November 17, 2015

Project Pie: Pear Cranberry Pie

November 17, 2015/ Katie Taylor

I was pretty worried as I walked out of the house with the sticky pie plate, setting it gingerly on a towel in the passenger seat. The pie looked okay, but I could see whole cranberries poking through the top, and I was concerned they hadn't squished down and mixed with the pears while it cooked. What if they weren't sweet? What if the whole thing tasted like crap, and here I was bringing it to a big Friendsgiving potluck?

I was first at the dessert table after I'd finished my meal, anxious to test a piece out before anyone else got to it. I had a notion that if it wasn't any good, I'd just grab the pie plate and walk it out to my car before anyone else had a chance to eat any.

I cut myself a slice and took a bite.

You guys.

It's hard to pick favorites among the 18 pies I've made so far. Can I really compare the flavors of something I ate this weekend to something I ate six months ago?

Probably not, but even so, this pie is my favorite.

The distinct sweetness of the pears, thinly sliced and perfectly soft, combined with the slightly tart pop of a cranberry, combined with the buttery, flaky crust? It's the closest to perfection I've come in the pie-making process.

It tastes like a cozy fall afternoon and a fresh spring day at the same time. I want to eat this pie forever and always.

Pear Cranberry Pie (with spelt crust)
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Crust:
2 1/2 cups white spelt flour (or sub all purpose)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup shortening, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon ice water
egg or milk + sugar for glaze

1. Quickly mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Break the shortening into large chunks and cut your butter (from the freezer) into small pieces. Add the butter and shortening to the flour mixture. Cut it into the dry ingredients by chopping vigorously with a pastry blender or cutting it with two knives. Work quickly so the butter does not melt. Make sure you are getting all the flour off the bottom of the bowl. Stop when the mixture has some pea-sized pieces and is mostly a consistency of dry, coarse crumbs, like cornmeal.
3. Drizzle the ice water over the top. Using the blade side of a rubber spatula, cut into the mixture until it is evenly moistened and small balls begin to form. If balls of dough stick together, you're done. If they don't, drizzle 1-2 more tablespoons of water over the top.
4. Press the dough together until it forms a ball. It should be rough, not smooth. Divide the dough in half and press each into a flat, round disk. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You can refrigerate for up to several days.

Cranberry Pear Filling:
5 barlett pears, peeled and sliced thinly
1 1/2 cups whole cranberries
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Combine all ingredients and let stand for 15 minutes.

Putting it together:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, beginning in the center and rolling out from all directions. Roll the dough about 3-4 inches wider than your pie pan.
3. Transfer the dough into your pie pan by rolling it loosely around your rolling pin and then unrolling it into the pie pan. Press the dough over the bottom and into the corners of your pan. Trim the edges of the dough, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang, and then tuck that overhang underneath itself. (If you're able to eat eggs, do an egg wash over the bottom crust to seal it from the pie filling.)
4. Put the bottom crust into the refrigerator (preferably for at least 30 minutes). Roll out the top crust in the same way, though a little smaller. Pour your filling into the bottom crust and top with the top crust. Cut steam vents in the middle. Crimp the rim with a fork or make a decorative edge.
5. Place the pie pan on a large baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 25-30 minutes or until bubbles juice through the vent.
7. Let cool completely on a rack (this step is important so that all the juices don't just flow out when you cut the first piece).

p.s. I can't even decide on a runner up in the sweet category. Maybe the blueberry pie?

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November 10, 2015

Project Pie: Apple Raspberry Pie (Vegan + Whole Wheat)

November 10, 2015/ Katie Taylor

After the struggle I've been having with my pie crusts lately, I decided to go back to the basics. Nothing fancy for this pie - just some fruit in a regular whole wheat crust.

But it seems that this weekend my brain was turned off while I was cooking. I burned an entire pan of granola because I thought Hey, it would be great to bake it along with the pie! and then totally didn't think about the fact that I normally bake granola at 250 degrees and pie at 375 degrees. And man is it disappointing to waste all those granola ingredients.

I thought that was the only kitchen snafu until I sat down to write this post and hopped back over to the pie crust recipe I was using from my old potato and zucchini pie post. There I saw the ingredient list, including 8 tablespoons of Earth Balance from the freezer. And my mind flashed to the half stick of Earth Balance I cut into little squares before dropping into my flour. 4 tablespoons, not 8. I'd been contemplating only making half the recipe and not having a top crust and then changed my mind but forgot to change the Earth Balance amount.

That's the mystery of baking, and especially pie crusts.

Everyone can talk about how precise you need to be with the ingredients, and then you can put in half of one of the most critical ones and end up with a pretty delicious crust. I looked back at what I said about the pie crust in that old post and realized I'd talked about how it was sticky and hard to work with, which I had totally forgotten. This time, with my Earth Balance mess-up, I had a not-sticky crust that I could roll out and put into my pie plate and that tastes pretty darn good. Maybe a little dry to work with, so I might play around with the proportion of Earth Balance, but I won't go back up to 8 tablespoons again. Obviously that's just too much for a whole wheat crust.

And I never would have known if I hadn't totally goofed.

I look at some people in my life and think things would be so much better for me if I could just be more like them - more organized, in control, disciplined. They seem to have it all together. And then something like this happens, where my frazzled brain leads to a discovery in the midst of a messy kitchen and a burning pan of granola - my accidental 4 tablespoons works better than the recipe's 8 tablespoons.

I guess I'll take the discoveries where I can find them and continue trying to accept that "having it all together" isn't always the best option.

Vegan + Whole Wheat Apple Raspberry Pie

Crust:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold Earth Balance (or other non-dairy butter)
1/2 cup shortening, room temperature
1/2 cup ice water

Apple Raspberry Filling:

5-6 apples (I used Macoun)
3 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (I used frozen)
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Peel and cut up the apples - I used a simple corer/slicer and then cut each slice into four chunks.
2. Put the apples (plus the raspberries, if frozen) into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 5-6 minutes.
3. Drain the liquid from the apples and add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until incorporated.

Putting it together:

1. Pour the apple raspberry mixture into your chilled pie crust.
2. Roll out your second chunk of dough until it's about 1/8 inch thick and use a sharp un-serrated knife to cut the dough into a chevron shape.
3. Place the chevrons onto your pie crust and crimp the edges.
4. Bake the pie at 375 degrees for 1 hour. If the edges start to brown or burn, use tin foil to cover them and continue cooking.
5. Serve warm.

p.s. Kind of like how messiness is connected to creativity, at least for me.

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October 20, 2015

Project Pie: Vegan Pumpkin Pie

October 20, 2015/ Katie Taylor

You're probably not surprised to learn that I am such a delight to be around that I rarely do anything that bothers my wife.

It's true. She is especially not bothered by the way I always choose to make a complex, brand new recipe right before we have guests coming for dinner and then freak out about whether it will be any good at all, while simultaneously freaking out about the inevitable mess I've made. Obviously, delightful. And she's not bothered by how I decide to throw something in the oven that needs to bake for, say, 30 minutes when we need to be walking out the door with it for a potluck in, say, 25 minutes. Again, delightful.

And, I mean, can you blame her? Who wouldn't love those things about me?

