What's Baking: Fresh Blueberry Pie

Woo hoo!  It's time for another What's Baking? post!  This month's challenge was to bake with summer fruits.  I am really excited to share this recipe with you because it showcases one of my absolutely favorite desserts: blueberries!  And even better, what makes this blueberry pie recipe unique is that most of the blueberries are left uncooked, so it really showcases their fresh flavor.  So while frozen blueberries might be fine for traditional blueberry pie where the whole thing is baked, don't you dare use them in this pie.  I mean it!  And be sure to check out the full lineup of seasonal fruity goodness over at Sweet Beginnings!

Fresh Blueberry Pie (from Andrew)

• One pre-baked pie crust (see this post for a recipe)
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbl. cornstarch
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. water
• 4 c. blueberries, divided
• 1 Tbl. butter
• Sprinkle of cinnamon
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 3 Tbl. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Whisk together salt, cornstarch, sugar, and water in a small saucepan.  Add in 1 c. of blueberries, and bring mixture to a boil.  Boil until mixture thickens considerably.  Remove the mixture from heat, and stir in the remaining 3 c. blueberries, butter, and cinnamon.  Pour into the pre-baked pie crust, and refrigerate overnight or until set.

Meanwhile, whip together the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.  Spread the whipped cream over the pie, and enjoy this fresh taste of summer!

What's Baking?: Berry Rhubarb Pie

I'm back!  I hope you enjoyed Brownie's contribution to last month's What's Baking? challenge!  This month, the challenge was to bake something using seasonal ingredients, chosen by Adventures in My Kitchen.  This was actually pretty simple for me, because I recently signed up for a CSA through Horse and Buggy Produce!  Every Wednesday, I get a box of fresh, local, seasonal produce delivered straight to my doorstep!  And because of it, I have tried kale, Swiss chard, bok choy, and a whole host of other yummy vegetables for the first time!  When last week's box arrived, I received rhubarb and some frozen blackberries from a previous year's harvest.  That was all the inspiration I needed!  I've never made a rhubarb pie before, and the boyfriend said that he had a great recipe, so he and I tackled this one together!  There wasn't a whole lot of rhubarb in the box, so we adapted his recipe to use some berries in it, too.  It turned out deliciously!

Berry Rhubarb Pie (from Andrew, original source unknown)

• Your favorite double pie crust recipe (or two store-bought refrigerated pie crusts if you're starting this project at 9 pm on a weeknight)
• 4 Tbl. butter, divided
• 6 Tbl. flour, divided
• 1 c. sugar, divided
• 2 c. chopped rhubarb
• 2 c. assorted mixed berries (we used blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries), drained of excess liquid if they were previously frozen
• 2 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 450* F.  Put one of the pie crusts into the bottom of a 9" pie plate.  Melt 2 Tbl. of the butter, and lightly brush the crust with it.  You may not need the full 2 Tbl.  Chill the crust.

Combine 2 Tbl. of flour with 2 Tbl. of sugar.  Sprinkle over the chilled pastry.  Mix the rhubarb and berries together, and then mound them in the crust.  Mix the remaining flour and sugar with the eggs, and pour this mixture over the rhubarb and berries.  Dot with the remaining 2 Tbl. of butter.  Fit the top crust over the bottom one, trimming and sealing the edges.  Make sure to cut steam vents!

Bake the pie in the preheated oven at 450*F for 15 minutes.  Shield the edges of the pie with foil or a metal pie shield.  Drop the temperature to 350*F, and continue cooking for another 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.  Enjoy a new way to get your vegetables!

4th of July Treats

So, I was not feeling a fruit pizza, Jello, or a trifle...and cupcakes are not exactly my forte...but I still wanted to make something fun and 4th of July-themed for the bbq my dance instructors were hosting. If that's not a challenge, I don't know what is. So, I asked the What's Cooking board on The Nest for some inspiration...and, lo and behold, I found it. I bring you...Strawberry and Blueberry Cream Puffs and Honey Cream Cheese-Stuffed Strawberries. Apologies in advance for the poor quality of the pictures...I snapped them at the last second at my gracious hosts' house.

