Bakin-n-Bacon

Just cobble it together

Three days ago I bought some beautiful West Virginia peaches with the intention of making peach cobbler. Last night I started to make it, but some of the peaches had already rotted. They were firm two days earlier! It's amazing how quickly fresh fruit will go downhill.

Since I didn't have enough peaches, I supplemented the cobbler with frozen raspberries. I gave my husband the choice of peach/raspberry or peach/blueberry cobbler, and he chose apple. (Just like a husband to do that.) However, since they take a lot longer to bake than the peaches it wouldn't work (which is why I didn't offer it as a choice. Plus, the apples were all the way down in the basement fridge. Gosh I'm lazy.). I used his second choice, raspberries.

At right is what the peach/raspberry mixture looked like before going into the oven. Cook's Illustrated recommends macerating the peaches with sugar in a colander set over a bowl and reserving only some of the juice that drains out so it doesn't get too runny. They also recommend pre-baking the peaches, using the reserved juice mixed with cornstarch and lemon juice, until bubbly before adding the biscuit topping. I skipped the macerating step because I didn't have enough peaches to worry about extra liquid. I threw a generous handful of raspberries in with the peaches and added a little extra sugar to offset the tartness of the raspberries. When I attempted to gently sprinkle on a bit of cornstarch from my huge Sam's Club container, WHAM, a big blob fell out. That is what happens when you are in too much of a hurry to use a measuring spoon! If nothing else in this blog, I can serve as a bad example. I scraped out as much extra cornstarch as I could, but it was a very, very thick cobbler.

The peach/berry mixture went into a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, until it bubbled on the edges. While the fruits were baking, I whizzed up the biscuit topping in the food processor. Normally I don't like a biscuit topping (I'm more of a crisp girl than a cobbler girl), but the CI recipe is really good. It's sweet with a little tang from plain yogurt. I daubed on the biscuit topping and sprinkled some turbinado sugar over the top for a nice sparkly touch.

One thing not in the CI recipe that I added was the sour cream base you see in the top photo. I mixed sour cream with just a bit of superfine sugar (because the cobbler was not very sweet - otherwise I would just use straight sour cream), and put a dollop of it in each bowl before topping with the warm cobbler. Yummm...

My name is Pi

And I have only a stub of a tail. Some mean ol' dog bited it off. I don't sit still enough to get a photo of me without it being blurry, unless of course I'm at my food dish...

I think I like it here. Except for all those other cats. I hiss and growl at them to show them who's boss. Me. Soon I will have dominion over them all.

More Cat News...

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all; gloom, despair, and agony on me. If you get that reference from Hee Haw, my condolences. I was forced to watch Hee Haw as a child but I'm sure a lot of therapy will help erase the scars.

We just "inherited" another cat, less than a week after losing one of our older cats. It's not been a good summer for us in the feline department. Our older cat had severe anemia, and she passed away before we could figure out the cause. It was unexpected and heartbreaking. Then, about 4 days after she died, an older kitten (about 8 months) showed up on our porch one afternoon. We started feeding her since she was very skinny, and hoped to find her home. No such luck for us, and she decided she liked us better than wherever she was before. We decided she could be an "outside" cat, but last night the neighbor's boxer almost got hold of her. In fact, he had her in his mouth until I screamed at him (quite hysterically I might add), and he dropped her. She ran off but came back this morning so I took her to the vet for tests and shots, hoping they would try to find a home for her.

Well, our streak of bad feline luck is continuing. The vet won't take Pi, as she has been named, since she has an abscess near her rectum, probably an injury incurred while running away from another cat or dog. Since half her tail is missing too, it may have been a large animal that tried to eat/kill her. Now we have to wait two weeks to see if it will heal with antibiotics, if it will require surgery, or if it can't be fixed.

Whatever it is I did to offend Ceiling Cat, I'm sorry. Please forgive me so we can have some healthy cats!

Easy as Pie (no, really!)

I wonder where the sayings "easy as pie" and "a piece of cake" originated, because both can be downright persnickety - crusts can tear or get tough and shrink, cakes can be dense and heavy. However, there are some pies and cakes that aren't difficult but taste oh so good. Coconut cream pie is one of my favorites because it is both easy and delicious.

Being a devotee of Cook's Illustrated (aka CI), naturally I began by using their recipe. It's pretty darn good, but they use an animal cracker crust whereas I prefer the traditional graham cracker crust. Also, they use all egg yolks, which is fine, but often I don't want to have a bunch of whites sitting around going bad. Therefore I came up with my own graham cracker crumb crust, whole egg recipe. I even use a little artificial (gasp!) coconut extract in mine - just a wee bit, though, or it ends up tasting like suntan lotion.