Sigh.

Luckily we didn't have to bring this pie to a potluck, and we weren't serving it to guests. (Though I did make us late for a dinner date because I forgot the pumpkins were in the oven, and we had to drive back and take them out and, you know, turn off the oven.)

But this step of my 24-pie journey has me thinking about how I like to keep things exciting in the kitchen. When I started Project Pie, I envisioned each pie in my future getting progressively more delicious, more beautiful, more restaurant/cover of a magazine-worthy. I imagined taking a bite of pie, my eyes lifting slightly before I shut them, my head bowing in a tiny prayer, my mouth chewing slowly before opening and saying in a hushed whisper, "Voila. I have done it. A vegan whole wheat pie crust for the masses!"

I have weird fantasies.

If you've been following along, you know that's not how it has happened. Not at all.

For starters, I rarely make the same thing twice. And when I do, I'm hardly precise about it. It's difficult to perfect a pie crust you've only made once, but I'm always ready to try something new, check out a different variation, substitute this fat for that one because I forgot to buy the one the recipe calls for.

When the new crust is falling apart or sticky or won't come out of the pie plate, I curse and promise myself I'll use the trusty ol' standby recipe next time. And then next time rolls around, and I find a new one with coconut oil and spelt flour, and I'm off to the races.

I never seem to learn.

But, you know, we haven't once thrown away a pie. Or even a slice (except for that one piece of peach ginger pie that molded as a lesson in how stupid self restraint is).

Because, hello-o. It's pie.

And pie is delicious even if the crust is a little crumbly or the filling leaks all over the pie plate when you cut it.

I'm not going to re-post the recipe here because I followed Angela's almost note for note. The big difference is that I used half white spelt and half whole wheat flour and subbed in coconut palm sugar. My crust was...less than stellar. In the end, it tasted fine, but it definitely did not roll out. I basically smushed it into the pie plate and hoped for the best. The filling on the other hand? Delicimous.

So, eyes closed, low whisper, "Voila! I made a pumpkin pie! It was yummy!"

The end.

p.s. Opting out. (Like opting out of perfection when it comes to pies)

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September 29, 2015

Project Pie: Banoffee Pie

September 29, 2015/ Katie Taylor

Sometimes it is 9:00 on a Saturday night, and you're using a vegetable peeler to shave chocolate onto a pie that has taken you entirely too long to make for your neighbors because they are so nice and help you out when you can't get the oil filter off the riding lawn mower and tell you what to do when your carbon monoxide monitor is going off and you can't figure out why and walk the dog when you get home later than you thought and are simply your surrogate parents up here in the (rural suburban) wilds of Vermont, and you are rushing out the door with a freshly topped pie so that you don't get to their house later than is acceptable to drop off a fresh pie on a Saturday night, and you realize that it's gotten dark since you started this endeavor and you haven't taken any photos of the finished pie, and though the pie was created as a thank you, it is also part of your pie project and you must take photos of it, and so you slap it down on the dining room table and take a couple terrible photos and run out the door into your car because walking the 0.2 miles to your neighbors' house would take too long, so you drive, holding the pie in one hand while steering with the other, and for a moment you wonder if this is completely ridiculous, if anyone actually makes pies for their neighbors anymore, and then you see the look of surprise and delight on your neighbor's face and you get a hug and you realize this is why you wanted to live in a neighborhood in the first place, and you drive home and make yourself a little snack out of the leftover ingredients and eat it over the sink.

Because sometimes that's how pie-making goes.

Banoffee Pie
Adapted from First Prize Pies

Crust

6 full sheets of graham crackers
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Crush up the graham crackers in a plastic bag with a rolling pin or whirl them in the food processor until they are finely ground.
2. Pour in the melted butter and mix with your hands.
3. Press the mixture into a 9-inch pie pan and chill in the fridge.

Filling

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1. Remove the label from the can of sweetened condensed milk.
2. Place the unopened can on its side in a pot of water deep enough to cover the can with at least 2 inches of water.
3. Bring the water to a boil and allow the can to boil for 2-3 hours. IMPORTANT: Do not let the water level fall below the can. The can must remain submerged or it could burst.
4. Remove the can from the water with tongs and allow the can to cool COMPLETELY before opening (or it could shoot hot dulce de leche at you).

Putting it Together

3 bananas
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
Shaved dark chocolate (optional)

1. Into the chilled graham cracker crust, spread the now-cooled dulce de leche (made from the condensed milk).
2. Top with rounds of the bananas.
3. With a mixer, whip the cream with the sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread on top of the bananas.
4. Top with shaved chocolate.

Keep in the refrigerator. Best eaten within 2-3 days.

Though I didn't have a piece of the pie, my neighbors reported good things, and my little snack made up of the components was divine. Also, all I want to do all the time now is make my own dulce de leche and eat it out of the can.

September 11, 2015

Galette-Style Plum Pie (Whole Wheat + Vegan)

September 11, 2015/ Katie Taylor

I’m supposed to be getting better at this, right? Pie #13 is supposed to roll out more easily, taste more amazing, smell more inviting than Pie #1?

Ah, the infernal “supposed to.”

How many times has it stopped me (you?) in my (your?) tracks?

This isn’t working the way it’s supposed to, I’ve said. I must be doing it wrong. I must not be the right person for this. This must not be the right time, the right place, the right reason, the right anything.

What would it look like if I could let go of “supposed to”?

If, when this crust was miserably difficult to roll out and stuck to the butcher-block countertop, I had thought, “How funny! Look at what’s happening this time!” and laughed and chalked it up to experience?

In yoga and meditation, teachers always talk about curiosity versus judgment. The idea is to notice what is happening in your body or your mind without placing any value judgments on it. For instance, I might say, I’m not that good at meditating. I always have such a hard time staying focused on what I’m doing. Or, instead, I could say I often have a lot of thoughts while meditating. I wonder why?

One sets me up for a feeling of failure. The other opens the door to more exploration, to trying again.

If I were not committed to making 24 pies, I would likely quit after the last few. I’m having a terrible time with the crusts. They stick. They fall apart. They’re not supposed to.

Or…

I’ve been using a lot of different crust recipes lately, trying things out. Some of them are challenging! When I used a totally new recipe while on vacation in an unfamiliar kitchen and with a wine bottle as a rolling pin, the crust was extra challenging. How interesting. I wonder how it would have been if I’d been making it at home. Or in the food processor?

Anne over at Modern Mrs. Darcy wrote recently about a spirit of experimentation as a way to work through perfectionism.

“When I try an experiment, success is getting an outcome. Any outcome. The goal is to get results, not a win.”

I loved that. I’ve been experimenting with it myself. I often fall back into the “supposed to” of perfectionism (how interesting!), so this conversation about letting go of how I think something should go and noticing how it is going has become a mainstay in my internal dialogue.

This pie was no exception.

The results of my experiment?

Crust: Challenging to roll out; delicious flavor; nice crumble
Filling: Challenging to peel plums; yummy combo of sweet and tart; pleasing texture
Katie: Frustrated with dough and plums; practiced deep breathing; ate whole piece of pie

Success!

