coffee sugar pie

Oh hey guys, what's up with you? I've just been hanging out, making pies. 
Remember when I made sugar pie? Aka my favorite pie ever? I do. I made it today but this time for an adventure I made it with coffee. It wasn't a crazy thing to do, it was awesome! This is kind of custardy and puddingy and sweet and coffee-ey and oh so good. 
Serve this with very lightly sweetened whipped cream. 

Coffee sugar pie

1 c each white and brown sugar
4 T cornstarch
a pinch of salt3 eggs + 1 yolk
1 1/2 c evaporated milk (a 12oz can)
1/2 c strong coffee (I used decaf espresso)
3 T room temp butter
1 T vanilla extract 

Thaw out your pie crust (I use Wholefoods GF pie crusts) and preheat your oven to 350. 
Combine the sugars, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the milk and coffee until well combined. Turn on the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until bubbles and thickening. Stir in the butter and the vanilla until fully mixed, then pour into the pie crust. Bake 45 minutes to an hour, mine took closer to an hour. It's done when it looks a little set when you jiggle it. Cool most of the way and then EAT!

drunk blondies!?

Hey did you guys have a snowstorm? We sure did. You know what goes awesome with snowstorms? Making sure you have delicious treats xto eat while you're snowed in. We've got 36" here in Connecticut and I haven't seen a single plow yet. Looks like we're trapped! At least this storm we have electricity. I was afraid we'd lose power and be very very cold like the last big storm.
This is a delicious snack and makes a bunch, so is a good treat for when you're snowed in for a while or have a bunch of people around.

Drunk blondies
From the Back in the Day cookbook via Serious Eats, slightly edited

2 c rice flour mix
1 t baking powder
3/4 t xanthan gum
1/4 t salt
2 sticks melted butter (we used 1 1/2 and 4 T olive oil)
2 c packed brown sugar
2 room temp eggs (run them under warm water)
2 T vanilla (we weren't messing aroung)
2 T whiskey (or booze of your choice)
a package of good chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 9x13 pan with foil or parchment and grease. Mix together the flour mix, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt. In another bowl, mix the butter and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and whiskey, then stir in the flour mix and the chocolate chips. Spread into the pan and bake 20-22 minutes. The top will get all delicious and crackley and the insides will be a little gooey still, like great chocolate chip cookies.
Cool completely and devour.

Coconut custard pie

As you guys all know, we had a hurricane yesterday. I didn't want to be stuck without pie during a hurricane, so I threw together this little baby. This may be the easiest pie I've ever made, with four ingredients that get whisked together and poured in a par-baked pie crust. Then you bake it for about an hour and ta-da! Delicious pie! Oh, and in the last 10 minutes, toss some coconut onto the baking sheet holding the pie and toast it up to toss on top. 

Coconut custard pie

From Real Simple

1 pie crust

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can coconut milk

a pinch of salt

3 egg yolks

a big handful of coconut flakes or shreds

Par-bake your pie crust based on the instructions on the package. I baked mine for 35 mins at 400 covered with foil and weighted down with weights. 

Turn down the oven to 325. Whisk together the rest of the ingredients. Pour into your pie crust, and bake 50-60 minutes. In the last 10 minutes, scatter the coconut on the cookie sheet to toast. The pie is done when the center is set but its still slightly wobbly. Sprinkle coconut over the top, and cool completely before serving. This is best served cold or at room temperature. 

sugar pie

Thanksgiving is coming soon, you guys. Like in a month and a week. Are you ready? 

Because it's fall and I'm fattening up for winter like a bear, I wanted to make a pie yesterday. But, because I'm lazy, I didn't want to go buy anything. We don't have any fruit or any nuts for any regular pies, or any cream for a cream pie, so I found this recipe for sugar pie. I didn't make the crust, there's no way I can flute a pie crust like that. I use the Whole Foods gluten free frozen crusts- they're something like $5.99 for two, and they come frozen so you don't have to use them both at once. 

So I whipped this up real quick, and oh wow. I'm making this for Thanksgiving (spoiler alert, family). With the nutmeg and cinnamon it tastes similar to a pumpkin pie, and is similar in texture too. It's sweet, so I'd whip up a plain whipped cream (no sugar, maybe some cinnamon) to top it. I didn't because I am lazy and didn't feel like going to buy any. This is good cold, room temp, or hot. Eat this pie!

Sugar Pie
Recipe from Sweets: Soul Food Desserts and Memories via Joy the Baker 

1 c each white and brown sugar
4 T cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1/2 t cinnamon (I used a bit more) 
1/4 t ground nutmeg
3 eggs + 1 yolk
2 c evaporated milk (I used whole)
3 T room temp butter
1 T vanilla extract (or rum??)

