chocolate banana pudding pie and Nordic Ware Covered Pie Pan review

So it's been a while, but what better way to begin the first post of a new year than with pie? And a product review. A few weeks back I mentioned that I would be reviewing a product I got from Wayfair, and I chose the Nordic Ware Natural Commercial High Dome Covered Pie Pan. This 10-inch pie pan is constructed from rust-proof aluminum with galvanized steel wire around the rim for extra strength. I'm not sure why that's necessary, but the dish seems very sturdy and good for baking. Accompanying the pie pan is a vented plastic lid that secures on top so that you can store the pie in the same dish. Seems pretty cool.

When I first got the pie pan I opened the box to find that the plastic lid was cracked. There wasn't any padding in the box, though possibly it could have been from the cold. I called Wayfair to let them know the problem and they were quick to help out, sending a replacement order ASAP. The next box arrived without a crack in the lid, though the pie pan had a scratch. Nothing major that would prevent me from baking with it.

Since I was making an "icebox" pie, I blind baked the pie crust. The heat distribution seems good and the crust browned fairly evenly. I like the lip on the edging because it gave me handling room when i removed the pan from the oven. I started off with a chocolate cream pie filling, layering with 'nilla wafers and fresh banana slices. There was only enough room for 2 layers of wafers and bananas, but next time I would have doubled up on the wafers. I like the texture when they become a bit spongy from the custard.

With the egg whites left from separating the yolks, I made a meringue that I spooned and swirled on top and browned under the broiler.

Unfortunately, the lid didn't fit! If you make a nice, high crimped edging, the dome won't seal shut if the crust extends beyond the groove of the rim. Poorly thought out construction, surprising for Nordic Ware. It would have made more sense for the lid to attach around the underside of the rim instead of on the extended wire portion. This way, if you make an open-face pie the sides will still be high enough to accommodate the filling without being worried that it would overflow.

I like the elements of this dish, and I really like the pie pan itself, but I think for $16 plus shipping you could find another pie pan that's just as good unless you make the necessary adjustments with the pie crust sides so that the lid would fit. Overall it's a good buy if you remember about the crust.

One interesting aspect about buying from Wayfair is that if you shop at each individual store, such as Cookware.com, luggage.com, etc., the shopping carts will not be combined. To have your entire purchase in one cart you need to stay on the main Wayfair.com page and search for items you want there. This way, you can combine items to accrue free shipping if you wish, and you won't have to pay shipping twice.

apple custard crumb pie

Hop on over and enter the Oh Nuts! giveaway for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate!

Hope you guys had a happy and tasty Thanksgiving. This is one of the pies we baked for the event. My mom got this recipe from a friend of hers a while back and it makes for a unique addition to the lineup. It features slices of apples baked inside a sour cream custard center and topped with a crispy, nutty crumb topping.

The filling gets placed into a par-baked pie crust. I tried the pie crust from How To Eat A Cupcake. It's similar to others I've made, only it has a bit of baking powder. I found this gave the baked crust a slightly denser feel, though still flaky. I also noticed that as I baked this crust it kept the nicely crimped edging more than usual. However, I still need work figuring out my pie crust issues, namely that the bottom refuses to crisp. It's as if the filling seeps into the crust and prevents it from crisping. I meant to brush the bottoms with beaten egg whites, but oh well.

My mom also cooked the apple slices in a sugar syrup so that the apples would cook a bit and not be as firm in the filling. You could saute yours until the apples started to feel tender if you wanted. The apples were then drained and mixed with the filling.

The pie gets baked until the custard can be poked with a knife and comes out clean. Then...

Topped with the crumb topping, including whole pecans, then returned to the oven to crisp and become golden brown.

Recipe after jump

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Print this recipe

apple custard crumb pie
Recipe by my mom's friend

Ingredients -

1 9-inch deep dish pie crust, par-baked
8 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/8 - 1/4 inch slices (if you're cooking the apple partway first, slice them 1/4 inch thick)
1 2/3 cup sour cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Topping -

1 cup nuts, whole or coarsely chopped
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions -

1. Preheat oven to 400°F and place the pie plate on a large rimmed baking sheet. In a large bowl mix together the sour cream, sugar, flour, egg, vanilla, and salt; stir in the apples and stir to coat. Pour into pie shell and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.