Galette-Style Plum Pie
Adapted from First Prize Pies

Crust

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Earth Balance, frozen and cut into ½ inch pieces
1/4-1/2 cup ice water

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Add the frozen Earth Balance chunks to the flour mixture. Cut it into the dry ingredients by chopping vigorously with a pastry blender or cutting it with two knives. Work quickly so the butter does not melt. Make sure you are getting all the flour off the bottom of the bowl. Stop when the mixture has some pea-sized pieces and is mostly a consistency of dry, coarse crumbs, like cornmeal.
3. Drizzle the ice water over the top, starting with ¼ cup. Using the blade side of a rubber spatula, cut into the mixture until it is evenly moistened and small balls begin to form. If balls of dough stick together, you're done. If they don't, drizzle 1-2 more tablespoons of water at a time over the top, cutting with the rubber spatula each time and then testing to see if the dough sticks together.
4. Press the dough together until it forms a ball. It should be rough, not smooth. Press into a flat, round disk. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You can refrigerate for up to several days.

Filling

2-3 pounds ripe plums, pitted, peeled, and sliced
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and prepare a bowl of ice water.
2. With a small knife, make a shallow X in the bottom of each plum.
3. Place the plums in the boiling water for 45-60 seconds or until the skin of the plums begins to pucker and pull away from the X.
4. Remove the plums from the boiling water and place them immediately into the bowl of ice water.
5. When the plums have cooled, peel the skin off with your fingers and slice the plums, removing the pits.
6. In a mixing bowl, mix together the sliced plums, honey, and vanilla.
7. In a separate small bowl, mix together the last three filling ingredients.

Putting it Together

1. Remove the crust dough from the freezer and roll out into a large round disc, about ¼ inch thick and 5-6 inches wider than your pie plate.
2. Place the crust into the pie plate.
3. Mix together the dry cornstarch mix and the plum mixture.
4. Pour the mixture into the crust, and loosely fold over the edges of the pie crust.
5. Place the pie plate on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, turning once.
6. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for 35 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the plums are juicy.
7. Allow the pie to cool for at least one hour before serving.

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August 25, 2015

Project Pie: Peach Ginger Pie (Whole Grain + Vegan)

August 25, 2015/ Katie Taylor

I sat next to my mom on her bed, a box of Cheez-its and a bag of grapes between us, J.B. Fletcher on the television. The glass of wine in my hand was sweet and pink. My parents' recent and surprising divorce had left me, at 21 years old, with the sense that everything I knew about the world up to that point had been wrong, or at the very least, lacking.

I leaned back on the pillows and watched as the maven of Murder She Wrote solved even the most impossible of crimes, proved to the skeptical cop that she was more than a meddling writer, made the killer confess. I fell into the odd happily-ever-after world where even when people are murdered, everything ends with a smile because the right person always pays.

It's the first memory I have of watching the show, and yet there was such a sense of warm, comfortable familiarity that I know I must have seen it many times before.

Thirteen years later, the feisty writer and mystery-solver from Cabot Cove is still my go-to on days that need a little constancy and predictability, when real life is playing a bit too fast and loose with my heart.

On Sunday, I snugged my laptop into the corner of the countertop and turned on Netflix as I pulled the ingredients for peach pie from the cabinets. While I peeled and cut the peaches, Jessica Fletcher saved a wrongly convicted man from another 16 years in jail. As I mixed the dry ingredients and the wet, shuffling around the kitchen looking for just the right utensil, she hobnobbed with the wealthy and got a confession from the jewel thief murderer. I rolled out the pie crusts as Jessica saved a con man from a murder trial, exposing the jealous husband as the real killer. Over the sound of our vegetables sizzling in the pan for dinner, she set a cranky New York detective straight and proved the innocence of her old friend, recently out of prison. I pulled the pie from the oven, the smell of warm peaches and ginger filling the room.

I have guilt sometimes about watching television while I cook. You're not being present, I will tell myself. Sink into the feel of the food on your hands, the smells, the gentle meandering of your thoughts. At least if you are going to interrupt the process, let it be with music, I say.

But some days are not for being present. Some days are for letting the familiar formula wash over you and steal away your thoughts while you peel peaches.

The Dalai Lama and my mindfulness friends would disagree, I suppose, but I'd give them a piece of pie anyway.

Peach Ginger Pie
Adapted from First Prize Pies

Cornmeal Crust

1 cup Earth Balance, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
1/2 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour, chilled
3/4 cup cornmeal, chilled
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. Stir together the milk and vinegar and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
2. Fit the food processor with a metal blade and add the dry ingredients, pulsing once to blend.
3. Take your milk mixture and Earth Balance out of the refrigerator. Pour the Earth Balance into the food processor and turn it on.
4. After a couple seconds, begin slowly pouring the milk mixture through the feed tube of the food processor. Once the mixture has been added, turn off the processor.
5. Pour the dough onto plastic wrap, bind it tightly, and refrigerate for at least an hour. (Note: The dough should come together if pressed but will not have formed a ball on its own in the food processor.)

Filling

2-3 pounds peaches, peeled and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or sub cornstarch)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Almond milk, for glaze
Coconut palm sugar, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the peaches and ginger.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, arrowroot, and salt. Add this to the peach mixture right before adding the filling to the crust.

Putting it together

1. Remove the crust dough from the refrigerator and split in half. Place one half back into the refrigerator and roll the other half into a circle on parchment paper. Transfer it to a pie plate (I used an 8-inch deep dish) and trim the overhang. Brush the bottom crust with a thin layer of almond milk.
2. Place the pie plate in the refrigerator and take out the other half of the dough. Roll this second half into a circle.
3. Pour the peach mixture (with the arrowroot mixture added in) into the pie pan and top with the second crust. Fold the edges of the top crust under the bottom crust and then seal by pressing them together with your fingers. Brush the top with almond milk and sprinkle with sugar.
4. Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through.
5. Lower the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden. Cool on a rack at least an hour before serving.

Note: Earth Balance and nondairy milk are subbed one-for-one for butter and milk in this recipe - feel free to use dairy ingredients if you can.

p.s. I'm halfway there - this is Pie #12!
Tomato Pie
Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie
Whole Wheat Zucchini Potato Pie
Traditional Blueberry Pie
Strawberry Basil Pie
Vegetarian Taco Pie with Cornbread Topping
Vegan Maple Pecan Pie
Chicken Pot Pie with Herb Crust
Very Berry Mousse Pie
Passover Chocolate Mousse Pie
Whole Wheat Maple Apple Pie
Vegan Shepherd's Pie

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August 03, 2015

Project Pie: Tomato Pie

August 03, 2015/ Katie Taylor

I was in 9th grade, with braces and acne and unfortunate bangs, and I couldn't believe this 10th grade boy liked me. Wanted to play songs for me on his guitar over the phone while I fell asleep. Sent me flowers and wrote me love notes and waited for me outside classes. Liked me liked me.

He was on the tennis team, a funny quirk in his otherwise alternative grunge persona, I always thought. We headed out to some neighborhood courts so he could teach me how to play. And so we could have our first fight.

Sporty was a word no one would ever have used to describe me. I played the flute and the piano, got good grades, and sang in the church choir. In the hand-eye coordination department, I fell into the zero to none category.