Thaw out your pie crust and preheat your oven to 350. 
Combine the sugars, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a saucepan. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the milk until well combined. Turn on the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until bubbles and thickening. Stir in the butter and the vanilla until fully mixed, then pour into the pie crust. Bake 45 minutes to an hour, mine took closer to an hour. It's done when it looks a little set when you jiggle it. Cool most of the way and then EAT!

apple cider coffee cake

Hi. It's fall. No, really, it is, even if it was 75 degrees today for some reason. I've been drinking cider and eating fall things like brisket and mashed potatoes and apple pie and the other day I had a craving for coffee cake. You remember, the one I made a while back, that's like those delicious coffee cakes you get in NYC?

We were going to a pig roast where we had to bring a dish that was slightly seasonal, so I put in some apples and cider into the recipe. It was delicious, but make sure you eat it the same day you make it or else the apples will sog through the cake. It'll still taste delicious but be a little soggy. 

Apple cider coffee cake
From America's test kitchens best-ever recipes, previously blogged about here

Crumb topping
8 T melted unsalted butter, still warm
2 T apple cider
1/3 c white sugar
1/3 c brown sugar, packed
3/4 t cinnamon
a pinch of salt
1 3/4 c rice flour mix
1/4 t xanthan gum

Mix together butter, cider, sugars, cinnamon and salt together, then stir in the flour and xanthan gum. Set aside to cool and harden a bit.

Cake
1 1/4 c rice flour mix
1/4 t xanthan gum
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
6 T softened butter, cut into slices
1/3 c greek yogurt
1 whole egg plus 1 yolk
2 t vanilla

1 apple, cut up into hunks
1 T brown sugar
1 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Whisk the flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in the bowl of a mixer. Add the butter, one slice at a time until mostly incorporated. Add in the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla and beat on medium-high until batter is light and fluffy. Scrape into the pan, and smooth the top with a spatula. Toss the apple with the brown sugar and cinnamon and spread over the cake. 
Break up the crumb mixture with a fork, leaving as many pieces that are about the size of a dime as you can. Spread the crumb mixture over the top of the cake, and bake for 40-45 minutes on the shelf on the top third of the oven. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 9 servings

Caramel cookie bars

My sisters are here, and my littlest sister likes to bake stuff with me. I was flipping through the things I've starred in google reader and came upon this recipe for salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars by gourmet girl. Ok! Looks good! We used caramels I had bought and I tossed in white chocolate chips since we didn't have enough milk chocolate chips. So good, dudes. Have people coming over? Make this. I halved the recipe since the recipe was huge and there are only three or four of us eating these, but feel fee to double.

Caramel cookie bars
Adapted gluten free from gourmet girls recipe

2 c gf flour mix
1/2 t xanthan gum
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 sticks of butter, melted
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1 egg + 1 yolk
1 T vanilla
a 12 oz bag of chocolate chips (or about a cup of each white and milk chocolate chips)
about 15 salted caramels or regular ones

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 pan. Beat together the flour mix, xanthan gum, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugars. Stir in the eggs and vanilla, then the flour mix. Dump in the chocolate chips and stir. Spread half of the cookie mix on the bottom of the pan. Spread out the caramels over the top, then scoop the rest of the dough on top, and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool mostly before cutting, because the caramel is molten lava.

Stuffed grape leaves (from foraged grape leaves!)

We have wild grapes growing in the backyard, and when I was doing some internet research to figure out what kind they were and if they would be delicious, I figured out that grapes have grape leaves. DUH! What do you use grape leaves for? Stuffed grape leaves! Good idea, internet!

So I rushed out to the yard and picked a whole bunch, then tossed together some rice and stuff, blanched the leaves to soften them up, rolled them up, and cooked them off. YUM.

Stuffed grape leaves (dolmas)


A bunch of grape leaves (you can use canned or jarred ones if you don't live in New England have have invasive grapes all over)
1 c rice (I used risotto rice, use a short grain rice)
1 c cooked, crumbled sausage (omit for vegans)
two onions, one diced and one sliced into rounds
a small pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
one lemons worth of juice
a small handful of mint (or bee balm), chopped
salt and pepper

Bring a pot with a few inches of water to a boil. Drop the leaves in a small bunch at a time (about 10) and swirl around for about a minute. Pull them out and rinse under cold water, repeating until all leaves are blanched. Now slice off the stems. Combine rice, sausage, diced onion, pepper, garlic, lemon juice, mint, and salt and pepper. Line the bottom of a dutch oven with a few layers of leaves, place the rounds of onion in the bottom of the pan. Now, roll the dolmas. Lay the first leaf shiny side down and place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the middle. Fold up from the bottom, fold the sides over, then roll. Don't make them super tight because the rice will expand with cooking.

Place the first roll seam side down and repeat with the leaves until the filling is gone. Cover with more leaves, then pour in about a cup and a half of water and bring to a light boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low, cover loosely, and cook until rice is done. Depending on what kind of rice you use, this can take up to an hour and a half. Cut one in half to check for done-ness. Serve hot, or straight from the fridge with some sort of yogurt sauce.