Southern comfort

I'll go ahead and venture that aside from ice cream, pie is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. Put ice cream on a warm slice of pie and you'll be my friend for life. We all know, that pies are a bit of an undertaking and they're definitely not something I whip up on a regular basis, but finishing my first quarter of my doctorate program was absolutely such an occasion (confession: I made this pie before I finished my final exams. But we'll gloss over the procrastination aspect of this project and just call it a celebration).

I haven't made an apple pie in ages, and for good reason. It takes about a year to peel and slice all the apples, another seven or eight months to make the dough, chill it and roll it out to make it fit a pie pan, and a generally unreasonable amount of time to cool before you can dig in. With that said, this recipe may be worth the wait.

I have recently discovered bourbon - yes, I know - and it's probably the first liquor that I've ever actually wanted to savor the taste of. The good stuff is round, sweet and the perfect accompaniment to the tartness of apples and zing of cinnamon. I think that splashing some Maker's Mark into the mix added a depth of flavor that you can't get anywhere else - you don't taste "alcohol" but there's a little something extra that made me a lot of friends from this pie.

Note: I only made one recipe of pie crust and it was definitely not enough for me to roll out and make two complete pie crusts (hence the streusel topping). If you want to make the traditional second crust of the apple pie, make twice this crust recipe and roll out, cut and top the pie as you choose. Just make sure you crimp the two edges together and cut some holes in the top for steam if you're leaving it whole and not in strips!

Bourbon Apple Pie
Crust from Joy of Baking
Filling adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Crust
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces and chilled
1/4-1/2 C ice water

Directions: Blend flour, salt and sugar in a food processor. Add butter and process for about 15 seconds, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour 1/4 C of ice water in and process until the dough starts to hold together (you may need a little bit more). Don't overmix! Remove dough and dust with flour, then wrap with plastic and flatten into a disc. Chill for at least one hour before using.

Filling
6 medium-sized tart apples (I used Braeburn, Cortland and Golden Delicious)
1/3 C Kentucky bourbon (the good stuff!)
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
4 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Streusel topping
1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into chunks and chilled

Directions: Peel and slice all of the apples - I cut them into quarters, removed the core and then sliced the wedges into 1/4 inch thick pieces. In a large saucepan, mix together apples, bourbon, sugars, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cornstarch. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are fork-tender but not mushy (about 15-20 minutes). Uncover and cook for another 5 minutes until the liquid is glossy and a little thickened. Remove from heat, add lemon juice and let cool to room temperature (about 30 minutes).

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove dough round from refrigerator and roll out on a floured surface to a little more than 1/4" thickness. Transfer to pie pan by folding round in half and moving it, or draping over your rolling pin. Pat dough gently down into sides and bottom of pan, and crimp edge.

Combine all ingredients for streusel in a food processor and pulse until the butter is in small pieces and the mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

Pour cooled apple mixture into pie pan and spread to fill it evenly. Sprinkle streusel mixture all over top of pie. Cut foil strips and use them to cover the edge of the crust (it will prevent burning of the edge). Bake for about 50 minutes, removing foil halfway through. The pie is done when the crust is golden brown and you can see some bubbling from the filling.


Now here comes the hard part: you have to let it cool for at least 1 hour before you eat. This gives the filling a chance to set - if you cut into it right away you will have cinnamon apple soup!

I am thankful for...

... the love of my friends and family, a roof over my head, the amazing experiences of the last 3 years in college... and butter, flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla.... You get the idea. I was very excited to head home for Thanksgiving, and I wanted to make sure my contributions to the holiday feast were extra special. I don't get a chance to make big desserts because I'm only serving a few people, but this was the perfect opportunity to try something fun.