Walking out onto that tennis court, I could feel my middle school gym class anxiety rising up. For reasons I could not understand, this boy thought I was special and, though I blushed at the mere thought, sexy. I was not about to show him just how uncoordinated and ridiculous I could be.

So instead of trying to hit the ball, I planted my feet on the ground and swung my arm out half-heartedly, watching as the green fuzzy sphere flew past me. Again and again, I wouldn't run for it. My boyfriend became more and more frustrated and eventually refused to send anything over the net. We'd try serving instead. When he told me it helped to grunt as I hit the ball, I knew things wouldn't go any better. There was no way I'd be making any un-ladylike sounds in front of him. Absolutely not.

About 30 minutes after we'd arrived, he stormed off the court and we made the trip back to my house in silence.

I feel sad for both of them. The boy who couldn't understand why on earth his girlfriend would agree to go learn to play tennis and then appear to become catatonic on the court. And the girl who would rather stand motionless and get into a fight than try something difficult and risk failing.

And what does this have to do with tomato pie?

Oh yes. The pie.

I thought of that moment out on the tennis court as I picked up my pie crust and watched it tear into three and then four large pieces on its way into the pie pan. My shoulders slumped, and I looked at the dough and thought for a moment that I wouldn't be able to put this pie up on the blog.

And then I remembered that I'm not fourteen years old, that I have two decades on that girl, that one of the blessings of getting older is worrying less about looking silly, about failing.

So I slapped that pie crust into the pan and squished all the torn edges together and made myself a pie.

And then the blasted thing happened all over again when I pulled it out of the oven and realized I totally overlooked the part about how you're supposed to remove the tomato seeds so the whole thing isn't a SOPPING MESS. Whoops.

Folks, I swung hard at that ball, and it just sailed right. on. by.

But thankfully I've gained a few other things in the last 20 years - a little stick-to-it-iveness and a deep hatred of wasting food. I'll be damned if I was going to let a little slushiness stand in the way of eating those beautiful tomatoes and a healthy serving of cheddar cheese. No ma'am.

I spooned out liquid that was pooling around the crust, put that sucker back in the oven, spooned out liquid, back in the oven, spooned out liquid... You get the point.

And it turned out quite pretty and, I'll be honest, awfully tasty in spite of the soggy crust and tomato juices leaking all over my plate.

I wish I had taken photos of the messy parts, but I was so focused on remedying the situation that I completely forgot to document. You'll have to take my word for it.

This whole project pie thing feels like a do-over for all those times I chose standing still over trying. And there were so many. There still are. But in this one tiny spot, on these Sundays in my kitchen, I'm going for it. I'm risking failure. I'm practicing swinging and missing and swinging again.

I wonder what's next.

p.s. I'm not writing out my own recipe for this one because things didn't go as planned, but here's where you can go to make your own: I used this olive oil crust - not sure what went wrong. I used whole wheat pastry flour, and it's very tasty even though it didn't hold together. And I used this tomato tart recipe, but I used a mix of sour cream (1/4 cup) and shredded parmesan cheese (1/4 cup) in place of the gruyere, and cheddar cheese in place of the camembert. And I used heirloom tomatoes from our farm share - don't forget to take out the seeds!

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July 27, 2015

Project Pie: Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie (Whole Wheat + Vegan)

July 27, 2015/ Katie Taylor

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie sounds like the perfect dessert for a Southern luncheon on a summer afternoon, but I didn't have a slice until I was an adult living in New England. I'm not sure I'd ever even heard of rhubarb before a few years ago.

The notion that this reddish, greenish stalk that looks a lot like celery can, when mixed with sugar, turn into a deliciously sweet confection is a bit magical to me. And when I decided to bake 24 pies, there was absolutely no question that a strawberry rhubarb would be in the mix.

We haven't grown rhubarb in the garden because apparently it takes over everything, but I do think it would be a good problem to have - Ugh. I have sooo. much. rhubarb. I guess I'll have to make ANOTHER batch of rhubarb jam. Damn.

You see what I'm saying?

Instead, I hunted rhubarb this year like a hungry animal, asking everyone I saw with a rhubarb-based treat where they'd gotten theirs. Person after person told me it was from their garden, and it was all gone. I despaired that perhaps there would be no strawberry rhubarb pie for me.

And then a couple weeks ago my wife called from the co-op and told me there was rhubarb - should she get some? Oh, I despaired. I was leaving for BlogHer in New York that week and wouldn't have time to bake a pie. But would it last while I was gone? Buying rhubarb and having it go bad in my refrigerator would be deeply depressing. I took a gamble and told her not to buy any, hoping there would still be rhubarb at the store when I returned.

And glory of glories, there was.

I even have a little left over. Ugh. So much rhubarb. I guess I'll have to make a little rhubarb compote this week.

Darn.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie (Whole Wheat)
Adapted from Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Crust

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold Earth Balance (or other non-dairy butter)
1/4 cup shortening, room temperature
1/4 cup ice water

1. Quickly mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Break the shortening into large chunks and cut your butter (from the freezer) into small pieces. Add the butter and shortening to the flour mixture. Cut it into the dry ingredients by chopping vigorously with a pastry blender or cutting it with two knives. Work quickly so the butter does not melt. Make sure you are getting all the flour off the bottom of the bowl. Stop when the mixture has some pea-sized pieces and is mostly a consistency of dry, coarse crumbs, like cornmeal.
3. Drizzle the ice water over the top. Using the blade side of a rubber spatula, cut into the mixture until it is evenly moistened and small balls begin to form. If balls of dough stick together, you're done. If they don't, drizzle 1-2 more tablespoons of water over the top.
4. Press the dough together until it forms a ball. It should be rough, not smooth. Press into a flat, round disk. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You can refrigerate for up to several days.

Filling

3-4 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3-4 cups strawberries, halved
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar (or sub cane sugar)
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons Earth Balance (or sub butter), cut into small chunks

1. Mix together the sugar and flour and set aside.
2. Mix together the rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, and Earth Balance and set aside.

Crumb Topping

1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar (or sub brown sugar)
1/4 cup Earth Balance (or sub butter), melted

1. Mix flour, sugar, and Earth Balance together until crumbly.

Putting it Together:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, beginning in the center and rolling out from all directions. Roll the dough about 3-4 inches wider than your pie pan.
3. Transfer the dough into your pie pan by rolling it loosely around your rolling pin and then unrolling it into the pie pan. Press the dough over the bottom and into the corners of your pan. Trim the edges of the dough, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang, and then tuck that overhang underneath itself.
4. Sprinkle the crust with about 1 tablespoon of the sugar and flour mixture.
5. Mix the remaining sugar and flour mixture with the strawberry rhubarb mixture and pour into the pie crust.
6. Top with the crumble mixture, and place the pie pan on a large baking sheet and into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.
7. Let cool for 10-15 minutes on a rack. Slice and enjoy.

p.s. Remember my strawberry basil pie? Yum.

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July 06, 2015

Whole Wheat Zucchini Potato Pie

July 06, 2015/ Katie Taylor

This recipe needs a disclaimer. Once you take a bite of this pie, you will not want to stop. And you will not want to eat anything else. Only this pie, with its flaky crust and its soft, perfectly seasoned filling. Forever and ever, amen.