2. While the pie bakes, prepare the topping. Mix the nuts (if coarsely chopped) with flour, both sugars, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the butter and continue mixing until mixture comes together. If nuts were left whole, stir them in now.


3. When pie is ready, remove from oven. Top with coating, dolloping from a spoon. Bake for 15 minutes or until the topping is crisp and golden. Let cool at room temperature before serving.

Tigger-Proof Pumpkin Pie

Every year for Thanksgiving we make a pumpkin pie, and usually we used a simple recipe with canned milk and spices. One year, though, we tried the pumpkin pie recipe from The Little Big Book of Pooh by Monique Peterson. My older brother gave it as a gift to my mom a few years ago.

This pie recipe features one of the more flavorful pumpkin pie fillings I've tasted. Instead of just granulated sugar, the brown sugar gives the pie a richer flavor as does the sweetened condensed milk in place of evaporated milk (you can't have a 100 Acre Woods recipe without sweetened condensed milk, can you?). This pie is also very spicy and doesn't lack in flavor. There's a crust recipe that accompanies the directions that I've never tried, but I'll include it anyway. Feel free to use whichever crust with which you're most familiar.

The filling can be prepared and refrigerated ahead of time to cut down on prep if desired.

Since I have issues with my pie crusts not completely cooking, I decided to par-bake the crust this year. To do this, I chilled the prepared crust for an hour, then lined with parchment and filled with dried beans (to keep the crust from collapsing). I then baked for 10 minutes at 425°; remove the parchment with the beans and cook for 5 more minutes until bottom is no longer wet. You will need to cover the edges of the crust earlier into the baking time if you do this.

I didn't let the crust cook before filling since it still had to be baked. Maybe the heat sealed the bottom layer and prevented the crust from getting soggy.

So, if you're looking for a pumpkin pie with a smooth, velvety texture that's rich with flavor, stop right here and get baking!

Recipe after jump.

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Tigger-Proof Pumpkin Pie
From The Little Big Book of Pooh

For crust:

1 1/3 cup flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons ice water

For pie:

1 1/2 cups cooked or canned pumpkin
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.


2. To make crust, sift together dry ingredients. Using pastry blender or processor, cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle water over dough and mix with fork until pastry is moist enough to form into a ball.


3. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface into a 14" round circle. Transfer and press into 9" pie pan. Trim overhand and crimp edges. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes.


4. To make the pumpkin filling, whisk all the pie ingredients together in a large bowl until blended. Pour into the prepared crust.


5. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 350°F and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.


6. Serve with whipped cream!

apple pie

Hello everyone. Hope you guys had a great 4th of July weekend! I'm going to talk a little about the pie I made for the 4th of July. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as I planned, but the crust came out almost perfect.

So I set out to make an apple-peach pie, using Martha Stewart's mile high apple pie recipe as a base for the filling. However, the peaches were actually nectarines and was a complete failure. I kept telling myself that the skin on the "peach" didn't seem normal, but it took up to the point of trying to slice the "peach" when I resigned to the fact that I misjudged the fruit. The fruit segments wouldn't separate from the pit, and I ended up having to use my hands to squeeze the flesh off. This didn't even come close to stress relief because I kept calling myself names in my head throughout the entire process. Fortunately, the filling tasted good, though it needed more spices because the flavor didn't come out well in the end.

I've been having trouble with pie crust, and I've had my eye on Cassie's recipe for a while now, which I decided to make this time. The overall recipe yields enough for a double-crust pie, and includes baking powder. I think it might help to keep the crust from shattering. Both butter and shortening are used here, and since I've come to prefer a butter-shortening crust I have no problem with the inclusion of shortening. I definitely had really great success with this crust, especially considering that I made it by hand instead of in the food processor (I felt lazy). It rolled out nicely enough, though I didn't get it into a perfect circle.

Sometimes when I'm forming the dough into discs there are areas that look like a crack. When there are "cracks", the dough separates at the crack when you try and roll it out. It's fine if you can manage to keep the separated areas at the edges that can be covered with the top crust, otherwise you look like a failure. Or not you, but me. I get paranoid about overworking the dough so I stop handling it after a while.

Here is the pie with the filling. The dough was pretty easy to work with and tasted really good. I eat the pie scraps because what else am I going to do with them, so I can tell you firsthand that the raw dough was delicious. I did have one concern...