I have been working at Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego for about 3 months now, and I am more in love with it now than I was when I was only a frequent customer ;) Long story short, I have found my nirvana - and now it sends me a paycheck! One of the most delicious things I've ever eaten in my extensive experience is Extraordinary's Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding. It's an irresistible combination of crisp, buttery croissant, velvety melted chocolate and smooth custard that blends in every bite. Do I have your attention yet? Because of its popularity, Karen Krasne (the owner of Extraordinary Desserts) published it in an article in the San Diego Reader. I jumped at the chance to replicate it at home for family and friends, and I think I did a pretty good job of recreating the magic. For the ultimate impact, warm up the bread pudding in the oven (or serve straight out of it) and serve with some fresh whipped cream and/or ice cream. 


A few notes: This recipe serves a LOT - feel free to cut down the recipe as long as you use smaller dishes in proportion. In terms of the chocolate, Karen Krasne swears by Valrhona 61 percent. However, Valrhona is probably the most expensive you could buy, so judge by your budget. Trader Joe's has fantastic dark chocolate Pound Plus bars, or you can use Scharffen Berger or Ghirardelli. Just make sure it's around 60% cacao. Also, the recipe calls for 10 croissants, but if you have large croissants don't use all 10. You want to make sure each of the croissant layers is not too thick - the top layer shouldn't be more than a couple of cubes thick (to avoid too much dry croissant on the top).


Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding
From Extraordinary Desserts (in the San Diego Reader)
4 C heavy cream

• ¾ C lowfat milk
• 1 whole vanilla bean or 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 12 egg yolks (you can freeze egg whites for use later - like in French macarons!)
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 
  
• 10 medium/large croissants, cut into 2˝ pieces
• 2 C coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate 
• 
  

Directions: To make the crème brûlée custard, heat cream, milk, and vanilla in a medium saucepan to almost — but not quite — a boil. In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks with granulated sugar until smooth. Carefully stir the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture and then whisk until smooth. Strain the mixture by pouring it through a strainer lined with cheesecloth into a separate bowl. Let cool.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Place one and a half cups of the crème brûlée mixture in the bottom of a heavy oval baking dish. Layer the croissant pieces on top of the crème brûlée mixture. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate on top of the croissant pieces. Add another layer of croissant pieces followed by one cup crème brûlée mixture poured on top. Place the remaining croissant pieces on top and cover with the remaining crème brûlée. Bake for 50 minutes. Serve hot or warm.  








And now, on to the PIE! Call me old-fashioned, but I don't think it's Thanksgiving without at least one pie. While I wanted to honor the timeless pumpkin tradition, I found a recipe that seemed to be a great compromise between creativity and the old stand-by. This apple butter pumpkin pie with streusel topping is a fantastic melding of two fall flavors, without tasting too much like one or the other. It's not dramatically different from the traditional recipe but I liked that there was a subtle variation in taste added by the apple butter. Also, the butter makes the filling incredibly creamy (much more than with pumpkin alone) and the center just melts in your mouth. The crisp crust and crunchy streusel topping with pecans makes an excellent contrast to the filling - an essential element to any great pie!


A note about the streusel: I used about 1/3 of the recipe for the topping because I didn't want to have a super thick layer of sugar on top. This part is up to you based on your personal taste!




Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie 
with Pecan Streusel Topping
From Tidy Mom


1 uncooked pie crust (I like the Pillsbury sold rolled up and frozen - you thaw it and press it into your own pie pan)


Filling:
1 C canned pumpkin
1 C apple butter
1/4 C packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 C evaporated milk


Topping:
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 C flour
1/2 C packed dark brown sugar
1/2 C chopped pecans

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Take frozen pie dough out to thaw for about 15 minutes so it doesn't crack when you unroll it. Combine ingredients for filling in a large bowl in the order given. Press pie dough into 8' pie pan, and fold over extra on the edges to crimp into the edge of the crust. Place foil on top of the dough and add ceramic pie weights or beans (to keep the crust from bubbling). Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove and let cool. Meanwhile, make the streusel topping. Combine flour and sugar, then cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter or two forks. Stir in chopped pecans and set aside.

Pour filling into the cooled pie crust and bake for about 35 minutes. Add streusel topping and baking for an additional 15-20 minutes. If the edge of the crust starts getting too brown, make a foil shield around the edge during the last part of baking! Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 1 hour.