You've been warned.

Thank heavens for the potatoes we've been getting from our farm share, stored over the winter and giving a little substance to those first few weeks when it's largely greens. And now the zucchini is rolling in, and there is absolutely no better use for the two of them - the buttery potatoes and the summery zucchini - than in this pie.

I'll be honest and tell you that I fought hard with this crust. There was some swearing. I used the Joy of Cooking recipe from my blueberry pie but adapted it for our standard dietary needs - aka, Earth Balance instead of butter and whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose. I didn't change the water content, which resulted in a sticky dough that gave me all sorts of problems when I was rolling it out. Lesson learned.

I said a prayer and shoved it in the oven.

And boy, did I sing praises when I took that first bite. Wow. The crust pulled through and the flavors of the vegetables and the garlic and the sour cream melded together perfectly. And let's talk about sour cream for a moment. If you'll remember, my wife is intensely lactose intolerant. Sour cream has only graced our kitchen in rare moments when I really wanted it for something specific only I would be eating - until recently when we discovered that our favorite lactose-free yogurt provider was also making sour cream. A huge thank you to Green Valley Organics for bringing sour cream into our lives and making this deliciousness possible.

I fear I'm going on too much about this one, but I can't hide the way I feel. This pie is my soul mate.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Potato Pie
Adapted from The New York Times

Crust:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold Earth Balance (or other non-dairy butter)
1/2 cup shortening, room temperature
1/2 cup ice water

Zucchini and Potato Filling:

1 pound yellow-fleshed potatoes
1 large zucchini
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
pinch of nutmeg

1. Thinly slice the potatoes and zucchini into discs. (I used a mandolin slicer.)
2. Place into a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix gently and thoroughly until all the potato and zucchini slices are covered.

Putting it Together:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, beginning in the center and rolling out from all directions. Roll the dough about 3-4 inches wider than your pie pan.
3. Transfer the dough into your pie pan by rolling it loosely around your rolling pin and then unrolling it into the pie pan. Press the dough over the bottom and into the corners of your pan. Trim the edges of the dough, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang, and then tuck that overhang underneath itself.
4. Put the bottom crust into the refrigerator (preferably for at least 30 minutes). Roll out the top crust in the same way, though a little smaller. Pour your filling into the bottom crust (you can layer all the slices nicely and neatly, but I just poured the filling in distributed everything evenly) and top with the top crust. Cut steam vents in the middle. Crimp the rim with a fork or make a decorative edge.
5. Place the pie pan on a large baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 50-60 minutes more until the top is golden.
7. Let cool for 5-10 minutes on a rack, then slice and enjoy.

p.s. These cornmeal and rye whole grain waffles are my waffle soul mate.

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June 22, 2015

Project Pie: Traditional Blueberry Pie

June 22, 2015/ Katie Taylor

I wasn't really into cooking until I started experimenting with all sorts of wacky ingredients for my wife - the challenge is what hooked me. And while we eat a lot more "regular" things these days, I still don't have that knowledge base about many recipes - especially baking. I've made dozens of biscuits, but never with real butter and all purpose flour. The same goes for cookies. And pies.

Since I began Project Pie, I've been keenly aware of my lack of knowledge. What is your pie crust supposed to look like? Feel like? Is it supposed to stretch? If it's crumbly, why? If it's tough, why? I've eaten pie before, so I know what a good flaky crust tastes like, but I had no idea why it got that way. And I had no idea what I might do to make my whole wheat, dairy-free versions mimic some of the most delicious (and coveted) aspects of a traditional pie crust.

So when my wife was away a few weekends ago, I decided to bake a traditional pie. Real butter, all purpose flour, white sugar. No food processor.

I wanted to really understand pie crust. I wanted the "touch."

I pulled out my big Joy of Cooking and started to read - six pages on the creation of a pie crust. I learned things. About the science behind the flakiness.

“When the larger chunks of fat melt during baking, they leave gaps in the dough that fill up with steam and expand, separating the pastry into myriad flaky ledges. Inexperienced pie makers tend to overwork the flour and fat mixture into a soft, greasy paste, resulting in pastry that is mealy and dense, like shortbread, rather than crisp and flaky.”

— The Joy of Cooking

And I learned that adding more water and working the dough more causes the formation of gluten, which is what will make your dough hard or chewy and more like bread than pastry.

I took all the instructions and followed them to the letter, something I almost never do with a recipe.

I froze the butter but left the shortening at room temperature.

I cut it in by hand quickly with a pastry cutter, leaving some large pea-sized chunks, and then mixed in the ice water with my rubber spatula until the dough began to form small balls.

When I stopped mixing, I couldn't imagine the dough would be able to hold together. But I followed the instructions. I smashed all the little pieces of dough into a ball, separated that into two, wrapped them in plastic wrap and stuck them in the refrigerator to chill.

When I rolled it out, the dough didn't fall apart. I could see the chunks of butter and shortening. I cut the crust with a 3/4 inch ease around the pie pan and tucked the edges under just like the book said.

Everything exactly as I was instructed.

Turns out The Joy of Cooking knows what it's talking about. When I cut into that pie, the crust cracked beautiful, flakes of perfection sticking up as the knife went in.

There was much rejoicing. (Followed by face-stuffing.)

Whether this knowledge will help me create a tender and flaky whole wheat + vegan pie crust remains to be seen, but I have to hope it will. For now, I'm basking in the success of that exquisite pie and hoping I don't hurt my arm from all the patting myself on the back.

Traditional Blueberry Pie
From The Joy of Cooking

Crust:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup shortening, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon ice water
egg or milk + sugar for glaze

1. Quickly mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Break the shortening into large chunks and cut your butter (from the freezer) into small pieces. Add the butter and shortening to the flour mixture. Cut it into the dry ingredients by chopping vigorously with a pastry blender or cutting it with two knives. Work quickly so the butter does not melt. Make sure you are getting all the flour off the bottom of the bowl. Stop when the mixture has some pea-sized pieces and is mostly a consistency of dry, coarse crumbs, like cornmeal.
3. Drizzle the ice water over the top. Using the blade side of a rubber spatula, cut into the mixture until it is evenly moistened and small balls begin to form. If balls of dough stick together, you're done. If they don't, drizzle 1-2 more tablespoons of water over the top. (I added 1 1/2 more tablespoons, but this will depend on the particulars of your flour, kitchen air, etc.)
4. Press the dough together until it forms a ball. It should be rough, not smooth. Divide the dough in half and press each into a flat, round disk. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. You can refrigerate for up to several days.

Blueberry Filling:
5 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients and let stand for 15 minutes.
2. When you pour the mixture into the bottom curst, dot it with the butter.

p.s. Cherry Chocolate (Green) Smoothie

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June 08, 2015

Strawberry Basil Pie (Vegan)

June 08, 2015/ Katie Taylor

Project Pie: I'll be baking 24 pies before Pi Day 2016 to get over my fear of baking pies. And to eat delicious things. You can join me by posting about your pies in the comments or tagging your twitter, instagram, or facebook posts with #projectpie. Make something gooey and delicious!