Strawberry and Blueberry Cream Puffs (recipe from Brownie, who adapted it from Le Cordon Blue's baking textbook)

Dough

• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 c. skim milk
• 9 Tbl. butter
• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 5 eggs
• 1 egg yolk

Heat milk, water, and butter together in a saucepan until it comes to a full boil. Remove from heat and pour in flour all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
Transfer dough ball into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix in eggs and yolk one at a time, waiting until each one is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next.

Pipe cream puffs onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 minutes (depends on size of cream puffs, but that's what worked for me), or until golden brown and full puffed. Turn the oven off. Poke a small hole with a toothpick in each puff, then return puffs to the (turned off!) oven--leaving the door ajar--for 5 minutes to let the puffs dry out.

A few notes...1) according to Brownie, don't lick the spoon, because it's called "paste" for a reason. 2) According to me, if you forget to poke the holes in your puffs, they will deflate and not be as puffy. 3) If your oven mysteriously turns itself off between batches, and you put the piped dough in a cool oven, the puffs will not puff in the first place. And, 4) If you completely forget about the drying out step for both batches, it will probably also negatively affect the puffiness of the final product. So my cream puffs weren't very puffy. However, that didn't stop me from trying to stuff them with pastry cream anyways!

Pastry Cream

• 2 c. skim milk
• 12 Tbl. sugar, divided
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• Rounded 1/3 c. cornstarch
• 2 Tbl. butter
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2-3 Tbl. strawberry wine or mead
• 2-3 Tbl. blueberry wine or mead

Combine milk and 6 Tbl. sugar in a saucepan, and bring just to a boil over medium heat.

Whisk together 2 egg yolks and 1 egg until light in color. Whisk in a rounded 1/3 c. of cornstarch and remaining 6 Tbl. sugar.

Temper egg mixture by adding in about 1/3 of the hot milk mixture in a SLOW, STEADY STREAM, WHISKING CONSTANTLY. Hint: use a measuring cup to accomplish the transfer, rather than trying to pour from the saucepan using only one hand. Add egg mixture (that now contains some of the milk mixture) to the saucepan of milk, and whisk constantly until mixture thickens.

Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla extract. Pour through sieve into two separate bowls. Add strawberry wine to one and the blueberry wine to the other, and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap (make sure to press it down against the surface to prevent a skin from forming!), and refrigerate overnight.

Notes...1) If you're just making vanilla pastry cream (and therefore not adding additional liquid at the end), just use 1/3 c. cornstarch, rather than the rounded 1/3 c. 2) Feel free to substitute your favorite liqueur or fruit puree or whatever for the strawberry and blueberry wine. 3) I used strawberry and blueberry melomel from Hill Top Berry Farm and Winery, one of my favorite vineyards in Virginia!

To assemble

Pipe pastry cream into cream puffs. If you're really good, you can do this without having to split the cream puffs, so they look prettier. If they happen to be not very puffy, you will have a lot of pastry cream leftover...but that's ok, because it tastes good on its own. You'll want to use a piping tip that's small enough to pierce the cream puffs easily and won't mar their appearance too much, but big enough for the pastry cream to pass through relatively easily.


Honey Cream Cheese-Stuffed Strawberries (adapted from Food Network)

• 2 lbs. fresh strawberries
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
  
• 1/4 c. powdered sugar
• 2-3 Tbl. honey
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. almond extract
• Blue candy melts
  

Wash strawberries, and cut a circle around each stem...the top of the strawberry should then easily pull off, revealing a lovely hollow area inside the berry that is perfect for stuffing with cream cheese.

Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, honey, and almond extract in a bowl. I used about 3 Tbl. of honey and 1/4 tsp. of almond extract, and the honey flavor overpowered the almond flavor more than I wanted, so taste as you go, and adjust the balance of these two flavorings to your taste!

Fill each strawberry with cream cheese mixture (a piping bag makes quick work of this). Melt the blue chocolate melts (you won't need many), and drizzle over the strawberries. Or, if your chocolate craving is a little more insistent, dip the strawberries into the melted blue chocolate (be sure to leave some of the red strawberry showing so you've still got your red, white, and blue!).

Patriotic Tart

So Memorial Day is tomorrow, and with family coming over for a barbecue, I wanted a summery dessert that would fit with the holiday somehow. Then I thought of doing a tart--strawberries and blueberries are both in season, though this works with a variety of fruits--kiwi is pretty traditional.

