All-in-One

There are times when you want it all at once.

Like that sundae at the diner that time. Remember that? You asked for ice cream, nuts, chocolate, caramel sauce, maraschino cherries...and sprinkles. Multicolored and chocolate. Oh, and slivered almonds too! Let's not think about the stomach ache that followed. Aftermaths don't matter.

Sometimes, you can't have it all. You can't have soup and an omelet in one dish--although technically you could try, but the soggy result might not delight you like a sundae would. But what about Thanksgiving? You know, the feast where you eat way too much, and all you're longing for might be a light dessert. I'm of the opinion that Thanksgiving is the perfect occasion to do an all-in-one dessert.

Coincidentally, is anyone tired of reading about Thanksgiving? I'm suspecting some of you saw the name of the holiday and thought of skipping to the next blog. Don't do that! You'll be missing the greatest all-in-one of history! Alright, maybe not, but now that everyone is done planning Thanksgiving, you can actually enjoy the recipes without the stress of having to plan anything. And this just might be a recipe worth enjoying...

Let's do this meditation-style: picture yourself in a dense forest, deep in the heart of Vermont, where maple syrup is like liquid gold. Got it? Alright. Now teleport yourself to the South, surrounded by mounds of pecan. Tasty, right? Now try to be in both places at once, covered in a flaky pie crust and topped with dark chocolate chunks (this is you we're talking about).

Surprise! You've just turned into a chocolate maple pecan pie. You're an all-in-one dessert, blending the creaminess of maple custard with the crunch of pecans and the depth of chocolate. Don't forget the crust, in perfect harmony with the rest.

Ready to be eaten?

Dark Chocolate Maple Pecan Pie

serves 6 to 8

for crust (adapted from America's Test Kitchen):
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 TB (or 1/2 c.) butter, softened
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 TB sugar
1/4 TS salt

for filling:

3 eggs

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/3 c. raw sugar
1/2 TS salt

1 c. maple syrup

1 1/2 c. toasted pecan halves

Make crust: in a food processor, process butter and cream cheese until smooth and combined. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add dry ingredients and pulse until a coarse meal forms. Next, process until a ball forms.

Place dough on a floured surface and pat down, forming a disk. Place in a buttered and floured pie pan and press dough out using the heel of your hand. Press dough along the sides of the pie plate and crimp edges.

Cover and refrigerate pie crust at least one hour before using.

When ready to use, preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Prick bottom of the pie with a fork and cover with foil and pie weights. Bake until crust looks "dry", about 35 to 40 minutes.

Make pie filling: melt butter in a medium heatproof bowl. Add sugar and salt and beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, and maple syrup. Reheat over a pan of simmering water until warm to the touch. Stir in pecans.

Prepare pie: Preheat oven to 275°F / 135°C (if you turned it off earlier). Scatter chopped chocolate on the bottom of pie crust (still warm is best). Pour filling on top. Bake 50 minutes or until filling is just set.

Cool pie in pan and refrigerate. Serve at room temperature, with a side of vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Lemon-not-Key-Lime Pie

Sometimes, it doesn't get better than introducing friends in France to a traditional American dessert. My maple pecan and pumpkin pies have always been a success, with everyone--myself definitely inclued--coming back for thirds. 

In my quest to show just how tasty American classics can be, my mind drifted to a summery pie. Fresh, yet creamy, key lime pie is a true traditional dessert. France is the country of tarts, and deep dish pies are something relatively unknown unless you're thinking of a thick, savory slice of quiche. Add the fact that a lot of pies are made with sweetened condensed milk, and you'll get the eyebrow raise. If you've ever spent some time in France (or with my Maman, the eyebrow champ), you've undoubtedly noticed just how expressive an eyebrow can be. Both can be raised when skepticism arises, but more drama comes from a single eyebrow lift. Apparently, I do this without even realizing it, even when I'm filled with trust and acceptance. Must be a hereditary thing.

Back to the pie: sweetened condensed milk, in France, rings a bell for many as "that sweet stuff in the Nestlé tube I used to scarf down when I was a kid". Few people this side of the ocean know sweetened condensed milk is the key to great fudge, and can even be a key component in Asian shaved ice desserts. 

So, there I was, pretty set on making a key lime pie. Then, it hit me: there are no key limes here. Not a problem, I thought. I'll just use normal limes. However, limes at the grocery store here are absolutely ridiculous both in price and in juice yield...ridiculous in a bad way. Not wanting to go all the way to the 13th to buy non-untreated (read, probably covered in chemical) limes from Tang Freres even though they are surprisingly juicy, I simply decided to use lemons.

I think I'm well on my way to trying out every single variation on a lemon pie / tart / bar that exist sin both countries, and I've got to say I've been pretty satisfied so far. Replacing the key limes with lemons yields a perfectly creamy, flavorful pie that I would make again anytime. But watch out: maybe you shouldn't tell anyone about the sweetened condensed milk, because then they will realize how easy this pie is to make. And then, nothing would be able to justify that raised eyebrow--well, unless you're French. In that case, it's just part of your heritage.

Lemon Pie

serves 6 to 8

Graham Cracker Crust
8 whole graham cracker sheets, finely crushed
5 TB butter, melted and cooled
2 TB sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C.

Mix all ingredients together in a food processor. Press against a buttered pie pan with your fingers or a measuring cup. Bake approximately 15 minutes until golden and fragrant. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare lemon filling.

Lemon Filling
4 egg yolks
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
zest of 2untreated lemons (approximately 4 TS)

In a medium bowl, whisk yolks and zest together. Add condensed milk and juice and stir to combine. Set aside for 30 minutes to let mixture thicken.