I should have waited until later in the summer to make this pie, when strawberries are in season and I'll be able to pick pints of them when I pick up my farm share. But what can I say? I'm impatient. I got this pie cookbook at a cute little kitchen store in Saratoga Springs. I was immediately drawn in by the stunning photos and a few of the recipes that looked not only fabulous but also adaptable to our particular dietary needs.

The book is separated into sections based on season and then further into months. When I told my wife I was going to be making the strawberry basil pie, she asked if I shouldn't wait a little longer, until strawberries are really in season here.

But it's one of the pies for June! I exclaimed. And it's June!

With the cold lingering these last few weeks and me spending most of my time in long sleeves, I'm looking for summer wherever I can get it. And this strawberry basil pie tastes pretty much like summer on a plate. Even warm, its subtle flavors are refreshing and light. If you're a little skeptical of the salad-like ingredients, don't be. The basil, balsamic vinegar, and pepper just provide hints of a more sophisticated flavor and keep the pie from being overly sweet.

And this crust. Yum.

It's the best one I've made so far, significantly more like pastry dough than my regular go-to pie crust.

I also think the spelled-out method for creating the dough in the food processor was helpful for me to understand exactly when to stop processing. I might try her method with my go-to and see if that results in a flakier crust.

Vegan Strawberry Basil Pie
Adapted from First Prize Pies

Cornmeal Crust

Filling

8 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled and halved
10 large basil leaves, sliced very thinly
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
zest of 1 lemon
2/3 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or sub cornstarch)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
Almond milk wash, for glaze
Coconut palm sugar, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the first 5 ingredients. If you are using frozen strawberries, thaw and drain them prior to mixing.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the arrowroot, pepper, and salt. Add this to the strawberry mixture right before adding the filling to the crust.

Putting it together

1. Remove the crust dough from the refrigerator and split in half. Place one half back into the refrigerator and roll the other half into a circle on parchment paper. Transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate and trim the overhang.
2. Place the pie plate in the refrigerator and take out the other half of the dough. Roll this second half into a circle and cut into six strips.
3. Pour the strawberry mixture (with the arrowroot mixture added in) into the pie pan and form a lattice on the top. Trim the edges and use a fork to crimp. Brush the top with almond milk and sprinkle with sugar.
4. Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, turning once halfway through.
5. Lower the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more, or until the crust is golden and the strawberry juices have thickened. Cool on a rack at least an hour before serving.

Note: Earth Balance and nondairy milk are subbed one-for-one for butter and milk in this recipe - feel free to use dairy ingredients if you can.

p.s. I'm 8 pies in on my 24 pie challenge. Here's what I've made so far:

Vegetarian Taco Pie with Cornbread Topping

Vegan Maple Pecan Pie

Chicken Pot Pie with Herb Crust

Very Berry Mousse Pie

Passover Chocolate Mousse Pie

Whole Wheat Maple Apple Pie

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

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May 25, 2015

Project Pie: Vegetarian Taco Pie with Cornbread Topping

May 25, 2015/ Katie Taylor

(I apologize for the dark photos. I worked late in the garden, and when this came out of the oven, we were both so hungry and it smelled so good. We needed to eat it asap!)

Vegetarian Taco Pie with Cornbread Topping

Favorite cornbread (this is the one I use)
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
2 red peppers, roasted
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (or regular)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 8 oz can sliced black olives, drained
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Put the diced sweet potatoes into a pot and cover with water. Place on a burner at high heat, cover, and bring to a boil. Let boil for 10-15 minutes or until sweet potatoes are soft.
3. While the sweet potatoes are cooking, prepare your favorite cornbread recipe and set aside. (Note: I had already-roasted red peppers in the freezer. You could use roasted red peppers from a jar, but if you're using fresh, now would be a good time to throw them into the oven.)
4. Once the sweet potatoes are soft, drain the water. Mix in the next 10 ingredients.
5. Pour the sweet potato and black bean mixture into a pie plate. You will have extra left over if you are not using a deep dish pie plate.
6. Smooth the mixture, and spread the sliced black olives on top. Then sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of the olives.
7. Finally, top with the cornbread mixture, spreading gently to cover the whole surface.
8. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. (It might have the taco mixture on it, but make sure there is no uncooked cornbread batter.)
9. Serve with sour cream, salsa, and a few avocado slices.

p.s. Happy Memorial Day! And thank you to all those who have served (and to their spouses and children for sharing them).

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May 11, 2015

Project Pie: Vegan Maple Pecan Pie with No Refined Sugar

May 11, 2015/ Katie Taylor

Vegan Maple Pecan Pie
Adapted from Epicurious

One crust (of your choice - this is my go-to*)
2 tablespoons chia seeds, ground
6 tablespoons warm water
1 cup maple syrup
3/4 coconut palm sugar
1 tablespoon flour (I used whole wheat)
3 tablespoons earth balance (or other vegan margarine), melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cup pecan halves for topping (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350, and prepare crust.
2. Mix together ground chia seeds (fresh ground are best, but you can find them pre-ground in some health food stores) and the warm water. Place in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes.
3. Combine the maple syrup, coconut sugar, flour, earth balance, and vanilla in a bowl. Once the chia seeds and water have reached an egg-y consistency, pour them into the maple syrup mixture.
4. Pour the chopped pecans into your pie crust, and top with the maple syrup mixture.
5. Arrange the pecan halves on top and place in the oven on a baking sheet (to catch drips) and bake for 55 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a pie rack to cool.

p.s. Making recipes from my childhood that my wife can eat is my favorite.

* I prepared my crust this time by hand instead of in the food processor with this recipe - just to see how that would go. I didn't like it nearly as well - it was dry and crumbly. I did have to roll it out twice because I got it stuck the first time, so perhaps that's what went wrong?

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May 04, 2015

Project Pie: Chicken Pot Pie with Herb Crust (Dairy Free)

May 04, 2015/ Katie Taylor

Even with the changes and the modern tunes, sitting down to eat this in front of the television on a Sunday night reminded me of childhood, of days when I didn't understand how confusing or messed up the world was or that everyone didn't assemble with their family in the living room to watch the Disney movie of the week. I'm glad for what I've learned since then - about the lives of others, our differences and the ways my story of an easier time was not necessarily accurate. It's made me a better person. But I do still like to sink back into that blissful ignorance, if only for an hour, accompanied by a plate of chicken pot pie.

Dairy Free Chicken Pot Pie with Herb Crust

Pie Crust (makes one crust)
Adapted from Elizabeth Patel

1.25 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
1/2 cup shortening, cold
1 oz cold water
1 oz cold vodka
2 tablespoons fresh thyme (or other herbs)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cut your shortening into chunks (best if they're not all uniform in size) and put in the freezer for at least 10 minutes.

3. Add the flour and shortening to your food processor and pulse 8-10 times, or until the mixture looks a little crumbly. Stop before it starts to look like cornmeal. You want some different sized shortening chunks.

4. Pour in the water, vodka, and fresh herbs and pulse again 8-10 times until the dough starts to come together. Stop before it forms a big ball.

5. Take the dough out of the food processor. It should all stick together at this point. Wrap the dough in saran wrap and put in the refrigerator until ready to use.
6. When ready, using a rolling pin, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about an inch wider than your pie plate all the way around.