My concern was the rather large and conspicuous pieces of butter. I know Cassie said she had a mixture of fine, medium, and large chunks, though I wondered if someone it would melt and ruin the shape of the crust. I didn't really have to worry, though, because there wasn't much shrinkage except that the crust still lost it's crimp after baking.

I cut a star on top because I'm patriotic like that.

May I present you with a beautifully baked pie? I liked the even golden-browning and that the crust was decently thick and mildly flaky.

UNFORTUNATELY, I say in all caps, I seem to have this issue with the bottom crust not baking up and coming out like some saggy skin flap. Seriously. I don't really know what I'm doing here because I bake it in the bottom third of the oven, and on a baking sheet (which some pro baker said helps the bottom crust to brown). The only thing I can think of is that it needed longer time, or that the filling was too juicy.

As for the filling, it was lacking in flavor. Which is odd because it tasted good before I put it in the pie to bake, though maybe it needs to be overly good before being baked so it ends up as just good when it's finished. At least it looks pretty.

key lime pie for mother's day

One of my mom's favorite dessert is a key lime pie, so it was the obvious choice (that I almost forgot about) to make for Mother's Day. She has this really simple recipe that uses just egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice and zest, and a meringue topping. We vary between the meringue topping and a simple whipped cream topping, though this time I made the meringue with less sugar and folded it into the filling for an airier consistency. The recipe has you whip one egg white and fold it into the filling anyway, so I figured adding the entire meringue might give the pie a new twist.

By far the worst part is juicing all the tiny little key limes. I'm sure there was an easier way than using the juicer I use for lemons and more sanely sized limes, but of course I wouldn't have used the easier way. If I ever have kids and need to punish them, forget the corner, time out, or soap in mouth, I'll simply sentence them to juicing an entire bag of key limes.

For the crust, I typically go for a shortbread cookie crust over a pastry or graham cracker crust. Actually, making a crust using homemade graham cracker crust would be excellent. But this time I chose the incredibly simple no-roll pie crust from Joy the Baker. Her technique is to grate frozen butter and add it, along with a bit of softened cream cheese, to the flour mixture (which includes salt, sugar, and a little baking powder).

You then mix together oil and cold milk and toss it in the flour-butter mixture until cohesive clumps of dough comes together.

After that, you press the dough into the pie dish, freeze it, then bake.

When she says this is the simplest pie crust ever, it really is! My problem with pie crusts is that, no matter how carefully I try not to overwork the dough, the crust shrinks down. This happens with par-baking the crust, or using it straight. The beautiful crimp loses its design, and I get sad. Well, there was no worries about crimping here, and after blind baking the crust it didn't noticeably shrink a bit. The texture wasn't as flaky as regular pie crust, but it was light and had a bit of a soft shortbread consistency.

After the pie crust cooled a bit, I made the meringue and folded it into the filling.

After a sprinkling of sugar, I put the pie in the oven to bake for 15 minutes. The recipe says to bake to brown the meringue, though I figure it helps the filling as well so I kept the time at 15 minutes, or until the filling jiggled a bit but was firm to the touch.

The end result was a beautifully puffed filling with a sugary crust on top. The swirls added a decorative touch, too. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of refrigerating the pie after it cooled, which caused the crust to become soft and the filling to weep, so possibly it wasn't entirely cooled before I stuck it in the fridge. I'm not sure if it needed to be chilled at all, really.

Look at this freaky cow. How Elsie the cow with a ring of daisies around her neck can be trusted by millions of Americans for years, I'm not sure.

The pie came out just as good as always, though we decided not to add the meringue to the filling next time. We like the richness that seemed to be missing this time around, though the flavor was still there. I would, however, use this method to make mini tarts since the puffy filling would make them look really pretty.

Did you guys bake anything special for Mother's Day?

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Print this recipe

key lime pie
Recipe from an old Parade Magazine clipping

ingredients ~
4 large eggs, separated (reserve 3 egg whites for meringue)
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lime juice
2-3 teaspoons grated lime peel
Few drops green food coloring
1 baked 9-inch pastry shell (I used the Easy No-Roll Pie Crust)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar (or 2 tablespoons if mixing the meringue into the filling), plus additional sugar for sprinkling

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat egg yolks; stir in milk, lime juice, peel and food coloring. Beat one egg white until stiff; fold into milk mixture. Pour into pastry shell.