Pour mixture on top of pie crust and bake approximately 15 minutes until filling center still jiggles slightly. Remove from oven and set on a rack to cool for one hour. Refrigerate overnight if possible before serving.

Less Is More : Learning from an ancestor

"Less is more" is one of those quotes that everybody seems to know. It's often attributed to the architect Mies van der Rohe and associated with the Bauhaus movement. Well, guess what? He wasn't the first to popularize the saying.

In fact, it first appeared in Robert Browning's poem Andrea del Sarto in 1855--and it turns out Robert Browning (not as famous as his wife though, Elizabeth Barrett Browning) is my great-great-great-uncle, or something along those lines.

Anyway, I forgot to take a cue from my ancestor when I decided that a pumpkin pecan pie sounded good. Actually, it still sounds good if I say it again, but I should have thought about it twice. It's a common mistake--when you love two things, why not mix them up in a single dish? I guess that's how you can explain some people like to dip their fries in ice cream. From what I've heard--from those that enjoy it, obviously--it's a pretty tasty combination. In my mind, however, it just spells trouble. But pumpkin and pecans, you'll say, seem to complement each other quite logically. Plus, I love pumpkin pie, and I love pecan pie. So I should "love squared" pumpkin pecan pie.

It started out well--the recipe, again from allrecipes, had a ton of positive reviews--and all the ingredients were appetizing. I made my new favorite sweet dough and poured the pumpkin filling into my new American-sized pie dish. I then spooned the pecan filling on top, and baked everything until it was ready. My friends couldn't wait for it to cool, so my first bites were of a warm pumpkin-pecan pie, which just might explain why it seemed rather écoeurant to me.

Basically, I think I would rather have a small slice of pumpkin pie and a small slice of pecan pie than a large slice of this combination of both. (Actually, I would rather have a large slice of both.) It doesn't really add anything positive to mix them up.

Keeping it simple seems to be a pretty good idea in baking, even though when I see a recipe that piles ingredients one on top of another--like a seven-layer magic bar--the sugar-crazy child in me feels like jumping up and down. When it comes to pies, however, less really is more.

From now on, I'll stick to the pie basics. Then I can keep thinking "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."

Robert and Elizabeth Browning, reconciled in their great-great-great-niece's kitchen.

Pumpkin Pecan Pie
adapted from allrecipes.com makes one 9-in. deep dish pie

Pâte Sablée

1 cup pumpkin purée
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1 TS pumpkin pie spice
1/2 TS cinnamon

1/2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 TB butter, melted
1/2 TS vanilla extract
1 cup pecan halves

Make pie dough and press it into pan. Freeze for at least 30 minutes before baking.

Bake dough, covered with foil and with pie weights, for 20-25 minutes at 375°F.

Mix pumpkin, sugar, egg, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon in a medium bowl and stir well. Spread on bottom of pie shell.

Combine maple syrup, eggs, sugar, butter, pecans and vanilla extract in a medium bowl. Spoon over the top of the pumpkin filling.

Bake at 350°F / 180°C for 50 minutes - 1 hour until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely (at least one hour) before serving.

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

I'm on a lifelong quest to bake all of the Great American Desserts, or G.A.Ds as I've decided to call them. G.A.Ds are often quite unknown in France, with a few exceptions--most everyone in Paris knows / has tasted cheesecake and carrot cake. However, when I mention Mississippi Mud Pie, I get strange looks: "What is mud?"

And when I explain that mud is boue, "Why would you call a cake mud???" 

They understood after I baked one a few days ago. 

My Mississippi Mud Pie is the result of a two-month-long process involving having my maman bring a chocolate pie crust from Illinois, and deciding who to invite to my exclusive Mud Pie-tasting session (I kid).

Armed with a Keebler's chocolate pie crust, I began my pie-making afternoon. I was surprised by how easy it was to make, and how few ingredients it called for. In 10 minutes, the pie was in the oven and we sat nearby--not so hard when you're in a studio apartment--and waited for it to be ready.

When the pie was out of the oven and had spent an hour in the fridge, I was anxious to see how it had turned out, especially since I substituted honey for the corn syrup called for in the recipe. After making some quick whipped cream, I was ready to serve the pie: it was still warm, because I just couldn't wait for it to cool completely. The first bite was a chocolaty-creamy explosion of not-so-cooked fudge, in other words: pretty amazing. 

My taster was surprised when he had his first taste, because he was expecting something really original--"Mississippi Mud Pie" isn't such a common dessert name, especially here. However, his first remark was that it was like a huge fondant au chocolat with a whipped cream topping, and the same comment came up the next day when I brought the leftovers to work.

You heard it, the leftovers: we didn't eat the whole pie. In fact, we "only" ate half , and my coworkers seemed pretty happy about that. 

Mississippi Mud Pie

1 chocolate pie crust (store-bought or homemade)
6 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

1/2 c. butter

4 eggs

1 c. sugar

3 tbsp. light corn syrup (I used honey)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. crème entière

1/4 c. confectioner's sugar

Directions

- Preheat oven to 325°F / 175°C.

- Melt butter with chocolate

- Using a mixer on high, beat eggs, sugar, corn syrup, and salt until thick (about 3 minutes). Fold butter/chocolate mixture into egg mixture, pour into pie shell. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until top forms a crust and filling is set.

- Transfer to a wire rack, then refrigerate until chilled.

- Make whipped cream: beat cream with sugar until peaks form. Top pie with whipped cream and chocolate shavings (optional)

Next G.A.D. : New York-style cheesecake!

What's your favorite Great American Dessert?