7. Pick the crust up by rolling it onto your rolling pin, and place it onto your pie plate. Cut off any excess around the edges, crimp with a fork, and cut several slits in the center.

Chicken Filling

2 boneless chicken breasts, skin removed
3 tablespoons margarine or olive oil (I used earth balance)
5 carrots, peeled and diced
4 ribs celery, diced
1 onion, diced
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
1 cup frozen peas
3 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Poach the chicken breasts by placing them in a pot with enough water to cover them by 1/2 - 1 inch. Cover and bring to a simmer on medium-high heat. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
2. While the chicken is cooking, chop your vegetables, then melt the margarine in a pot over medium heat, and pour in all the chopped vegetables. Cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and flour until fully incorporated.
3. While the vegetables are cooking, shred the poached chicken with a fork.
4. Pour in the shredded chicken, chicken broth, frozen peas, and herbs. Add salt and pepper.
5. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until the chicken mixture has thickened slightly.
6. Pour into an oven safe pie plate and top with the rolled out pie crust.
7. Place pie plate on a baking sheet (to catch drips) and bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

p.s. How to build the perfect meal salad.

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April 20, 2015

Project Pie: Very Berry Mousse Pie

April 20, 2015/ Katie Taylor

Project Pie: I'll be baking 24 pies before Pi Day 2016 to get over my fear of baking pies. And to eat delicious things. You can join me by posting about your pies in the comments or tagging your twitter, instagram, or facebook posts with #projectpie. Make something gooey and delicious!

Saturday afternoon, in the middle of making this pie, I stopped, took myself into my bedroom, and put myself to bed. I gave myself 5 minutes. A time-out to think about my own behavior.

We had people coming for a not-yet-cooked dinner, the kitchen looked like we'd been bombed, I broke the shell of my pie crust, the coconut cream layer was too thick and wouldn't spread properly, the pie crust was out of proportion to the amount of filling, the sun was going down so I wouldn't be able to get natural light photographs, and I'd done almost nothing on my page-long to-do list. Naturally, I did what any reasonable person would do in this circumstance. I yelled at my wife, slapped a spatula down on the counter (spattering coconut cream everywhere), and had a full-on temper tantrum.

Unaffected by Navah's attempts at logical problem-solving, I huffed around the kitchen, slamming cabinet doors and muttering under my breath. And then some mildly sane voice, which I suspect was my therapist telepathically sending me messages from her vacation in Turkey, suggested that I walk away for a few minutes.

So I did.

And I learned what I assume every parent knows. Time-outs are not so much about punishment as they are about resetting. When you're in the middle of the temper tantrum, there's nothing but the temper tantrum. Everything is horrible and unfixable and must be blamed on someone.

In the five minutes that I lay on my bed, these things happened:

1. My breathing slowed down.

2. The thoughts in my brain slowed down.

3. I realized that the sun would could up again tomorrow, and I could take a picture then.

4. I had the epiphany that a fruit compote on top of the coconut cream layer would be delicious and would (1) cover up the messiness of the coconut cream layer and (2) increase the height of the filling so it didn't look so stupid in my deep dish pie pan.

5. I thought, "I love my wife. I'd like to apologize to her and give her a hug."

6. I said a little prayer of thanks that it took less than five minutes for some space in my brain to open up and allow rational, non-panicky thoughts.

I sat on the edge of the couch and told Navah I was sorry, and we talked about why making a pie had sent me over the edge. "If this doesn't turn out," I told her, "I won't have any recipes for my blog this week. And I'll get behind on Project Pie."

"Couldn't you write about the failure?" she asked.

I looked at her askance.

"Wasn't the whole Project Pie thing supposed to be about facing your fear and allowing yourself to mess up?" she asked.

Oh, how quickly the attitude of play and experimentation gets thrown out the window.

With just three successful pies under my belt, that old familiar expectation of perfection had plunged me into the worst version of myself. Failure was no longer an option. Especially not with an audience.

And as it turns out, it wasn't a failure. Giving myself the time to step away and let the Perfection Monster slink back into its tidy little corner allowed new ideas to bubble to the surface. The fruit compote saved the day. After Navah and I tried a little of the pie without it, we decided the "fixed" pie was better than it would have been had I not had a few mess-ups in the first place.

It's a constant practice, this acceptance of imperfection.

It's better with pie.

Very Berry Mousse Pie
Adapted from Spunky Coconut

Prepare and bake this pie crust (or your favorite) for 10 minutes at 325 degrees.

Very Berry Mousse

Add to your blender or food processor:

3/4 cup canned coconut milk
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 heaping cup frozen mixed berries
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon gelatin, dissolved in boiling water (add last)

Puree and pour into the cooled crust. Place in the refrigerator to set for at least 30 minutes.

Coconut Cream Whipped Topping

Add to your blender or food processor:

2 cups coconut cream
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon agave nectar
3/4 tablespoon gelatin, dissolved in boiling water (add last)

Puree and pour onto the very berry mousse layer. Refrigerator for 30-45 minutes to allow to set up fully.

Fruit Compote

4 cups frozen mixed berries
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 tablespoon agave nectar

Bring ingredients to boiling over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and stir frequently until a jam consistency. Spread onto the cooled coconut cream whipped topping layer.

p.s. Another coconut cream favorite - four-ingredient vegan chocolate frosting.

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April 06, 2015

Project Pie: Passover Chocolate Mousse Pie

April 06, 2015/ Katie Taylor

She took out this stained piece of paper with the recipe on it and told me that Navah's aunt (her sister-in-law) found the recipe in a Seventeen magazine when she was sixteen years old, and they've used it ever since, adapting it slightly to meet their Passover needs (aka non-dairy so that it can be served with the meat meal). Navah's mom learned to make it in her mother-in-law's kitchen about 40 years before she taught me to make it in hers.

We made it with non-dairy whipping cream and kosher for passover semi-sweet baking chocolate, and it turned out perfectly. I'm going to have to try it at home again with the ingredients I generally use - coconut cream and sunspire grain-sweetened chocolate chips - to see if precisely following my mother-in-law's method will turn out a smoother pie.

Of course, you can make this with regular whipping cream if dairy isn't an issue.

Passover Chocolate Mousse Pie (non-dairy)

7 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
3 tablespoons hot water
7 eggs, separated
2/3 cup sugar, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup non-dairy whipping cream
pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in 1/3 cup of sugar and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the other 1/3 cup sugar until lemon yellow.
4. Melt the chocolate and water over the stove or in the microwave. Watch closely and stop the heat (either on the stove or in the microwave) before the chocolate has completely melted. Stir to complete the melting process.
5. Mix the melted chocolate into the egg yolks.
6. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites that you set aside earlier.
7. Pour half of the mix into a greased pie plate and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. This chocolate crust should rise a bit but will sink while you let it cool (for at least 1 hour).
8. Once the crust is cool, whip one cup of the cream, reserving 1/4 cup for garnish.
9. Add the remaining 3/4 cup whipped cream to the remaining chocolate mixture and pour into the pie crust.
10. Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours - overnight.
11. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

p.s. As the snow melts and Spring comes to Vermont in earnest, this is something I'll be worrying about again soon.

