American Pie Workshop at ICE

I took a baking class at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) yesterday. It was a 4-hour pie workshop where 15 of us learned how to make some classic american pies. ICE has a lot of programs they offer; career training, professional courses and many recreational classes. Before I signed up for a full on pasty program I decided to simply test out their 1-day American Pie Workshop.

The instructor, Jenny is the pastry chef at Tom Colicchio's restaurant, Craft. Most of the 15 students were novices and were interested in learning the basics of pie baking. I told no one my ultimate goal, I don't want anyone else snatching up my idea. The classroom was basically a restaurant kitchen - heavy duty ovens, equipment everywhere and a live dishwasher - better! Jenny started out by going over her recipe for crust (all butter, btw) and talking through the steps of her 6 pie recipes. She then divided us into groups of 2 so there were 3 A groups and 3 B groups and each group was assigned 3 pies to make. Then we sort of were left loose. Jenny floated around and watched the ovens to make sure nothing was burning badly and was available for questions. My partner, Alexandria and I were assigned Apple-Streusel Pie, Chocolate-Peanut Butter Mousse Pie with an Oreo Crust and Summer Berry Pie. The other groups were making Lemon Meringue Pie, Chocolate-Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie. We spent the next 3 hours making the dough, Oreo crust and the 3 pies. We each had our hands in some aspect of each pie and were able to finish 3 pies in 3 short hours.

I enjoyed the class and did pick up some tips for rolling out dough, making Oreo and Graham Cracker crusts and butter measurement quick tricks. I got to use a food processor for the dough and a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer , which I am now OBSESSED with and must have. I would have preferred to work alone and make the pie(s) myself from start to finish even if that meant making fewer pies or having a long class. Overall a good experience and a fun way to spend a Sunday morning but not sure that I need to go back.

Institue for Culinary Education

http://www.iceculinary.com/

Summer Berry Pie (with mascarpone filling) - This was amazing and the best crust to date. So good. Can't wait to get home to eat it tonight. (If I get home and Joel's eaten it all I am going to flip!)

Apple-Streusel Pie, Chocolate-Peanut Butter Mousse Pie with an Oreo Crust and Summer Berry Pie.

You can't even see the goo-ey goodness of chocolate-peanut butter beneath the homemade whipped cream but it was rich! The homemade whipped cream was great also and less sweat than the store bought stuff. Alexandria forgot to watch the clock so the streusel got slightly over-cooked but it still tasted good and I made extra streusel topping so I have some in my freezer now!

Must get KitchenAid stat double stat! Look how pretty this pale yellow one is! 

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/kitchenaid-artisan-stand-mixer/

Good Pie Reading

After the thumb incident of Winter 2012 I decided to take a weekend off from baking (plus we went out of town to go skiing). But here are some articles from around the web about pie, pie shops and pie recipes.

I'm not sure I'd totally agree with the statement that "Apple pie is a weekend project to slow the baker’s heart rate" - my heart is pounding while baking wondering if it will turn out or not but my goal is to eventually feel that way.

Kierin Baldwin's apple process is different that what I've been doing and I'm excited to give it a go. Also notice, she's a gal who switched careers from the photo industry to the culinary world. It can be done folks!

 

My office just happens to be around the corner from The Dutch - think I'll take a little afternoon stroll for a slice of her apple pie.

Pie Fideltiy

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/sam-sifton-apple-pie.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=pie&st=cse

About Kierin Baldwin

http://www.kierinbaldwin.com/

Apple Pie Recipe (with pre-cooked apples)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/recipe-apple-pie.html

All-Purpose Pie Dough

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/recipe-pie-dough.html?ref=magazine

The Healing Powers of a Pie Shop

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/magazine/10pielab-t.html?ref=pies

Sweetie Pie, Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie, Crust Competition, Salted Caramel Apple Pie

I got behind on posting one post, which just led to a downward spiral of not posting anything so here's quick recap of what's been happening in the kitchen the past couple weeks.

Sweetie Pie

I found a recipe for a Sweetie Pie so obviously had to try this out, I didn't even know this existed. It's basically a yummy combination of layers of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconuts flakes, pecans and graham cracker crumbs all gelled together by pouring condensed milk over the whole thing and popping in the oven. Yes, please!