I recently read a horror story about a blogger who posted a modified Cook's Illustrated recipe (indicating that it was modified), only to be asked by CI to remove it, allegedly in a not very pleasant way. Therefore, I am taking a chance posting my "inspired by CI" recipe. I hope they don't take offense - I offer this as an alternative version, not a superior one. Their recipe is great and I encourage you to try it, and buy lots of their books and magazines. (In other words, please don't castigate me, Cook's!)

Now on to the pie. I finally remembered  to weigh the graham cracker crumbs so I would know how much 1 1/2 cups weighed. The scale indicates 4.75, but it is actually closer to 5 ounces - I shorted the crumbs a tad so I could get three crusts out of one box. Now I know the weight and I don't have to measure ever again!

I found an amusing sign on the box of crumbs - it says "New Formula" in the yellow star on the lower left hand corner. I figured the formula was "grind up graham crackers" but I suppose I could be wrong. Yeah, they are probably referring to the cracker recipe itself, but I found it amusing nonetheless.

An amusing CI sidenote - in the description about developing their Key Lime Pie (another excellent pie I highly recommend), the author writes about how he tried iterations of the crust, adding more and less sugar and more and less butter to get the "perfect" graham cracker crumb recipe. The funny part is that it's almost the same as the recipe on the box. In fact, CI's recipe differs only by 1 tablespoon in the sugar part. Yet the author went on and on about how the "classic" recipe was no good. Whatever.

Now that I had my crumbs weighed, I decided to add some unsweetened coconut to the crumbs to boost the coconut flavor. I just eyeballed it, but it was close to 2 tablespoons. I pressed the crust into a deep dish pie pan - that way I don't have to worry about the edges. Many people use a glass or whatnot to press in the crust - I use my fingers; it's easier for me. I baked the crust for about 10 minutes, until it was golden. I removed it from my toaster oven (which makes absolutely the best pies!), and set it aside to cool while I cooked the custard filling.

I don't have any photos of the filling, but it's quite simple. Coconut milk, unsweetened shredded coconut, milk, sugar and a dash of salt are brought to a simmer. This liquid is tempered into a mixture of eggs and cornstarch; it's all poured back into the pan and brought to a boil. After it boils to set the starch, flavoring and butter is stirred into the custard. Of course, I resorted to my favorite trick for adding flavor - booze! I added rum and lime juice in addition to vanilla and my teeny amount of coconut extract. One has to exercise restraint, however - too much liquor will overwhelm a custard. I use about 1 tablespoon per 2 cups of custard; any more than that and it will just be boozy.

Regarding the coconut - the recipe calls for unsweetened, shredded coconut. This is because unsweetened coconut has more coconut flavor, and shredded is preferred over flakes so you don't have awkward long strands of coconut sticking in your teeth. Unsweetened shredded coconut can usually be found in health food stores/sections, but if all you can find is flaked unsweetened coconut, whirl it around in your food processor for 20-30 seconds to make the pieces smaller. If you can't find unsweetened coconut, use sweetened coconut but cut back a couple of tablespoons on the sugar in the custard.

Once the custard has boiled, it is poured into the crust and plastic wrap is placed directly on the surface so the pie doesn't form a skin (yuck!). The pie is chilled until firm and cold, then sweetened whipped cream is slathered on top. 

The most difficult part is waiting for the pie to chill. Of course, the remnants on the pan and spatula are available for taste testing while you wait.

Coconut Cream Pie

Crust:
Scant 1 1/2 cups (4.75 ounces) graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut

Filling:
1 can (14 oz) coconut milk (use the regular, not the light - and DON'T use Cream of Coconut)
1 cup milk (preferably whole milk)
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 whole eggs
4 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons rum, brandy, or whatever suits your fancy (optional)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Rose's lime juice or juice from a lime half (optional)
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

Melt the butter in a microwaveable bowl. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and coconut. Press the mixture into a large pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool while preparing the filling.

Stir together coconut milk, milk, coconut and sugar in a large saucepan. Bring to a bare simmer (190 degrees) over medium heat. While milk mixture is heating, in a large heatproof bowl whisk together eggs and cornstarch until smooth. Slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly. Repeat until you have stirred in 2 cups of the mixture. Whisk egg mixture back into remaining milk mixture, again stirring constantly. Bring to a boil (mixture will make big plops when stirring is stopped), whisking nearly constantly.

When mixture reaches a boil and is very thick, remove from heat and stir in butter, optional liquor, vanilla and coconut extract. Scrape into prepared crust and immediately put a sheet of plastic wrap or waxed paper on top of the custard, making sure it is in direct contact. Cool for 10-15 minutes on the counter, then refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours. Serve with sweetened whipped cream.