2. Beat reserved egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy; gradually add sugar, beating until stiff but not dry. Spread meringue on top of pie, sealing carefully to edge of shell. Sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until meringue is golden brown. Cool. Chill before serving.

apple cherry pie

Everyone loves pie. It's not an option to hate it, and if you do hate it I don't want to hear it. Actually, I have a love-hate relationship with pie, but only because I haven't got a legit grasp on making it. They turn out alright and flavorful, yet there's always something lacking, like a soggy bottom crust (who wants to hear that their bottom is saggy, let alone eat a saggy bottom crust on a pie?), or the crimping loses shape (like when you decide to curl your hair or something, only to have it fall flat upon leaving the bathroom) or the dough shrinks. I used to be afraid of cakes, but Barney taught me that all the things that used to bother me really aren't so scary at all.

Sorry.

I just started baking and decorating cakes until I became semi-confident in my ability to create a purposely level and straight-sided cake. I still hold my breath, waiting to see if the cake will actually come out of the pan or be stuck and flung across the room in rage.

This is Martha's mile-high apple pie, with the remaining frozen cherries leftover from the Christmas pie. While the ratio was favoring the apples, the cherry flavor came through more than I expected. I added a bit more sugar and flour to compensate for the excess liquid once the cherries thawed, and I added cardamom, cinnamon, and freshly grated nutmeg.

Usually you might encounter the gapping crust issue with apple pies, where the apples cook down and the crust stays up. Here, there are so many apples that when the pie cools, it's pretty flush with the top crust. Then again, you could partially cook the filling and use less apples, though it's not as impressive when you slice into it as this is because there's like 5 inches of apples per slice. There's about 5 pounds of apples. In this pie. That's a lot of peeling, coring, and slicing, not to scare you away or anything. If you have any frozen fruit besides strawberries, throw them in in place of some apples.

So pretty, the crimping. I think I will start a new saying, "You're crimping my style." Except it'll be a good thing.

Another issue I have with pies is that the filling never sets up and it ruins the slice. Using this recipe, however, and letting it rest overnight before slicing (you might say this is a test of will-power, but I really just want to be done with the thing and can't wait for it to be out of my sight) produces an upstanding slice of pie.

And thus concludes the apple pie. I feel I'm getting closer to producing a crust I don't find fault with in both taste and look, and I'm getting closer to just churning pies out without much production. WATCH OUT, I'M BAKING PIE. DO NOT ENTER. Yeah, that's fun. Here's your damn pie.

"Isn't this the one you wept into?"

"It's salty sweetness, enjoy it."

So yeah, I'm much more confident in rolling the crust out and all that, and overall it's more fun to make than when the holidays come up and I haven't made a pie since a specific time in history I will not mention by name.

Expect to see more pie.

baking Chocolate Cream Pie with Mom

My mom and I decided to bake a chocolate cream pie this weekend, during which we discovered how best to make a crumb crust. It turned out as more of a crumb shortbread crust that was really delicious. It started out by crushing some coconut cookies and mixing with melted butter, sans sugar since we didn't want it too sweet. Well, it completely collapsed in the oven after we baked it, so Mom dumped it back in a bowl, mixed in the sugar we previously left out, and I added some flour. We could tell right away that we wouldn't have a problem with the crust this time.

The custard came together really well, though it took a bit of whisking to completely emulsify the chocolate into the milk mixture once it started thickening. In the recipe we used, the chocolate is added with all the ingredients instead of being melted separately and whisked in. It's easier, though remember to really whisk the mixture together.

Very delicious. The chocolate pudding was rich and creamy and very chocolaty. Seriously, this is a 1 slice-per-sitting type of dessert! My mom and I were discussing how this even was invented since it's practically pudding in a crust, as she noted. And yes, it is, but everyone is impressed by pie.

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chocolate cream pie with a shortbread crust

I will list directions and ingredients for the crust we used, and the link to the chocolate cream pie recipe.

ingredients ~
2 cups cookie crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
7 tablespoons melted butter
Chocolate cream pie

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Mix together cookie crumbs, sugar, and flour. Pour in butter and stir until evenly incorporated. Press crust into a lightly greased 9-inch pie pan, evenly along the bottom and up the sides. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden. Let cool while preparing chocolate custard.

a few Christmas eats

On Christmas Eve we always open the stockings and have a few treats. Those were the ice cream cookies and peppermint and pomegranate bark. While the peppermint had a cooling flavor, the pomegranate tasted refreshing and altogether they both were a great addition. Next time, we've decided on adding crushed peppermint pieces mixed in the Rice Krispie-melted white chocolate mixture for even more flavor.