Recipe: http://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/pies/sweetie-pie/

Raspberry Sour Cream Pie

Joel and I experimented with a raspberry pie recipe. To put our own twist on it we decided on making a Cinnamon Graham Cracker Crust with a raspberry sour cream filling and a cinnamon graham cracker crumble. The filling was light and airy and went well the sugary cinnamon graham cracker. The crumble on top was a little much - having it on top and bottom overpowered the raspberry filling. Next time we'll go sans crumble to highlight the freshness of the berries.

Adapted from Original Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/raspberry-sour-cream-pie/

Battle of the Crusts with Caramel Salted Apple Pie filling

Next up, I wanted to play around with some different crust recipes. I've been using an all lard recipe and have been reading about the benefits of the all-butter crust. I found two really popular recipes and decided to put them in a head to head contest against each other. Both would have the same salted caramel apple pie filling so it was a fair comparison. It was Super Bowl Sunday so I had a good excuse to just go all out!

First - the Dough.

#1. All-Butter

Many thanks to my co-worker and pie connoisseur, Isaac Holub for giving me his recipe. It was super simple to make; flour, water, bit o' salt and butter (TIP: cut in small pieces and keep C-O-L-D).

vs.

#2. Butter meets Crisco meets VODKA (yep!)

Many thanks to Smitten Kitchen for this recipe. Again, the key is to keep the fat cold, cold cold. The vodka will cook off in the oven but will provide your crust with the liquid it needs.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/11/pie-crust-101/

Now - the Filling.

I snagged this recipe from Four and Twenty Blackbirds (bakery in Brooklyn). Their trick is using a mandolin for the apples so you have layers upon layers of very thinly sliced apples with salted caramel in between each layer. This is by far the most lengthy recipe I've followed thus far, but I have to say well worth it.

Recipe: http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/four-and-twenty-blackbirds-salted-caramel-apple-pie-recipe/index.html

Unfortunately, we had a teensy accident. Joel was so nice to give me a hand (2 different homemade crusts with 2 pie fillings in one evening was a lot, while also keeping an eye on the chili and thinking about doing Spanish homework).  He was slicing the apples with a small, cheap, plastic mandolin and something slipped and he sliced off a good chunk of thumb. There was a lot of blood and we found the piece of thumb on the floor. Of course I was worried about Joel but I was also worried about my pie dough that was being left out too long in the hot kitchen:) Anyway, Joel survived and spent the rest of the evening on the couch and his thumb is healing nicely. 

It was the first time I tried a lattice crust, it's like a fun puzzle with food!

I was very pleased with the final results of the pies. So then, back to the crust competition.......Crust #1 was great and Crust #2 was great! I don't know if it was a mental thing but I thought I could taste a small hint of vodka in Crust #2 so I think I'm going to stick with cold water in lieu of vodka for the future. All in all, it was a success (minus the loss of thumb....RIP thumb skin)

Salted Caramel Apple Pie ---- Again.

I was so pleased with the first ones and I wanted to try a variation on the crusts above so I took elements from each crust and made a new recipe.

I added shortening & sugar to Crust #1 (Isaac's) and took out vodka from Crust #2 (Smitten Kitchen's).

I rolled it out in between two sheets of parchment paper. Prior to parchment paper I'd just been using wax paper, but omigod what a difference this made. It was by far my most successful roll out yet. And the crust turned out great!

Happy National Pie Day!

Happy National Pie Day folks! That's right - January 23rd is National Pie Day. I was tempted to call in sick today and stay home and bake all day, but alas my morals got the best of me. So instead I'll share with you a slice of pie history!


Since celebrating the wholesome goodness of pie is as easy as 1-2-3, the American Pie Council demmed Jan 23 (1/23) as the choosen day to include in the sweet treat.


A slice of history:

Pies are often thought to be American in origin, because of the phrase “as American as apple pie.”

Pies have actually been around since the ancient Egyptians, who may have learned about it from the Greeks, according to the American Pie Council. These early pies were made for the purpose of holding the filling, not necessarily to be eaten.

The Romans spread the word about pies around Europe, and the word pie, or pye, came into the lexicon by the 14th century. The first published pie recipe, from the Romans, was for a rye-crusted goat cheese and honey pie.

The early pies were meat pies. Pies appeared in England in the 12th century. The crust was referred to as a coffin. Typically, there was more crust than filling.

Fruit pies or tarts were likely made in the 1500s. The first cherry pie was probably made during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. English settlers brought the pie to America, cooking them in long, narrow pans. These crusts were usually not eaten, but like the Romans, used to hold the filling.