Crust--really whatever you like--Pate Brisee is traditional, which is an enriched (read--has an egg in it) pastry dough, but if you're in a pinch you can use store bought dough and just make it a little thicker. Press (don't stretch!!!) into a fluted tart pan, tartlet pans, or a pie pan if you don't have a tart pan. Just be sure to keep the dough height low--more like a half-inch--to keep true to tart shape. Dock the bottom (prick all over with a fork) to prevent blistering, and baked until lightly browned.

Here's mine:

Next, filling. You have a few options here--tarts should have a light layer of something moist, rich, but basic enough to go with fruit. Frangipane is one possibility, pastry cream is another, and from-a-box pudding mix (made with either half the milk or heavy cream) also suffices. I opted for pastry cream--here's my recipe, adapted from the Cordon Bleu's book on Baking (makes enough for one 9 or 10 inch tart):

2 cups of milk
6 tbl white sugar
Combine in a saucepot and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar.

Meanwhile, whisk together 1/3 cup flour, 1 egg, 2 yolks, and another 6 tbl sugar. I like to do this in a 6 cup pyrex...you'll see why when you try it. In a steady thin stream, pour the milk into the egg mixture SLOWLY, whisking constantly to keep things smooth. Generally useful to have an extra set of hands to keep your bowl/pyrex still, or just throw a silicone mat underneath. Pour this tempered mixture back onto the stove, and cook over medium low heat until it boils and begins to thicken. It should look like barely set pudding. Remove from the stove, and add 4 tbl. butter or margarine, and 1 tbl. vanilla extract (use the real stuff, please!). Whisk together. You should be leaving lines in the mixtures as you stir it; otherwise it's not thick enough (you can resurrect it by adding more flour and reboiling it).

Pour through a fine sieve into a shallow baking pan, and cover with clear plastic wrap. Let cool, then transfer to whatever container you choose (or use it right away; just be sure it's room temp or colder).

Spread a thin layer (no deeper than 1 cm) onto your tart shell, and then top with your fruit.

If you like (and especially if you're using bananas), you can "seal" the fruit tart and give it a nice gloss by melting apricot or peach jelly (no fruit bits) with a bit of water and brushing it onto your fruit. Makes it shiny and pretty, and prevents fruit from changing color. Enjoy!

Spiced Blueberry Tarts with Almond Mascarpone Cream

A friend of mine recently turned 21, and I wanted to make something for his birthday. Since he doesn't like desserts that are "too rich" (and "too rich" is kind of my specialty), I decided to do something fruit-based. I had some essentially mulled wine that I had used as poaching liquid and saved, so I turned it into a fruit tart. I just made up the recipe as I went along, but this should be pretty close:

• 2 cups blueberry wine (I used "Blue Heeler" from Hill Top Berry Farm and Winery)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 10 whole cloves
• 1 vanilla bean, slit partially down the middle
• Frozen Blueberries
• 2-3 Tbl cornstarch
• 2 frozen pie crusts
• 4 oz. mascarpone cheese
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 c. powdered sugar
• 1 c. heavy whipping cream

Set the pie crusts out at room temp to defrost while the filling cooks.

Combine wine, sugar, lemon juice, zest, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan. Boil for 5 min, then simmer ~60 min or until reduced roughly by half. Strain out the solids by passing through a fine-mesh sieve, then return to pan. Stir in some frozen blueberries (maybe 2-3 c? whatever looks right). Dissolve the cornstarch in ~1/4 c. cold water and stir into the blueberry filling. Bring to a gentle boil and stir until thickened to the consistency of pie filling. Cool completely.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll the pie crusts a little thinner, then use a 2" biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. Press the rounds into the holes of a mini muffin tin that has been misted with cooking spray. Prick the bottoms with a fork a couple times. Bake at 350 for 11-15 min, or until golden brown. Cool completely.

Whip the whipping cream until medium-stiff peaks form. Put mascarpone in a separate bowl, and add the almond extract and powdered sugar. Stir a couple times to combine. Fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture to lighten it, then gently fold in the remaining whipped cream.

To assemble, pipe blueberry filling into the baked crusts. Pipe a swirl of mascarpone cream on top of each tart.


I doubled the recipe, and put some in the pie crust shells, some in pre-baked puff pastry shells, and some in a pre-made graham cracker crust. Yes, I cheat sometimes.

Also, you will soon notice that my sister is much better at photography than me, and has a much nicer camera. Sorry in advance.