On a side note, Baker's Chocolate white chocolate is not white.

And here's the moment we've all been waiting for, the moment I really couldn't wait for, the panettone! I'd rate this recipe a 10 for ease of execution and producing a really good loaf that anyone can make. For this recipe, the flavor, texture, and moistness was nice.
The main difference, and why I'd rate it a 7 overall is that I felt that while the flavor and texture were good, it wasn't like the other one. It's really more of a preference, I suppose, but The Bread Book panettone tasted a little more buttery and a tad bit sweeter. I also should have macerated the dried fruit in heated orange juice before mixing them in, though thanks to the moistness of the dough they didn't come out dry at all. I cut the recipe in half and I also added a few more tablespoons of flour, and if I made this recipe again I wouldn't decrease the flavorings (lemon extract, vanilla -- I might decrease the vanilla, and lemon zest). Also, I'd add a bit of sugar on top of the honey. This recipe didn't produce as large as a loaf as The Bread Book's, but it was fine. Since I don't have the book on hand I can't compare total flour amounts and such to see if theirs had more or not, or if the other ingredients were increased. All I know is that it wasn't as slack of a dough.
The baking time was a bit different for me since I didn't bake the amount of dough the recipe said to. The full recipe yields 3 loaves; I halved it, like I said, and baked all of it in a large, greased coffee can. After the given baking time passed, I inserted an instant-read thermometer and it registered nowhere near 220° (which I think is the temperature cooked bread is supposed to be?) and came out with raw dough. I covered it with foil and let it bake about 20 minutes more before I lowered the temperature to 325° and went on a 1-mile run with my brother. Maybe I slightly overcooked it, but when I stuck the thermometer back it it read 200° so I took it out and let it cool in the can a while before I unmolded it.

For anyone new to the pannetone and is looking for a recipe to get them started, check out the recipe on the Artisan Bread in Five website.

Panettone and mini quiches for breakfast, along with hot spiced cider that is not pictured. I love cider, and multiple cups were consumed throughout the opening of gifts and dinner preparations.

All pies where made on Christmas Eve, I should mention. I had to fight for the pecan pie since I've never made one before and I had to convince a certain someone that I knew what I was doing although I've never done it before. This recipe came from Em over at Sugar Plum. My only change was to add brown sugar in place of granulated sugar as she did in a previous pecan pie recipe of hers. It really lives up to the title of "ultimate pecan pie". Brown butter enhances the flavors and it wasn't toothachingly sweet. I decided to use up some leftover pomegranate arils from the bark, though I should have added those closer to the end of baking time.

The recipe for cherry pie came from Baker's Illustrated cookbook. Unfortunately, I needed to add more cornstarch since I used frozen cherries, otherwise the flavor was really good.

I passed first test at pecan pie, I was told!

While I like this recipe for pie dough, I feel that I'm either a) looking for a different result, or b) I just need to devote as much time to pies as I have given to cakes. Quite possibly you can't expect 5-star results when the only time you really bake pies is during the holidays with maybe 1-2 times extra during the other 10 months.

The main course consisted of things I took pictures of that have not made it to my hard drive and thus have not been uploaded. They never will be. So here you see the meat, the pork loin stuffed with prunes. Don't let the sound of that turn you off, it really is delicious. The combination of whiskey- (it was supposed to be bourbon; we have this discussion on "all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey can be bourbon" the last year we made this, too) macerated prunes, the juices released from the sage-rubbed pork loin, the prune soaking liquid, the broth (holy cow, we almost ran out of broth so Mom quickly browned some seasoned turkey pieces, added a can of chicken broth and let it cook with garlic, onions, carrots, and celery and I just sat there slurping it up) all add up to equal parts deliciousness. Last year, I used leftover prunes (the ones that weren't used) in a different chicken dish and it was incredible. My mom saw the recipe last year, coming from Lidia Bastianich, and we felt it was so great that it needed to reappear on the dinner table. It cooks much quicker than a turkey, too, and much of the prep can be done ahead of time.

While Christmas concluded with unwrapped gifts and many eats consumed, Christmas stays with us by the reminder of the real reason we celebrate Christmas, the reason that helps us through times that are difficult because we are reminded to focus on what we will always have with us instead of what we weren't able to do or get. A fitting end to day was seeing snow flakes falling at night.