home and looked up the coconut cream pie recipe in my America’s Test Kitchen cookbook, and in that recipe they essentially made fun of the type of recipe Chris Kimball had published only a few years earlier out of the same kitchen! Take that, bow tie man! (ATK's argument is that coconut cream pie shouldn’t be a vanilla cream pie with a little bit of coconut sprinkled throughout. Agreed.)

When I looked the recipe up online at the Cook’s Illustrated website, I found yet ANOTHER variation on the same pie but the date on the recipe was the same as the television air date from the pie in my ATK cookbook (there is no way you are following me on this…). I’m assuming that they keep the same air date to help people find the recipe, but they make changes here and there to the recipes as they think of new and yummier tweaks.

The moral of the story is this: you don’t need to by a single Cook’s Illustrated/ATK cookbook, you just need to keep your online subscription current! Look up the recipes there, and save yourselves the trouble.

Now, back to the recipe!

Everything went smoothly, and it was a very easy pie to make. In the future I may use graham cracker crumbs instead of animal crackers in the crust, just because they were expensive and not “YOWZA” impressive. I took this to my book club, and friends there said it was the best coconut cream pie they’d ever tasted, including one friend who ALWAYS orders coconut cream because it’s her favorite. Nice!

Unsweetened coconut was a little hard to find. I could only find lowfat organic unsweetened coconut in the health foods area of my grocery store. I was worried about the lowfat part but it worked just fine.

All in all: ENORMOUSLY TASTY. (I'll post a photo when I can finally locate my camera.)

Coconut Cream Pie

Recipe courtesy CooksIllustrated.com
Published: May 1, 2004

Makes one 9-inch pie, serving 8 to 10

Light coconut milk lacks rich coconut flavor, so skip it in favor of regular coconut milk.

Crust

6	ounces animal crackers
2	tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
1	tablespoon granulated sugar
4	tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled

Filling

14	ounces coconut milk (1 can)
1	cup whole milk
1/2	cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2	cup granulated sugar
1	tablespoon granulated sugar
3/8	teaspoon table salt
5	large egg yolks
1/4	cup cornstarch
2	tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 2 pieces
1	teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped cream and garnish

1 1/2	cups heavy cream (cold)
2	tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2	teaspoon vanilla extract
1	tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut , toasted in a small dry skillet until golden brown

1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. In food processor, pulse animal crackers, coconut, and sugar to fine crumbs, eighteen to twenty 1-second pulses; then process until powdery, about 5 seconds. Transfer crumbs to medium bowl and add butter; stir to combine until crumbs are evenly moistened. Empty crumbs into 9-inch glass pie plate; using bottom of ramekin or 1/2 cup dry measuring cup, press crumbs evenly into bottom and up sides of pie plate. Bake until fragrant and medium brown, about 15 minutes, rotating pie shell halfway through baking time. Set on wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

2. For the filling: Bring coconut milk, whole milk, shredded coconut, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves. Following illustrations 1 through 6, whisk yolks, cornstarch, and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisking constantly, gradually ladle about 1 cup hot milk mixture over yolk mixture; whisk well to combine. Whisking constantly, gradually add remaining milk mixture to yolk mixture in 3 or 4 additions; whisk well to combine. Return mixture to saucepan and cook until thickened and mixture reaches boil, whisking constantly, about 1 minute; filling must boil in order to fully thicken. (To determine whether filling has reached boil, stop whisking; large bubbles should quickly burst on surface.) Off heat, whisk in butter and vanilla until butter is fully incorporated. Pour hot filling into cooled pie shell and smooth surface with rubber spatula; press plastic wrap directly against surface of filling and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours and up to 12 hours.

3. For the whipped cream: Just before serving, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla with electric mixer until soft peaks form, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Top pie with whipped cream and then sprinkle with coconut. Cut pie into wedges and serve.