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March 23, 2015

Project Pie: Whole Wheat Maple Apple Pie

March 23, 2015/ Katie Taylor

And she was right. Crazy easy pie crust - even with whole wheat.

I went with an apple pie for #2. And here's the thing about apples: I am super picky about apples for eating straight. An apple must be crisp, juicy, and sweet. Not tough or grainy or mealy or tasteless or soft or bitter. I simply won't eat it. And this time of year can be a little rough on that front. My favorites are Honey Crisp and Pink Lady, but those are difficult to come by. What I see a lot of are big bags of apples that I don't really love to eat - Macintosh, Macoun, Empire. Generally not good for eating (in my opinion), especially when they've been stored since the Fall, but they are excellent for cooking.

Those bagged apples were just begging me to make an apple pie.

And thank goodness because apple pie is freaking delicious. I forgot a little bit until my taste buds reminded me.

Of course everything we make in this house is a little bit wacky, so our apple pie has a 100% whole wheat pie crust (delicious) and is sweetened with maple syrup and coconut palm sugar (also delicious) and no refined sugars. But I would happily feed it to guests with no food restrictions. It's that's good.

Navah proclaimed it the best thing I've ever baked.

Maple Apple Pie (whole wheat, without refined sugar)

100% Whole Wheat Crust

from Elizabeth Patel

2.5 cups flour (I used white whole wheat)

2 sticks (or 1 cup) butter or margarine (I used earth balance)

2 ounces cold water

2 ounces vodka

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cut your butter into chunks (best if they're not all uniform in size) and put in the freezer for at least 10 minutes.

3. Add the flour and butter to your food processor and pulse 8-10 times, or until the mixture looks a little crumbly. Stop before it starts to look like cornmeal. You want some different sized buttery chunks.

4. Pour in the water and vodka and pulse again 8-10 times until the dough starts to come together. Stop before it forms a big ball.

5. Take the dough out of the food processor. It should all stick together at this point. Separate the dough into two equal chunks. Using a rolling pin, roll out 1 chunk of dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about an inch wider than your pie plate all the way around.

6. Pick the crust up by rolling it onto your rolling pin and place it into your pie plate. Cut off any excess around the edges and put the crust into the refrigerator to chill while you make the apple filling.

7. Wrap the other chunk of dough in saran wrap and put into the refrigerator.

Maple Apple Filling

5-6 apples (I used Macintosh)

1 tablespoon butter or margarine (again, I used earth balance)

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)

1/2 cup coconut palm sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Peel and cut up the apples - I used a simple corer/slicer and then cut each slice two more times lengthwise.

2. Put the apples into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 5-6 minutes.

3. Drain the liquid from the apples and then add in the rest of the ingredients and mix until incorporated.

Putting the pie together

1. Pour the apple mixture into your chilled pie crust.

2. Roll out your second chunk of dough until it's about 1/8 inch thick and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.

3. Place the shapes onto the pie crust in a pattern that suits your fancy.

4. Bake the pie at 375 degrees for 1 hour. If the edges start to brown or burn, use tin foil to cover them and continue cooking.

5. Serve warm.

As you can see from the pictures, I'm not perfect at pie crust making - the edges of my crust don't go over the edge of the pie plate. I underestimated how much crust (and how many apples) I would need to fill up the deep dish pie pan. But the idea here was to bake more pies and to stop feeling intimidated, not to be perfect. Remember the rules?

1. Make some pies.

2. Don't cry if they're not perfect.

Anyone else out there baking a pie this week? What kind? I need ideas for pie #3!

p.s. This vegan apple crisp is another great way to use those bagged apples.

March 16, 2015

Project Pie: Vegan Shepherd's Pie

March 16, 2015/ Katie Taylor

While having lunch with a friend a few weeks ago, the conversation turned to dessert, as always happens with the best conversations. And my friend and I both agreed that the most marvelous desserts are those that end with the word pie. Cherry pie. Apple pie. Key lime pie. Chocolate mousse pie. Pecan pie.

Before I go full Forrest Gump on this, I think we can all just agree that pie is delicious.

Even if you are someone who would choose a seven layer cake over a blueberry pie, there's no one out there who would claim to not like pie, right? Actually, don't answer that question. I don't want to know.

So I've had pie on the mind, and then all the sudden, it was Pi Day, and my social media/phone addiction became intimately linked with a desire for anything baked in a deep round dish. Every time I pulled up a feed, there was another picture of a pie.

You would think this is the part of the story where I share about how I rushed into the kitchen and prepared some fruity goodness with a flaky crust, but here's the thing: I'm afraid of making pie.

The crust intimidates me. The possibility of a lot of effort and a terrible outcome seems significant. Especially when you throw in the fact that I'm often working with some odd assortment of alternative ingredients. It has to be whole wheat or egg-less or vegan or made without refined sugars. Or (E) all of the above. And the panic sets in. What if it sticks to the pan? What if the crust crumbles and falls apart? What if the filling is too liquid and pours all over the pan when I cut the first piece?

To avoid anxiety attacks, I've avoided pies.

But lately I've gotten kind of tired of avoiding things that intimidate me. I'm not jumping out of planes or anything, but I think anxiety is a pretty lame reason for me not to be eating more pie. I mean, if I were anxious that the pie was going to kill me or something, that would be different. But worried that I won't get it perfectly right?

Not a good reason to limit my intake of homemade goodness.

Hence the introduction of Project Pie.

From now until the next Pi Day, I will make 24 pies. I figure two pies a month is something my hands (and my belly) can handle. Feel free to join in if you're needing a little more pie in your life.

The rules are:
1. Make some pies.
2. Don't cry if they're not perfect.

And since I'm in favor of baby steps on the path to pie baking euphoria, I started with something simple - this vegan shepherd's pie from Minimalist Baker. No pesky crust to worry about. Just lentils and veggies topped with mashed potatoes. What could go wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. It was delicious.

And now that I've got Pie #1 under my belt, I'm looking forward to testing the waters a little with something more courageous next time.

Stay tuned.

p.s. Make these pistachio and coconut stuffed dates dipped in chocolate. Enjoy them for me.

Home

Project Pie: Pear Cranberry Pie

Project Pie: Apple Raspberry Pie (Vegan + Whole Wheat)

Project Pie: Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Project Pie: Banoffee Pie

Galette-Style Plum Pie (Whole Wheat + Vegan)

Project Pie: Peach Ginger Pie (Whole Grain + Vegan)

Project Pie: Tomato Pie

Project Pie: Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie (Whole Wheat + Vegan)

Whole Wheat Zucchini Potato Pie

Project Pie: Traditional Blueberry Pie

Strawberry Basil Pie (Vegan)

Project Pie: Vegetarian Taco Pie with Cornbread Topping

Project Pie: Vegan Maple Pecan Pie with No Refined Sugar

Project Pie: Chicken Pot Pie with Herb Crust (Dairy Free)

Project Pie: Very Berry Mousse Pie

Project Pie: Passover Chocolate Mousse Pie

Project Pie: Whole Wheat Maple Apple Pie

Project Pie: Vegan Shepherd's Pie

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