Pie has become the most traditional American dessert, according to the council.

For those who want to test their pie-making skills against others, the 18th annual American Pie Council/Crisco National Pie Championships are April 27 to 29 in Orlando, Fla. Entry forms are at www.piecouncil.org.

Butterfinger Pie

 was getting a little bored with the Fall pies - apples and pecans can only take me so far for so long. So until summer rolls around when I can play with a wide variety of fruits I decided to change things up a little and go with a candy-based pie because let's face it, candy is in season every month of the year! I went with a Butterfinger Pie with a Graham Cracker crust. When the ingredients are graham crackers, butter, brown sugar, SIX butterfingers, whipped cream and cream cheese I'd say one can't really go wrong. I totally forgot how simply divine a good graham cracker is and while making the crust I definately consumed more than my fair share:) The whole thing was super easy and fun to make, a playful pie to make and to taste. It's even more fun to give the pie away as a gift, which is what I did but luckily I got to try a slice...mmmm mmmm (if I do say so myself!). 

I

Apple & Apricot Pie with Cream Cheese Double Crust

Finally made first pie of 2012! I tried totally new dough and filling recipes from my new cookbook - only 299 more recipes to go.

I went for a cream cheese dough with an apple and apricot filling. 

I made the dough a couple days ago and froze it, working up my nerve to actually roll it out. When preparing the dough, I followed the recipe exactly and it just seemed like a weird consistency, like waaaay to flour-y. I was just about to throw it away when Joel reminded me it was okay to take liberties with recipes so at his suggestion we added some cold water until I was able to form 2 discs. However, by that point I'd lost confidence that it would be successful so decided to hold off on actually executing and tucked it away for a few days (good in freezer for up to 30 days). I also purchased store bought crusts just to have on hand as a back up. Well, you know how when you bring your umbrella with you it doesn't rain but when you forget it, it does ---- apparently it's the same with dough. When I went to roll it out last night it was PERFECT! It was my best roll out ever. I guess the cream cheese has something to do with that (or I'm just awesome) but it rolled out so nicely and evenly with ease and fluidity (is that even a word?!)

So on to the filling...I went with Granny Smith apples and dried apricots which I poached in apple juice. Poaching was a new technique to me so it was fun to try that out. The tartness of the Granny Smiths and the apricots combined together really made for a nice, super tart pie which went well with the crust since it was more "doughy" than "flaky" than the crisco-based crusts have been providing. Overall, a nice combo and fun to try out a new technique!

What the what am I going to do with this whole pie - please come over for a slice if you're in the area!

It's very hard to make a perfect circle with the limited counter space.

Let the poaching begin - apricots, apple juice & lemon slices.

Ingredients to add to the apple & apricot mixture: walnuts, sugar, flour, fresh lemon juice and cinnamon.

Filling all mixed up in the bottom of the pie (looks goo-ey)!

Top layer, successfully on.

Voila! (Next time I'll trim the edges, but I wanted to see what would happen if I didn't and what happened was a whole-lotta crust!)

Holidays and BabyCakes!

I was at home over Christmas and was far too relaxed to be thinking about taking pictures or notes during my baking session so I don't have much to share from the past couple weeks.

While at home I made 2 pies; an apple with pecan crumble for Christmas Eve dinner and a pecan for Christmas. The end results of both turned out well but there were some major complications getting there. Batch 1 of dough was a dud and I had to throw it out and start over - totally worth it because batch 2 was flaky, light and delicious. When making the crumble top for the apple I used FOUR CUPS of flour instead of 3/4 CUP - teensy mistake so I had to remake the crumble. I suppose I wasn't used to distractions - I was in the kitchen with 4 other cooks; my Dad was cooking (yes, cooking!) a marinade for salmon and was making all sorts of weird comments that I wish I could remember but they were apparently so random that Jill was video taping him, Page was cooking risotto, Kramer was probably barking and my Mom was surely thinking she'd wish she'd just cooked the whole meal herself instead of having us help. Anyway, the final crumble was tasty.

I also got a new pie cookbook for Xmas - it was must be a great one because I got 2! I look at that as a sign that eventually I'll have a place for 2 books, one at home and one at the pie shop! I'm super excited to try out a new recipe this weekend.

Since I don't have pics to share, I'll share an inspiring article about another NYC gal who opened up her own bakery.

http://www.garancedore.fr/en/2012/01/05/career-girl-erin/